Electric guitars: What are some good ways to get small ?

Morgan R. Koren · Post by **Morgan R. Koren** » Fri Oct 16, 2009 5:15 pm

I've used small speakers, used very little wattage (1/2 watt), crappy kiddie mics, micing a speaker that's not in a cab. I've also heard that guys mic electric guitars (no amp/or blend miced with amp ???), contact mics, and of course, drastic eq cuts.

Anyone know of any other ways to get small sounds ? Do tell.

ubertar · Post by **ubertar** » Fri Oct 16, 2009 5:37 pm

Try a high pass filter and a low pass filter together to only let through a narrow band; somewhere in the high mids might be best.

JGriffin · Post by **JGriffin** » Fri Oct 16, 2009 6:43 pm

record through a hose or tube.

Morgan R. Koren · Post by **Morgan R. Koren** » Fri Oct 16, 2009 9:34 pm

dwlb wrote:record through a hose or tube.

Hell yeah !!! Actually, I did just that twelve years ago in a recording class (tracking lead guitar). The teacher said, "Don't bother, it won't sound good". And you know what ? It DID sound good.

Dan Phelps · Post by **Dan Phelps** » Fri Oct 16, 2009 9:36 pm

As mentioned, extreme hi and lo pass filtering...and compress the crap out of it.

Mic the strings of the electric and blend that in with the amp signal.

Distance the mics from the amp to reduce proximity effect.

Use one of those battery powered amps...the plastic Marshall, Twin, or Smokey Amp.

Turn it down in the mix.

Put one walkie talkie in front of the amp and mic the other one in a different room.

Get a cheapo old crystal mic and use it to mic the amp.

JGriffin · Post by **JGriffin** » Fri Oct 16, 2009 9:52 pm

alternately, use a bigass marshall stack with tons of gain and put half a dozen mics on it. That always seems to sound really small.

JGriffin · Post by **JGriffin** » Fri Oct 16, 2009 9:53 pm

Morgan R. Koren wrote:
dwlb wrote:record through a hose or tube.
Hell yeah !!! Actually, I did just that twelve years ago in a recording class (tracking lead guitar). The teacher said, "Don't bother, it won't sound good". And you know what ? It DID sound good.

When you get that response from a teacher, engineer, director or producer, your only choice is to go ahead and record it that way.

Morgan R. Koren · Post by **Morgan R. Koren** » Fri Oct 16, 2009 10:36 pm

Furilla wrote: Turn it down in the mix.

Furilla wrote:Use one of those battery powered amps...the plastic Marshall, Twin, or Smokey Amp.

Good call.

??????? · Post by **???????** » Sat Oct 17, 2009 2:49 pm

dwlb wrote:alternately, use a bigass marshall stack with tons of gain and put half a dozen mics on it. That always seems to sound really small.

haha! true that!!!

Corey Y · Post by **Corey Y** » Mon Oct 19, 2009 11:49 am

When I want that tiny "through the radio" type sound I usually do some severe subtractive eq and compress heavily. I usually use a 3 band eq, cut everything as far down as I can and sweep frequencies to find the right sound and typically finding just the right mid cut is what gets it for me.

signorMars · Post by **signorMars** » Mon Oct 19, 2009 8:17 pm

use a small guitar. any other method is over-produced bullshit.

cgarges · Post by **cgarges** » Mon Oct 19, 2009 9:41 pm

Broadcast it on Clear Channel radio station.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

Permafried Buttrock Hero · Post by **Permafried Buttrock Hero** » Mon Oct 19, 2009 10:14 pm

Why are you trying to go "small"? Do you have a recording to reference what your trying to get? Small amps are great ways to get monster sounds. Think Fender Champs and "Layla". MC5 didn't know that all their huge amp stacks would result in weak ass guitar sounds when they first recorded.

bestmixerever · Post by **bestmixerever** » Tue Oct 20, 2009 5:50 am

There is a pretty sweet plugin called Speakerphone by Audio Ease. It has millions of combinations. I give it a 9.5

Jarvis · Post by **Jarvis** » Tue Oct 20, 2009 4:51 pm

Pluggo Jr is a free set of plugs from Cycling '74. It has a plug called spectral EQ that is my new favorite way to mangle an electric guitar track.
http://www.cycling74.com/downloads/pluggo

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Electric guitars: What are some good ways to get small ?

Electric guitars: What are some good ways to get small ?

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