Very often for guitarists, the conversation can come up about choosing whether to record guitar direct to console, or to run your guitar to a guitar amplifier, mic it, then record it. There is absolutely a difference in the sound.

Typically we take the guitar straight in because we can't have our amps up that loud where we live, or it is a pure matter of convenience. Dragging out the amps, the mics, getting the sound then tracking it, can put a little damper on the creative process. Yet at the same time, it can be very difficult to get a guitar plug-in to produce the same sound as your amp. I'm not saying that guitar plug-ins aren't good, or even great, but often, to me it's like borrowing someone else's amp. It's not MY amp. The one I gig with, and really know the tone of. Especially if I have stomp boxes in the signal chain. As we all know, taking stomp boxes direct to console is NOT the same as running them through the amp. What's funny though, is that there are times when I really like BOTH sounds. A pretty cool clean sound recorded directly, or through a guitar processor, and the amp simultaneously.

I've found that if I blend these two together, I can get a much fuller guitar sound in one pass. I could double or triple track the guitar parts as well, but that's another column.

Let's take a listen to a few examples. First up is the direct guitar
Ex 1 clean dir gtr

Then I ran it through a guitar processor in Logic. Here's how that sounds:
Ex 2 dir gtr processed

I tracked the guitar also through a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe mic'd with a Shure SM -57 Here's that sound: Ex 3 miced amp

So now I have recorded one guitar track, and recorded it through both the amp, and direct to console. Here's both together: Ex 4 dir and amp

So as you can tell, the sound of each individual track is enhanced by having them play together. I had the amp panned a little to the left channel and the direct panned a little to the right channel.

However, the work is not done yet. Whenever you are recording one signal direct, and the other through an amp, there is a phase problem. Take a peek at the following picture:

The Direct track is on the bottom, and the mic'd amp is on the top. Because electronics are faster than air, the signal going direct will be recorded a little ahead of the mic'd amp. The Mic'd amp signal is going to be slower because of the time it takes the air to be moved by the speaker, the travel distance the air has to travel between the speaker and the mic, and the reception of the signal by the mic. So in the picture above the direct signal is a little to the left of the mic'd amp. This often will present a phase shift between the two signals making the sound thinner than it should be.

Now listen to the previous audio example (Ex 4 dir and amp)

Then I'm going to shift the direct track to line up with the mic'd amp track to bring them into phase:

Take a look after I've shifted the direct track:

And now let's take a listen to a warmer sound: Ex 4a in phase

Now these two tracks are in phase. This is a common problem when recording two signals with different paths lengths to the recorder. If you ever have a condition where a normally full sound sounds thin, check your phase.

Here's the guitars in the context of a song with bass and drums: EX 5a Band in phase

Keep in mind that you can still EQ these tracks and treat them like any other once recorded. It's just really important in the initial process to make sure that you are thinking about these things like mic'ing the amp and the direct sound knowing there's going to be a shift you'll have to compensate for.

I like to record both. I'll also do this process, then double track it. So on the first pass, I'll go neck pick-up, and lay down the direct and amp sounds, then record a second pass, this time in the bridge pick-up to get a brighter sound. Once all are recorded, I'll do the track shifts as necessary to bring all into correct file alignment. Then proceed with the song.

It may seem like a longer process, but once you've got a handle on the process, it'll flow really well for you.

Give it a try and see how it works for you.

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