Posts by MarkMolina

    Funny thing is in my experience, with a single SM57 , you usually obtain the opposite result: a hars and thin sound.

    SM57 is a standar in micked amps because it add the texture or the grain you have listened in legendary recordings, but... usually sound too thin, with a poor bottom and a little hurting mid frecuency.


    So, why you obtain a dull sound?

    Probably you have to push the mic to the center of the speaker. The most harsh sound came from the mic pointing straight to the cap. Try a bit closer to the center of the speaker. Take a phone with the light on or a flashlight and observe carefuly the position of your speakers behind the cloth. And use the position guidelines we talk about. Just that!

    Some facts:

    -You should be able to get a harshy sound of a sm57 in any case (In fact, usually it's what you want to avoid in this mic)

    -If you use low volumes on valve amps, it sound like if you put a blanket over the amp. But if you push the volume extremely hard, you can obtain too much compresion

    -Kemper work very very well profiling all kind of Marshall sounds. It should nail it


    Some tips:

    -If a speaker isn't sounding good and don't obtain results changing the mic pos... use another speaker (it's common to have a speaker damaged or even dead) or even other sm57 mic (it's a sturdy mic, but I have 3 and 1 it's almost dead and have different response)

    -If you don't have studio conditions (where you are able to hear what is coming from the mics without hearing the direct amp) you must have to improve or develope a way to do it: use a DAW or the X32 to record some riffs, them stop and listen what you have recorded. If you don't like the result move the mics to a new position and repeat the process until you find a usable balanced spot.

    -To get a sound from an amp with mics it's all about what mics are receiving. The "amp in the room" sound doesn't matter. Only what you are recording matters. So if you need treble or presence in the recording try to give it in the amp too. Even when the amount of highs in the room could be disgusting.

    -You can use and record several mics at the same time in parallel tracks to compare between mics or blend them to obtain the sound you want. But remember profiling process with a blend of mics need to be combined in a mono bus of the mixer to send it to the Kemper. And this part is always better with analog mixers (avoiding 2 digital conversions)


    I hope now you can get the picture and make a new profile. But, i'm telling you... after this we will want to hear those profiles !! :D

    Paults it's right... it's all about mic positioning and techniques.

    You have to find a balanced spot of the speaker and the sweet spot in the amp tone, gain and volume. Normally... you obtain more harsh near to the center, and a more dull sound as you go off-axis or add inclination to the mic. I recommend starting at some point near to the "cap edge" (image below).

    Also you get a bassy and dry sound near the cloth and it gets more boomy when you move away (with a 57 you should start near the cloth)


    If don't have a Studio with an isolated room with the amp it's very dificult to check and refine the sound, because even with headphones, the noise of the amp don't let you hear the clear take of the mic and it's normal to not get a good sound at the first try. I recorded my last album with a Marshall JTM45 and when I profiled the amp I cannot tell the diferrence between both of them.

    Also... you have to think Sound Engineering its a half science and half art, before you profile the amp it's essential to get a good sound.

    And last thing: Most of the good profiles of the better brands of third party profiles get the sound from a mic blending. (Example: MBritt uses a 57 plus a Cascade FatHead II, I love the SM57+Roger121 combination) I don't like very much the sound of a single SM57 (IMMO), the work can be done... yes, but usually you have to change the mic to find a good spot a lot more, and without Studio Monitors and Isolated room... you go blind in the process (so trial-and-error approach).


    I hope you can forgive my bad english :D(I'm not a native speaker) and I REALLY hope you can obtain what you are looking for with this basic notions.
    And if you can't: Look first some videos on Youtube about how to get an amp micked. And if you have another SM57 and a common mixer you can even try a FREDMAN technique.


    Cheers!

    I have a lot of profiles and due to lack of a good intelligent search or useful filters... I have to make redundant copies of the same profiles in differents categories.

    Ex: "By Brands -> Profile Brand -> Comercial Pack" and at the same time "By Amp -> Amp Brand -> Amp Model"

    This work well for me to not have a mess in the root level, where I have also folders for "Acoustic", "Bass Profiles", a personal folder, etc etc.

    The problem it's sometimes an amp have DI profiles, Raw profiles,... and other stuff I want excluded. But I can´t create a new folder inside. :(

    So please, allow "at least" one more subfolder level. Having the posibility can't harm anyone, however some of us will be very grateful.

    Thanks!

    The analog electronics in the input section of the Kemper are obviously solid state and I assume designed with the approach of keeping the guitar signal clean and pure to be converted to digital, and then digitally processed in a familiar way to guitar amps. So when you push the Kempers input level it will remain clean until it will quickly reach the point of clipping, where it will sound nasty, thin and unlike a valve guitar amp being pushed with that rounding of dynamics and good fatness - which sounds like what you are experiencing with nothing much happening then fizzy mush. You may even get digital clipping too depending on the headroom.

    That's exactly what I'm thinking. I'm going to expand the Chevron comment. Due to this electronic behaviour: If you want to add the tipical TS9/808 with the volume cranked up before the Kemper you have to get the desired amount of gain from the TS (or any pedal stomp) to get his flavour, but with a REASONABLE volume. Then you can set a clean booster first in the KPA chain to get the desired amount of "volume cranking" you usually get from the TS.
    This way you ensure not to saturate the KPA analog/digital converter in a bad/fizzy/digital and not desired way.
    Hope it helps and sorry about my bad english!