Not all of us have access to impeccably designed live recording spaces to add life to our guitar tracks, but there are ways get around that. One of the favorite tricks of the legendary Rock and Roll producer, Eddie Kramer (Hendrix, Led Zeppelin) is to create a reverb chamber with a stairwell, a guitar amp and a mic. You may not have a reverberant stairwell in your home or apartment, but you do have access to a room that can give you the effects of a live space and add some spice to your recordings. It’s called the bath-verb-room-chamber. Yes, it’s your bathroom. The hard, reflective surfaces and natural reverb of the bathroom can do wonders for your sound.
First, place your amp facing the shower. Open the door or curtain about one to two feet (more or less), place the mic a few feet back from the amp and crank it! You can also point the mic into the shower. The partially closed door will shield the mic from the direct sound. Experiment: Close mic the amp and then place a second mic, preferably a cardioid pattern or supercardioid condenser mic, facing towards the opening. (Blend the two sounds together.) For even more reverberation, point the amp away from the open shower door. Don’t forget, whether you are using one mic or two, if you experience comb filtering, move the mic until you get a good sound.