Musicians In The Control Room (Or Not!)
For an electric guitarist, there’s no better way to achieve a great sound than by sitting or standing next to the amp. There is an important interaction between the guitar’s body and the vibrations set up by the amplifier.

Increased and unique sustain qualities, feedback effects and tone enhancement due to acoustic reinforcement only happen if the player is located next to the amp. When I listen to some of the newer rock records, I miss that sound.

In the recording studio, it may not be practical for the guitar player to be near his/her amp since the wide volume differences of all the sound sources in the same room (drums, bass, other guitars and singers) preclude the use of higher guitar amp levels during live band tracking sessions.

So the guitar amp or speaker cabinet is placed in an isolation booth for maximum control and separation. The guitarist can sit out in the studio with the drummer and the rest of the band, or even in the control room with the producer and engineer, but must rely on a good monitor mix to play along.

In this scenario, the guitarist loses all sonic interaction between his guitar and amplifier retaining only the basic tonal qualities of his amp.

Typically when a player is remote from the amplifier, the amp top is set next to the guitarist, and heavy-gauge cables connect it to the speaker cabinet.

Figure 9, click to enlarge

In the case of one-piece combo amps, running super-long guitar cords from the guitar to the amp is unacceptable, since the distributed capacitance along the long cable acts as a high frequency roll-off filter on the guitar’s delicate output signal. I recommend using a small buffer amplifier for this job that “conditions” or buffers the guitar’s signal for long cable runs.

The Little Labs PCP Instrument Distro, shown in Figure 9, is a distribution amplifier and switching matrix for sending electric guitar signals to multiple amps and/or at the same time, to +4dBv professional outboard signal processing gear.

The Distro also provides a clean, direct signal for recording directly to your recorder.

.

Barry Rudolph is a veteran L.A.-based recording engineer as well as a noted writer on recording topics. Be sure to visit his website, and also check out his related article, “A Wide Variety Of Microphone Techniques For Recording Drums”. Related, see the new PSW video series “Acoustic Guitar Microphone Techniques.”

.

More Reviews & Articles By Barry Rudolph On PSW:
Value, Variety Of Uses For Digital Tuners In The Studio And On Stage
First Look At The New Lexicon Native PCM Reverb Plug-In
A Wide Variety Of Microphone Techniques For Recording Drums
The Tale Of A Project-Saving Monitoring Technique
Test Driving The Focusrite Saffire PRO 40 Firewire Audio/MIDI Interface
Rhythm Section Tracking In The Studio
Does The WAVES Hybrid Line Of Plug-Ins Enhance The Creative Process?
Creative Uses For Loudspeakers To Enhance Your Recordings
The Shure 55 Microphone Has Deep Roots, But How Does It Hold Up Today?
Thumbs Up Or Down For The Marshall MXL V89 Studio Condenser Microphone?
Inside The Peluso P12 Tube Condenser Microphone
Barry’s DAW Toolkit: Review Of The Novation Nocturn With Automap 3 Pro
Barry’s Recording Tips: Figure Of Eight Royer For Electric Guitars
Review Of The X-Tempo Pok DAW Wireless Footswitch Controller
Barry’s Toolkit Of Handy DAW Products
Recording Gear Hits At The 2009 Winter NAMM Show
Working At Recording Success: Taking Elemental Steps Can Make All The Difference
Recording Tip: Successfully Dealing With A Dead Room

Page 7 of 7
Previous  « First < 5 6 7