While it might be ideal to record a big, loud amplifier with both close and room mics at your disposal, this isn't always possible in a studio apartment or bedroom!
Recording in a home studio isn’t always easy. Yes, it may be comfortable and accessible, but the advantages of isolated control and live rooms, tie lines between spaces as well as soundproofed rooms to handle the volume aren’t available to everyone. Because of this, we list a few handy hints for recording a big guitar sound at home!
WORKING THE VALVES
The main reason why most guitarists are not popular with their neighbours comes down to the fact that a valve amplifier run their best at a higher volume in order to get the most out of its tone (spoiler alert, the optimal volume is loud).
The preamp handles the gain stages at the start of the signal and doesn’t really affect volume too greatly, but it’s in the power amp tubes that all the real tone is augmented, adding depth and heft. Cranking the gain for maximum breakup and keeping the volume down just doesn’t work, as the signal will sound weak and lack top end definition, as well as low-end thump. The solution is to turn up the power amp tubes and get them working, although this is not always possible with larger amps. However, if you employ a smaller valve guitar amp and run it hard, you can get a great tone at a much lower volume.
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Like bigger stage amps, if you just go for a higher preamp gain setting and pull back on the power amp tubes, these smaller amps will sound very lacklustre due to the smaller wattage and often smaller speakers. To get those power amps working hard and really improve the tone of your low wattage amp, I find it can often be better to pull back on the gain and run the power amp stage flat out instead, as you will get some breakup from the power tubes too. The resulting overall tone will be much thicker and sound like a bigger amp than what you are actually using.
KEEPING IT SECLUDED
It’s been an old trick that’s been used for years, in fact many stage rigs that involve towers of amp stacks often employ a small combo amp backstage in an isolation booth with a microphone on it. The sound the audience hears at some gigs is in fact just coming from a small combo through the PA system and not from the towering array of speaker boxes that look so impressive on stage. You too can employ this idea in your home studio to get a big sound whilst keeping the noise down. There have been a few isolation cabinets available over the years, but they are often hard to find. The simpler way is to work with what you have.
Often a couple of chairs and a queen sized quilt will allow you to cover up your amp and microphone to reduce the noise. Placing the amp in a cupboard will take this one step further in reducing the noise your neighbours have to hear, just be aware that running too long a guitar cable to your amp is going to cause noise and affect your tone, so try to keep it localised.
A better way to deal with a room’s reflections is to work with a reflection filter around your microphone when setting it up in front of the amp. This will not really help in the overall volume, but it will improve the sound you get in your recording. sE Electronics make a nifty device designed to place two microphones in front of an amp. It allows for a side address microphone to be mounted within the curve of the reflection filter and also an end-fire microphone, like an SM57, to be mounted through the filter without the need for any other stands. This then isolates the microphones from the room, allowing them to pick up just the sound of the amp itself.
Room sound
While reverb pedals are often used to create lush, spacious sounding delays and reverberated, shoe-gazey tones, a little can go a long way in recreating the sound of a room. A subtle reverb can give the impression of a loud amp in a room. This can be before the amp, adding a little weight and size to your direct signal, before it hits the amplifier’s preamp section. It won’t be a reverb’d out sound like usual, but instead bolsters your guitar’s tone in your home studio.
Looking for more unique guitar recording techniques? Check out Sylvia Massey recording guitar through a pickle here.
