Getting that raunchy heavy guitar sound

[amishsixstringer]

Davedogg, I really like your idea of putting a heavy quilt or something over the remaining 3 speakers on a 4x12. I was thinking of disconnecting 3 of the speakers, but this would really mess with the load of the speaker. Under normal conditions all 4 speakers would be pushing out or pushing it at the same time, making the impedence greater, actually. Letting 3 speakers just flop around will make a mushy sound. The working speaker will not have a correct dampening rate and will sound poopy. Thanks for the tip!

Neil

[RemyRAD]

amishsixstringer, if you are really worried about the other 3 speakers just sort of "flopping around", go ahead and short each one. That's right, include in your switch that ability to disconnect from the amplifier while shorting the speakers together. By doing that, you will increase the rigidity of the cones. Sort of like putting an electromagnetic break on them and so, it will certainly change the resonance of the box and make the other speakers more like a piece of wood rather than a piece of moving cardboard.

Push in. Push out. Bush in. Bush out. Toke in. Toke out.
Ms. Remy Ann David

[Davedog]

Separation, I listened to your track and found it to be very good. You're certainly on the right path. The only thing I would have to hunt down and kill as a producer of this, is the intermodulation distortion thats happening, (I think I'm right on this), as a result of the drop to 'C'.


As you probably well know, this tuning drop, while being very cool sounding and heavy, also shortens the scale length of an instrument made to be tuned to this resonance. Your basic spanish guitar is made to be tuned to A 440 give or take a few decimals, and the nut and bridge are in the basic area for this to be harmonically correct at this scale length.

I know this is why guitars are getting tuned down these days as it adds some sub-harmonic structures that make "That Sound" and thats great....But in the studio these become hard to get clean and accurate separation for all the notes being played in those chordal structures and at times it covers up some of the things you might want to stand out.

Unfortunately the cure for this dilutes the massive crunch of this tuning and the point of this style of music. So wadda gonna do....?

Carefully sculpt the low-mids till the clarity comes out. Not enough to ruin the overall feel and bitchslapping of that sound....just enough...A very accurate 4 band with narrow Q parametric is the trick here.

But go easy and try not to fall in love with what it does for the sound.

"Everything in Moderation, including moderation."

[Toothgrinder]

What do y'all think of the Sennheiser 421 for guitar? I'm tuning to standard D (regular tuning down a whole step) or drop C, and want some throat in my sound, but at the same time I don't want to overwhelm the low end on my track and push the bass out of its territory.

I've used the "slam a 57 on the cone" technique for years and like it, so I am simply trying something new: using my floor tom or bass guitar mic on the guitar.

Anyone experimented with this?

If this is just a bad idea I can always switch 'EM out in about 3-5 seconds!