How do you create your profiles?

    I'm interested in how others create their profiles. I notice there are all types of profiles in RE, and some are really harsh sounding, while others are really quite good. I figured it would be interesting to hear how each of us creates their profiles.


    All of my profiling is done in my basement, without any acoustic treatments. =O


    In lieu of that, I use a couple of moving blankets over the amp and mic(s) to eliminate any sounds bouncing around.


    I mic the amp, get it in the position and sound I want, through the headphones, and off I go.


    I very rarely do any refinements. If it's close, I'll do it. If it's not close, I re-position the mic and the blankets, and the second try is usually dead on.


    Anyone else?

    You mentioned using "moving blankets over the amp and mic(s) to eliminate any sounds bouncing around", IMHO room acoustics don't make much if any difference when making profiles. I'm curious if you have tried making profiles with and without the moving blankets to see if there is any difference.

    I set up my mic(s) then get an amp tone I am happy with in the room. Making sure I don’t place the amp/mic in the center of the room because of all the modal cancellation that happens there. Basically move your ears around the room and find a spot that doesnt have big peaks and troughs in the sound. The center of the room typically has a big dip in lower frequencies.


    I have quite a few home made broadband absorbers in the room which tames a lot of the unpleasant sound in the room. Not so much for the mic signal in the profile but for making sure ai am happy with the real amp sound itself.


    Then I record a short loop in the remote’s looper and use this while moving the mic around on the speaker. I put Shure SE 425 in my ears which block a lot of the amp in the room then put a pair of industrial style ear defenders over the top to shut ot even more rather than blast my ears with the headphone signal.


    I don’t tend to tweak any controls during profiling.


    In the past, I tended to do a bit of refining but recently haven’t bothered as I find it actually makes the profile less like the real amp. I haven’t done enough A/B comparisons between refined and unrefined to be totally sure either way though.

    up until a few days ago I had only ever used single mic (SM57).


    I have now made my first 2 mic profile with an SM57 and a Sony Condenser fro m the 70’s. I spent a fair bit of time making sure the two mics were properly phase aligned. I put a DI between one of the mics and the desk to let me flip phase quickly to double check phase.


    The result was a nice full sound but in the end I still think the single SM57 is hard to beat.

    Proper monitoring is key. Have the cab and mic in a separate room, monitor from the mixing desk. Tweak the amp accordingly to get a good sound and don't be afraid to use unconventional settings. Only listen to the sound from the studio monitors.


    I made my most used profiles with Vintage 30 - SM57 - Great River mic pre - Kemper.