How much does a room affect recording guitar?

[Mickey_C]

How much can the sound of a room affect the recorded sound of an electric guitar?

[rob2001]

With close mic'ing, not that much IMO. Thing is, I've found that a LDC condenser with a close mic is a key element to getting good tones. Don't get me wrong, a single close mic can work great for alot of stuff but I almost always have another LDC somewhere for some depth. Then the room matters alot.

[enharmonic]

The simple answer is that the sound of a room (if you wish to include that room in your guitar sound) can significantly affect the guitar track.

If you plan on using the room as part of your guitar sound, the room will matter. If you're close micing in an acoustically deadened room or enclosure, the room will not matter much at all.

[KRosser]

As the others above suggest, doesn't that depend greatly on the mics and micing distance used? In other words, it can have as great or as little an effect as you want.

[Mickey_C]

The room is not dead. It's filled with metal cabinets, shelves of parts, tool carts... and one corner even has a smith cage and elleptical trainer in it.

Should I be covering that stuff up with blankets?

[Bassomatic]

Should I be covering that stuff up with blankets?

Only if it's brighter/more alive than you want it to sound. Room acoustics are usually super-complex with shockingly sharp spikes and dips at different freq ranges (resulting from cancellation, reinforcement/buildup, standing waves, etc etc etc). Bottom line is if it sounds good, it is good. And try not to mix (and definitely don't master) in a problematic room where original tracks were cut.