Tip #25: Bad Sounds are great!

  • I remember using a modeler a long time ago, spending days to find the ultimate tone - I was happy - a HUGE guitar sound.


    Then a friend of mine came with a Mesa Boogie - turned some knobs - and we wanted to make some music together.


    I heard his sound - and thought - not to bad - but nothing compared to my HUGE sound.


    We started to play both at the same time - and used a backing tape with drums & bass.


    The Boogie sounded great and cut thru the mix - my "HUGE" sound was not there at all :cursing:



    Then I learned the art of a great guitar sound - it's NOT the sound which sounds HUGE when played solo - but the one which sounds great in a mix.

    (All trademarks are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way associated or affiliated with soundside.de)


    Great Profiles --> soundside.de

  • Good point...completely agree.


    You'll read a lot of Kemper users saying many of the stock Kemper Profiles don't sound that good.
    That's because the user is sitting in his room playing 'solo' scrolling through Profiles and wanting to sound "HUGE" through his studio monitors, but the majority of the stock Profiles were made in recording studios, for recording.
    Record using a stock Profile and it sounds excellent.


    I took my collection of tweaked HUGE sounding Profiles into a friends recording studio.
    They sound great through my studio monitors, they sound great through his studio monitors, but many of them were too bassy, too BIG for recording purposes, in the mix.
    Then he played me a recording/song he'd done with some stock Profiles, the Gibson Goldie and the Peter Fischer Exstacy...the recording sounded glorious.


    Having said that, it's very easy to tweak a huge sounding 'solo' at home Profile into a recording version, just use the knobs on the KPA. :D

  • very true :thumbup: ...I think it would be a great help for many men(even fully grown ones) if we had some short clips with guitar in the mix and then the same guitar by itself. anyone up for it?

  • very true :thumbup: ...I think it would be a great help for many men(even fully grown ones) if we had some short clips with guitar in the mix and then the same guitar by itself. anyone up for it?


    As an example listen to this:


    http://guitarsquid.com/posts/t…ated-guitar-tracks/12420/


    It's eye (and ear) opening... Very educating!

  • The best way to get some feeling for this is to get your hands on some nice multitrack files, like the ones that were used for Rock Band or Guitar Hero. You can also use these as a source for tonematching.


    This site is wonderful...


    http://multitrackdownloads.blo…k-band-3-multitracks.html

  • But I think its important to say.


    Most cases you need 3 different sets,


    Live play, Recording, and solo play.


    Live play will have lowerd bass, more mids, and less highs, but more presence, possibly no reverb (depending on genre)


    Recording, although most of it can be done post, but generally lowerd bass, lower bottom mids, higher mids and often trebble/presence controls the sweet spot. - small bit of verb to fatten the sound, but again most of that is added at mixdown.


    Solo play, whatever you feel comfortable with, more gain, more verb delay, effects.. whatever you want to throw at it you can.


    Its very rare that a dialed in tone at home works well at full band volume or recording, liek wise a perfected recorded tone, will sound a bit sterile on its own, and a Live play tone may sound bizarre in a recording, or at home.


    This is the art in which we ourselves need to create. - unfortunately there is no "make" button. - and is also why playing the guitar in a modern world is a lot more complex than it used to be.


    I leave with the saying, there is no right or wrong, but there is good and bad!

  • yepp, very much so..becomes very obvious when you play your solo.presets through a PA for the first time, especially if you don't have a good soundguy at the gig.