Cool video about how to mic an amp

[mercifulfuzziness]

It's first some playing from Uncle Larry, after that Uncle Larry shitting on modelers and then he asks a sound engineer from Nashville to show a short video about how to mic an amp.

If you want to be irritated about Uncle Larry hating on modelers, watch the whole video. Otherwise it starts around 17 minutes in.

Pros can skip this video.

 

[laxu]

Yeah I don't buy the "why don't you mic the amp instead of using the OX Box, it will sound much better" line. While the OX is not the best loadbox out there, its cab sim stuff is pretty good so I really doubt you'd get better results micing the amp, especially considering most people don't have a collection of nice mics like you'd be able to use via OX's IRs.

I haven't found the IRs I've made of my own cabs to sound different from what the mic picks up directly, and there are plenty of YT videos demonstrating this as well.

I feel like I'm becoming a Tom Bukovac hater inadvertently, because I disagree with his opinions on tone quite a bit. If he took his own advice and miced his amp, any time he wants to demonstrate any tone aspects (rather than playing) those would sound much better. I also hate this "I feel like I'm sitting on Uncle Larry's lap" way he sets up his smartphone for every video. Please, step back a bit from the camera.

That micing method is a good way to get started though.

 

[mercifulfuzziness]

Yeah I don't buy the "why don't you mic the amp instead of using the OX Box, it will sound much better" line. While the OX is not the best loadbox out there, its cab sim stuff is pretty good so I really doubt you'd get better results micing the amp, especially considering most people don't have a collection of nice mics like you'd be able to use via OX's IRs.

I haven't found the IRs I've made of my own cabs to sound different from what the mic picks up directly, and there are plenty of YT videos demonstrating this as well.

I feel like I'm becoming a Tom Bukovac hater inadvertently, because I disagree with his opinions on tone quite a bit. If he took his own advice and miced his amp, any time he wants to demonstrate any tone aspects (rather than playing) those would sound much better. I also hate this "I feel like I'm sitting on Uncle Larry's lap" way he sets up his smartphone for every video. Please, step back a bit from the camera.

That micing method is a good way to get started though.

and 100%

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

Yeah I don't buy the "why don't you mic the amp instead of using the OX Box, it will sound much better" line. While the OX is not the best loadbox out there, its cab sim stuff is pretty good so I really doubt you'd get better results micing the amp, especially considering most people don't have a collection of nice mics like you'd be able to use via OX's IRs.

I haven't found the IRs I've made of my own cabs to sound different from what the mic picks up directly, and there are plenty of YT videos demonstrating this as well.

I feel like I'm becoming a Tom Bukovac hater inadvertently, because I disagree with his opinions on tone quite a bit. If he took his own advice and miced his amp, any time he wants to demonstrate any tone aspects (rather than playing) those would sound much better. I also hate this "I feel like I'm sitting on Uncle Larry's lap" way he sets up his smartphone for every video. Please, step back a bit from the camera.

That micing method is a good way to get started though.

What camera angle do you use when making your YouTube videos?

 

[DrewJD82]

My first thought when watching the video that preceded this one, where he asked “Why not mic it?” was, “Cuz we’re all not in the best studios in Nashville with multi-thousand dollar mics and pre-amps, Tom”

It’s pointless for me to mic a cab in my apartment when I can’t even turn the amp up loud enough to actually move any air and get the best from the speaker/cab.

Love his channel and agree with the majority of what he says, but he often times doesn’t recognize the bubble he lives in when it comes to giving advice to your average guitar player.

 

[FuzzyAce]

What camera angle do you use when making your YouTube videos?

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

My first thought when watching the video that preceded this one, where he asked “Why not mic it?” was, “Cuz we’re all not in the best studios in Nashville with multi-thousand dollar mics and pre-amps, Tom”

It’s pointless for me to mic a cab in my apartment when I can’t even turn the amp up loud enough to actually move any air and get the best from the speaker/cab.

Love his channel and agree with the majority of what he says, but he often times doesn’t recognize the bubble he lives in when it comes to giving advice to your average guitar player.

"there's the 100 watt amp phase, and then there's the Princeton Reverb phase when you get rid of all your 100 watts..."

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

"I think the thing that makes rock-n-roll records sound like rock-n-roll records is room mic'ing on amps."

Wonder why he's not a big fan of the Ox?

 

[la szum]

Yeah I don't buy the "why don't you mic the amp instead of using the OX Box, it will sound much better" line. While the OX is not the best loadbox out there, its cab sim stuff is pretty good so I really doubt you'd get better results micing the amp, especially considering most people don't have a collection of nice mics like you'd be able to use via OX's IRs.

I haven't found the IRs I've made of my own cabs to sound different from what the mic picks up directly, and there are plenty of YT videos demonstrating this as well.

I feel like I'm becoming a Tom Bukovac hater inadvertently, because I disagree with his opinions on tone quite a bit. If he took his own advice and miced his amp, any time he wants to demonstrate any tone aspects (rather than playing) those would sound much better. I also hate this "I feel like I'm sitting on Uncle Larry's lap" way he sets up his smartphone for every video. Please, step back a bit from the camera.

That micing method is a good way to get started though.

My 2024 New Year's Resolution was definitely not to become as intimate
with his Chin Beard as I ended up becoming.

 

[woody]

"I think the thing that makes rock-n-roll records sound like rock-n-roll records is room mic'ing on amps."

Wonder why he's not a big fan of the Ox?

And he's right.
Not everyone has access to a great sounding room where you can crank amps, though.

 

[Frodebro]

My first thought when watching the video that preceded this one, where he asked “Why not mic it?” was, “Cuz we’re all not in the best studios in Nashville with multi-thousand dollar mics and pre-amps, Tom”

It’s pointless for me to mic a cab in my apartment when I can’t even turn the amp up loud enough to actually move any air and get the best from the speaker/cab.

Love his channel and agree with the majority of what he says, but he often times doesn’t recognize the bubble he lives in when it comes to giving advice to your average guitar player.

With my work schedule, I'm up stupidly early every day (even on my days off). As in, making my morning coffee at 2AM. I used to do a shit ton of writing and recording (hoping to get back into it soon), and miking a Boogie at 3AM with my neighbor's bedroom within 20 feet from the side of my house just wasn't going to happen. That's actually what pushed me headfirst into digital. First with plugins, then a Kemper so I could profile my amps during the day and have a 'library' available for direct recording in the wee hours.

 

[woody]

Yeah I don't buy the "why don't you mic the amp instead of using the OX Box, it will sound much better" line. While the OX is not the best loadbox out there, its cab sim stuff is pretty good so I really doubt you'd get better results micing the amp, especially considering most people don't have a collection of nice mics like you'd be able to use via OX's IRs.

I haven't found the IRs I've made of my own cabs to sound different from what the mic picks up directly, and there are plenty of YT videos demonstrating this as well.

I feel like I'm becoming a Tom Bukovac hater inadvertently, because I disagree with his opinions on tone quite a bit. If he took his own advice and miced his amp, any time he wants to demonstrate any tone aspects (rather than playing) those would sound much better. I also hate this "I feel like I'm sitting on Uncle Larry's lap" way he sets up his smartphone for every video. Please, step back a bit from the camera.

That micing method is a good way to get started though.

Let's face it:
The Ox and all other load box/IR-related solutions try to mimic a cab with a mic.
If you are a studio guy who works in nice studios, with staff to set up gear and mic your cab with great microphones in great sounding rooms, why not do it for real?
I'd kinda be bummed if he didn't.

For those of us who don't have access to great soundingrooms where you can crank the snot out of amps, it's a different story.
Funnily, the Ox is not that much less of an investment, than a 57 and a 121.
The mics will perform flawlessly in 30 years from now, if cared for properly.
Let's see how relevant the Ox is in 15 years from now...

 

[Boudoir Guitar]

Let's face it:
The Ox and all other load box/IR-related solutions try to mimic a cab with a mic.
If you are a studio guy who works in nice studios, with staff to set up gear and mic your cab with great microphones in great sounding rooms, why not do it for real?
I'd kinda be bummed if he didn't.

For those of us who don't have access to great soundingrooms where you can crank the snot out of amps, it's a different story.
Funnily, the Ox is not that much less of an investment, than a 57 and a 121.
The mics will perform flawlessly in 30 years from now, if cared for properly.
Let's see how relevant the Ox is in 15 years from now...

The pros comments:

"and we still feel like we're not good enough..."

Guitar Forumites: "With certitude, lemme tell everyone how little this person knows about the real world"

 

[PLX]

And all this time I been mic'ing a speaker.

 

[DrewJD82]

And all this time I been mic'ing a speaker.

Don’t you live on a compound surrounded by nothing but trees and mountain ranges and shit?

 

[mercifulfuzziness]

Just to be sure because I am going to stop buying IRs.

With a dynamic mic like the 57 (the top mic in helix) some basic ideas:
- cap edge
- distance around 2. Moving away (so going from 2 to extreme 10) makes the cab darker?
- Angle, let’s keep it simple. Zero
- low cut around 100 depending on boominess.
- high cut around 8000-12000 depending on brightness (on some cabs it’s not needed at all)

For now I am not going to do double cabs and all that stuff.

 

[DrewJD82]

The pros comments:

"and we still feel like we're not good enough..."

Guitar Forumites: "With certitude, lemme tell everyone how little this person knows about the real world"

I mean, if Bukovac doesn’t realize not everyone can just mic a cab due to their living situations, then I think it’s fair to say there’s a part of reality he’s not acknowledging. I can appreciate there are low wattage tube amps that make it possible, but there’s a pretty limited scope of amps that fit that category and in my case, not a single one that does the tones I go for.

I had to wait until my neighbors were gone to put my DRRI on 2 over here. Even if I got a Mesa or Peavey mini-head and mic’d the cab, it’d be a downgrade in what I could do with my AxeFX because I couldn’t even run those loud enough that would make mic’ing a cab worth it.

 

[laxu]

Just to be sure because I am going to stop buying IRs.

With a dynamic mic like the 57 (the top mic in helix) some basic ideas:
- cap edge
- distance around 2. Moving away (so going from 2 to extreme 10) makes the cab darker?
- Angle, let’s keep it simple. Zero
- low cut around 100 depending on boominess.
- high cut around 8000-12000 depending on brightness (on some cabs it’s not needed at all)

Don't overthink it. Any setting that sounds good to you is fine.

Try the "Fredman" mic technique by putting another SM57 in the Dual cab at the exact same position, but with the 45 degree angle setting. Adjust its level to taste.

Personally I don't even use high cuts most of the time, and leave the low cut at something like 60-80 Hz. More drastic low cut can be useful if you are trying to fit it into a mix, but just for playing by yourself you might enjoy the fuller lows.

Also if you have found an IR that just works for you, use that.

 

[DrewJD82]

Just to be sure because I am going to stop buying IRs.

With a dynamic mic like the 57 (the top mic in helix) some basic ideas:
- cap edge
- distance around 2. Moving away (so going from 2 to extreme 10) makes the cab darker?
- Angle, let’s keep it simple. Zero
- low cut around 100 depending on boominess.
- high cut around 8000-12000 depending on brightness (on some cabs it’s not needed at all)

I’d agree with the first 3, but the last two I don’t bother with at all until I hear the amp sitting in a mix and need to make it fit. I try to get the majority of my recording presets sounding as close to an amp with all the warts and frequencies that’d generally get cut off in a mix. I used to preemptively hack stuff off, but then I had less to work with when mixing and most of my tones were sounding fairly neutered in the end result.

An actual amp sitting in your living room won’t have those cuts.

I occasionally get pushback when I recommend this, but for amps like Marshalls and Fenders, I’ll keep every knob at noon then pick an IR that’s as close to perfect as possible without touching a single knob on the amp, then fine tune things with the amp after that IR’s been selected.

Some amps that doesn’t work with, Mesa Marks namely due to how you have to dial them in for the tones they’re known for (dropping the bass and mids in the preamp then adding them in with the 5-band EQ), but for the majority of amps the ‘pick the IR first, tweak after’ works great.

 

[mercifulfuzziness]

I mean, if Bukovac doesn’t realize not everyone can just mic a cab due to their living situations, then I think it’s fair to say there’s a part of reality he’s not acknowledging. I can appreciate there are low wattage tube amps that make it possible, but there’s a pretty limited scope of amps that fit that category and in my case, not a single one that does the tones I go for.

I had to wait until my neighbors were gone to put my DRRI on 2 over here. Even if I got a Mesa or Peavey mini-head and mic’d the cab, it’d be a downgrade in what I could do with my AxeFX because I couldn’t even run those loud enough that would make mic’ing a cab worth it.

My work room is above my daughter’s room. I don’t think a tube amp will ever be quiet enough for she not having some vibration. However, our house is really well isolated. So good, I had to do a whooooole lot to make WiFi work. And still, in the bathroom it doesn’t.