The New Tone Thread

Tadpui said:
Nice slide tone there Bob. Every time I try to play slide, I mainly just get the sound of the strings rattling against the slide. Yours sounds clean and "pure". What guitar/amp are you using here? Sounds like a single coil pickup, but not as thin as a Tele. Nice smooth tone.
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I'm not sure about the amp actually ..... I have so many and I tend to use whatever's plugged in .... having said that I think it may have been the Marshall 6101 at a time when it chose to work.
But it could have been the mesa Mark V.

I know it would have been the Stinnett guitar but I don't really remember for sure which p'up.

I use the neck a lot and may have used that and if so, that would have been in its P90 setting.

I also may have used the middle position which would have had the neck as a P90 and the bridge as a 'bucker.

As for the 'hitting the frets' thing .... for one thing you can't do it without hitting the frets if your strings are low.
I tend to use a highish action on all my gits because I'm big on bending and I like to be able to get a good part of finger on the string to control it.
So my action is decently high .... I dislike low action.

So #1 .... you gotta have a highish action .... #2 ..... don't hit the frets!.
LOL ..... I know that's silly but really, a big key is getting a light touch with the slide so it just touches the string enough but no more ..... you don't really need to push the strings down.
One thing that helps is a lightweight slide .... I use a thin walled titanium slide a friend made me ...... thin glass slides are also light although they won't ring out as long as my metal does.
But depending on style that can be good.
My slide tends to sound a bit like a pedal steel tonewise ..... which is what I personally want.
But for a more folksy or blues style you might want something that dies away a bit quicker ..... I don't, but you might.

Like anything, getting that light touch where you don't hit the frets is a matter of practice.
 
Cheers, Miner. You've been really helpful (and patient!) with this.

I'm making progress now though - getting rid of most of the reverb and ambience and shit supplied by EZD and adding some reverbs of my own.
 
Cheers, Miner. You've been really helpful (and patient!) with this.

I'm making progress now though - getting rid of most of the reverb and ambience and shit supplied by EZD and adding some reverbs of my own.
 
Bob and Bill
Thanks for the slide tips guys! I get the itch once in a blue moon to add some slide to a recording but I always give up in frustration. I don't play with super low action, so I figure that if I just practice with the damn thing (and maybe get a better slide than these 20 year old Dunlop cheapies) I might be able to pull off something simple eventually. You guys and Minerman too are the resident slide experts. I may just have to outsource any slide parts to you guys :)

JDOD
it sounds like you've already figured it out, but after you add EZD on a new track with its default stereo routing (instead of multi-output) you can always still open the FX window, right-click on the EZD VSTi name there and select "build multi-output routing", and it'll create all of the tracks for you there.

I haven't updated EZD2 in a long time, so I may not have the most recent version of the default Pop/Rock kit. But for something like a snare top/bottom mic, I'd mix them to taste in EZD's mixer and send them to a single output track. That way I have a little less clutter in the mixer window. Plus, once I dial in a balance between a snare top/bottom or a kick in/out, I usually don't change it after that. I might want more kick overall, or less snare overall, but rarely do I change my mind on the balance of top/bottom/in/out.

Ray, Bubba and miner
I'll give your latest tones a listen throughout the day today. It's a work-from-home day, but I'm swamped with work for the next few hours. I'm stuck on a laptop right now, but will be in front of better speakers later. Looking forward to hearing what you've got.
 
rayc said:
Parts of the clip in order are:

1st: a 57 through Focusrite
2nd: the same through Zoom R16
3rd: an e609 Focusrite
4th: e609 ZR16
5th: a LaGrange Focusrite
6th: LaG ZR16
Is there a difference between interfaces?
Is one better than the other?
Does one of the mics producuce a brighter tone?
Click to expand...

All these clips sound fine to me, & I do hear about what I expected from the 2 mics ('75 & 609) I have myself...
 
minerman said:
Ok, here's take 2 of the same di, same exact thing, except I rolled the presence & treble off (probably too much....hahaha)...

DSL:
100 w mode
Green Crunch
Mid-Shift: Off
Resonance: 0
Presence: 5
Bass: 4
Mid: 5
Treble: 2
Volume: 6
Gain: 5

SG>DSL>G12H>i5 Take 2

I think it might sound a little better with the treble around 3, maybe 4...I'm still impressed as shit with the DSL...
Click to expand...

Agreed that just a hair more treble might do it some good. I just love the solid chunk that amp gets. The attack on the chorded notes is just stellar. A little punchy, but compressed at the same time.
 
Lt. Bob said:
I'm not sure about the amp actually ..... I have so many and I tend to use whatever's plugged in .... having said that I think it may have been the Marshall 6101 at a time when it chose to work.
But it could have been the mesa Mark V.

I know it would have been the Stinnett guitar but I don't really remember for sure which p'up.

I use the neck a lot and may have used that and if so, that would have been in its P90 setting.

I also may have used the middle position which would have had the neck as a P90 and the bridge as a 'bucker.

As for the 'hitting the frets' thing .... for one thing you can't do it without hitting the frets if your strings are low.
I tend to use a highish action on all my gits because I'm big on bending and I like to be able to get a good part of finger on the string to control it.
So my action is decently high .... I dislike low action.

So #1 .... you gotta have a highish action .... #2 ..... don't hit the frets!.
LOL ..... I know that's silly but really, a big key is getting a light touch with the slide so it just touches the string enough but no more ..... you don't really need to push the strings down.
One thing that helps is a lightweight slide .... I use a thin walled titanium slide a friend made me ...... thin glass slides are also light although they won't ring out as long as my metal does.
But depending on style that can be good.
My slide tends to sound a bit like a pedal steel tonewise ..... which is what I personally want.
But for a more folksy or blues style you might want something that dies away a bit quicker ..... I don't, but you might.

Like anything, getting that light touch where you don't hit the frets is a matter of practice.
Click to expand...

Yeah, slide is tough on low action. I know Gary Rossington, of Skynyrd fame, puts a round piece of plastic on the first fret close to the nut on his SG for slide. I'm pretty sure it's to get the action up high enough to not hit the frets.
I agree about a light slide being helpful on touch. It's amazing that Lowell George did all that incredible slide work, for Little Feat, with a deep well 9/16 socket....I don't thing you could find a heavier slide than that
 
So , a couple of things:

1. I checked out that Silverbusrt SG. Played great, looked great but I wasn't too pleased with the Burtsbucker pickups. Very muddy (to me). If I can get the scratch together, I'm gonna grab it (unless someone grabs it first). So hopefully soon I'll be posting pics and tones of that bad boy.

2. On the slide thing; When starting out. I found it easier with higher action and heavier strings (one of my guitars has flatwound .12's). If you have a guitar you can setup like that it'll help you along. After you've been playing for a while, you should be able to play on almost any guitar with almost any string gauge set at any height (with the possible exception of shredder guitars, of which I have very limited experience with). Derek Trucks uses very low action and uses the frets as part of his tone. Lowell George and Paul Barrere (of Little Feat) use flatwound strings, higher action, 2 compressors and, in Lowell's case, a custom designed wiring setup. Sonny Landreth uses the harmonics by fretting notes behind the slide. The big thing, in my opinion, is the muting of strings that you don't want ringing. That takes some time to align you're ears and your sliding/picking motions. It'll sound great when you get it but wow, it can sound like strangling cats until you do. Also, I wouldn't recommend the 9/16" socket that Lowell and Paul Barrere use. It's VERY heavy and very difficult to use if you're just starting out(or even somewhat used to playing slide).

I would also recommend using the slide on either the ring finger or pinky. It makes chording much easier when not using the slide.

3. I'll hopefully have a few tones from my gig last week. As well as some other tones from other gigs using different guitars but the same amp and pedal (in my case a '61 brown face Princeton, a Visual Sounds Jekyll and Hyde and a Crybabay Wah.
 
I hope you're able to get the funds together for that SG Bill L.
If it is a bit muddy with burst buckets I would suggest going with a set of pickups that have alnico 4 magnets. I just put a set in a guitar and I'm very happy with the tone. Tight bass and no mud in the mids.
 
jimistone said:
I hope you're able to get the funds together for that SG Bill L.
If it is a bit muddy with burst buckets I would suggest going with a set of pickups that have alnico 4 magnets. I just put a set in a guitar and I'm very happy with the tone. Tight bass and no mud in the mids.
Click to expand...

I'll probably go with a PAF clone if I can get the $ to buy the guitar. There's a guy around here that sells handwounds for about $125 to $150 for the set. I also want to replace all 4 pickups in my Epi Double Neck. Was thinking of trying out some GFS humbuckers in it. Lt Bob, you've bought lots from them. Any recommendations or comments for PAF style buckers from GFS?

And I forgot to mention to Tad; Anytime you need some slide tracks, let me know. I'd be happy to do it.
 
My son asked me to help him record a video drum cover today. Our video camera is a bit useless- the aspect ratio's gone wrong. We're not totally au fait with Windows Movie Maker yet, either; as shown by an "insert text here" caption popping up part way through!

My contribution was recording and mixing the drum audio track and syncing it to the video. What do you think?

I think his new snare drum (Mapex Black Panther 13" x 7" "Blaster") sounds bloody great. :D



 
This sounds great Bubba!

Good job of sinking this up. The toms are really nice, how does he get that 16" floor tom so low pitched? Only thing I wasn't sure of was the bell on the ride cuts through but when he's on the ride but not the bell it's a little low in the mix...maybe your preference. Its all around really good though, and hat's off to the performance!
 
einstein magoo said:
This sounds great Bubba!

Good job of sinking this up. The toms are really nice, how does he get that 16" floor tom so low pitched? Only thing I wasn't sure of was the bell on the ride cuts through but when he's on the ride but not the bell it's a little low in the mix...maybe your preference. Its all around really good though, and hat's off to the performance!
Click to expand...

Hi, Einstein! Thanks for the nice compliments. :D I noticed the ride bell not coming through myself, so I checked out the overhead tracks and it seems like a simple case of him just tickling the ride in this instance.

I don't think the F/T is tuned particularly low, but the eq has a very deep low-mid cut, a boost in the 70-100 Hz range and a boost in the 2-5 kHz. It is tuned to resonate nicely, though, rather than flat and dead. It has sustain without an annoying ring, so you have something to work with with the EQ. It's just time spent tuning. I don't think it's perfect though, by any means.
 
'Lil Po has some skills there man...I noticed the ride not coming through too, you could probably automate the oh tracks where it needs it...

Sound good Bubba!!!
 
Generally the cymbals/OHs are nicely sybtle which suits the mix/song.
That low tom is looowwwwww but cool.
It may need to be reined in a little bit or brought in from its wide panning as it sticks out a bit.
Talent!
Winows Movie maker after XP is pretty awful. I love the XP version but have steered clear of the newer one as it just doesn't work as well or as logically.
I scored Wondershare Video editor which isn't free but is more like the old WMM but with more bells and better whistles.
 
Bubba po said:
My son asked me to help him record a video drum cover today. Our video camera is a bit useless- the aspect ratio's gone wrong. We're not totally au fait with Windows Movie Maker yet, either; as shown by an "insert text here" caption popping up part way through!

My contribution was recording and mixing the drum audio track and syncing it to the video. What do you think?

I think his new snare drum (Mapex Black Panther 13" x 7" "Blaster") sounds bloody great. :D



Click to expand...


That's pretty good! Can we hear just the drums without the horrid pop song?
 
By the way, Houston is flooding again this morning. Heavy duty rain moved right down I-10 all night, and shit is fuuuuuuuucked up. And of course people are driving into water and having to escape through their sunroofs because they're fucking stupid.
 
Greg_L said:
That's pretty good! Can we hear just the drums without the horrid pop song?
Click to expand...

Ha ha! Thanks. :D I don't know where his sudden re-interest in Ms Lavigne has come from. He used to like her back when he was about nine or ten but hasn't played one of her records for years. I'm half expecting the poster to make a re-appearance.
 
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