how do you get that slick airy guitar sound?

[jimistone]

I hear it a lot in modern country music and modern blues. It's not the in your face sound with a lot of punch and presence. It's a very lush and perfectly balanced sound that has enough volume, but kind of sits back in the mix and never steps in anything else going on in the mix. No piercing highs or mud of any kind...airy and transparent. It's like there aren't really any dominant frequencies that jump out, but it really sounds good

I dunno, it's really hard to describe.

 

[Brian Miller]

Perhaps you could post an example.

 

[jimistone]

Well, I don't know how to post youtube links with my phone but one song I have heard that sound on is Jason Aldean's cover of the Alabama song "Tennessee River".

 

[jimistone]

ChrisHarris has a song named "get loud" that has that sound, but he said it was done in a pro studio with a really good picker.who had a hell of a rig. In other words he wasn't engineering it and couldn't really tell me how they got that sound.

 

[ido1957]

Is it this version on Youtube? Sounds like a fairly dry sparse guitar on leads. Quite distorted rhythms so I'm guessing lots of compression and amp gain.
Really tough to say what it really is....

 

[jimistone]

Yes, ido1957. The rythm crunch guitars have the sound I'm talking about. It's not so much the crunch of the guitars as it is the way they sit in the mix and even though they are crunchy they have a clean airy sound to them at the same time.
I can't ever get my guitars sounding like that. A lot of people complement the guitar sounds I get but imo mine don't stack up to that...by a long shot.

That's actually just the first song in pulled up.i have never hear it before....but ALL the new country has that type of guitar sound.
I don't really care for.most of the new country tunes at all, but I like the new guitar sound.

 

[delirium trigge]

Yes, ido1957. The rythm crunch guitars have the sound I'm talking about. It's not so much the crunch of the guitars as it is the way they sit in the mix and even though they are crunchy they have a clean airy sound to them at the same time.
I can't ever get my guitars sounding like that. A lot of people complement the guitar sounds I get but imo mine don't stack up to that...by a long shot.

That's actually just the first song in pulled up.i have never hear it before....but ALL the new country has that type of guitar sound.
I don't really care for.most of the new country tunes at all, but I like the new guitar sound.

I get the type of sound you're speaking of out of my 50's strat. However, not with hum buckers. But my hum buckers are high output. The recording posted sounds like a single coil pickup to me. So, the crunch sounds different. Also some stats have that type of sound, where as no other guitar does. I can't get my Les Paul's to sound anything like my strat, which is why I use it for all cleans in my recordings.

It just sounds like a strat, plugged into a Fender amp with an OD pedal and some reverb to me.

 

[mjbphotos]

Jimistone - what guitars do you have? The Modern Player Tele might work for you - it's got a Strat single coil pickup in the middle position.

 

[jimistone]

Well, it's more a matter of how the guitars are mixed in the recordings than then the way the guitar actually sounds coming out of the amp. I probably should have put this in the mixing forum.

 

[ShanPeyton]

Well, it's more a matter of how the guitars are mixed in the recordings than then the way the guitar actually sounds coming out of the amp. I probably should have put this in the mixing forum.

What about this one Jimmy? I think these guys have a fantastic new-country sound. I think they have a few live videos where you can see their set up? Might be worth looking into?

 

[Robus]

On that Alabama tune, it's not so much the guitar as the mix. They created a lot of sonic space for that guitar so that it you can hear it clearly without it having to be too loud. Go sparse with the arrangements. EQ your parts to emphasize the fundamental of each instrument.

 

[dobro]

EQ your parts to emphasize the fundamental of each instrument.

What's this mean? What's the 'fundamental' of an instrument?

 

[Robus]

I mean the frequencies that contain the body of the instrument's sound. For example a bass guitar fundamental sound is in the low midrange, with a lot of boomy stuff below that and harmonics that go nuch higher. But the boomy stuff gets in the way of the kick drum while the harmonics can compete with guitars, keyboards, vocal, parts of the drum kit, etc. So I give it a cut below about 60Hz and another above say 600Hz. The bass is still heard in the mix because I left the fundamental frequencies alone, but I've opened up space for other instruments.