
How area miking can give your axe new sonic dimension.
Welcome to another Dojo. This month focuses on "area mic" (aka "room mic") techniques. It's a creative way to add reverb to your recordings that's different from using a plug-in, outboard gear, or a reverb pedal. Unlike recording your instrument with close mic techniques (using one or two mics), this time we are going to focus on how to record your guitar sounds in a particular space au naturel, with a mic or mics at a distance from your amp.
Capturing a particular area—like your band room, bathroom, hallway, stairwell, garage, etc.—can play a huge part in making your guitar sound larger, because you are capturing the space's inherent reverberant qualities. It can also give you a chance to add some extra effects to your core sound, as I'll discuss below. There's something really exciting and fun about setting up a mic in a physical space away from your guitar or amp and blending it in with your main guitar tone (or, in some cases, using it solely). Use your imagination and experiment with this. Okay … the dojo is now open. Let's begin.
Start with your head.
Wherever you are in your room, place a mic at ear level and use that as a new opportunity to add space and depth. You'll want to wear headphones for this (and really, for all the following examples), because we only want to capture your guitar and not the other tracks in your session. Any mic will work for this, but if you have a mic with varying polar patterns, like a large diaphragm condenser mic, start by setting the mic to omni first, then try figure 8, and lastly cardioid. Move it around until you like what you hear, then record it!
Hallways and stairwells are wonderful reverberant environments, and they can really add a sense of space while giving you a reasonably good signal-to-noise ratio.
Next, place your amp in the hallway or stairwell, if you're lucky enough to have one, and then work your way outward. Hallways and stairwells are wonderful reverberant environments and they can really add a sense of space while giving you a reasonably good signal-to-noise ratio. Remember, the further you move away from the source of your guitar sound, the more you will have to boost your input gain on your mic pre. At a certain point, you will be so far away that you'll really have to boost the signal to hear your guitar, and at that point, you'll have more noise than signal. A hallway or closely located stairwell is usually a happy medium and provides the best results. I've used "hallway" mics with great effect, and even captured happy accidents that I've left in the mix—like my Australian Shepherd barking during the end of a guitar solo.
Space is the place.
Another thing to try is recording in a reverberant space with your normal setup, and then adding an area mic in the room. This is what I like to do at Blackbird. I'll often take a guitar amp, or an acoustic, and record it in a large room. I will still close mike and then add an area mic to bring even more dimension, and then fade it in as needed. For electric guitar, try this: Place your amp in the largest room you have access to, close mike the amp (for tips on how to do this, watch my PG video "DIY: How to Mic Your Amp for Stellar Tone)," then add your area mic, and blend to taste.
Finally, you can also add processing to the area mic. This is where you can really let your imagination run wild. For example, try using distortion, delay, bit crusher, automated filter sweeps, and/or really squashing it with compression. One other thing to keep in mind is that you can automate the area mic track with all the parameters I mentioned above as well as volume and panning.
For some audio and visual demonstrations, where I do all of these suggestions, I humbly invite you to come by my website, bryanclarkmusic.com. Until next time, namaste.
The veteran Florida-born metalcore outfit proves that you don’t need humbuckers to pull off high gain.
Last August, metalcore giants Poison the Well gave the world a gift: They announced they were working on their first studio album in 15 years. They unleashed the first taste, single “Trembling Level,” back in January, and set off on a spring North American tour during which they played their debut record, The Opposite of December… A Season of Separation, in full every night.
PG’s Perry Bean caught up with guitarists Ryan Primack and Vadim Taver, and bassist Noah Harmon, ahead of the band’s show at Nashville’s Brooklyn Bowl for this new Rig Rundown.
Brought to you by D’Addario.Not-So-Quiet As a Mouse
Primack started his playing career on Telecasters, then switched to Les Pauls, but when his prized LPs were stolen, he jumped back to Teles, and now owns nine of them.
His No. 1 is this white one (left). Seymour Duncan made him a JB Model pickup in a single-coil size for the bridge position, while the neck is a Seymour Duncan Quarter Pound Staggered. He ripped out all the electronics, added a Gibson-style toggle switch, flipped the control plate orientation thanks to an obsession with Danny Gatton, and included just one steel knob to control tone. Primack also installed string trees with foam to control extra noise.
This one has Ernie Ball Papa Het’s Hardwired strings, .011–.050.
Here, Kitty, Kitty
Primack runs both a PRS Archon and a Bad Cat Lynx at the same time, covering both 6L6 and EL34 territories. The Lynx goes into a Friedman 4x12 cab that’s been rebadged in honor of its nickname, “Donkey,” while the Archon, which is like a “refined 5150,” runs through an Orange 4x12.
Ryan Primack’s Pedalboard
Primack’s board sports a Saturnworks True Bypass Multi Looper, plus two Saturnworks boost pedals. The rest includes a Boss TU-3w, DOD Bifet Boost 410, Caroline Electronics Hawaiian Pizza, Fortin ZUUL +, MXR Phase 100, JHS Series 3 Tremolo, Boss DM-2w, DOD Rubberneck, MXR Carbon Copy Deluxe, Walrus Slo, and SolidGoldFX Surf Rider III.
Taver’s Teles
Vadim Taver’s go-to is this cherryburst Fender Telecaster, which he scored in the early 2000s and has been upgraded to Seymour Duncan pickups on Primack’s recommendation. His white Balaguer T-style has been treated to the same upgrade. The Balaguer is tuned to drop C, and the Fender stays in D standard. Both have D’Addario strings, with a slightly heavier gauge on the Balaguer.
Dual-Channel Chugger
Taver loves his 2-channel Orange Rockerverb 100s, one of which lives in a case made right in Nashville.
Vadim Taver’s Pedalboard
Taver’s board includes an MXR Joshua, MXR Carbon Copy Deluxe, Empress Tremolo, Walrus ARP-87, Old Blood Noise Endeavors Reflector, MXR Phase 90, Boss CE-2w, and Sonic Research Turbo Tuner ST-200, all powered by a Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 Plus.
Big Duff
Harmon’s favorite these days is this Fender Duff McKagan Deluxe Precision Bass, which he’s outfitted with a Leo Quan Badass bridge. His backup is a Mexico-made Fender Classic Series ’70s Jazz Bass. This one also sports Primack-picked pickups.
Rental Rockers
Harmon rented this Orange AD200B MK III head, which runs through a 1x15 cab on top and a 4x10 on the bottom.
Noah Harmon’s Pedalboard
Harmon’s board carries a Boss TU-2, Boss ODB-3, MXR Dyna Comp, Darkglass Electronics Vintage Ultra, and a Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 Plus. His signal from the Vintage Ultra runs right to the front-of-house, and Harmon estimates that that signal accounts for about half of what people hear on any given night.
The Sunset is a fully analog, zero latency bass amplifier simulator. It features a ¼” input, XLR and ¼” outputs, gain and volume controls and extensive equalization. It’s intended to replace your bass amp both live and in the studio.
If you need a full sounding amp simulator with a lot of EQ, the Sunset is for you. It features a five band equalizer with Treble, Bass, Parametric Midrange (with frequency and level controls), Resonance (for ultra lows), and Presence (for ultra highs). All are carefully tuned for bass guitar. But don’t let that hold you back if you’re a keyboard player. Pianos and synthesizers sound great with the Sunset!
The Sunset includes Gain and master Volume controls which allow you to add compression and classic tube amp growl. It has both ¼” phone and balanced XLR outputs - which lets you use it as a high quality active direct box. Finally, the Sunset features zero latency all analog circuitry – important for the instrument most responsible for the band’s groove.
Introducing the Sunset Bass Amp Simulator
- Zero Latency bass amp simulator.
- Go direct into the PA or DAW.
- Five Band EQ:
- Treble and Bass controls.
- Parametric midrange with level and frequency controls.
- Presence control for extreme highs.
- Resonance control for extreme lows.
- Gain control to add compression and harmonics.
- Master Volume.
- XLR and 1/4" outputs.
- Full bypass.
- 9VDC, 200mA.
Artwork by Aaron Cheney
MAP price: $210 USD ($299 CAD).
His credits include Miles Davis’ Jack Johnson and Herbie Mann—next to whom he performed in Questlove’s 2021 documentary, Summer of Soul—and his tunes have been covered by Santana and the Messthetics. But it’s as a bandleader and collaborator where Sharrock cut his wildest recordings. As groundbreaking as Sharrock’s music could be, his distorted tone and melodic tunes helped bring rock listeners into the jazz tent. Our callers let us know how much Sharrock meant to them and why he’s one of the “top guys of all time.”
Belltone Guitars has partnered Brickhouse Toneworks to create a one-of-a-kind, truly noiseless Strat/Tele-tone pickup in a standard Filter’Tron size format: the Single-Bell pickup.
The Single-Bell by Brickhouse Toneworks delivers bonafide single-coil Strat and Tele tones with the power of a P-90 and no 60-cycle hum. Unlike typical stacked hum-cancelling designs, Brickhouse Toneworks uses a proprietary ‘sidewind’ approach that cancels the 60-cycle hum without sacrificing any of the dynamics or top-end sparkle of a Fender-style single coil.
Get the best of both worlds with clear bell-like tones on the neck pickup, signature quack when combining the neck and bridge pickups, and pristine twang in the bridge position backed with the fullness and power of a P-90. Push these into overdrive and experience the hallmark blues tone with plenty of grit and harmonic sustain — all with completely noiseless performance.
Key Features of the Single-Bell:
- Cast Alnico 5 Magnet, designed to be used with 500k pots
- Voiced to capture that signature Fender-style single coil tone without the 60-cycle hum
- Lightly potted to minimize squeal
- Made in the USA with premium quality materials
The retail price for a Bridge and Neck matching set is $340.00 and they’re available directly and exclusively through Belltone® Guitars / Brickhouse Toneworks at belltoneguitars.com.