Got it from Borders today.
It's pretty in depth. It started of with an article where they invited three traditional-minded guitar players, Lee Russell, Ecki and Mick taylor (some of you probably know them) and basically put them through recording a track with guitars in it through 3 different methods:
1) by traditinal mic-ing which cost ungodly and so much more complicated than you think.
2) by hardware and software ie a DI to POD XT chain which some of us will be familiar with.
3) by software alone. They used IK Mutimedia Amplitube 2 which is sorta like Guitar Rig.
They were then asked to put their thoughts about the three processes, and the consensus is that even though they love the real mic to amp beat, it is just unrealistic for home recording to have such a set up.
I quote:
"I think it's worth pointing out that once that sound hit the SM 57 on a real amp, it then travelled through over 7k (British Pounds) of outboard gear before hitting the computer. The fact we had all the stuff making the Vox (AC 15) as good as it can possibly be, and we're still even talking about the POD and Amplitube in the same breath, is an amazing achievement for digital sound. In a home studio, that makes digital option an absolute no-brainer."
Another quote:
When asked by his assistant if the software's power devalues the sound, Lee replied, "I don't think it matters. This music we spend months recording - it gets wrecked into MP3s and People steal it anyway. How much more devalued can it be? If AmpliTube can be good enough for people to make a record, that also gets wrecked into MP3 and stolen: great! Anyway, enough of that - let's record. Do we like this?"
*plays a chord*
"Yep."
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It also teaches about mic positioning:
Single close mic - 1 mic pointing to teh speaker at zero distance to 8 inches. Nearer to the center cone, the brighter the sound. Moving the mic to the outer edge gives more bottom end.
2 close mics - 1 mic at a perpendicular position, another at a 45 degree angle. Best done with identical mics. Thinner sound can be ashieved if teh mic is out of phase with each other.
Close and Distant Mic combo - 1 or 2 close mics as described above and another one (prefereably condensor) at a raised height pointing towards he amp, anywhere from 6 inches to a few feet away. Record each mic separately for more flexbility in the mixing stage.
Front and Back Mic'ing - Ah... this was I had mentioned earlier. This is best for an open backed combo amp.
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There's also a section on recommended virtual amps and fx, software guitarrs, audio interfaces and mics, as well as a section tone design and EQ tricks, and how to recreate the sound of power metal
And that is just half of its content... :twisted: