Preferred Mic Distance

What mics are you using? That is gonna make a huge difference in where they sound best. 57 likes to be close, but if you back off a bit, it can also sound very good, just smaller. Ribbons I like to back off just a bit, larger diaphram dynamics I also like to back off a few inches. Really its all mic dependant and also what sound you want to go for.

overall, whatever is best for recording for your preffered sound is best for the kemper, within reason. I haven't tried it, but heard too much room doesn't work well in profiling.

I like my ribbons around 3 inches away.

Feck, your profiles are great, particularly the cleanish ones, where are you placing the mic..right at the center?

Quote from Radley

I have an EV dynamic vocal mic that I really like (EL-80), as well as an SM57 and up to this point, I have used them right on the grill cloth. Also have some nice condensor mics and a Joe Meek mic pre - will the condensors sound more fizzy? The reason I ask is that my profiles generally sound good, but the cabs seem to sound way too thin/bright when used with other amps...

I haven't personally had much luck with condensers on guitar cab except as room mics off in the distance. Well at least on distorted sounds. I have gotten a good clean sound from condensers. I generally prefer dynamic and ribbon mics for distorted sounds. The 57 by itself can sound thin if placed to far but not balanced enough if too close. Which is why the 57 is a great mic to pair with another

I generally like to find two mics that compliment each other to get a fuller sound. If the amp is up louder in volume. I can back the mics off just a bit more. With multiple mics u have to make sure they are in phase. No right answer best to record then listen then move them record and listen to fun exactly were best to place mics for re sound you want TI get. Too much bass is just a problem as not enough. Guitars have to fit in context

I'm not a power user, but I tend to like the sound of the mic backed off a little bit. It ceases to be as brittle and becomes slightly more muddy but it also somehow retains the clarity and definition in the same way that with an old school recording of the drums the cymbals aren't just white noise but actually sound like cymals compared to many modern recordings where the cymbals really do just become white noise. I also dig retro old school sounds and more noise guitar stuff so i'm probably not one to make suggestions.

Dont forget that different cabs also have different distances from the the front grille to the speaker. The grill of the recto cab i rented had a considerably higher distance than my 1960 cabs. Because of the proximity effect, having the mic closer to speaker will give you more bass and low mids and more "narrow view", while higher distances result in more realistic sound image. There is no such thing as "better", its all up to your taste. For metal, i would tend to have the mics a little closer than for a classic rock tone, but thats just my way to do it. A few milimeters really can make tremendous differences.

Generally i would prefer to use a sharper tone moving the mic a little bit more to the center of the speaker and then rolling off some treble with a submixer. I get the impression that somehow this makes the mids not sound as muddy as moving the mic more to the edge of the speaker.

I'm uncomfortable with cookbook approaches to cab miking. Mic placement really should be evaluated on a case by case basis, beginning with the "pink noise, phase cancellation & iso headphones" method which, I think, goes all the way back to Tom Dowd. I googled for these terms and found a pretty good thread discussing variations on the technique here: http://www.ultimatemetal.com/f…-tone-cab-micing-tip.html

This gets even better (i.e, easier to evaluate) if you position the mics while listening to a reamp'ed loop of actual guitar played through the amp. This helps take into account the actual tones you will be recording, i.e. for clean guitars you can get away with mic positions that might be a bit brighter than you might use for a high-gain amp, where eliminating fizz is paramount.

As far as distance goes, dynamic & ribbon mics benefit from from proximity effect which gives you an adjustable amount of bass enhancement merely by adjusting the mic's distance to the speaker. But condensors give you the more accurate picture; you can back them away from the speaker in order to get a more balanced picture of the speaker's overall sound without having the bass vary all over the place. Every speaker is a little bit different

Celestion had an outstanding article in the Feb issue of Sound On Sound that blows away a number of myths regarding speaker miking, the most relevant perhaps being that overdriving them is somehow a good thing. It's not: http://bit.ly/GKz7bm. It also shows the extent to which guitar speakers are very non-linear in the mic-positioning sense, and why close-miking presents its own set of problems.

-djh

Quote from Ptbarnum

Feck, your profiles are great, particularly the cleanish ones, where are you placing the mic..right at the center?

Thanks. If the amp is very bright, maybe an inch or two off center. Otherwise I shoot right for the center. But most of my amps grill cloths are too thick to see through, so it is usually a guess as to whether I am smack dab in the center or not. But definitely pretty close.

I record first and get re sound I want To tape first then profile.

There a mic I have had for awhile for live work and I really like what it does. I have known Bob Heil since I did front of house work for him in the early '70's and he's been doing mics for a while now. The PR30 would be a good one to rent or borrow. There are lots of them in LA as they are a hot ticket. It's a large element dynamic. Bob told me he and Joe Walsh hammered this one out. < Bob and Joe are Ham radio pals > These are being used alot. Gibbons has these in his two live iso cabs.

A fabulous mic for a Vox that's pushed is a Beyer M88 and I regret giving mine away, another good mic to rent or borrow.

I don't suggest buying mics unless you know you love what it does. If I was a bit closer than Florida, you could borrow what I have... and see what they do for you.