Originally Posted by John Petrucci
"Well, I think Ive found the secret, at least
for me. I recently played a solo on Marty Freidmans new record and I played a
solo on Derek Sherinians new record just yesterday. In both instances I walked
into the studio and told them I needed my cabinet and my head [Editors note:
John used a Mesa/Boogie Road King head and Traditional Rectifier 4 x 12 cabinet]
and two microphones, and got a guitar sound in five minutes. This is what I do.
First of all, the cabinets are usually closed back, so theres no need to mic
the back. They have Celestion Vintage 30s in them, and theyre the smaller
Traditional Rectifier cabinets, not the big ones. I think the cabinet should be
in a fairly big room. Anytime Ive ever tried to put a cabinet in a closet or a
small room, it just doesnt sound right. There are too many weird reflections
happening in that case. The speaker cabinet needs to have some sort of throw,
like when its in a big room. You can put a baffle in front of it if you need
to, like maybe ten feet out front, but otherwise I think it needs to breath, for
whatever reason. I use a [Shure SM] 57 like this [Editors note: John showed mic
position to be on axis, about an inch and a half radially outward from edge of
dust cap in center of cone, close micd, almost touching grill cloth]. You never
want to put the microphone in the center of the speaker; its just way too
bright. Then you can fool around with how much off center you go. Obviously, the
further away from the center you go, the duller the sound gets. Also, I use a
Sennheiser MD421. Thats the second mic, and I position it the same way. You can
either place it on the same speaker or on a different speaker. Then, you just
blend the two of those. Usually, if you have two faders, the 421 is sitting
below the 57. So the 57 is the basic sound, and the 421 is a little darker and
its very fat."
