Recently I accepted a challenge—foolishly most likely—set by a couple of my fellow guitar addicted Twitter friends (let’s call them Peter and the Baron). The challenge was to produce a video that showcased one of the guitar pedals we owned. We had a finite time to produce the video as well. The challenge was flawed from the start. It was flawed because I realised after accepting the challenge that I’d never miked an amp before. Plus I don’t have a great YouTube presence. That’s primarily because I have no idea how to edit video properly. Oh, I’m also not a confident guitar player/sharer. Apart from that though, the challenge was easy!
Having said all of that. I’d do it again.
Before I go into great detail in regards to all the things I’d do differently if/when I made this video again, let’s cover what I did do. Firstly, I made a video for my Joyo Ultimate Drive pedal—video embedded below. The Joyo Ultimate Drive is one of my favourite overdrive pedals. It’s almost a distortion pedal to be honest. What I like about this pedal in particular is the High/Low switch. It’s almost a mid-scoop when in Low mode. The High mode is more equalised. You can hear the differences when the switch is flicked between High and Low in the video.
For more information on the video’s contents I’ll replicate the YouTube video description (because I’m lazy and quoting myself looks official).
My first attempt at miking my amplifier. I’ll have another go at this at which time I’ll change a few things.
The guitar used in this video was an Epiphone 2010 Les Paul Tribute. Each sound sample was recorded using the bridge pickup. The very last sound sample was using the pickup in the coil tapped position (single coil style).
The amplifier (Marshall MG15HFX) was miked using my Shure SM57 microphone and plugged directly into my Steinberg UR22 audio interface. The recording was done through Reaper.
The pedal being sampled is the Joyo Ultimate Drive. I kept the level at 9 o’clock for each sound sample. It was close to the clean (bypassed) sound levels according to the clipping indicator on the UR22. The tone is better the louder it gets. The final setting is my personal favourite.
Enjoy (for what it’s worth).
So here are some other things I’d do differently in the next video. The tripod leg. Stupid thing. I didn’t notice it until it was too late and my video editing software is limited (in its features and by its user). The amount of space around the pedal in the video. I knew I wanted to overlay text, but there’s too much space allocated for that. Finally, I think I’d record to a backing drum track (just for the sake of improved timing). I also think the video would be better if it ended with the guitar track mixed with some drums and bass. Just so you can hear the guitar with some context.
The video has good points and bad points—I was going to say highs and lows but that could have been taken as a reference to the pedal’s switch—but I’ve refrained until now to actually comment on the pedal itself. And I’ll keep it that way for the most part until I record a better video. Why? Because the pedal deserves more. It’s a great sounding pedal.
There you go. I look forward to the inevitable YouTube trolling. I’m yet to experience that, but I’m sure it’s on its way. Enjoy the video.