How do you place your SM57 for micing cab ?

[Clemouze]

Salut

Just want to know how do you do

I did close mic and center placement for a few recordings but I think I like better close mic and a slight move to the edge, like between the speaker's center and between the speaker's surounding

 

[saabfender]

Crank your amp up until it's generating a fair amount of white noise. Surf the mic around while wearing closed headphones until you come up with the most focused sound.

 

[Clemouze]

Crank your amp up until it's generating a fair amount of white noise. Surf the mic around while wearing closed headphones until you come up with the most focused sound.

Only with white noise ?

 

[saabfender]

Only with white noise ?

Yes indeed.

 

[Clemouze]

Yes indeed.

Ok thanks I will try

But the question was more in an attempt to know what kind of placements others are liking, more than asking for advices for my placement ! But I'll keep the trick !

 

[beans-on-toast]

Tips on micing from the TalkBass Portaflex Wiki:

Tips, Tricks, and Modifications | TalkBass.com

I place the mic, have someone play, and listen. Position affects EQ to some extent.

 

[walterw]

my bass cab?

i place it back in the bag.

 

[Jim C]

Start with 6"-12" off of the face of the cone
Position to be about 1/3 of the distance from the outside cone edge to the centerline

Have bass player play
Have an assistant put on headphones as the engineer / producer listens to the tone and, directs assistant to move to different locations
Once in a great while, I'll pull the mic about 3'-10' out to get more of a live rock sound assuming bleed is reasonable.

 

[JimmyM]

I do center because that gives me the most high end and still has plenty of low end.

 

[Clemouze]

I do center because that gives me the most high end and still has plenty of low end.

Close position to the speaker or des inches away ?

 

[JimmyM]

Close position to the speaker or des inches away ?

With a 57, I'd put it in as close as possible so the proximity effect gives you more lows.

 

[Clemouze]

With a 57, I'd put it in as close as possible so the proximity effect gives you more lows.

Yes , what I understand !
I know the use of a 57 can be subject to some argue here on TB

 

[JimmyM]

Yes , what I understand !
I know the use of a 57 can be subject to some argue here on TB

Ya, I'd rather use a mic a little more suited to bass than a 57, but have I gotten killer bass sounds with one? Yes I have.

 

[Zbysek]

IME, the positioning of a mike which is not dedicated to bass, such as SM57, will largely depend on whether you will combine it with line signal or whether you will use it as the only source of signal...

If you use as the only source, you need to find a position which gives you as much bass frequencies as possible to compensate for this mike's characteristics...

If you combine it with line signal, you don't need to worry about bass frequencies too much...

The sound techs who I work with do not use SM57 for bass so I cannot help you with more specific advice, sorry

 

[nilorius]

When recording, i preffer balanced output.

 

[amper]

Salut

Just want to know how do you do

I did close mic and center placement for a few recordings but I think I like better close mic and a slight move to the edge, like between the speaker's center and between the speaker's surounding

I don't. I wouldn't ever use an SM57 on a bass cab unless it was literally the only thing I had available.

In fact, I'd never mic a bass cab unless I was making a demonstration video of bass cabs, in which case I would use a Beta 52A, on axis, just in front of the grille. Live or recorded, I prefer a DI.

 

[Deleted member 271037]

The most important thing is that you trust your ears and place the mic where YOU think it sounds best. Move the mic around and do some test recordings.

Closer to the centre should provide a brighter sound. Closer to the edge should provide a more mellow sound.

Moving the mic closer to the grill cloth should provide more lows because of the proximity effect but this will depend a lot on the mic. Some mics have a HUGE proximity effect, others have none. Too close can make things muddy though, rather than the tight lows we really want. The SM57 is a bit like that. It doesn't really provide the lows to make it suitable for bass and using the proximity effect to compensate will just make the sound muddy.

My personal approach:

For close miking I would generally place the mic slightly outside the dust cap and 2-3 cm from the grille cloth as a starting point but every cab is different and there's not one mic position that fits everything. If it's a nice sounding room (as in acoustically treated) I would consider pulling the mic a lot further away from the cab and use a LDC or a ribbon mic. But this would depend a LOT on what kind of sound I'm looking for.

I agree about the SM57 not being suitable for bass (unless it is combined with a DI signal). Something like a Beyerdynamic M88TG, Sennheiser MD421 or Electrovoice RE20 would be a LOT better as a standalone bass mic. I would avoid scooped sounding kick drum mics. They provide the lows but are severely lacking in the mids where all the tone and the "cut" is. The SM57 on the other hand has the "cut" but not the lows (so it'a actually quite decent for adding mids and a bit of "dirt" to a DI signal but close to useless as a standalone bass mic IMO).

 

[jmlee]

Start with 6"-12" off of the face of the cone
Position to be about 1/3 of the distance from the outside cone edge to the centerline

This when I've mic-ed a single 15 cab live with a 57, often blended with the DI.

 

[Jack]

I like the 57 because it's perfect for close micing. It rolls off the lower frequencies naturally, but if you combine this with the bass boost by close micing you get a decent response with little outside bleed. So as close as possible to the grille, around 1/4 to 1/2 way between the centre and the outside.

But, you know, DI box...

 

[Clemouze]

IME, the positioning of a mike which is not dedicated to bass, such as SM57, will largely depend on whether you will combine it with line signal or whether you will use it as the only source of signal...

If you use as the only source, you need to find a position which gives you as much bass frequencies as possible to compensate for this mike's characteristics...

If you combine it with line signal, you don't need to worry about bass frequencies too much...

The sound techs who I work with do not use SM57 for bass so I cannot help you with more specific advice, sorry

Ha yes good to think about that !