Polishing stuff up

[danktat]

Scheduled to be back at Cambridge Sound Studios this coming weekend. I can play my parts to the songs. What I am trying to smooth out right now is my tone. Figuring out which guitar or guitars to use for which songs, and what effects stacks that I will be using for each section.

Cant wait to get back in there with Angela, Chris, Brian, Vincent and Jim! God willing I will see these guys in a few days!

 

[markd21]

Very cool!! I was doing the same this morning. I'm working on a track where I need a tone that is "surfy but distorted". I had to dig deep, but remembered the Dead Kennedy's had a tone similar to that.

After going through my guitars, it has come down to an 80s Ibanez RG560 that I caught on fire and is loaded with real 1964 Strat pickups and a 1960 PAF. Pic:

https://flic.kr/p/YwLkzS

In my Helix I managed to create a tone using the Silvertone 1464 amp model and my Marshall 1966 2x12 Impulse Responses. My first block is a gain block set to reduce the output from the guitar by 4.9 db. Then I split the path with an A/B split. The A path has a harmonic tremolo pedal to the amp. The B path got a 63 Reverb tank feeding the preamp of a Supro amp before being mixed back with the A path into the Silvertone.

Using the Supro preamp, I am able to get a cool drive that is more natural feeling than just dropping a pedal in there. Also, when you drop your drive to a parallel input path, you can saturate while retaining the "natural" amp sound.

Behind the Silvertone I have 2 IRs. One is my old 1966 cab close mic'd with a 57 and a 121. The second is the 1966 room mic'd with a U87. Each of these is on a separate path. In front of the close mic'd cab In running a Space Echo set to 366ms and a 16% mix. Behind the room cab is a Chamber reverb set to an 11% mix.

Each cab is sent to its own output. Hard R for the room cab, hard L for the close cab. Using either the neck or bridge pickup I get a very different type of a response. Both are surfy but driven, yet clear and tight.

Tonight I'll start working through the track. I'll cut a couple of parts and send a proof to the producer and see if I'm heading in the right direction.

Good luck on your work. I'm looking forward to more reports and pics!!

 

[Em7]

Music is an ethereal experience. You should do what what feels right to you.

 

[danktat]

Just a quick update......I couldn't decide whether to play the PRS for that fatter, warmer tone, or the strat for that snappier, crisper sound on a specific song I am suppose to lay tracks down for this coming Sunday. So, I recorded my parts over the drums/bass (we have the mp3s from previous session work) with each, uploaded it, and took a poll as to which one everyone liked better. Sounds like good ol' Dottie wins it.

Now, to be fair, I liked the sound of BOTH....and there may be some slight bias as the PRS with dual humbuckers sounds more like the "me" that everyone is used to. But I just thought it was interesting that the vote count was two "flip a coin because both sound great", to three "It's the PRS" votes. So it looks like Dottie will be being played on "To The Ground".

That will be the main workhorse for the whole project (though I have already tracked the A40E for another one of the songs). But it looks like the rest of the band is partial to the PRS over Fender for my playing. (Even though Chris plays both a Strat AND an old Gibson ES175).