Recording Kick Ass Heavy Guitars 1

Gettin' Heavy With Guitars - amp & mic setups 1 

 Here at The Coolest Recording Studio In London Town - we do a Lot of guitar tracking - funk, jazz, soul, reggae, metal - you name it - we record & produce it.

Today we're recording an alt metal band who utilise a mix of Meshuggah like heaviness with clean jazz / psyche tinged chordal flows - so we need plenty of options at mixdown.
First thing you do - turn the gain down on your pedals or amp - we're going to layer the takes which will compound the overdriven tone - plus we'll be adding distortion at the mix stage - so Turn Down the gain ! - you want to hear some clarity.
Always put three mics on the cab - One should be a dynamic like a Sennheiser 421 - the next should be a ribbon mic - & the third can be another dynamic or a condenser mic.
The 421 will give you bottom end, a slight mid scoop & a warm top end, the ribbon will give you a clear image with a soft top end - plus since they are nearly always omni or figure 8 mics you get a 3D image to add to the mix. The 3rd mic can either be a condenser for clarity & bite - or another dynamic like an sm57 to add punch & tone in the mids.

Here's how it looks: 

We also set up a separate guitar amp in the vocal booth miked with 2 sm57's which we recorded at the same time - Sounds Huge !
You can see the studio Here: