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When it comes to mic'ing up his amp, Paul Gilbert likes to keep things simple.

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Adam D (Killswitch Engage)

SM57's rule
You either call it 'knowing what works' or blame it on laziness, but I always just throw a '57 in front of the cab. I suppose it's a 'stick to your guns' mentality. I default to that every single time.

Back off
Mic placement is pretty crucial. You can get a million different EQ responses depending on where you throw the mic in front of the cab. I personally have the best luck – or at least I think so – when I back the mic off a little bit. I know a lot of engineers throw it right on the grille to get the bass boost, the proximity effect and all that garbage, but I find that if I back it up about six inches, I get a more balanced EQ curve.

Tight fit
Half the battle is playing the part well. Remember the old phrase, 'You can't polish a turd'? If it sucks from the beginning, it'll suck at the end. There's no way around a bad sounding performance.

A little bit at a time
My brain is not intelligent enough to perform a song well in one pass, so a little bit at a time works better. That way, the player can concentrate on what's going on at that specific moment. It's too overwhelming to play a whole song good.

www.myspace.com/killswitchengage

Marty Friedman

Prepare…
Prepare and over-prepare, and then prepare some more. When you're done, practise everything over again, just once more. Then, by the time you get in the studio everything will just flow out of you.

…Or not
Despite what I just said, sometimes I feel that being totally unprepared makes for a really fun, fresh experience. If you have an unlimited amount of time, you can be as unprepared as you want and simply hope to get lucky.

Refined sugar
I'll have one go at an entire solo and even when there are some parts I like and others I don't, I won't punch in and get caught up in little details. I'll just remember the parts I like and then replay the whole thing again. I'll repeat that process, so the final solo ends up being one take. Engineers like doing it that way, too.

No one approach
Steve Vai and John Petrucci of Dream Theater played on my 2006 album Loudspeaker. John came into the studio, where I walked him through the entire track, then got him to play all the impossible stuff I couldn't imagine doing myself. Steve had no direction; I sent him the song and he sent a bunch of tracks back, which I hacked up to my liking.

www.martyfriedman.com

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