The New Tone Thread

[Lt. Bob]

You will do way better for yourself by going your own way and learning by doing than you will by listening to people that just like to hear themselves talk.

^^^^^^^ this ^^^^^^^

Look ...... ALL the musicians you love?
None of those guys went around tweaking and tweaking and getting their mixes critiqued into perfection.
They just did what sounded good to them for the most part.

That's why I laugh when I hear folks talk about "the way to write/play/record good music is to do this" ..... it's bullshit.
I'm a contemporary of a lot of the early important bands and I know exactly how they did it because I was doing it too ...... we got in a room together ..... someone had an idea ..... we jammed it and then recorded it.
We turned knobs until it sounded good to us.

Some turned out like crap ...... that sat in the vault until todays craze of releasing the crappy stuff the artist never wanted released.

The good stuff was stuck on an album.

That's why all the great musinc sounds so different from each other .... there was no formula .... no 'rules' .... they did what they felt was good to them.

 

[rayc]

"The good stuff was stuck on an album."
Yeah, and albums being 45 mins MAX meant that there was less filler. These days the desire to go beyond an hour has meant releasing stuff that should be on the shelf, at least until reworked or the barrel scraping post break up releases.

 

[jimistone]

greg...
This tune really rocks. Man, I love the wha wha work in this one. The playing was just right and the tone is great. All the guitars sound great in this. You've captured guitar crunch and power with not much fizz. In my opinion that's one of the hardest things to achieve because not many people can record with the volume it takes to get that.
Fantastic Rock Solid performance on the drum kit too!
(I used to take drums for granted but now I pay a lot more attention to the drums)

 

[Greg_L]

greg...
This tune really rocks. Man, I love the wha wha work in this one. The playing was just right and the tone is great. All the guitars sound great in this. You've captured guitar crunch and power with not much fizz. In my opinion that's one of the hardest things to achieve because not many people can record with the volume it takes to get that.
Fantastic Rock Solid performance on the drum kit too!
(I used to take drums for granted but now I pay a lot more attention to the drums)

Thanks jimi. I like it okay, I just need to rework it a little if I'm gonna ever do anything with it. It's too metal-ish for me. I remember coming up with it, but I don't remember any of the guitar details. I think it's probably my Goldtop into a JCM 900 MkIII I used to have...and I wish I still had it. 900s get a bad rap, but that was easily the best 900 in the world. It's one of the few things I regret selling.

And sorry, those aint real drums. That's my base-model ez drummer demo kit I use for demoing ideas.

 

[Greg_L]

Speaking of too metal...here's a reboot on the Seek and Destroy metal clips. I wanted to do this last time, but didn't get to it until now.

Gibson Angus SG - Angus signature bridge pickup
Marshall JVM 410 - OD1 channel Orange mode
Gain - 2
Bass - 5
Mid - 6
Treb - 6
Resonance - 5
Presence - 4
Ch vol - 5
Master vol - 5
Reverb - 1
TC Elec Flashback Delay in FX Loop
Marshall 1960B 4x12 - Celestion G12T-75
Shure SM 57 on axis, on grill, just outside dustcap
No EQ or FX in DAW

SAD JVM

I think this one is closer in general to the Metallica sound than the Splawn or JCM 800 clips. Not that I'd ever want this fucking sound for anything.

 

[jimistone]

Thanks jimi. I like it okay, I just need to rework it a little if I'm gonna ever do anything with it. It's too metal-ish for me. I remember coming up with it, but I don't remember any of the guitar details. I think it's probably my Goldtop into a JCM 900 MkIII I used to have...and I wish I still had it. 900s get a bad rap, but that was easily the best 900 in the world. It's one of the few things I regret selling.

And sorry, those aint real drums. That's my base-model ez drummer demo kit I use for demoing ideas.

those drums sound good to me.

 

[Greg_L]

those drums sound good to me.

Maybe cuz a real drummer programmed them.

 

[minerman]

Catching up here guys....

JDOD: Clip sounds good man, the guitars are meaty & sit right in the mix where they should IMO...Well done...Only nit I have for the whole thing is there are a couple/few snare hits that sound out of whack (Tad mentioned 'em), I think you just need to lower the velocity & make 'em sound softer, like ghost notes....Good job man, definitely improving with every clip you post...


Greg: Cool clip dude, the intro sounded like Alice In Chains to me, & is way more hair-metal than anything I can remember you posting here...Cool beans on the drums too, it's pretty cool you posted fake drums just for the sake of showing us who use 'em all the time they can work...

Speaking of fake drums, I have tried every drum sample program out there that I know of except one: BFD3...A couple days ago my nephew the preacher had me come over to check out his new toys, & BFD3 with the Andy Johns expansion pack is part of what he got...That expansion to me just sounded so much different & better than anything I've been using, so much so I'm on the fence about splurging for 'em...That expansion is kinda old (2007), but I was still really impressed with 'em...If I can get that expansion to run in a lesser version of BFD3 (they've got like a "lite" version thing), I'll probably buy 'em....

 

[jimistone]

I just got thru playing the drums. I've been working my as off on the drums.The song I'm working on is difficult. I've been practicing this sucker for 3 weeks now.
Seems like all the stuff I want to record has tough drums.

Next song is gonna be straight ahead drums like ac/dc. I can't do the vocals on that stuff though....so I'm fucked either way.
lol

 

[minerman]

I just got thru playing the drums. I've been working my as off on the drums.The song I'm working on is difficult. I've been practicing this sucker for 3 weeks now.
Seems like all the stuff I want to record has tough drums.

Next song is gonna be straight ahead drums like ac/dc. I can't do the vocals on that stuff though....so I'm fucked either way.
lol

It's good you're hammerin' on Jimi, just keep at it dude...

I know what you mean about vocals dude, I can probably cover something (within reason) pretty decently, but my vocals just suck...hahaha

 

[rayc]

It is cool wah stuff Greg.
There's something different about it though - probably a toppier bass than recently or the kick in the intro.
Could easily be an MC5 or BOC backing track.

 

[minerman]

Speaking of too metal...here's a reboot on the Seek and Destroy metal clips. I wanted to do this last time, but didn't get to it until now.

Gibson Angus SG - Angus signature bridge pickup
Marshall JVM 410 - OD1 channel Orange mode
Gain - 2
Bass - 5
Mid - 6
Treb - 6
Resonance - 5
Presence - 4
Ch vol - 5
Master vol - 5
Reverb - 1
TC Elec Flashback Delay in FX Loop
Marshall 1960B 4x12 - Celestion G12T-75
Shure SM 57 on axis, on grill, just outside dustcap
No EQ or FX in DAW

SAD JVM

I think this one is closer in general to the Metallica sound than the Splawn or JCM 800 clips. Not that I'd ever want this fucking sound for anything.

Dunno how I missed this, but I did....Sounds good dude, nice'n thick, with just the right amount of bite to me...The delay is cool too, you don't post many clips with fx, so this is actually a treat...Dunno how close this is to the original, & honestly, I don't care, it's good like it is...

 

[JDOD]

Speaking of too metal...here's a reboot on the Seek and Destroy metal clips. I wanted to do this last time, but didn't get to it until now.

Gibson Angus SG - Angus signature bridge pickup
Marshall JVM 410 - OD1 channel Orange mode
Gain - 2
Bass - 5
Mid - 6
Treb - 6
Resonance - 5
Presence - 4
Ch vol - 5
Master vol - 5
Reverb - 1
TC Elec Flashback Delay in FX Loop
Marshall 1960B 4x12 - Celestion G12T-75
Shure SM 57 on axis, on grill, just outside dustcap
No EQ or FX in DAW

SAD JVM

I think this one is closer in general to the Metallica sound than the Splawn or JCM 800 clips. Not that I'd ever want this fucking sound for anything.

Greg, I think you've got the sound there really good. The only thing I don't like is the delay; can hear it slapping a bit too much, its cool when you're chugging - think it just thickens it, but in the descending licks and the transitions between the riffing and chords its sticks out a bit much!

 

[JDOD]

Catching up here guys....

JDOD: Clip sounds good man, the guitars are meaty & sit right in the mix where they should IMO...Well done...Only nit I have for the whole thing is there are a couple/few snare hits that sound out of whack (Tad mentioned 'em), I think you just need to lower the velocity & make 'em sound softer, like ghost notes....Good job man, definitely improving with every clip you post...


Greg: Cool clip dude, the intro sounded like Alice In Chains to me, & is way more hair-metal than anything I can remember you posting here...Cool beans on the drums too, it's pretty cool you posted fake drums just for the sake of showing us who use 'em all the time they can work...

Speaking of fake drums, I have tried every drum sample program out there that I know of except one: BFD3...A couple days ago my nephew the preacher had me come over to check out his new toys, & BFD3 with the Andy Johns expansion pack is part of what he got...That expansion to me just sounded so much different & better than anything I've been using, so much so I'm on the fence about splurging for 'em...That expansion is kinda old (2007), but I was still really impressed with 'em...If I can get that expansion to run in a lesser version of BFD3 (they've got like a "lite" version thing), I'll probably buy 'em....

Cheers Miner - I'm pleased with that one too - hopefully gonna re-track it this weekend as there's a few little errors in the playing on the Washburn 'cos I'm not used to it. I also want to write the solo parts properly as they were just first take adlibs - which sound OK, but the timing isn't great - its like I can hear how long it was taking me to think!

Miner, you've got pretty good at programmed drums now. You seem to have everything! I'm still struggling to work out how to do all that Hillbilly Genius stuff you were telling me about a couple of weeks ago. Its that typical thing, when I'm at my computer working on music I want to do music, so am struggling to take time out to concentrate on something that will save me time in the long run!

 

[jimistone]

Speaking of too metal...here's a reboot on the Seek and Destroy metal clips. I wanted to do this last time, but didn't get to it until now.

Gibson Angus SG - Angus signature bridge pickup
Marshall JVM 410 - OD1 channel Orange mode
Gain - 2
Bass - 5
Mid - 6
Treb - 6
Resonance - 5
Presence - 4
Ch vol - 5
Master vol - 5
Reverb - 1
TC Elec Flashback Delay in FX Loop
Marshall 1960B 4x12 - Celestion G12T-75
Shure SM 57 on axis, on grill, just outside dustcap
No EQ or FX in DAW

SAD JVM

I think this one is closer in general to the Metallica sound than the Splawn or JCM 800 clips. Not that I'd ever want this fucking sound for anything.

This, to my ears, has more of the agressive tone of the original, than the earlier clips that were posted. I don't know if I like the delay or not it's hard to tell without it being in the context of a song.
Good tone there greg!

 

[jimistone]

It's good you're hammerin' on Jimi, just keep at it dude...

I know what you mean about vocals dude, I can probably cover something (within reason) pretty decently, but my vocals just suck...hahaha

Thanks miner.
Yeah I don't have the drum rudiments instilled in me from years of playing, so I have to map out these complicated drum parts like I'm working on now, memorize everything, then execute without screwing up.

Only one way to do that, and that's to play it over and over and over and over again (I left out a few hundred "overs" to save bandwidth)

I have a low voice. i would definately be considered a bass singer. most rock and blues is above my range. ac/dc is WAY above my range.
But, I might try singing it an octave lower and then using the "pitch shift" in cubase to get there.
hahaha

 

[JDOD]

I have a low voice. i would definately be considered a bass singer. most rock and blues is above my range. ac/dc is WAY above my range.
But, I might try singing it an octave lower and then using the "pitch shift" in cubase to get there.
hahaha

Jimi, sing it in your normal register, play the song a little slower and make it sound really sleazy. That would be a cool and interesting cover.

 

[Greg_L]

Thanks guys. Delay is not something I usually put on anything unless it's used as some crazy effect, so using it tastefully is foreign to me. I just kicked it on because fuck it.

 

[Lt. Bob]

Jimi, sing it in your normal register, play the song a little slower and make it sound really sleazy. That would be a cool and interesting cover.

that's the way to do it ..... put songs in the key that makes use of your voices streangths and sing it the way you sound best.
Make it your own.

 

[JDOD]

Thanks guys. Delay is not something I usually put on anything unless it's used as some crazy effect, so using it tastefully is foreign to me. I just kicked it on because fuck it.

Ah, I was starting to think you were getting inspired by green Les Pauls and Dokken!