Best mics for recording metal guitar?

[Descent]

That sounds handy, does this exist in plugin form that you know of?

edit: ah, there's the Beta PhaseBug which I appear to have already downloaded about 6 months ago

I think you'd just match it manually by moving the waveform, the problem not doing it in a desk is that you'd have to have 0 latency monitoring on the drums so you can hear the phase correctly when you sweep it via the plugin.

BTW, I've used C414's virtually on everything and you can rarely go wrong with this mic. Even attended one super $$$$ session where every tom was miked with a C414 and the overheads were Neumanns and it was

I managed to build myself a sample library of that setup when the drummer and head engineer left, it gets a lot of use

 

[atoragon]

I have seen that for metal the 2 most used combo are sm57+md421 and sm57+royer121

 

[Descent]

I have seen that for metal the 2 most used combo are sm57+md421 and sm57+royer121

You're probably right, especially now when people just read forum and parrot other's advices instead of trying an original approach.

I've actually worked with some engineers that are not metalheads, and it is interesting to see how a classical music engineer will approach these things sometimes. I remember we built an acoustic chamber tunnel with gobos with one guy and put in stereo pairs down it at different distances. That was for lead guitar though.

 

[noUser01]

I have seen that for metal the 2 most used combo are sm57+md421 and sm57+royer121

It's hard to make a broad statement about "most used" and "metal" as a whole, but these are two very common combos for sure.

 

[aqa]

As others guys said above, if you are a starting experimenting, get a sm57, and start learning mic positioning, dial the amps gain, amp eq, volume sweet spot, tube screamers, double or quad tracking

That kind of stuff matters a lot

 

[Necris]

I like the SM57 but I've gotten tones I like as much or more with other microphones.

I've actually gravitated towards ribbon mics as of late, however, they certainly aren't for everyone. They're super sensitive to placement and distance from the cab and have a handful of strange quirks and drawbacks, such as super high impedance and fragility, that would put most people off even if they liked the sound from the start (which isn't true of most people who are accustomed to dynamics or condensers).
I've experimented with a Tube condenser as well but the weight of that microphone makes setup an absolute bastard even though I recall liking the results.

 

[newamerikangospel]

Just to reiterate, the heil pr20 is my go to for v30s and depending on what I want a g25. The first time I positioned mine with pink noise then started riffing (cab in the other room) I was blown away. It has a weird "sag"/dynamic to the tone, whereas the sm57 sounds very stiff.

 

[Descent]

I've done some cool stuff with PZM's as well, as a stereo pair about 2 feet away attached to a wooden board (piano top) with the board facing the 4x12. It was a trick usually done for comp mono drum trick (compress and add some tube grit, mix in the back for glue).

Also had great results using a Shure Beta 87A when I did a session where we ran out of guitar mics and just took the vocalist's mic for one of the guitars.

 

[jsmalleus]

People have already mentioned most of the mics I've been digging, some really good advice so far. I just wanted to chime in a recommendation for some of those who mentioned they wanted to dabble with ribbon mics but the royer cost is a bit prohibitive. Same boat here, I just wanted to slate my ribbon curiosity & get some experience with them, so I tried a cascade fathead, and it's actually pretty sweet. I got the BE (bare essentials) stock one, but they have others with transformer upgrades, etc. if you're looking for some variance. The BE can be had for $129 new (or less with offer options), so it's not much more than a 57 if you're feeling curious

Just make sure you test it, they are sensitive and the initial one I got must have been tossed around a bit during shipping. I had (like a moron) let it sit in the box past the return window from B&H before I tried it out & couldn't return it, luckily Cascade CS was awesome and they just sent me a new one and had me put the old one in the box & send it back.

 

[Descent]

Samson VR88 is another one I've been hearing good things about, but the price is still a bit crazy. Don't know if I want to spend that much on a mic right now.

 

[cGoEcYk]

Audix i5 and Senn e609/906 are nice modern mics in the inexpensive category.

 

[Ploki]

try beyerdynamic opus99 on guitars. PM for a clip.

new name is TG D70d

 

[gnoll]

Man, this thread turned out better than I expected, really cool replies. There's definitely a lot of mics I'd like to try although I guess the sensible thing is probably to start out with the pr20 I already have. Sigh, I wish I had an unlimited budget...

 

[AntonioPetrole]

My Royer R121 was my favorite mic I've ever had for guitars. I couldn't possibly find a way to ever make it sound harsh or unusable. Blended with a 57 (for that bite) was always a killer combo.

 

[Sopko]

I have had a lot of good results pairing a Rode NT1000 and e609 or the all powerful SM57. I never use the SM57 by itself though.

 

[Drew]

Man, this thread turned out better than I expected, really cool replies. There's definitely a lot of mics I'd like to try although I guess the sensible thing is probably to start out with the pr20 I already have. Sigh, I wish I had an unlimited budget...

You and me both.

I'd love a Royer, but those things are a bit rich for my blood.