amount of distortion

[six]

when I started to play guitar I always thought that I need much more distortion to get the sound I was used to from my rock-cd's... that's quite normal, isn't it?

then I found out about double-tracking and stuff and realized that I don't have to have my gain knob set to 10 all the time...
and hell - you really hear nothing of your playing in a band when your sound is all muddy and tubby.

but anyway: I still have a hard time to figure out how much distortion there was used on various records.
the same goes for reverb. I'm quite deaf for reverb - and that's quite bad when it comes to mixing.

so maybe it would help if you guys (and girls - if there's any) would tell me what you think of the following records - how much distortion, how much reverb.

I know that 'quite a lot of distortion' of a fender won't sound the same as of a mesa boogie. but anyway: maybe just set the songs in relation to each other.

here we go:


bon jovi:

• Runaway (Bonjovi)
• You Give Love A Bad Name (Slippery When Wet)
• Raise Your Hands (Slippery When Wet)
• Homebound Train (New Jersey)
• Sleep When I'm Dead (Keep The Faith)
• If I Was Your Mother (Keep The Faith)
• It's My Life (Crush - the chorus part)
• One Wild Night (Crush)

poison:

• Nothing But A Good Time (Open Up And Say Ahh...)
• Flesh & Blood (Flesh & Blood)
• Come Hell Or High Water (Flesh & Blood)
• Body Talk (Native Tongue)
• Tragically Unhip (Crack A Smile)
• The Way I Like It (Crack A Smile)

motley crue:

• Keep Your Eye On The Money (Theater Of Pain)
• Smokin' In The Boys Room (Theater Of Pain)
• Hell On High Heels (New Tattoo)
• Dragstrip Superstar (New Tattoo)
• Bitter Pill (Best Of)

metallica:

• Turn The Page (Garage Inc)
• Whisky In The Jar (Garage Inc.)

oooohhh, this list got quite long. just pick the ones out you know and tell me what you think about the amount of distortion (and maybe reverb too).

thank you.

cheers
six

 

[Blue Bear Sound]

In very general terms, it takes far less distortion to get "that sound" during recording than you might think... significantly less...

As a matter of fact, if you set up with as much distortion as you'd think you need, you'll have a sound that's pretty much indistinguishable from a buzz saw.......

This is where a lot of novices go wrong - they crank everything up to 11 (or whatever settings they normally thrash at...) then try to record that... and it sounds like nothing but a million buzzing flies.....

Bruce

 

[Krystof01]

I'm quite deaf for reverb - and that's quite bad when it comes to mixing.

So how do you then know when mixing that the reverb levels not right then?

 

[six]

blue bear: as I said - with time I found out that you don't need to crank the gain up to 10 all the time... but then again I have problems getting those nice palm mutes tight and things like that.

krystof01: when I obviously hear reverb - that's when I know it's to much...

 

[Gidge]

Well, Im not too familiar with any of those songs ....

But seriously, its best to just sit with the CD and just play with your distortion settings until you get close...just remember that in 2 of the 4 cases (Richie and Kirk) you have some of the greatest rock guitarists to ever walk the planet...in addition to the $$$ in cusom designed gear, you have top engineers and producers and 2 inch tape,etc. etc........

the most important thing is you have already learned 2 of the most important Home Recording Commandments.....

with distortion, less is more and most of the time, you need less than you think

with reverb, when you start to hear it, its probably too much....

and in closing, i heard your tune in the clinic and your guitar sound rocks....

 

[Henri Devill]

I know that you didnt list this player/band..But if you want to learn about building tracks ,the compimentry sounds to create great rock guit tracks listen to Led Zepplin..Jimmy Page was a master of overdubbing small sounds to create a big rock tone..
He is a influence on most tracking guitarist .And proboly all that ones you listed...Good luck

Don

 

[six]

gidge:

and in closing, i heard your tune in the clinic and your guitar sound rocks....

you think so? ok, maybe for that song it worked
.
remember - my stuff is recorded direct. not even real tubes . peavey transfex over the built in '4x12 Cabinet' emulator (seems to have a lot of 'proximity effect in it... where's the bass?) into my sb live!

henri devill: yes. jimmy page seemed to be mr. overdub in those days. i definitely have to buy some led zeppelin cd's.
the problem is; It won't help me to know how to get this big zep sound when I wan't something like mick mars' "theater of pain"-sound.
anyway: I once made an instrumental track with worse equipment than I have now and I managed to get a bit of that zeppelin touch. 2x 12-string (synthetic) clean electic and 2x crunch guitars panned all over the stereo field. a bit lead here and there... big reverb. voilà!

by the way: did somebody see the MTV European Music Awards? Jimmy Page was a bit of a disappointment... how could he play with fred durst doing a very bad led zeppelin cover???


ok. back to the distortion-thing.
maybe I should just ask how to get a certain sound.

so 2 sound I REALLY dig to are:

1. Richie Kotzen, "Body Talk" on Poison's "Native Tongue"
2. Mick Mars, "Keep Your Eyes On The Money" on motley's "Theatre Of Pain" - I know it's crappy somehow, but I like it.

so forget about the list above (for the moment).
I already tweeked for so long...