All language subtitles for How to Mic a Guitar Cab with 1 or 2 Mics

all right so we're gonna make up a cap

here this is a mess of two by twelve

it's got vintage dirty speakers in it

this is actually the cab and the 5150

head that you'll see in a few minutes

this is basically the exact rig that I

use on countless records at my studio

over the years just 5150 into this two

by twelve with a single sm57 on it so

that's basically I'm going to show you

I've also got this AR t ribbon mic here

that's kind of similar to a Roy or 1:21

ribbon mic which is kind of a classic

mic combo of the 57 and the Royer

together side-by-side on a cab 57

picking up a lot of the more high

mid-range and aggressive sound and then

the ribbon mic filling out some of the

low mids and the bottom end for

something that's kind of fast and

technical like this I'm usually fine

going with just the 57 on a more

straightforward rock record or something

that I want a more darker and fuller

guitar sound I might pair it with a

ribbon I'm gonna show you both just so I

can you can hear the difference between

these two kind of mics and then also so

I can show you how to align your phase

aligned mics if you wanted to use two

mics on a cab

other popular combinations would be a 57

and a 421 or sometimes even a condenser

mic beside the 57 but honestly if you

find the right spot especially for rock

and heavy tones like this are really

really anything clean tones to just the

right spot on a cab of the 57 you'll be

totally fine so when it comes to finding

the spot basically the sweet spot

usually is where the center of the

speaker so the dust cap meets the the

cone so right where those two sections

meet or at the edges where I start

that's where I aim the mic and usually I

put it right up against the grille maybe

like a half inch back or an inch back

maybe so handy tool to have in my studio

I used to have a little flashlight now

we've got flashlights on our phones so

we just use that if you get shine a

flashlight into the cab here that lets

you see where the different parts of the

speaker are so again I'm looking for

where the center dust cap meets the edge

of or the edge of that where it meets

the cone and that's ringing a point that

might kind of in the middle there so I

just need to raise this up a bit

and for proximity to the amp you kind of

just got to hear it first but usually

I'll start really close like that if you

find that there's too much low-end

build-up you can pull it back because

that's gonna just going to reduce the

low-end and then the closer you are

you're gonna get a little more low and

that's the proximity effect but usually

on a cab we'll have it somewhere around

here so like I said it's pointing rate

rate where the dust cap meets the cone

and you'll see how that sounds once we

go and hear it if we want it to be

brighter then we're gonna move it more

towards the dead center of the speaker

and if we want it to be darker we're

gonna move it further away like more

towards the outside of the the cone so

we'll start there and then I'll also put

this ribbon mic beside it and I want

this to be or towards the edge of the

speaker now when you're multi Mikey in a

cab you want to make sure it's phase

aligned so it's not canceling out

frequencies and basically how you do

that you just need to make sure that the

sound coming out of the speaker is

hitting the capsule of these mics while

the capsule 2:57 and the ribbon in this

case at the same time so basically how I

do that is I just set it up to where I

think it's going to be right and then

I'll show you in the control room how to

basically zoom in on away from in Pro

Tools and see where the waveform

starting and then based on that we can

move the mics closer or further away so

that the sound is hitting both of them

at the exact same time so these are my

best guess of where the ribbon and the

capsule is on the 57 I'll try to align

it just by eye here and then we'll

fine-tune it once we can see it in the

controller

all right so we've got the cap here up

on top of a row case just to get it off

the ground if you're using smaller

speaker like this it's good to just not

have it right on the floor absolutely

couple it from the room and then also

just so you're not really close to the

floor getting any reflections those want

a carpet here that's on purpose and then

we've got these these baffles these

gobos here that we're gonna move around

the side of the cab and that's again

just just to be extra cautious of any

reflections around the room you know

it's probably not gonna be that big a

deal in a room like this you know it's

it's treated obviously so this is just

kind of for extra safety you know in my

project studio I used to just put a mic

stand with a blanket hanging down around

the side of the cab just to keep any

high-frequency reflections from coming

back into the guitar Mike

[Music]

I think the tones sounding really good

already

[Music]

so it almost sounds like reading some

phasing on those two mics so I'm just

gonna record a little section here this

is how I check phase on guitars so I'm

just gonna roll it just hit like a muted

like a you know like an X like on a tab

like just like so we're just got like a

loud kind of transient like that then we

can zoom all the way in on our waveform

here and we can see if it's hitting at

the same time if it's hitting the mics

at the same time

so it looks like time wise it's very

very close here but as you can see we're

at a face almost 180 degrees so we'll

flip the face on the ribbon mic and

let's see if we need to move them mics

at all so there we go we're in face here

and these two mics are basically aligned

pretty much perfectly here you can see

these the waveforms the peaks and

valleys are pretty much bang on there so

just eyeballing it ended up alright so

you know if the ribbon was a little bit

late like that we would just go into the

control room move the mic a little bit

closer to the amp again so that the way

for the sounds gonna be hitting the mic

at the same time what we're good to go

here so now we're at phase let's check

out what these two mics sound like

blended together again so just play a

little bit

[Music]

that's the two mics together with the

ribbon just barely low underneath this

is a ribbon muted and here it's adding a

lot of body but for this type of music

it's it's not really necessary I'm gonna

go for you know the main tone just out

of 57 both first simplicity sake and I

think it's just it's just a classic go

to set up there's no need to

overcomplicate things but now you know

how to phase align two mics and some

different options there hey guys hope

you enjoyed that clip from the hardcore

tracking course I just wanted to jump in

and say you saw me checking the phase

between those two mics the 57 and the

ribbon and because I've used back combo

so many times I kind of know where the

capsule is on the 57 and where the

ribbon is on a ribbon mic like that so I

got it time aligns on the first try but

at least now you know you know how to do

kind of a big quick spike on the guitar

track to check the timing and the

transients and make sure your time

aligned and again if one of the mics is

you know the waveform is a little bit

behind the other then of course you just

need to move that my closer and move

them first mic farther back and then

test it again until you get the timing

right on that to make sure your mics are

phase aligned but yeah I hope you

enjoyed this clip from the hark we're

tracking course it really can be that

quick and easy to get a great sound out

of a guitar cap miking up just with a

single sm57 in fact in that course

that's what we end up using don't even

use the ribbon Mike just wanted to do

that for demo purposes most of the

records I've made most everything on my

discography is just with a single sm57

in the right spot on a cap so hopefully

this helps you get a better guitar tone

especially if you're making up real amps

and yeah hope you enjoyed this clip

leave a comment below let me know what

you thought yeah maybe this simplified

or cleared some things up for you answer

some questions let me know and I will

talk to you guys too