Electric Guitar / Amp Micing Techniques Guitar Lesson
Electric Guitar / Amp Micing Techniques
Chris liepe unlocks the wonders of micing an electric guitar amplifier. He explains how to find a speaker's "sweet spot" as well as the differences in tone between various common micing techniques.
Taught by Chris Liepe in Recording and Micing seriesLength: 21:13Difficulty: 3.0 of 5
Supplemental Learning Material
Recording and Micing
Found in our Beginner Lesson SetsUnderstanding the basics to recording and micing your guitar can help you develop as a musician. Gain a grasp on how to create your own personal studio
Lesson 1
Introduction and Getting Started
Welcome to lesson 1 of the Recording and Micing series! Here Chris provides some information essential to getting your home studio up and running.
Length: 15:50 Difficulty: 2.0 FREELesson 2
Setting Up Your Space
Setting up your space for optimal audio recording and play back is key to creating a successful home studio. Chris explains how to create the best possible environment in this lesson.
Length: 27:48 Difficulty: 2.5 Members Only
Understanding Microphones
Chris demonstrates how microphones work and how to choose the right microphone for a specific application.
Length: 12:26 Difficulty: 1.0 Members Only
Direct Recording
Chris explains how to successfully record through some direct recording techniques. When done correctly, you can record a clean signal from your guitar with no microphones.
Length: 8:33 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
Electric Guitar / Amp Micing Techniques
Chris liepe unlocks the wonders of micing an electric guitar amplifier. He explains how to find a speaker's "sweet spot" as well as the differences in tone between various common micing techniques.
Length: 21:13 Difficulty: 3.0 Members Only
Acoustic Guitar Micing Techniques
Chris Liepe teams up with Jim Deeming to present proper acoustic guitar micing techniques. Chris covers both single and dual micing placements and explains why each position is effective for certain situations.
Length: 20:34 Difficulty: 3.0 Members Only
Acoustic Recording Options
With the help of Jim's playing, Chris has rigged up Jim's guitar three different ways and demonstrates the different qualities of sound you can get by recording with a direct line in, micing the amp, micing...
Length: 6:18 Difficulty: 1.5 Members Only
Layering Multiple Guitar Tracks
With Jim playing 3 different sequences to overdub on top of one another, Chris will record them using 3 different micing techniques with 2 different guitars to create 1 final track.
Length: 14:07 Difficulty: 3.5 Members Only
Effects Signal Routing
Chris takes a step back from electric and acoustic micing to demonstrate the proper way to route your effects to achieve the best possible sound.
Length: 14:20 Difficulty: 2.0 Members Only
Direct Guitar Recording (Using a DAW)
Chris uses a Pro Tools session to demonstrate not only how to create a solid lead guitar sound within your home DAW, but how the basic tools and tips that he demonstrates can be applied to any software...
Length: 30:12 Difficulty: 4.0 Members Only
Direct Guitar EQ Basics
Chris Liepe reveals the basics of how to properly understand and utilize EQ tools within a DAW to define and enrich your overall guitar sound.
Length: 40:17 Difficulty: 4.0 Members Only
About Chris Liepe
View Full Biography
Chris Liepe was born on September 17th, 1981 in Portland OR. His first instrument was piano which he pursued until discovering his love for the electric guitar in high school. He became fans of such groups as Soundgarden, Collective Soul and U2 inspiring him to start singing, songwriting and helping others in their musical endeavors with teaching, co-writing and album production.
Having moved to Colorado with his family, he began gigging, recording and teaching in a number of music stores as well as out of his apartment until deciding to pursue music full time. He moved to Denver, CO to complete a Bachelors in Music Technology and was then hired on by Sweetwater Productions, a division of Sweetwater Sound and one of the largest, most successful recording studios in the Midwest.
Chris spent nearly 4 years at Sweetwater as a producer, recording engineer, studio musician and writer. During this time he had the privilege of working with many artists including Augustana, Landon Pigg, Jars of Clay, and Mercy Me. He also wrote for and played on numerous independent albums and hundreds of radio/TV commercials.
Wanting to get back to his favorite State in the world (Colorado) and feeling the urge to 'go freelance', Chris moved to Greeley, CO and opened his own recording and teaching studio. He continues to write and produce music for artists and agencies and is happy to be among the proud JamPlay.com instructors.
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Member Comments about this Lesson
Discussions with our instructors are just one of the many benefits of becoming a member of JamPlay.This by far is one of the most informative studio lesson I've had. Great job guys! Love the questions too, they answered all my questions.
Is there anything in this series that covers latency? I have a huge problem with latency
Most latency problems are related to outdated computers AND/OR cheap gear. I've never had latency problems with Pro Tools using Digidesign/Avid hardware (even the inexpensive stuff) but I've had many problems with situations where I'm going directly in to a computer sound card without a real recording interface. What kind of gear are you using?
Is it still ok to have your amp in the same room with the rest of your recording equipment? Anything you need to take special notice of in such case? Great job guys, thanks!
its okay but not preferable. When you have your amp cranked in the same room, it's harder to make adjustments to your sound while listening to your studio monitors or headphones as you see me doing in the lesson. Even if its in the bedroom next to you or down the hall, it's better than having it right next to you in the same room
Very interesting demonstrations Chris. It was particularly useful to get direct comparisons like that. One of the hardest things for 'home hobby' recorders to determine is what weight to put on the enthusiasms of more experienced people. Many of us are likely to be working with considerably less professional equipment, and also may not need to be shooting all the way to the sort of perfection that pro audio engineers chase. But it’s very hard to tell from reading articles which aspect is really worthwhile putting the time and money into and which is more like “nice, but not quite so essential” . So your clear explanations and audio files were a tremendous help. I was listening through a fairly modest setup - a pair of M-Audio BX5a powered monitors. They’re well below pro standards, but obviously a lot better than the average radio speaker, car CD player, ipod earbud, etc. So probably a reasonable middle of the road test. I could hear a clear difference in some instances, and really not all that much in others - which is all very useful information. You’re giving us lots to experiment with in this series, which will be a great help when we come to decide where to best invest whatever time and money we have to spare. Thanks for a good job. Chris C.
you are welcome! we'll be adding acoustic mic'ing soon!
This was very informative and, if you don't mind, I'd like to take it a step further and ask you some questions and throw out some assumptions that you can set me straight on if not correct. First, I assume we are hearing all of the various examples through your monitors and the amps behind you are safely in a sound proof room with no leakage. Can you say what monitors you are using? They sound pretty good. Second assumption is that you are using Pro-Tools. Even if you aren't, I think you can answer my question. When you are recording the combined microphone set up, are you recording onto one stereo track or two mono tracks? Recording the amp with the mic seems to have the advantage over recording direct, because it seems the mic'd amp, that sounds pretty good already, will not need much additional processing and help conserve computer system resources that will help to avoid playback issues that always seem to pop when you use a lot of plug ins. Lastly, going back to an earlier lesson where you recommended that we utilize some type of midi controller, I have researched the subject and there's a lot of them out there. Due to space constraints I have narrowed the search down to the M-Audio Oxygen 25 v3, M-Audio Axiom 25 II, Akai MPK25, Novation Nocturn 25 and I could probably squeeze in a Cakewalk A-300PRO 32 key. The net price range is in the $130-$300 range, which seems reasonable to me. I don't know if you are constrained in any way as to recommending a specific product, but, if not, does this look like a good group of prospects and is there any particular one that you consider a cut above. I'm looking for a starter controller that will have enough fire power to keep things interesting for awhile. I use Pro-Tools 8 le with and MBox 2. Thanks and I appreciate the detail feedback you provide when your fans ask you questions.
"First, I assume we are hearing all of the various examples through your monitors and the amps behind you are safely in a sound proof room with no leakage." -- No, you're not hearing my studio monitors at all. You're hearing a direct from Pro Tools. In order for you to hear my monitors, I'd have to mic my monitors and record those in to Pro Tools. So you're just hearing the tracks directly recorded in to Pro Tools. "Can you say what monitors you are using? They sound pretty good." -- MAudio DSM1's with a Tannoy 8" sub. "When you are recording the combined microphone set up, are you recording onto one stereo track or two mono tracks?" --Two mono tracks! This way I have better control if I need to EQ on mic differently or add other effects. I rarely use stereo tracks unless I'm recording keyboards or something. "Recording the amp with the mic seems to have the advantage over recording direct, because it seems the mic'd amp, that sounds pretty good already, will not need much additional processing and help conserve computer system resources that will help to avoid playback issues that always seem to pop when you use a lot of plug ins." -- YES!! This has been my experience. It takes some patience to find the right sound with the amps and mics, but it feels and sounds great once you get things dialed in. Most of my favorite recordings growing up were made by throwing a mic in front of a great amp, so I really like working that way! "Question about Midi Controllers" --Really its all about what you can afford and what kind of feel you want. I opted to spend a good deal of money cause I wanted something that FELT like a real piano. The ones that you mentioned in your comment are all great, and small is certainly workable with space constraints. I'd say, pop on over to your local music store and play around with a few of them and see what feels right. All of them WILL work just fine. It's kinda like buying a guitar. They all make sound and do their job, but you have to play with it to find what is right for you.
Just wondering, can I expect much more out of this series, or is this pretty much the last lesson for a while?
There's much more. We will be adding to it next month.
Nice, looking forward to it!
I'm excited to learn from this series. Thanks, Chris and JP team!
hey chris i see somebody in the background playing with your trinkets you have on your nightstand at 08:50 in scene 2 lol.
Haha. That was Tyler adjusting the camera, reflecting Off the glass
I have watched a TON of videos and read a LOT of articles on this topic. This is far and beyond the clearest, most useful video on this topic I have seen. Period. Great job guys.