Kevin Shields Interview

[wafl]

http://tapeop.com/tutorials/26/my-bloody-valentine-1/
This is actually pretty old(2001) but its an interesting read nonetheless.
He makes an interesting point about the sound of a 421 vs a 57 for recording guitar which has me interested in trying out a 421.

[GardenoftheDead]

I've recorded a guitar with both at once and honestly I like the sound of them together or the 57 by itself better than the 421 by itself.

[waltdogg]

i use a 57 and 421 on guitars and blend em together. i dont really like the sound of either mic on their own, but together they sound like pure sex.

[wafl]

I don't really like the 57 on its own either which is what intrigued me. I usually blend it with a condenser that's been eq'd on the board a bit to give it the body the 57 lacks but it seems like a lot less work to just mix it with a 421. I take it they're not as finnicky with placement as condensers can be?

[DRodriguez]

I love me a 421, but it also has much more low end than a 57, which can muddy up a mix if you're not careful. My go to for rapid micing when I want lots of flexibility without a lot of soundcheck time is 57 at 45º, 414 straight at a cone, and a 57 directly opposite from the first at 45º, ø in the open back if it has one. Gives me great open full range sound to mold with the 414, gives me a more cutting tone with the 45º for a solo, and the rear mic can give me a more ambient naturally reverby type of sound with a lot of low end. Just need to watch phase, If you can't get the phase to sit right live, track monitoring just the 414 and do phase alignment in post.

[wafl]

If only I had a 414... (wistfully looks into the distance)

That's an interesting setup though. I might have to try that for lead vs rhythm sections, switching from the front to the back 57. Thanks for the suggestion.

Although might be time consuming given that my perfectionism does not allow fixing phase in post.

[rustywire]

Most quality (read: the ones you want to be using) mic pres have a phase or "180" button or toggle switch.
Flip it on the channel you're using for rear-of-the-open-cab miking

[wafl]

I was talking about fixing phase where you take the track in your DAW that's out of phase and move it either forwards or backwards to be in phase. You have to look at the waveforms and match the peaks. Sometimes it works(sounds right), sometimes it doesn't.

[rustywire]

Yeah I get it.
I lean toward the school of thought where doing it right as early in the signal chain as possible produces superior results, fewer headaches.
If you take the time to get your miking right from the start, then it's a case of an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

[DRodriguez]

Actually, a lot of really expensive mic pre's and really good sounding mic pre's don't have a ø button to flip the phase. Especially the ones that focus on minimizing the signal path between mic and board. Most boards or daw's will have an easy way to do that though.

But in this case you absolutely want to flip phase vs just moving the waveforms. With the mic facing the other way entirely, the waveform will never match up exactly phase-wise unless flipped. If you get it close without flipping the phase, you'll actually be creating a tiny delay instead.

If your board system can't do that live while tracking, make sure you can get the sound you want out of the other mics you have, and treat the other mic as an extra or backup. Always make sure you have something usable at the tracking stage.