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Electric Guitar Tone
By Jack Shepherd
Recording an electric guitar is, for some, a difficult process. Amongst recording engineers, the perfect electric tone can be an illusive thing, taking years to achieve on a record. Still, one can achieve an outstanding recording one day, and not the next. How could this be? Well, it has to do with 3 main factors: the tone, the player, and the capturing process. The tone of an electric guitar is a complicated thing. It doesn’t just come from the particular guitar one chooses, but from the amp, any effects, and in some cases, even the cables used to interconnect all these things. Types of guitars range widely, and all have different tone. The tone is affected by all the elements of construction of the instrument, from the type of wood used to the materials used in manufacturing the strings. For simplicity, we’ll focus on the type of pickups that the guitar may employ. The pickups are the electromagnetic component of the guitar responsible for changing the vibration of the string into an alternating electric current (AC). This current is passed via patch cable to the amplifier, and changed back into sound by the amplifier’s speaker(s). The two main types of pickups found in guitars are Single Coil and Humbucking. Single Coil pickups are named for their one magnet-core wire coil. This one magnet/coil tends to produce a very sharp, well-defined, and detailed tone, but often also produces a healthy buzz or hum, especially when near something giving off electromagnetic or radio frequency interference. Humbucking pickups are named for their ability to eliminate the undesirable hum of Single Coils. They do so by doubling up the number of coils, which creates a sort of balancing effect, and a much quieter, but sometimes duller or more rounded tone. However, depending on the player, either pickup could be ideal. Playing style is unique to every guitarist. Some change how they play based on the style of music they are playing at any given time. Some change which type of guitar they use to fit a certain style. In any case, every person will put their fingers on the guitar in a unique way, and this will produce idiosyncrasies in their tone. Some players will pick the guitar more precisely, which will tend to bring out more punch in each note, and make staccato music more exciting. Other players will strum more muddily and produce what is referred to as a “pad” tone, which lacks definition but is rich in harmonic content and fullness. Both elements, however, are pointless if not captured properly. Still, there are infinite methods of capturing the sound of an electric guitar, some better than others in certain situations, but infinite none-the-less. For our purposes, we’ll focus on the microphones used, and where to place them relative to the amplifier. The actual capture device, be it tape recorder or Digital Audio Workstation, is up for further debate. In most guitar recordings, it is useful to use very common microphones, the Shure sm57 and a LDC (large diaphragm condenser) of your choice. Sometimes, depending on the size of the amplifier or number of speakers, many of this same type of microphone could be used. In the case of a “Half-Stack,” an amplifier head unit sits atop a cabinet housing four speakers, usually 12” in diameter each. Place the Shure sm57 directly in front of one of the lower speakers, and exactly perpendicular to the face of the cabinet, pointed at the outer edge of the speaker’s cone, within 1” of the grill cloth. Listen to your tone through your studio monitoring. You will notice a very low tone, without much detail. You can increase detail by sliding the mic toward the center of the cone, but for this mic, don’t slide it further than two inches or so of the cone’s outer edge. You can change the shape of this tone by moving the mic closer or farther from the grill cloth, to the left or right, or by turning the mic off-axis. Experiment until you like the character you’re hearing through monitoring. Place the LDC in front directly in front of the opposite side’s upper speaker, and exactly perpendicular to the face of the cabinet, with the diaphragm centered on the center of the speaker’s cone, within 1” of the grill cloth. You can use a flashlight to see inside the grill cloth to find the center of the cone. The small bump in the middle of the cone is called to dust cap. Once the LDC is in position, slide the stand holding it to the left or right until the diaphragm is no longer centered directly on the center of the cone, but at the place where the dust cap exactly meets the cone. Listen to your tone through you studio monitoring. You will notice a much sharper, more detailed tone with this mic, which may lack low end. You can change the shape of this tone by moving the mic closer or farther from the grill cloth, to the left or right, or by turning the mic off-axis. Experiment until you like the character you’re hearing through monitoring. Now blend these two tones until you achieve a well-balanced, full and rich electric guitar sound that will bring you record to Gold status! |
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This intel was contributed by Linda
Linda
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May, 2012
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