5 Tips for Recording Electric Guitars

Here are some of the things I think about to get the best out of my electric guitars recording sessions!

Royer R-121 (off-axis) & Shure Sm57 (on-axis). Recording session at The Limehouse Studio.

As a guitarist for over 20 years and a sound engineer for 15, I have always enjoyed recording my own instrument and I strive to achieve the perfect sound for each composition. These tips will give you some ideas on how to capture your sound perfectly!

Here I will take you through some of my tips on how I do this, taking from my experience working in professional recording studios as well as engineering countless live acts.

Tip #1 - More Microphones!

Recording a guitar amplifier with one well-placed microphone can be very effective and I will talk about mic placement in the next steps, but often, combining the tones of two microphones can really enhance your recording.

One combination that has become an industry favourite is the pairing of the trusty, Shure SM57 dynamic microphone and the glorious Royer R-121 ribbon microphone (both shown above). This works so well because the slightly nasal quality of a SM57 delivers a lot of definition to the recorded tone whereas the Royer R-121 delivers richer, warmer qualities which, when blended with the SM57, sound fantastic. There are even special microphone clips for this combination.

The trick when recording with two microphones is to minimise phase cancellation by keeping the capsules and ribbon close together. Phase cancellation (or comb filtering in this instance) will result in a some frequencies being attenuated, so it is important to reduce this as much as possible.

Other useful dual-mic combinations for a guitar amplifier are combining a dynamic mic (such as the aforementioned SM57) with a condenser microphone (such as a Neumann U87). The dynamic mic, again, offers its restricted but defined frequency response and a condenser captures a more transient and wider frequency response, the added clarity of the higher frequencies can really help bring a duller tone to life or capture transients of a less dynamic signal.

"Normally I'll have two microphones on each cabinet, a dark mic and a bright mic, say a ribbon microphone and a condenser, or two different condensers with different characters." - Steve Albini (https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/guitar-amp-recording)

Tip #2 - Mic placement

Mic placement has a huge impact on the recorded tone of any source, so understanding how you can use mic placement to your advantage when recording guitars is beneficial. Generally (but not always), a guitar cabinet will be close-mic'd in front of the loudspeaker; however, where you position the microphone in relation to the speaker cone is worth considering. Often, a guitar cabinet will have an optimal-sounding 'sweet spot' where the tone is most desirable; however, this is largely subjective so here are a couple of measurable pointers to finding your desired tone:

Placing the microphone capsule directly in front of the centre of the speaker cone will pick up more definition from the speaker, capturing a clearer, more transient response.

As you position the microphone capsule away from the centre of the loudspeaker, the tone becomes slightly warmer, with less clarity in the high frequencies. Finding the right position along the speaker cone is an important step to capturing the desired tone.

You can also adjust the mic's distance from the speaker cone as this will also affect the recorded tone. Close-mic'ing will record the most dynamic range of the signal, most definition and more low-end (due to the proximity effect), but will minimise any room ambience in the recording. Moving the microphone away from the amplifier will capture more of the sound of the room, which can be great to give a sense of space to a recording. And similar to step 1, blending 2 mics might deliver a more desirable tone. Try recording a close mic and room mic!

Mic placement also considers their precise positioning, and microphones will capture different tones when placed on-axis to the source or off-axis (at an angle to) the source. Tilting a mic off axis will reduce high frequency response, recording a darker tone, with more prominent low-end.

Single Sennheiser e906 mic, mid-cone, on-axis - live event.

Tip #3 - Double-tracking

When it comes to rhythm guitars, I am a fan of double-tracking. Double-tracking is the process of recording the same part twice and panning each to opposite sides of the stereo field. This creates a wider stereo image and a bigger-sound! The nuances in timing between the differently performed parts give a sense of size and depth.

To make these double-tracked guitars even bigger, try recording through a different pick-up, guitar, amplifier or pedal, or by voicing the chords differently using inversions at different positions on the guitar's neck.

It's also worth experimenting with triple or quadruple tracking, with the former incorporating a channel down the centre of the stereo field!

It's worth bearing in mind that double-tracking can't be shortcut by duplicating the same track (at least not without the use of an 'automatic double-tracking' plug-in or machine) as it's the nuances in timing and performance that make double-tracking work!

Tip #4 - Direct Injections

Sometimes you might not have the access to an amplifier, or can't make as much noise. So using recording a direct signal straight into your audio interface might be the best way of getting your idea down. This is by no means a limitation, especially nowadays, when many guitarists actually prefer amplifier emulations both live and in the studio, with the flexibility to find the right tone after recording!

You can treat the DI'd signal with a guitar amplifier emulation plug-in which are often included with DAWs, or available as third-party plug-ins (there are plenty of free ones!). These plug-ins are ever-more convincing and often take the hassle out of achieving a high quality tone.

There are many examples of guitars being recorded straight into the mixing console with no amplifier at all, utilising a console's preamps to shape the tone entirely, which was common in Motown recordings.

Recording a DI'd signal also gives you further options covered in my next tip, so I'd actually advise using a Direct Injection (DI) Box to split the signal to your amplifier and directly to a preamp if you aren't settled on the tone you are recording or just want further options!

"I would do the guitars direct through that old [vintage EMI TG 12345 Mark III] desk, just so I could blow it out and just kinda make it sound like the Beatles’ ‘Revolution’ or something." - Jack Antonoff (https://www.soundonsound.com/people/jack-antonoff)

Tip #5 - Re-amping & FX

As mentioned in my previous tip, re-amping a recording relies on having a (usually) clean signal to send out from your DAW to an amplifier or through guitar pedals or equipment to further shape your sound. It might be that your DI'd signal was always intended to be recorded through a real guitar amplifier, or that a guitar amp plug-in you've used lacks a sense of space in-keeping with the other instruments, so you want to send the signal through a loudspeaker in the room other instruments were recorded in to glue them together in the mix with the same ambient space.

Re-amping also gives you the opportunity to decide on your tone without the pressure of doing it whilst recording parts, which can be difficult if you are writing music alone. This also allows you to get hands-on with FX, as you aren't tied up with performing the guitar part that you're recording - perhaps you want to alter delay feedback settings and reverb swells, which can be performed in just like you're playing an instrument!

Give it a try!

These are just a few of the things I think about when achieving the best guitar recordings I can, but experimentation is key and there is always more to learn!

I'd love to work with you on your recordings and mixes so please visit my website and get in touch via my About/Contact page here if you'd like to work together.

If you'd like to see more of my recording tips, please check out my Vocal Recording Guide.

Let me know which tip strikes a chord with you and please share if you feel this would be beneficial to others!