starting point is probably closer to a foot back from the amp, directly in line
with the speaker cone. If the center cone position is too brash or gritty, try
moving the mic an inch or two off center. This will often yield a more velvety,
natural sounding treble response.
If time and resources are available, using more than one microphone is often
the ticket to achieving a recorded guitar tone that actually sounds like what
your ears are hearing in the room. A combination of close and room mics can
be magical in a good sounding space, with a dynamic microphone right up
on the speaker, and a condenser or ribbon further back. With an open back
cabinet, a neat trick is to mic the back of the cab with a condenser. Quite a
bit of low-end emanates from the rear of an open-backed cab, so putting a
mic back there to capture this aspect of the tone can add depth and realism
beyond what a single mic can capture. It should also be noted that using
more than one mic increases the possibility of unpleasant phase cancellation
problems when the mics are combined, so listen carefully and move the
distant mic around a bit if it sounds hollow, phasey, thin, or just unpleasant
when the second mic is added to the mix. When miking the back of a cabinet,
the rear mic should usually have its phase reversed for appropriate phase
alignment, though this is not a hard-and-fast rule. Use your ears to judge.
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