Recently, I've been involved in a Blues project that required that I get the right tone for the project. So all I had to do was pull out my latest intro-extro-tone-o-matic-confabulator plug-in and go, right?

Well, actually...no.

I've always preached about what role each instrument or even each track plays in a mix. Is this a rock guitar-ish track that is more filler, or is this the signature sound of the project, or somewhere in between?

I tend to adjust my set-up accordingly. My personal way, is that I'm not going to spend hours of time setting up amps, mics, pre's, effects, for a guitar part that I know is going to be so far back in the mix it's purely texture. I may use a smaller amp that's close, some rack gear direct in, or a plug-in. But if the track is the signature sound, you bet I'll take the time to get everything perfect.

So, back to the Blues project. After thinking about this for a while, I actually did try to get a good console sound with some toys going direct. No dice. Plug-ins? Nope. It was time to get back to basics.

For me, one of the processes of recording, should, in theory, be to faithfully reproduce the sound of the artist. For guitar how do we do that, and still have tone?

I had to pull out the real stuff. I got the tube amp and the Strat out, set them up, mic'ed them, and let it wail. For all of our technology, there's no sound like a tube amp. The speaker compression, the air movement, even the frequency bandwidth limitations all add up to a tone. Other sounds are great, modeling is great, plug-ins are great, don't get me wrong, because I use them all of the time. Just keep in mind that this is a Blues project where I needed the sound and tone of 1950's or 60's Blues greats.

So my suggestion is that the recording process has a basic function. To record. It's always going to tell you the truth. Crap in, Crap out. Killer tone in, killer tone out. Get the right tone first.

While this may sound so obvious, many wait for something else to save their lame tone. Some cool "Anti-suck" button on the console. This is not to say you have to buy the most expensive gear on the market. It means get a good tone with whatever gear you're using.

How does one record that killer tone? I like a simple approach of just a couple of mics. I don't have a billion dollar mic closet. So I just use a Shure SM-57, and a Studio Electronics condenser mic. The Shure SM-57 goes right towards the speaker, about midway between the edge of the cone, and the center of the speaker. I usually will vary this depending on how bright or dark I want the sound. Also I may point the mic at more of a perpendicular angle to the speaker cone than straight on, or perpendicular to the face of the amp.

The condenser mic I use to get more of a room tone. I'll set that about four feet from the amp, facing either more towards the floor to catch that reflected sound if the floor is not carpeted, sometimes a little higher, if there's carpet, or sometimes even facing a reflective wall. I can adjust this tone with mic placement and then blend it in with the close mic as much, or as little as I like in the mix. I record them to separate tracks for flexibility later.

If you don't have a mixing console with good mic pre's, I suggest getting at least a one channel transformer or tube mic pre. For guitars, and for vocals for that matter, it just seems to have a warmer tone. I mean of course there's the whole running on the even order harmonic structure of transformer, or tube signal path, against the odd order harmonic structure of transistors, and chips to consider; which is what the whole thing about tubes and tone are based on. (But this is another column altogether). Get a warm sounding mic pre if you can.

Now when you digitize this tone going into the computer, the computer is taking a digital picture of a nice, round, warm tone. I use this old Amek analog console that I re-built years ago. Big warm pre's. Then I go into software through an I/O box of choice. Keep gain structure in mind when recording as well. You want the biggest signal you can get without clipping. As you may remember from past columns, the lower the level you record in digital, the lower the bit depth. This can really affect the tone of your recorded guitar.

So the idea is, if you like the sound of your guitar going in digital as it is, fine. But sometimes you will find that there's no substitute for the real thing. Emulation and modeling are great, as I said. Yet sometimes it's nice to refresh your memory of what the real thing sounds like. You may be pleasantly surprised.

makintrax@philgates.com
http://www.philgates.com
www.myspace.com/philgatesmusic