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Originally Posted by Freebase Dali
Guitar amplifiers sound far better and articulate both the guitar and the amp's characteristics at higher volumes. That much isn't up for debate.
That said, using a condenser is not a fantastic idea.
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I very much agree that guitar amps sound better at high volumes (my girlfriend doesn't though), but at small-room, home studio levels dynamic mics just capture a dull sound. SM57s don't start to sound good until you're at a volume level that's just unrealistic at home. I also think you're underestimating the SPLs condensors can actually handle.
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The problem when recording electric guitar with a condenser (and I've done it before) is the pickup pattern on the condenser and its tendency to catch a lot of the room acoustics.
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Most condensors have a cardioid pickup pattern. So does an SM57. Some condensors have omni, hypercardioid or figure of eight pickup patterns, some have a few which can be changed with a switch. Maybe you had one of these freebase? An omni could certainly cause the problems you've experienced. Cardioid mics are the best choice for most situations, thats why most microphones (dynamic or condensor) are cardioid.
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That may be a desirable quality if you're going for that specific effect and you have a great sounding room, I.E. recording a solo acoustic guitar, but if not, the recording is going to be problematic specifically in the mixing stage in respect to element isolation and frequency occupation. If you're recording all your instruments with a condenser, you're going to have a very mushy sounding mix.
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This isn't true. I don't think Yudansha is going to be recording in a particularly big room (am I wrong?) so it isn't likely to have problematic reverberation characteristics (although standing waves might be an issue when recording Bass, whatever the microphone). Isolation won't be a problem unless he's going to be recording more than one instrument simultaneously.
You aren't going to get a mushy sounding mix if you record all your instruments with a condensor. If you have two instruments occupying the same frequency range, pan them before you start EQ'ing them. If they're still causing you a problem, EQ them gradually, remembering to cut frequencies rather than boost them. This is another reason not to use a dynamic mic in this setting: you can easily cut what frequencies you don't want from the condensor's signal, you can't easily boost what's missing from the dynamic mic's signal
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While a dynamic microphone may not have as wide of a frequency response as a condenser, any person with experience mixing knows that guitars generally get a lot of the low frequencies hi-passed, and get some cut in the highs. It's a standard example of creating a frequency space for each element to "live" in. Mixing 101.
So unless it's just a solo guitar in the mix, no knowledgeable mixing engineer is going leave a wide freq response all the way from 30hz to 20k...
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High passing a signal doesn't cut the highs. It leaves them in, i.e. lets them
pass
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Dynamic microphones are excellent in facilitating the DESIRED qualities of high spl instrument sources.
It's quite possibly the reason they're called instrument microphones and why they're by far the standard for recording electric guitar, bass, and drums, across the board in any professional recording studio.
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Pro-studios can crank amps up to make the dynamic mics pick up really well. In the studio I use a combination of SM57s and AKG C414s on guitar cabs. The 57s catch the direct sound very close up, and they're very good at it. The C414 condensor is at a little distance and captures a more accurate detailed image of the sound. At home I just use an AKG Perception 200, which isn't as good as the C414, but it cost less so I'm not complaining. There's no point using a dynamic mic in addition to it because the frequency response isn't good enough at safe volumes in smaller rooms (and by small rooms I mean the kind people have in their houses).
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By the way, I can vouch for the MXL 990. I own one. As far as the two alternate dynamics, he's going to have to test it on his own if he decides to get them. But the SM57's, I own 6 of them and I can vouch for them as well.
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I've never really been impressed by MXL microphones, but a lot of people don't really like AKG and I do so it's probably a matter of taste. SM57s sound great used right i.e. on very loud sound sources in studios, and for live sound reinforcement, but getting good results from them isn't practical at home.
A dynamic mic could be useful to Yudansha, but a condensor would be a far better all-rounder, and buying one decent condensor as opposed to one cheap one and two cheap dynamic mics just makes better sense.
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I've been recording and mixing since 99', so I'm pretty confident that my advice isn't misinforming the gentleman who's asking.
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Respectfully, the length of time you've been doing something doesn't vouch for your skill at it. If you could let us listen to some recordings you've made, that would. Also the last post you made on this thread did contain some misinformation, as I've pointed out.