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An electric guitar is capable of a wide range of sounds and is unique in that the amplifier and the speakers are as much a part of the sound as the instrument itself. This means that to record the "true" sound of the electric guitar, you ideally need to capture the sound coming from the speakers with microphones.
Amp Modelling v. Miking
Amp modelling effects such as The line 6 PODs, Boss GT series of multieffects or Native Instruments Guitar Rig software can offer a quick and easy way to record an electric guitar with decent tone and offer a range of amp tones to choose from. However many players are more comfortable with a real amplifier and will give their best performance when using one. There is nothing quite like the visceral pleasure of playing through a loud valve amplifier.
First & Foremost
The single most important detail in getting great electric guitar sounds is that the sound coming out of the amp should be great. This is determined by the guitar, amp & speakers and the person playing it. It is much easier to get a good recorded sound if the guitar/amp setup is a good sounding one and making sure that the guitar sounds good first can save you a lot of time later. So make sure the guitar is free from buzzes and rattles, the strings are relatively new and the intonation is set properly. See some of the guitar maintenance articles on this site, or take the instrument to a luthier for a professional setup. Also make sure the amplifier is in a good state of repair. Valve amplifiers also need to be maintained, with new valves every few years and more extensive overhauls every fifteen years or so. Any problems with noisy pots or jacks should be sorted out before you go into the studio.
Miking
It is important to remember the point made above: the amp and speakers are part of the instrument and should be treated as such. Open backed guitar cabinets emit sound from both the front and the rear of the cabinet, and you must often capture both to reproduce the real sound of the amp. The key to getting a great guitar sound is to constantly experiment, trying lots of things until you get the sound that is most pleasing to your ears.
Usually a guitar amp is miked close up with the mic up against the grille of the amp the way you do on stage - this is the quickest way to capture a dry isolated sound that will It also pays to add in an ambient mic a short distance away from the amp and finally with a room mic a few metres away. This gives you a range of sounds to play with. In the smaller home studio, or those with an unflattering room sound, you may want to omit using the room mic. If you are going to use a room mic, take time to find a spot in the room where the amp sounds good and a spot distant from the amp which sounds good. Use those sophisticated measuring instruments of yours (your ears) and walk around the room listening for "sweet spots" where the amp sounds good - you'll know them when you find them. Try different mics, try moving them closer and farther, try different angles, try putting the amp in a corner, try putting the amp on a concrete floor, try it on a wood floor, try it on a floor with carpeting - basically just try everything you can think of!
Close mic: The close mic gives a dry, punchy, detailed sound. Usually a dynamic mic such as a Shure SM57 or a Sennheiser MD421 is used as the close mic as dynamics can handle the volume levels and have enough frequency range to cope with the limited response of an electric guitar. Set up the mic right against the amp's grill cloth, pointing it straight at the amp will give a clearer, more detailed sound, but with more highs and a harsher edge. Angling the mic slightly will soften the tone at the expense of a little detail and highs, and moving the mic towards the edge of the speaker will result in a mellower sound, as will moving the mic away from the cloth slightly.
Close miking multi-speaker cabinets - Speakers vary a little, so if the amp has a multi-speaker guitar cabinet, listen to each to see which has the better sound and close mic that one. Usually there is nothing to gain by miking more than one speaker, unless the cabinet has different speaker models which each contribute something different to the tone - then you should mic both.
Ambient mic: A mic placed a few inches to a few feet back can fill out the sound and create interesting tonalities. Just be careful of the delay (approximately 1ms per foot or 3ms per metre) which causes phasing - cancelling certain frequencies when mixed with another mic, which can be pleasing or horrible, depending on the frequencies cancelled. So experimenting with distances is very important. If you are recording to a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation), it is possible to sidestep any phasing issues while keeping the ambient mic's tonality by dragging the recorded track into alignment with the other mic tracks.
Room Mic: For the room mic, place a condenser mic anywhere from half a metre to two metres in front of the amp (at the same height as the amp) and point the mic at one of the speakers. The further the mic is from the amp, the more bass and less midrange it will have. More room sound will be picked up - making the sound bigger.
If you have enough tracks on your recorder, print each mic to a separate track (if possible) to be able to decide the balance between them later, otherwise mix them to the desired balance when recording to a single track - just be careful not too add in too much room mic.
Processing
Compression
Use compression on the close mic. Set the compressor at a 3:1 ratio and adjust the threshold so that the compressor is usually working, but not squashing the signal too much.
Equalisation
The Electric guitar is not a natural instrument, so the only EQ rule is: Get the sound you want! Adding 100Hz - 250Hz will give you more bottom, rolling off 300Hz - 500Hz will eliminate some of the nasal quality, adding a touch of 700Hz will create a throaty or woody sound, adding a pinch of 1K will give the guitar more edge, adding 3K will give the guitar more bite, and adding 5, 8, or 10K will make it brighter.
Doubling Guitar Parts
Doubling a rhythm guitar and panning the two tracks hard left and right can make the guitars sound huge. But consider what works best for the song. Is the rhythm guitar the featured instrument, or will there be several other guitars competing for space in the stereo spread? Sometimes less is more.
If you do decide to double the guitar, think about altering the sound on the double track to give you more thickness. You can change guitars and keep the amp the same, or vice versa. Change pickup settings if using the same guitar on the second track. EQ the two tracks differently (scoop mids out from one and boost the bass and treble, and do the inverse for the second guitar). Make sure the performance is really tight though, matching the first track's phrasing. Otherwise you might end up with a cluttered mix that would be better off with only one track of guitar.
Mixing
Start with the close mic - this should comprise the bulk of your guitar sound. If it sounds good as it is, stop and don't add any room or ambient mic - just because you have the extra mic tracks, doesn't mean you have to use them (but rather have them and not need them than need them and not have them). For a slightly more distant, but fuller sound, bring up the fader on the ambient or room mics. Slowly add those signals to the close sound. You'll have the detail of the close mic, but with the fullness that comes with adding some "room" sound to it.
You don't need to mix the guitar much louder than the other instruments or with more distortion to make it sound big. It's all about how well you record it to begin with. If you've done that right you'll be in great shape for the mix.
Read more guitar articles at http://articles.guitarforum.co.za
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