Korgscrew
Group: Super Admins
Posts: 3511
Joined: Dec. 1999 |
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Posted: Oct. 18 2001, 18:19 |
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If it's the clean sound you want, you won't even need the overdrive.
Allan Näslund (some of you may know him) and I have been playing around with this kind of sound. We have come to a few conclusions (this is based on plugging the guitar direct into a mixer or computer, via a DI box, of course)...
A lot of the secret of the sound is in the compression. I had it going at around 4.25:1 though you can vary this a fair bit either way and still have a similar sound. The threshold was around -34db, and the attack time was fast (I started off with it around 0.10, playing around with it got various different results, as is to be expected...I forget which gave the best result, I think something slightly longer).
It'll then probably need some EQ...I found that a fairly large boost at the high end (about 16kHz) together with another in the midrange (around 1.8kHz would be a good place to start, but try shifting it around a bit to see what you get).
Mike has a gate in there as well, presumably to give a slightly longer attack, and to cut out things like handling noises and buzzes.
Mike adds expression with a wah wah - you can create an effect like that by sweeping the frequency of the equaliser's midrange band (with it set to boost). Better results might be got from using a resonant filter, of the type found in analogue synthesisers (you can get some plugins for audio software which will do this job).
There is no reason you can't use a standard wah wah pedal, though that probably won't sound exactly like Mike (but then, it'll never sound exactly like Mike unless Mike is playing anyway...).
The wah wah is, I suppose, an optional one, as you'll still get a similar sound without it.
I found that perhaps the most 'standard' sound came from using a Strat's middle pickup. As always, switching to the neck pickup gave a mellower sound and switching to the bridge pickup gave a more twangy sound (a bit like that Mastermind sound).
If you want to play through an amp, the same kind of thing applies, just you'll probably have to turn the treble control up quite high (but beware of creating a sound that's too plastic, or too cutting sounding).
if you're really determined, you could play through a studio compressor and equaliser, then plug into something like a keyboard amp, acoustic guitar amp (if that's not a contradiction in terms...) or a PA rig for a more high fidelity sound, or of course just a hifi system or set of studio monitor speakers if you're just playing at home.
The way you play is just as important. I find with guitar sounds that you really have to play in a certain way to get them to work right - I suppose it's a case of actually feeeling the sound more. I made some test recordings and wasn't totally happy with the way the sound reacted to the way I play (though listening back to it, it's not actually as bad as I thought...just it's not quite me, if you know what I mean).
I think that's enough for now...
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). That was, of course, before he started buying brand new PRS guitars and the like.
(or Squier strat 
) plus little overdrive (like Ibanez TS-9) is the usefull way to get it 
??? 