SHIFTING GEAR
RICH ECKHARDT
Recording at Home
When you record, do you find yourself asking
time and again, “Why does my tone sound
so thin on playback when it sounded perfectly good out of the amp?” It’s an ongoing
challenge for guitarists to try and track their
tone. A few months back, I talked a little
about some of the techniques I used to mic
and record my guitars on my Cottage City
Firehouse CD. This month we’ll reach deeper
into the fire as I share some bits that will help
you capture better guitar tones in the studio.
Another interesting technique I used was on
“Bldg. 55,” where I tracked the entire song
using only a PRS Swamp Ash Special plugged
into different amps with different mic’ing
techniques—and I changed the pickup selec-
tion along the way. I was fascinated with
the way the guitar responded so differently
through the various rigs. On some of the
tracks, I played it through a Kustom Coupe
half-stack mic’d close with the Shure KSM27
then put another KSM27 in the corner of the
room. There are no rules; it’s all about experi-
playback to determine which is getting the
job done for you. Using them at the same
time will save you from having to re-track a
part numerous times in order to try out vari-
ous mics. You can also mic straight-on or at
an angle, and of course mic’ing at a distance
to capture the room is an essential part of a
well-recorded guitar.
Well, there’s a closer look behind the scenes
of Cottage City Firehouse. With some savvy
experimentation you can pull off some aston-
These days we’re able to make wonderful-
sounding recordings for less money than ever.
My gadget of choice is Pro Tools, but there are
many other recording applications and devices
out there that are affordable and easy to use.
You don’t have to be a graduate of a recording
institute to capture good sounds. With a few
proper microphones and a couple of tricks of
the trade you can get your guitars to sound as
big as Texas. One thing a lot of folks overlook
is the fact that much of the sound of the amp is
affected by the room it’s in while tracking. You
can turn this to your advantage by using mul-
tiple mic’ing techniques to capture the room
for an even bigger sound.
With a few proper microphones and a
couple of tricks of the trade you can get
your guitars to sound as big as Texas.
mentation. I would then plug the same guitar
into my old Music Man HD- 130 and mic it
with only one mic direct on the cone, moving
the mic till I found the “sweet spot.” It made
the guitar sound completely different. If you
like what you’re hearing, record it. If you
don’t like it, move the mic and try again.
ishing results and really impress yourself and
amaze your listening audience with a top-quality home recording.
Keep jammin’!
A really good example of this can be found
on my song “The Hudson Strut.” On that
song, I stuck a Shure KSM27 mic right up to
the speaker cone, and I placed another about
six feet back and off to the side to capture
more of what was going on in the room. I
recorded it in my home bonus room studio.
The room is the size of a two-car garage and
not totally dead or baffled. It has some life to
it, and you can hear the room on the track.
Without the second mic, the guitar would
have sounded lifeless and plain. I have also
used bathrooms and hallways to mic guitars,
and I’ve even gone to the extreme opposite
end and enclosed the speaker cabinets with
couch cushions to make it sound dead. The
possibilities are endless, even without leaving
your house. Often, you can use small 5- or
10-watt amps that, when recorded in a lively
room like a bathroom or kitchen, can sound
gigantic, particularly when you mic from a
distance where you can hear the room.
Another way to go these days is by recording
direct and creating the room sound you want
digitally. On “Seisenheimer Strasse 9,” I used
my big fat Gibson 165 Herb Ellis Signature
Series guitar. I have it strung with flatwounds
and ran it through a Pod Pro II. With it I
was able to simulate not only the type and
angle of the mic but what amp I was running
through. Since this is a jazzier song, I chose a
small 1x12 combo amp. I was still able to create how much of the room was being heard
on the track. The replication on some of these
units is remarkable. I could truly hear the
rooms vary as I scrolled through the settings.
You can do so much experimentation with
your mics that the possibilities are endless.
You can try simultaneously mic’ing your
cabinet with three or four different mics,
maybe a Shure SM57, a Senheiser MD 421
and an AKG C 412, and solo each one on
Rich Eckhardt
Rich is one of the most sought-after guitarists in
Nashville. His ability to cover multiple styles has put
him on stage with singers ranging from Steven Tyler of
Aerosmith to Shania Twain. Rich is currently playing lead
guitar with Toby Keith. You can pick up a copy of his new
CD, Cottage City Firehouse online at: richeckhardt.com
