Posts by Chris Duncan

    Hits first chord and I’m a semi tone below the rest of the band. ?

    Back in the early 80s I had a 70s Strat that wasn't entirely stable (much like my love life). Was in NY and had a winter restaurant gig in a finished porch area, so it was still fairly cold even with space heaters. We set up, I tuned the guitar, we did a sound check, I put the guitar on the stand and then we ate dinner before the gig.


    I pick up the guitar and hit a couple of chords with the volume off. Still in tune, all good. First song starts, I turn up and hit a chord only to realize that the guitar is in fact in perfect tune - a semitone off from the rest of the band.


    There may have been profanity.


    So, I'm perfectly capable of screwing up even if the tuner doesn't lie to me. Probably shouldn't press my luck.

    I'm guessing like a +2db over the loudest midrange instrument or leave close to level?

    A common trend I've noticed in your questions as you work to improve your mixes has been requests for absolutes and magic numbers, such as the +2db one above.


    Being a fellow geek, I can certainly relate to the logical / rational side of your brain wanting to have specifics. I know life would be a heckuva lot easier if you could just pull up a spreadsheet with formulas for each song and detailed rules on how many dbs in volume, what EQ bands, Q width and cut / boost db, and so on. However, as I think you're starting to learn, mixing involves understanding concepts more than memorizing settings. What's absolutely perfect for song A is an unmitigated disaster for song B.


    There's a common bit of advice in the world of DAW based mixing that you'll hear everywhere: "Mix with your ears, not with your eyes." It's so very easy to do the latter when you're sitting in front of the computer with all the information a DAW gives you, and it trains you to approach things in an unproductive manner. To this day I still fight this. After tweaking a level on something that ends up being -5.12, my OCD nature immediately wants to change it to -5.00 so it's a nice, even number. And I still catch myself watching the numbers or graphic display as I make changes and realize that my attention is on the visual and I'm not at all paying attention to what I'm actually hearing. Argh!


    So, this is an ongoing challenge for anyone who's intellectually based, and it's pretty clear that you fall into this category as well.

    Time to actually "study" songs instead of just listening to them.

    I think this is an excellent insight and definitely shows growth.


    To do this you need to study with your ears, not your eyes. You need to feel when the vocal or lead sounds like it's in the right place, so you need to learn how to feel where it is in other people's songs. This is an acquired skill, so you have to work at it, just like it's hard at first to learn the guitar part of a song off the record when there are fourteen different instruments playing (and five of them are other guitars). You have to learn what to listen for, how to recognize it when you hear it and then how pick it out of the crowd. It's the same with mixing as it is learning a song.


    Another exercise that could do you some good would be to go back over all the mixing threads you've started. If you're looking for it, you'll notice common trends where people talk about the same things every time - reference mixes, room acoustics, using your ears rather than expecting there to be specific formulas or a magic technical trick that the pros use. An example of the latter might be the side chain compression mentioned above. Yes, it's a common technique, but your instinct (like me) is to get caught up in the details of the technique itself when the real magic of it ends up being the same old thing - after you twist the knobs, how does it sound?


    I know this has got to be a bit frustrating in terms of advice. You're working very hard on improving and you're making great progress, but you often ignore the advice you get because it's not the answer that you want. What you want to know is the specific 1, 2, 3 of what knobs to twist and by how much, and all you get back from us are vague suggestions to use your ears and listen to how professionally released stuff sounds. That's because what you need to know is, "mix with your ears, not your eyes," so as friends we keep pointing you in that direction. Friends can be a bit pesky in that regard. :)


    So, the answer to your question is certainly on this page, which includes mix a solo like a lead vocal, use reference mixes to hear how both are done, and find the sweet spot for the given song. Ducking other tracks, as well as carving out EQ to find space, are techniques. As such, they're step 2. Step 1 is knowing what the end result is that you want to hear. Then you use step 2 to accomplish that. First pillage, then burn. Order is important.


    There was a great quote that I've never forgotten from artist Ralph Bakshi about contemporary artist and friend Frank Frazetta. Bakshi was talking about painting but I realized it applied to music as well. Late in life Frazetta had a stroke and couldn't use his right arm, so he started painting with his left. People were amazed that the work still looked every bit as good. Bakshi just shook his head and said, "Everyone knows that you paint with your eyes, not your hands."


    Or, to use the sculptor's advice on creating a statue of an elephant, "Start with a big block of stone, then chip away everything that doesn't look like an elephant."


    You've got great technical capabilities with both guitars and computers. Now it's time to do what you just said yourself. Start studying songs and learn how to pick out what they're doing - different levels, different EQs, panning, reverb, etc. Internalize that, and learn what it is that you're wanting to hear. That's the specifics you want to get a handle on. Then when you sit down to mix, close your eyes and just turn the knobs until you hear what it is you're wanting to hear.

    Congrats on the new release, man. Great stuff as always, here's hoping the world gets back to normal soon so that you can tour it!

    *BTW, yes I tried the TRANSPOSE effect in slot A that I read most of you guys doing but there is a noticeable/unusable latency that I can not afford to use as I am recording, not playing live at the moment.
    :)

    I've tried transpose and can feel the latency as well (some are less sensitive to this than others). In a live situation I could probably live with it for a song here and there, but if I was doing the whole gig in a lower tuning I would just tune the guitar, and would certainly do so in a recording situation where I didn't have to worry about a live audience waiting for me to tune.


    While it's not my code to talk about it seems to me that if pitch shifting down a half step via transpose introduces latency then it wouldn't matter if they implemented it in the tuner as I'm guessing it would have a similar delay. Probably related to processing time, i.e. it takes as long as it takes, but that's just speculation.

    Hey Chris,


    I've heard the market for used guitars is hot these days, at least it was when lots of people had more time on their hands. While some of the working musicians struggled mightily, the hobbyists with disposable income have been buying.

    That's worth knowing, thanks man. In all honestly, laziness has also played a part.

    Bwahahahaha!!! Exactly!

    Yeah, but they should really tell you what the cover charge is before you've entered the rabbit hole. Still, no regrets. :)

    I really can’t stand Les Pauls and wouldn’t let one in my house……….. but I could make and exception for that beauty ?

    I've felt the same way most of my life (Strat guy) but a Les Paul is just so rock and roll I felt I had to give one a try. So now there's a perfectly good sunburst sitting in my studio that never gets played, because PRS.


    It's like that girl you meet but just can't make it happen with. Everyone agrees that she's very pretty, and she's a lot of fun to hang out with, but... no connection.


    Honestly, the only reason I haven't sold it has been covid. With musicians struggling and probably dumping gear left and right just to survive I figure it's probably not the bet time to recoup my full investment. So, in the corner it sits.


    However, in fairness it is pretty, but not as pretty as Sollazzon's. :)

    One of his tones that kinda fit your decription is the neck + middle pickup in series with the neck being out of phase.
    "Somebody To Love" and "Bohemian Rhapsody"

    Yeah, that's the signature tone, and that configuration certainly makes sense.


    I think on Killer Queen he probably did that and also rolled the tone pot back a bit to darken it up. Doesn't sound as wah / filtered to my ears now, but back then I was a teenager just getting into guitar so my world was very small in terms of tone options.

    yes, the PROFILER will react to a treblebooster like a tube amp. The treblebooster in STOMPS is very versatile an can be dialed in nicely with it's Tone and Mix controls.
    however, there is so much to Brian May's tone (like this little gem https://fryerguitars.com/deacy-amp/) that it's hardly a matter of just calling up a AC30 and puting a treblebooster in front - on a tube amp or the PROFILER.
    It's a tough nut to crack, many have tried over the decades, I honestly never heard a convincing 'clone' of his tone.


    good luck.

    I saw an interview with him talking about building his guitar with his dad, including hand wrapping the pickups and doing I don't even remember what with the pots. I've often wondered how much that guitar contributes to his tone. When I first heard the solo on Killer Queen I thought he was using a cocked wah, but when he was giving the interview in front of a wall of AC30s, that filtered sound was there and he was plugged straight into the amps. He also mentioned holding the coin he uses as a pick so loosely that at the end of the night the stage is littered with them.


    Brian May is just one of those magical creatures.

    I carry a toaster plus the remote, so it's fairly heavy, and I've routinely used the shoulder strap.

    I've never used the strap and think it went straight in the back of a drawer.

    I'm going to do the same, just to be on the safe side. The only way to truly know if there's potential for that piece of metal to fail is after it happens. I'll just make the extra trip.

    Conversely not all amps sound good at their extremes.

    Unless it's a Marshall, of course.


    I had a JCM 900 playing with a rock band, and since it was dialed up for a fairly high gain sound I had a noise gate at the end of the chain. One day in rehearsal the threshold wasn't set quite right, and I was getting random spurts of noise while we talked between songs. The bass player asked what the heck that was and I said, "That's the sound of a Marshall on 20." He rolled his eyes and said, "Marshalls don't go to 20," so I stepped to one side and pointed to the volume knob.


    I can only assume the folks at Marshall have a sense of humor but figured it would be too on the nose if it simply went to 11. :)

    In some cultures they would just assume you were possessed and call an exorcist. :)


    Enjoyed brainstorming on the whole dropped tuning versus happy thing. This one definitely falls on the happy side, another great tune.

    Chris


    Funnily enough, i got a 7 string Ibanez guitar about 8 years and i played that constantly for at least 4-5 years whilst i still played in a band. I wrote some of my most melodic, happy tunes on that guitar and not a lot of minor key tunes AT all. I find the difference in playing a 7 string turned to B (E standard with a low B) a completely difference sonic and feeling experience than playing a 6 string tuned down to Drop C. Who knows what this says but this is definitely my experience.

    That makes sense given that you were in E but just had the extra heft of the bottom string. Something about E feels happy, and lower tunings don't. You'd think it would be no different than a key change in a song, but there's something sonic going on that's beyond my understanding.

    Those are some cool tricks I’ll have to try out as soon as I get a grip on what’s meant to be the hero for each section.

    Yeah, if you ever get that sort of thing figured out then I'll buy you a beer and you can show me. I still struggle with it.

    Let me explain. When i play my Ibanez PGM which, i keep in drop C, the music that comes out is usually in Cm as when i strike that low C and drive it through the Cm chord it just sounds and feels fantastic. So, this is where the inspiration comes and the tune starts. When i play my tele it's always usually in Gmajor for the exact same reason, striking the Gmajor chord just sounds brilliant and the rest of the tune follows.

    Yeah, I know what you mean as my guitars write most of my songs. I once had a song pop into my head complete with full band arrangement while I was in the shower (what, you couldn't wait until I was dry?), but that's an anomaly. Usually I noodle around on electric or acoustic and when something feels good, I chase it. I once actually ripped off one of my own songs without realizing it until a friend pointed it out. I guess it must have felt good enough to do twice.


    The PGM in drop C wanting to speak in Cm is really kinda the heart of my curiosity, because it seems to me that in general the low tuned guitars want to speak minor. Being an old classic rocker, I came up on standard E tuning. It feels happy, and I write bluesy / happy songs. However, when I hear a guitar that's low tuned, even without the dropped E, it doesn't feel happy. It feels dark, moody and negative.


    Then I thought maybe it's the dropped E that takes it into minor territory (even though it's not a minor 3rd), but Queen's Fat Bottomed Girls is in E with a dropped D and it's happy, feel good, foot stomping music. So, that theory doesn't seem to hold water.


    Logically, if a guitar is in standard tuning but just lowered to D or below, you should be able to play the same kind of music and just get the ballsiness of the low tuning. So, theoretically at least, you should be able to play feel good stuff on low tuned guitars. But for some reason, I think most people have your experience. They pick up the guitar and it wants to speak minor, not major. And that's the part that puzzles me intellectually.


    I've tried experimenting with lower tunings, but I just can't bond with it. I think part of it may be that I need to bump up the string gauge from my normal 10s to 11s in order to offset the loosey-goosey feeling of the lowered tension. Mostly, however, it just doesn't feel right sonically. I don't know if my brain is just conditioned to hear standard E or if it's something else, but lowering the pitch of the guitar makes me want to blow my head off with a shotgun, so to speak. And yet, it's standard tuning, so it shouldn't make a difference.


    You're definitely 95% happy, but you occasionally go into minor territory and get some great heavy guitar tones. That made me wonder if it's even possible to write something that's hugs and bunnies on a low tuned guitar, because if the Ibanez speaks minor to you of all people, then maybe that's just the way it is. Nonetheless, I just don't understand why dropping the tuning on an electric guitar immediately makes it sound minor / dark / evil. It's a real head scratcher.