On Amplitube 5, I notice certain combinations of mics sound buried together. If you combine either of the Dynamic 57 or Condenser 87 with either of the Dynamic 421 or Condenser 84 on one cab, with centre pan for both mics, the sound just lowers and is buried, like a blanket is put over the cab.
If you pan one mic fully left and the other fully right, the volume comes back, but the sound is too split for my liking, but definitely improves greatly over centre panning and what I would expect. Similarly, if you have two of the same cabs, and for example use the 87 on one cab, and the 421 on the other, the sound improves as well over just both mics being on one.
Am I missing something here? There are some other combinations that don’t work well on one cab too.
EDIT: Rolling the volume down a little on one of the mics seems to help bring the volume and presence back. When they are the same volume, it seems to cause these issues.
Nitrateaudio, nailed the problem. It sounds like a phase issue. You need to consider this whenever you use two pics on the same source. In Amplitube…
Caution. Keep the headphone level or studio monitors level low.
Start with sending some noise through the amp. I don’t think a test tone would be the best option. I think pink noise or some other kind of noise would be best. If using a high gain amp use that noise.
When using two mic on an amp invert the phase on one mic and move it forward and backwards relative to the other mic. The place where the sound disappears the most is the spot where they are in phase the most.
Now flip the phase back and now you should get the best in phase combination.
Yes sounds just like a phase issue. I’ve often said that the flexibility AmpliTube 5 offers in miking cabinets presents similar issues that people encounter in real life which may be troublesome for those who have entirely or mostly worked in software for guitar tones (or similar situations like the fact that full recording studios and sessions in them are becoming more and more rare etc). As someone who majored in audio engineering and having dealt with multiple mics on amps and such for decades in my case, I and the two experienced folks who have replied are aware of these potential pitfalls of real-world recording which might not be clear to everybody. Translating this process into a very realistic experience with almost the same near-infinite possibilities lends itself to those same potential pitfalls of real-world analog recording.
There are “sweet spots” if you snap to the grid that can help a bit too if you don’t rely solely on the phase button but if you like the tone from the mics in exactly the same position then definitely rely on the phase button That’s what it is there for.
Thanks all, that was really helpful!! I had an idea some sort of phase cancelling was going on, but I’m only really digging down into understanding this stuff now. Its not necessarily complex in terms of how the mics interact, but you need to understand it to get the most out of the software. The cabs and especially the mics are probably the most important part of the chain in nailing the tone.
Inverting does help, and doing it with one of mics that work well together out of the box like the 57 and 87 proves the point - they sound buried. Its certainly one part of the puzzle, along with needing to blend and position my mics better to fully dial it in.
Peter, if I may suggest, I think the manual could do a bit more to explain this, IMO. Its not obvious to someone like myself with no real world experience setting up mics, and I would imagine most of your users are in the same boat. I don’t think its hard to understand once explained, and would stop a lot of head scratching for such a critical part of the chain. Its quite powerful software and it needs to be dialled in to get the most from it, as the best tones, at least I think, are not there out of box.
Anyway, thanks again everyone, I think I’m properly getting to grips with it now!
the manual can only go so far. a lot of these recording and studio info and things i just pickup from reading SOS articles and reading books on it. also following more experienced people than me on other forums. i was never an audio engineer. back when i was a working musician, i just mostly sat around and noodled on my guitar while the studio owner and other engineer walked around and set things up. i had no idea what any of the mysterious gear in the studio did or what it was used for. i was just there to play and leave.
That’s what it is there for.