Recording guitars with room sound?

[JustinParticipant]

Hi there,

I was wondering if/how you guys record room ambience while recording guitars? Is it dependent of genre? Most tutorials show an sm57/royer 121 close mic-ed which creates a very dry sound.

If you are recording in a big studio do you always record ambience or only when the track asks for it? I can imagine it gives some extra depth to the recording. Or does recording in a big room always create ambience in the pics?

Does recording in a big room has any advantages? Or is overdubbing in a small room or even in an isolation box just as good?

Thanks,

Justin

[Anders IsbergParticipant]

Some of the coolest and most unique guitar sounds I've got, has been by using alternative ways of recording. One trick I've done on a few occasions is to use a single large-diaphragm mic placed a couple of meters from the amp. I'm not shure how much of the sound is due to the room ambience. I suspect most of it is up to the mic used and the fact that you get a different sound just by not using a close-mic. Other times I've cranked a small combo in a big room and had one dynamic close mic and one or two condenser mics to pic up the room sound. Great if you after that Neil Young-ish, burning amp sound. I've also recorded a stereo, two-amp set-up with one single stereo mic to get the most out of the stereo effects used (delay and tremolo).

It definitely has to do with the genre and the sounds you're going for. Most of the time the traditional way with one or two close-mics works the best. But when you want a unique sound or just a more organic sound it can really pay off to experiment with different rooms, mics and unconventional mic placements. Not that one is better than the other, just different.

[Author]

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