Metal guitar tone

  • Thread starter Thread starter ericlingus
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Farview said:
I was present for a bunch of sessions in the late 80's and early 90's when I was an amp tech. My clients included:
Tony Iommi (headless cross)
Ace Frehley (forgot)
Vinnie Vincent (Second album)
Bon Jovi (New Jersey)
Skid Row (Slave to the grind)
Savatage (gutter Ballet)
Manowar (Triumph of Steel)
Pantera (cowboys and Vulgar)
etc...

Once I got my own studio going, I've done
Manowar
Forest of Impaled
Rod Morgenstein
DSG
Wet Animal
Spacy T
Bill Dickens
Bludgeon
Novembers Doom
Eidolon
etc....

I was present at a bunch of other sessions as a friend of the band, staff, producer, etc... including last year when I spent a couple days with Zakk while he was recording his latest CD.
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Yeah, Farview is what most of us would refer to as a "newb". But he's definately an up and comer, once you work with some bigger names, like back street boyz, jay-z, or mariah carey, then maybe you can tell us how to get a good guitar tone. Until then, keep practicing.
 
rgraves said:
Yeah, Farview is what most of us would refer to as a "newb". But he's definately an up and comer, once you work with some bigger names, like back street boyz, jay-z, or mariah carey, then maybe you can tell us how to get a good guitar tone. Until then, keep practicing.
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Noted......
 
Farview said:
Disagree all you want. It's the way I've done it and seen it done for the last 20 years. (on albums you may have heard of)
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Do you mean that any palm muting is done on a seperate track then compressed to taste? I am against compressing the life out of dist guitars. Listen to Deftones, the albums sound great but the life has been squashed out of everything at mixing and at mastering im sure!

Eck
 
ecktronic said:
Do you mean that any palm muting is done on a seperate track
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I heard that Metallica did something like this on one of the albums. Not sure whether it was Master of Puppets or Justice.... Either way its all in the holy gearslutz thread.

As far as the mid scoops goes...yeah, it sounds great if you are chugging away on your own, but it will not cut through in either a recording or a live situation. I always used to play with the mids down, but when I was playing in a band I had massive trouble cutting through without cracking the mids back up a bit. Same goes for recording. Even if your guitars feel a tad too midrangey for the mix afterwards, you are going to have less trouble with cutting the mids a little while mixing than trying to put them back in.
 
ericlingus said:
okay im confused. Some people say too many mids and not enough treble, and others say too many mids and not enough treble. People seem to agree on the bass though. Thanks for listening guys. I actually made another clip after this one which I think sounds better. I'll post another one soon. I appreciate the help. I've been spending the last few days trying to capture a guitar tone I like for metal. I'm getting close I think.
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I wouldn't cut anythingm (treble&bass). I like a mid rangy tone myself. I have two dc-5 heads.

Keep your digital level at -20 to -18dbf (controlled via mic pre). If you don't youll b fighting your guitar tracks all day in the mix.
 
ecktronic said:
Do you mean that any palm muting is done on a seperate track then compressed to taste? I am against compressing the life out of dist guitars. Listen to Deftones, the albums sound great but the life has been squashed out of everything at mixing and at mastering im sure!

Eck
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No. The guitar is compressed (either before the amp, or on the track) to get the sound to pump like that. Some amps are squishy enough to do it on their own (like a dual rec set on tube rectifier) and it isn't a function of how much low end there is, just how much the power section of the amp sags.

If someone insists on using a solid state amp, they often run into a problem because that pumping is 10db above the rest of the guitar sound. Then you need a lot of compression to real that in and it sounds bad. What you need to do in the case is turn down the low end and add a compressor to the track to get that pumping feel without the level problems.
 
TelePaul said:
I think I own 'New Jersey'...would you be credited?
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As a guitar tech, no. I was sent there by KMD amps to keep the amplifiers that they were using running and modify them if needed. (it was) They were using the all tube KMDs at the time, which sounded good but were finicky. I attended all the sessions where someone was playing (or sceduled to play) electric guitar. I did not work for the band.
 
gcapel said:
I wouldn't cut anythingm (treble&bass). I like a mid rangy tone myself. I have two dc-5 heads.

Keep your digital level at -20 to -18dbf (controlled via mic pre). If you don't youll b fighting your guitar tracks all day in the mix.
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Sell me one. These amps are somewhat difficult to find and I want a 50watt version.
 
jonnyc said:
Sell me one. These amps are somewhat difficult to find and I want a 50watt version.
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I would consider it. I have two because when I giged in a band I needed a backup.

I have a custom anvil road case that fits two of them, I would love to get rid of.

Let me come up with a price.
 
Farview said:
As a guitar tech, no. I was sent there by KMD amps to keep the amplifiers that they were using running and modify them if needed. (it was) They were using the all tube KMDs at the time, which sounded good but were finicky. I attended all the sessions where someone was playing (or sceduled to play) electric guitar. I did not work for the band.
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How do you rate richie sambora as a player?
 
TelePaul said:
How do you rate richie sambora as a player?
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He's good enough to sell millions of albums.

Seriously, he is a good rock guitar player.
 
Farview said:
I was present for a bunch of sessions in the late 80's and early 90's when I was an amp tech. My clients included:

Tony Iommi (headless cross)
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I'm a *BIG* Iommi fan from the beginning! ...and though, the Martin albums are often very underrated, 'Headless Cross' is the best of those, IMNSHO. Very nice production, and feel. Cozy was kicking ass too.

Any interesting tidbits you can pass on about Tony?

BTW, I do have 'his' Laney Signature head (I like it alot, BTW) and his Signature SG. His Gibson Signature Pups are one of my favs too, along with EMG H4's.
 
TelePaul said:
And Bob Rock was there for the New Jersey sessions?
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Bob Rock was the mix engineer, he came in later. Bruce Fairbairn was the producer.

To tell you the truth, Bob Rock might have been there from time to time and I didn't notice. There were a few engineers on that album plus staff engineers running around. Bob Rock wasn't as big of a deal then as he is now. Before the metallica video, the general public didn't pay very much attention to producers and engineers.
 
SMC Productions said:
Any interesting tidbits you can pass on about Tony?
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That sound comes from his hands. It almost doesn't matter what amp he is using. At the time he was using Laney AOR 50's slightly modified for more distortion. (he used the ones with the single gain, not the cascading gains on the other AOR series heads)
 
Farview said:
That sound comes from his hands. It almost doesn't matter what amp he is using.
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yeah...that can be said for all the great players, IMNSHO! I'm sure you've seen it many times...they can pick up the biggest pieces of shit, and play through just about anything...and sound like *them*.

I've met some great players in my life...and I was never one to be 'awed' at *stars*, but I would probably be a bit star-struck meeting Tony. To me, he's something of a 'GOD'! As far as I'm concerned, he basically invented an entire genre of music...not many folks can claim that.

Everytime I've seen him live, I just become 'dazed'. Don't guess I could work with him...hell, I'd never get anything done! :D
 
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