How to mic & record a guitar amp (with multiple mics!)

[@johnsguitarmusicanddemos]

*I definitely appreciate the tips that you given this video because I’m looking to run to microphones to catch my guitar sound.*

[@SeawellStudios]

I'm so glad you found the video useful! Thank you for checking out my channel and for taking the time to comment, I really appreciate it!

[@darrylweller6143]

Would love more about recording guitars

[@SeawellStudios]

Thanks for your feedback, I'll try to work some more guitar recording videos in the schedule here soon 👍🏼

[@heythere6983]

I have a few newb questions, Iv been educating myself on gear and developing my ear when it comes to mixing before buying tons of mics and hardware .Though now I’m comfortable to start setting things up While I still have the money . Forgive me for these basic questions lol . ..So can I record a guitar amp with two microphones but have it set up for mono somehow? Typically you want them positioned very close to avoid phasing but also to beef up the guitar without a stereo correct? And then you if you want you can do a second take for the delayed stereo feel right? I ask because Ideally, Id like to try and have two mics for one take , on one side and then do a second recording, with two mics panned on another side. You’re recording obviously sounded mono , so you had the tracks simply set to mono ? I thought having two mics at once required them be set to stereo. This thought has confused me . Also in relation to this , when compressing a recording that was set to stereo, does one actually need two compressors or can one side of the recording be processed and then the other side? I really would prefer hardware so I need to figure this out too. it would save me some money to just do some extra work if possible. Iv debates this with drums. Since most of the set is recorded in mono but then can be put in a stereo bus im confused as to the compressor set up, if 2 compressors or a stereo compressor is absolutely necessary or if one can manage with one compressor for a stereo track for a bit . I think this stuff is so basic which is why I haven’t seen answers to this, I appreciate any advice ! Thanks for any help!

[@SeawellStudios]

Never apologize for asking questions about recording! I'm always happy to discuss it and I know so much of it can be so confusing along the way. I hope I can help out here! When recording a single performance(in this case electric guitar), no matter how many mics you use, it is still going to end up sounding mostly mono. You can play with the phase relationship between the two mics to get a bit of width, but it can quickly go south so you probably don't want to do that yet. If you record another pass of the same guitar part and pan the first one hard left and the second one hard right, you're going to get a nice stereo spread because of the slight variation in timing of the performances. So, even if it's the same guitar, the same amp, and the same two mics...that second take will naturally be slightly different and will give a good stereo spread. So, in the example I gave in this video, if I have two mics on an amp I will often send them to one mono aux track so I can pan and do any volume automation there instead of having to do it on both of the guitar mic tracks. It just makes mixing a bit easier. You can pan those two mic tracks any way you'd like, but, even if you pan hard left and right it is going to basically sound like it is right up the middle because it is still just a single performance. I hope that clears it up, but if not just let me know! Let me know a little bit more about your compressor set up. If you're working on a source like drums that has things panned stereo, I'd use a stereo compressor(for the drum buss or a parallel drum buss).

[@heythere6983]

Thanks. Yeah, so I’m going to probably get two hardware compressors atleast. La2a /1176/audioscape v comp . This would be for having a solid vocal sound . Also I’d see what works well on guitars with these options . I have considered getting 2 distressors for The sake of stereo compression, Otherwise I could get a few mono compressors and have more tonal options. Yeah so essentially it seems all I really need stereo compression for would be drums. But with drums , individual parts of the kit can be recorded and simply be panned to taste and just be compressed individually no? I am thinking of using a good electronic kit with superior drummer or Steven slate, so I was debating on how I’d treat those drums with compression . The only other thing I’m thinking of that may need stereo compression is some sort of plugin effect that has stereo panning . But yeah I was wondering if it was even possible to treat a stereo source with a mono compressor. Iv got so many songs and just need to get this going and record this right after all these years. I don’t necessarily plan on mastering my own stuff . If anything get the best sonic recording or a very strong finished sounding demo, and see where I can go from there . I just rather sound as professional as possible that way even if I don’t get the ball rolling with an exterior engineer, I have quality gear and the time to fine tune things on my own and won’t show up with those stereotypical lifeless sounding recordings people can get when they rush and are limited at local studios. This way I have the time to truly do it right. Also picking gear to taste is great, some studios around here don’t really have the options I’d like