Hi, I am getting a poor sound when recording the electric guitar, so I am hoping to see if anyone knows some possible reasons this may be happening.

To be more specific, it appears that there is a particular character in the sound I am unable to eliminate and/or mask “at the source.” It’s hard to describe, but one way to put it is the guitar sounds “dead” and “dull” on the recording. The words “cloudy” and maybe “muddy” or “thick” come to mind as well. The recording is *not* “vibrant”, “bright”, “clear”, “transparent” and/or “alive.” My ears aren’t very skilled, so take this with a grain of salt, but it’s as if there is a lot of energy in the fourth octave, and a slight brittleness with little clarity in the upper octaves. However, I’m not convinced it is purely an EQ consideration. To note, this problematic character isn’t apparent as I listen to the amp in the room – it’s just on the recording.

Equipment wise I am using an RME Fireface 800 interface, FMR RNP, Shure SM57, Fender Super 60 amp head – rack version, Randall 4x12 cabinet and an Epiphone Les Paul.

I have tried recording in three separate rooms – a big rehearsal space (maybe 40’ x 25’ x 20’ ?), a control room (maybe 16’ x 10’ x 10’ ?) and a bathroom (maybe 10’ x 10’ x 10’ ?). Although the rooms produce different sounds to a greater or lesser extent with some of the mic placements, the problem is constant regardless of which room I record in or where the amp is placed.

Mostly, I have spent hours in all three rooms trying different mic placements as well as tinkering with the amp EQ section a bit. I have tried everything from dead center of the speaker to the edge of the speaker, against the grill to as far as several feet away from the amp, on and off axis, etc… in combination with just about every EQ setting I can think of (including extremes). Although I am certainly getting different sounds, the problematic character seems to be fairly constant. It is a tiny bit better if I turn the bass and mid on the amp down to 0, while turning the high and presence up to 10. However, it is still noticeably “dead” and, as one might guess, a little intolerable at those extremes.

I have two SM57s, so I have tried both, and each one seems to produce more or less the same sound. I have tried the pres on the Fireface 800 as well as the RNP, and the problematic character is constant in both, though the RNP does fair *slightly* better.

Just to note, I am using Genelec 1029A’s to monitor. When I listen to other guitar recordings on these monitors in the same room, setup, etc. everything sounds fine, so I am certain it isn’t the monitors.

Please let me know if anything jumps out as being possible culprits. My guess is that it is the guitar and/or amp itself, or the input section of the Fireface. I am planning to try a different guitar and amp tonight to do A/B/C/D comparisons. As far as the Fireface is concerned, I don’t seem to have this problem when I record straight in – however, I may have just never noticed it before. If it’s as simple as “that’s the way budget mic preamps sound” then that information would also be useful. If I am trying too hard to get the sound “right” before relying on post-recording processing, please let me know. Thanks in advance for any possible advice.