So I ended up getting some new gear, a Shure SM57 mic, M-Audio AV40 monitors, I am micing my Blackstar HT-5 and going through my focus-rite 2i2 then through reaper. I have tried one rec take and am hearing buzzing but was not really properly set up. Any advice on how to get best sound would be awesome Also bought mic stand so I can put mic right by cabinet. I have a short recording here and didn't have mic stand at time. And I apologize in advance if file didn't load properly

First of all congrats on the new gear

The buzzing sounded like a faulty guitar jack or some lose connection from the guitar input, check them first. Sometimes, the cable hanging down from the soundcard too much can also cause this, just place something under the cable so the jack input it won't make any down force to the soundcards input. If none of these try moving the amp, pedals etc. away from the computer (even one of my pedals make a high pitch noise if too close to the computer).

Its wise you also bought a mic stand. The guitar tone you shared was cool to me but might be too "sharp sounding" depending on the backing track you'll use.

Mic placement is easy and fun to learn; center (very close and right to the middle of the speaker cone) is where you get most presence, the more you slide the placement to the side (any side or up/down) its like decreasing high freq.s with an eq only better

You can also give angle/rotation to the mic or move it away from the speaker and these have different effects, even depending on the room.

I suggest taking the time and record short examples with different mic placements, it won't take long for you to memorise what setting affects the tone just like memorizing your amps eq in time.

PS; You can also split the signal and record the clean signal of the guitar since you have 2 inputs on your soundcard. With the clean signal you can blend amp sims. to your mic.ed guitar sound for tone variety. This is probably a bit advanced for you now and I don't want to confuse you at the current point but just make a thread later on about this if needed.

This post has been edited by Mertay: Jun 20 2015, 12:25 AM

Thanks Mertay for the great advice and your absolutely right, I love my Jackson Adrian Smith model but one problem I have had is the guitar input jack gets loose and starts to buzz, only figured that out last night as to why it buzzes

Try going from the emulated output of your blackstar with a 1/4 inch guitar cable,into your audio interface. Works great.

Great stuff, you'll get nice tone through that SM57

Hey dc702, have used the emulated output just prefer the sound of my live setup going in and the Shure mic does have a great tone.

Congrats on your new gear! As Mertay said the tone is a pinch bright. One thing to remember on mixing is

"Whatever your monitors/speakers are good at, your mixes will be bat at."

So in other words, if your playback system/speakers are really bright, your mixes will sound dull on other folks playback systems. If your speakers are really dull, your mixes will sound bright when played elsewhere.

The monitors your have there are a great place to start and will get you going in the world of recording but they may be not telling you the truth in terms of what you are hearing. I'd suggest splurging on a good set of headphones as was mentioned in another post where i think I linked the huge thread where we talk about which headphones are good for mixing at home. That way you can have something to compare the speakers to. This will help you tweak your mix so that it will "travel" better

Until then you may have to resort to something non ideal like ear buds or beats or something. Whatever is laying around. Essentially, playing back a mix on different things lets you get an idea of how it will sound on different systems. This is why you sometimes see three or four sets of monitors/speakers on a mixing station.

Keep moving the mic around on the stand til you find a spot you like Dead center on the cone is the first place to try then move it, angle it, tweak it.

Mertay had a great idea on recording your dry signal as well. That way, even if your amp/mic tone is not great, you can use a plugin (Guitar Rig 5 FREE is of course FREE) and blend that with the amp signal to get a thicker overall sound.

Onward!
Todd

Thanks Todd for more awesome advice, I have a pair of Senheiser HD 125s and also bought a pair of M-Audio AV 40s, which the guy said are great for first time monitor users

On a side note I didn't realize that you can throw your video into reaper as well, synching video with Audio seems to be a pain in the butt for me but have figured out a few things

You've got plenty of gear at this point Record your brains out!!

Yup! Reaper does great with vid I've found that with Adobe Premiere, synching can be a bit easier once all the audio tracks are complete. But premiere isn't free and now is on a subscription so it's not practical on a tight budget. I've got the old version from before the subscription.

Thanks Todd, actually might get Adobe Premiere on the monthly subscription, Ive heard a lot of good things about it