Old 06-23-2009, 01:22 PM   #1
virgo47
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Default "Best" electric guitar effects

I'm new with electric guitar, I played chords on acoustic like 15 years but now I want to learn better. So I do scales and similar stuff. But I'm also curious about how to achieve that special sound of famous guitarists. In many cases it's more matter of style, but often the sound itself is striking (Gilmour, Oldfield typically). I don't wanna copy their sound all day long, but it would be nice to know it, right?

Do you have any tips how to do it with free VSTs? Be it DIG, FA3 or any chain of VSTs from packs like Blue Cat, mda - and of course, most preferably Cockos stuff when usable? I know, I know, I should find out by myself (in years ;-)). While it's quite easy to add long delay so that you notice it ("ha, echo!"), it's much more difficult to add the RIGHT delay/reverb/... whatever.

Also if you have any concrete tip how to set up Strat (I have some cheap copy) before it goes clean into the REAPER, throw it in! The right sound must start on the guitar - and Strat probably is not the guitar for everything (call me lame, but I guess we can agree on this at least ;-)).

Just to be more concrete I add some examples of what I'm interested in:

* I said Gilmour, so let's take Comfortably Numb from 2:05. I guess this doesn't need any comment. ;-)

* Let's stay with Floyds for a little more... Their song Time from 3:30, I tried to work with Reverb/Delay a bit, but I simply can't reach that sweet sound of a guitar sort-of in a distance but still present. Not really the same, but still distinguishably "Pink Floyd" guitar is also used on Alan Parsons' "Can't take it with you" (3:00 on, it's from Pyramid album).

* Mike Oldfield is another expert... I still can remember when I heard The Chamber from The Songs of the Distant Earth for the first time. It was as a finish on a cassette after some completely different music - and I thought it's kind of Enigma or Vangelis... then the Hibernaculum started (even more Enigmish). And then it came 1:27 - and typical synth-like Oldfield guitar and I was SURE it is him (unless someone copied him, like he did with Enigma from the start of that song ;-)). Later (2:52) started his other typical soft guitar... But crazy about him is that if I want to find THE SAME sound in other song, I'd have to go through many of them, because they have mostly different sound - but unbelievably Oldfieldish! Again, rather to be concrete (sorry for being such an analytic freak):

* How to do that typical guitar from Moonlight Shadow 2:36 on? (The more effected from the two playing the solo.)

* Finally something more recent. Sometimes I don't know if the thing playing is some kind of effected harmonica or guitar. But I guess that it's guitar in Joe Satriani's "Headless" from "Flying in a Blue Dream". The same goes for Roxette and their opener from Crash, Boom, Bang - Harleys & Indians - 3:08 on.

Actually - I could go on and even if you don't have answer to above, you can come up with your favourite setup and it will be helpful. Important thing for me is to do it in REAPER (means VSTs) and starting from clean sound. I'll be also grateful for any theory behind the setup.

Last edited by virgo47; 06-23-2009 at 01:24 PM.
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Old 06-23-2009, 02:41 PM   #2
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Guitar tone is more complex than just the amp settings and FX. So much comes from the expressive techniques that guitarists use that if two name guitarist swap rigs (within reason) they will both sound only a bit like each other and more like themselves.

There is always plenty to talk about guitar tones but most people cannot coax killer tones from brilliant set ups simply because they lack the finger prowess necessary to control such monster tones.

Also I have recently fine tuned a particular sound not un-Gilmore-ish but for use with the neck pickup on my Ibanez semi. It sounds too fierce and harmonically saturated on the back pickup of any of my guitars, and it doesn't really work on single coils. Also it's quite important to high pass the guitar before the amp sim to "clean it up".

There fore the problem you are going encounter is there are so many variables that even if just one of them is different you don't get what you want. Even if you have exactly the same guitar and everything but you record or use different gain level to the one the tone was designed around it's not going to work like you want it to - and if you don't know why you will probably blame the wrong thing and make the wrong adjustments.

Anyway guitar fans love these kind of discussions, there's no end of them on the forum but I'm not expecting to see any new light shed on the Holy Grail of guitar tone. It will remain a mystery to all but those that have found it - and though they make no attempt to conceal it nobody shall find it until it is ordained they shall do so entirely by chance.

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Old 06-23-2009, 06:05 PM   #3
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Default Gilmour's Tone?

Hey Virgo,

Both guitarists have a style and sound of their own. Typical Gilmour would be mild to hard distortion, big bends and since you were talking about "The Wall", well, some Flanger. Oldfield is another thing, not very thick distortion (actually, he uses lots of little boxes and devices to get his typical sound) and very, I mean, VERY fast vibrato!

Now, to replicate Gilmour's tone, you have to know how he actually builds his FX chain. You're in luck, I studied the guy a lot. First common misconception: Dave Gilmour NEVER ever gets his distortion from the amp he's playing in! He's got the british "hi-fi" mentality... Meaning, he's got the cleanest signal chain possible, adding dirt and distortion using pedals. He's playing into Hiwatts (some sort of a military grade built Marshall) but bypasses the preamp section of the head. He's known to be using a modified Alembic preamp (Fender topology) he borrowed from Roger Waters. He's using multiple distortion pedals and dirt boxes (EH Big Muff, Fuzz Face, Boss HM-1, Chandler Tube Driver, etc) to get his famous singing tones. That's only for the distortion part! Gilmour uses compressors (MXR DynaComp and Demeter Compulator I believe) for sustain and many modulation effects (UniVibe, EH Electric Mistress, Boss CE-2, and more). Delays are Binsons, Roland Space Echos (not sure) and nowdays, modified Boss DD-5s. There's also some stuff using the classic rotary speaker (Leslie) and Gilmour had the Yamaha version for the live shows.

Now, if you want to emulate all of this in free software, you'd have to do some research but here's a few pointers. SimulAnalog does the free "Guitar Suite" set of plugins which are real good. There's a good UniVibe and Marshall / Fender simulator in there! The dirt boxes are great too. Blockfish is one of my favorite VST compressor and it's 100% free, sounds GREAT. Antress makes some very good free comps too!

Anyway, I tried to "replicate" Gilmour's tone for fun, using free plugins only, I thought it could be a fun challenge. I didn't nailed it exactly, but I'm close.

I attached to this post a screenshot of all my settings and included the impulse I used for the cab/speaker emulation. Used my Fender Strat to record the MP3.

Free tip for recording direct guitar: Go through a Boss pedal in BYPASS mode before hitting the D.I. or the audio interface. All Boss pedals have buffered input so the guitar reacts and feels more like an amp...

I hope this answers your questions, cheers!

Marc Girard
www.marcgirard.com

PS: Have a look at my Comfortably Numb remake I did in 2006, we traced back all the pedals and re-recorded everything! Available here-> http://www.marcgirard.com/numb
Attached Images
File Type: jpg FreeVSTGilmour.jpg (96.4 KB, 3481 views)
Attached Files
File Type: zip Marshall Plexi SM57.zip (16.9 KB, 527 views)

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Old 06-24-2009, 01:23 AM   #4
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Tedwood:
That's why I'm curious about the sound, but I don't see Holy Grail there. ;-) Just sort of interest and curiosity. I bet it's more complex than I comprehend - and I'm talking only about the sound itself. When I recognize guitarist on a record where I would not expect that one, it's not only the sound, but also the style - both together. I still remember how confused I was hearing Santana's Smooth the first time. I knew his typical singer and now it was someone else (album full of "featuring ...") but yet "this must be Santana!" That was the moment I realized how I can recognize him - I would never say so before. It's probably not only the sound of Red Special that reveals May, it's also his slides of big soundscapes, so typical for him (often overdubbed a lot). I realize I will not play like Gilmour in decades to come (probably never ;-)). Not because it's technically difficult - it's no super-speed after all - but because I'm not Gilmour.

Khorus:
I'm listening to that Comfortably Numb - and while you can hear it's not Floyd (voices), it's awesome and really close! You gave me a lot of stuff to work with in a single chain - I appreciate that. I probably don't come with feedback any soon while I check it out and try various possibilities. :-) Now I'm going to play that Comfortably Numb once more. ;-)

One more thing came to my mind - I bet someone already asked that, but these things are difficult to find by keywords:

Why are ppl so obsessed by Amps and their simulation in computer home recording? Let's put imitation of existing sounds aside for a sake of this question. Why I ask?

I plug that wannabe-Strat into my low-cost GI100, switch 2 or 4, so the hum is close to none (probably also thanks to that DI box) and now I have quite nice clean sounds that could sing nicely with some effects thrown in. But no - there is amp simulation behind, that hums, there is noise gate that cuts the sound fast or otherwise it shows the hum, with this setup, sustain is pretty short... do you know what I mean?

Is there any particular reason why to simulate amps except - well - simulation? :-) Is there some magic about it that I should go with them? Are there ppl actually not using them in their chain?
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Old 06-24-2009, 02:04 AM   #5
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you can subscribe for free to Gibson Guitar's Lifestyle email newsletter. from time to time it has a how-to on getting the sound of a particular guitarist using plugins. even if you don't have the plugins they're using the info is a good start. There are also lessons you might be interested in

here is the one on david gilmour's sound:
http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyl...avid-gilmours/

subscribe here:
http://www.gibson.com/emailsignup.aspx

in case you missed it there is a free version of amplitube x-gear available. someone posted about it in the general discussion forum

p.s. don't let tedwood's comments get you down on your quest
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Old 06-24-2009, 02:19 AM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Khorus View Post
PS: Have a look at my Comfortably Numb remake I did in 2006, we traced back all the pedals and re-recorded everything! Available here-> http://www.marcgirard.com/numb
nice job

..........
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Old 06-24-2009, 03:55 AM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by virgo47 View Post
Is there any particular reason why to simulate amps except - well - simulation? :-) Is there some magic about it that I should go with them? Are there ppl actually not using them in their chain?
amps add a LOT of colour to guitar tone. you can get by without them, but you have to work hard with saturation/eq/compression to get the same sound.

your raw guitar tone probably has way too much treble and not enough sustain without some sort of amp + cab sim.
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Old 06-24-2009, 05:30 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by politcat View Post

p.s. don't let tedwood's comments get you down on your quest
Why on earth should my comments get anyone down in their quest?

I didn't say the sounds are unobtainable - quite the reverse. All I am trying to do is help people have realistic expectations. Copying a FX chain won't get you you the same sound as the person you heard using it.

What I am saying is find out for yourself what works for you. I have wasted plenty of time and bandwidth downloading FX chains that sound nothing like what they are supposed to using either of my guitars. I'm trying to save people the same waste of time - thats' all.

On the other hand I have been getting some awesome sounds by carefully working through lot's of settings on amp/cab sims, eq, compressors, stereo width, delay, flange and chorus combinations. The trick if you ask me is to find a sample of the sound you want to emulate and listen to it very carefully.

One of the things I notice about processed guitar sounds is there is a lot more going on than is immediately obvious, the chances of finding it by chance are practically nil, so you need to be methodical.

i actually have not the least desire to find the same tone as (enter famous guitar wizz here). I just want tones that are at least as good in their own way. This stuff takes a hell of a lot of delving, then I save the settings and rework them again and again, each time making improvements.

Surely you have noticed how when you buy an FX with (famous name) presets they sound nothing like it. None of the signature pre's on Guitar Rig even sound good, let alone like the dudes themsleves. Does this mean Guitar rig is shit? No it means what I am saying is true, actually my "go to" amp sim is FreeAmp-3, but none of the pre's on that are much good either with my guitar.

I am getting some awesome sounds with free plugs now but I'm not going suggest anyone will get the same without doing the work. Sorry if you don't like it but I don't think there's anything at all wrong with telling the truth as I see it.

Thinking about it I don't suppose my comments make the slightest difference, since it's something you find out as soon as you try a few pre-made FX chains anyway.
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Old 06-24-2009, 11:26 AM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tedwood View Post
Why on earth should my comments get anyone down in their quest?
They will not in my case. I didn't take it as such. I have been admiring music (and its creators) since little age and I always tried to analyze it - for that I appreciate even sorta philosophical opinions. I know there is no universal shortcut - and as I said, I wanted something to start with - even with all yours "but!" Hope we're clear now. ;-)

Quote:
Does this mean Guitar rig is shit? No it means what I am saying is true, actually my "go to" amp sim is FreeAmp-3, but none of the pre's on that are much good either with my guitar.
Thanks for these words, I wasn't sure if I should go on with FreeAmp-3. I like it but presets are really... just presets. Not bad, but... never what you want, right? I like the conception and I find it more modular than DIG, but then... who am I to tell the difference.

Quote:
Thinking about it I don't suppose my comments make the slightest difference, since it's something you find out as soon as you try a few pre-made FX chains anyway.
I don't wanna skip the tweaking and work in the end... I wanted those chains to start with. :-))) Finally - all those "it's even more difficult than you imagine" are also important. At least I know.

dub3000:
Hm... I should probably find out what is the amp (I have one at home I guess), cabinet, and what's a head for. :-) What I don't like about amp/cabinet simulations is that they sound way too dirty.
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Old 06-24-2009, 01:09 PM   #10
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I've been composing this post off and on over a period of time and now I feel like I'm joining a conversation that's moved on. Sorry if this is going over old ground.

You've posted some wide ranging questions.

One quick answer: Going back to your first post, I'm pretty sure it's a harmonica on Satriani's Headless and Roxette's Crash, Boom, Bang.

Satriani does play the harmonica. See 2:16 in the clip below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVnfarYmjDw
Quote:
Originally Posted by virgo47 View Post
Also if you have any concrete tip how to set up Strat (I have some cheap copy) before it goes clean into the REAPER, throw it in
For the action, I believe Fender suggest that, measured at the 17th fret, the distance between the top of the fret and the underside of the string should be about 2mm for strings 1 to 4, going up to about 2.4 mm 6th string. I set my Strats to a slightly higher action going from 2.5 to 3mm otherwise they rattle too much, but you can probably get away with a lower action if you’ve got a lighter touch.

If you use the whammy bar you might need to takes steps to avoid tuning problems. Minimising the angle of the string at the nut can help. In the past I’ve wound the strings so they leave fairly high up on the machine head. Also, I’ve used the technique of writing in the nut slot with a soft pencil, so there’s graphite lubrication. However, I’ve now got locking machine heads plus a Graphtec nut and bridge saddles which help a lot.

Quote:
Originally Posted by virgo47 View Post
The right sound must start on the guitar - and Strat probably is not the guitar for everything…
I’m probably a bit biased but I think a Strat is the most versatile guitar. There’s a humbucker in the bridge position of two of my Strats, but it is possible to get a thick sound from a single coil. Eric Johnson manages to do it.

Dave Gilmour is one of my favourite guitarists. I go along with Tedwood’s comments about ‘finger prowess’ and I believe that’s got a lot to do with his sound. There’s incredible control and subtlety in his playing. He bends notes at different velocities, clips bent notes, sustains others, applies varying velocities and amplitudes of vibrato. Sometimes the vibrato is immediate and sometimes it comes in slowly. I think it’s very technically difficult to do what he does, even though he doesn’t play fast. Vibrato and string bending techniques are things to work on just like any other technique, although each player seems to find their own personal voice in that area.

Dave Gilmour is a wonderfully subtle expressive player. Although Mike Oldfield is a great composer and musician, when it comes to lead guitar I think Khorus said it all. “VERY fast vibrato”

I can’t really add anything to what Khorus said about effects, who is clearly very knowledgeable in that area.

Pete
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Old 06-24-2009, 01:35 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by virgo47 View Post
Thanks for these words, I wasn't sure if I should go on with FreeAmp-3. I like it but presets are really... just presets. Not bad, but... never what you want, right? I like the conception and I find it more modular than DIG, but then... who am I to tell the difference.



I don't wanna skip the tweaking and work in the end... I wanted those chains to start with. :-))) Finally - all those "it's even more difficult than you imagine" are also important. At least I know.
Good I am glad I didn't put you off and we are reading from the same book.

What I like about FreeAmp is it "feels" more like a real amp. I actually tried the Gilmore Guitar rig suggestion further back in this thread, and while it sounded okay the picking dynamics spoiled it for me, it felt flat and lacked attack and bloom, more like a cheap 90's digital pedal, which if you want it for recording pretty much renders the whole thing useless.

You might argue FreeAmp lacks something tone-wise but because it has a real amp-like response it inspires me to play better. That's quite a big thing in an amp sim's favour which is often overlooked.

Edit: I was wondering when Stratman would join in, I didn't think he could ignore a thread like this

I might add it seems fairly obvious the action contributes to the tone as well, but it might surprise you as to just how much.

I recently gave my guitars a bit of attention. My Ibanez semi was just little bit harder to play, after quite some tweaking I settled for about 1/10 turn of slack to the truss rod (for a bit more neck relief), about 1/8 turn to lower the bridge (to compensate for the truss rod adjustment) and a set of 10/46 strings instead of the 11/49 I had on it.

The difference in string height is virtually undetectable but it plays and sounds like a different guitar.

Moral of the story is the same as the amp/cab sims: Set it up best you can, then make tiny changes and review if it is any better or worse, and learn from what you find out.
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Old 06-24-2009, 01:40 PM   #12
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Virgo, you might find some helpful information on here...

http://www.gilmourish.com/


Enjoy & good luck, SG
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Old 06-26-2009, 12:56 AM   #13
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Default Thank you all

Thanks for links, opinions and also for the Gilmourish VST chain up there. Maybe it does have some problems Tedwood mentions, but I'm far from recognize it yet as these things require a lot of time. Actually - I tried to find out what every VST does on its own and while some are really obvious (Fuzz? :-)), some of them are subtle (first compressor), that I couldn't tell the difference. I do think my ears are OK (not hi-fi ones, but I generally hear more in music than normal ppl around), but I probably don't know what to hear for - or it is so subtle without the rest of chain. I know what compressor does... but still. :-)

While I like FreeAmp for the lot of stuff it has, somehow I feel restricted by it - even when I can't reach all it's possibilities. You cannot insert any VST between effects. I didn't find manual for it and as a semi-newbie not everything is clear to me (for instance Chub is knob I never seen before, here it is many times ;-)). I also lack something to get better sustain from my guitar - but OK, the trouble probably origins in a guitar itself. ;-) Maybe I should use FA for the amp in the first place and throw other VST "pedals" around. Lastly - I have three copies of FA DLL because of the bug that you can't use the same DLL in multiple instances (because it's based on some VST module that has this bug or so). While you can workaround it, it's another complication in some cases.

Before this thread I'd say that the typical chain consists of a few pedals - or more of them but not many of them active at once. Now I see that the chain that sounds actually good and typically <guitarist-of-your-choice>-ish is mostly quite complex with a lot of subtle things thrown in.
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Old 06-28-2009, 05:36 PM   #14
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Originally Posted by virgo47 View Post
Tedwood:
Is there any particular reason why to simulate amps except - well - simulation? :-) Is there some magic about it that I should go with them? Are there ppl actually not using them in their chain?
I think a lot of amp simulations kill tone. I mean, everything can be tweaked to sound fine, but in general that's what I think. For rhythm nowadays I'll always just go straight in. For clean lead tones I usually just add some reverb or echo, but with no amp simulation. I will also sometimes use distortion vsts with reverb in place of amp simulation. I have been using guitar rig 3 lately though, a lot of the presets I use are amp simulations. So I use both.
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Old 07-02-2009, 02:24 AM   #15
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If you can, use a real amp. As good as amp sims are they are sims. There is something more with a mic'd amp. I realize that the tones can be spectrographed and reproduced but an amp (and its speakers) reacts to each note in a different way and that means a really complicated sim. I can usually tweak a decent sound out of a sim, but if plug in one of my amps, turn it up abit and put a 57 on it , well Magic.
I am sure I'll get some grief but as Yep sez, Trust your ears.
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Old 07-06-2009, 02:43 PM   #16
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Default Gilmourish

Very interesting link SG,some good info there, thanks

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Old 07-07-2009, 04:03 AM   #17
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Default Miked amp - nostalgy or undisputed truth?

I will NOT argue as my experiences are close to none compared to other guitar players around. I'm already reading Yep's threads (but man, that's a lot of stuff - not that I complain :-)) - and I like them, actually it was one of the first things I started to read here and my head started spinning right away. Great stuff. And now those ears... mine I mean. I should probably develop them first.

I have GOOD ears, I love music, I can hear subtlety in many things - but man... when I plug in my new shred-guitar I can't hear immediately it's not the cheap Strat-clone. I hear the difference side by side, but then there are various pickup selections, tone setup... No, I simply can't tell "this is this guitar, probably that pickup". Not yet. For that I don't care about amp, miked or not. I use amp to practice, otherwise DI->Reaper, VST effects. I have to find the sound I like and start to experiment with it. As I practice guitar more and more now, I'll probably get there sooner or later. ;-)

When I have more money to spend, I'll buy some stomp boxes, as I like the real feeling. And I don't wanna rely on REAPER+notebook on stage (IF I get there ;-)). But miking the amp... I'm not sure if I want that. Is it common on stage? Is it normal in serious studio recordings? How often? Do I have to do that in order to please my listeners? :-)

Maybe I'll start to like it. Maybe... my ears will tell. Now I prefer cleaner sounds (in terms of noise and buzz). I'm definitely focusing much more on playing the guitar now than worrying about the sound. It will come.

Still I have a question of the last few days: :-)
What's the best effect to emphasize sustain of the guitar? I mean... it's not too often I can hear the effect of the compressor. There is one fuzz effect mentioned earlier (Fuff muzz?) that gives me sustain, but it makes the sound too blured (not sure if the word is right here). The whole sustain thing is not so easy I guess, maybe simply the guitar can't hold on for so long and I should play thicker strings in order to get the longer sound... but I'm asking anyway. :-) What do you do in order to sound longer?

(I can't stand in front of the cabinet, I have neighbors. And small amp. :-))
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Old 07-07-2009, 05:19 AM   #18
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Originally Posted by Khorus View Post
Free tip for recording direct guitar: Go through a Boss pedal in BYPASS mode before hitting the D.I. or the audio interface. All Boss pedals have buffered input so the guitar reacts and feels more like an amp...
I never knew that, thanks for the tip!! Sorry to ask this with intentions not to hi-jack the thread but, does any Boss pedal work this way? I was going to get a Boss Compressor pedal just to have something to tame the peaks and low spots before hitting my usb soundcard (I use Amplitibe Fender and Guitar Rig 3), and this could help with adding warmth to the tone if so.

To the OP, I seen that the "how to get Gilmour tone" post was using Guitar Rig 3. I use GR3 and find it very versatile and believe that you can get just about any hero's tone possible. I know you are looking for freeware but you can always download the demo and give it a try. I would also like to add that I didn't see Voxengo's Boogex mentioned yet. This is a free amp sim, and one of the best I have found for getting a good clean channel IMO, get a good clean amp and then build on that). Their overdrive is mediocre at best, but when I want to get a good clean tone, this is my first go to in freeware. Just dial the drive all the way out and start playing with the eq and cabinet/mic choices. My second choice for clean amps is the BTE Audio's Juicy (It reads its a high gain amp, which it sounds good on the overdrive channel, but turn the clean channel on and it's pretty nice).

http://www.voxengo.com/product/boogex/

http://www.bteaudio.com/software/Juicy77/Juicy77.html

Oh yeah, for a little gain when needed, they have a good Tube Screamer too:

http://www.bteaudio.com/software/TSS/TSS.html

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Old 07-07-2009, 05:24 AM   #19
Tedwood
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I think a lot of amp simulations kill tone.
Yes they do, but so does recording a real amp.

People mistakenly believe that if you put a mic in front of a guitar speaker it will sound the same, it doesn't. If you are good you might make it sound how you like it, but the same goes for amp sims.

I'm sorry but in the real world there is no way around it.
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Old 07-07-2009, 06:49 AM   #20
Bezmotivnik
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Anyway guitar fans love these kind of discussions,
I wouldn't say I love them. Quite the contrary.
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there's no end of them on the forum but I'm not expecting to see any new light shed on the Holy Grail of guitar tone.
We're in agreement there.

A perfect guitar tone and a perfect guitar track are not the same thing. The first doesn't matter, the latter does.

It's heretical to say it, but I'm convinced that the engineer makes great guitar, not the guitarist. Without exception, every bit of recorded guitar sound I've heard in my life that sounded good to me in the context of the song (which is all that matters) was obviously the product of a very savvy guy on the board and a producer with golden ears. If the guitarist -- ANY guitarist -- was even a third of it, I'd be surprised.

The main things that make big guitar sound are good multiple layering and superb EQ, then skillful compression and ambiance...and then whatever's left.

I don't ever recall a live (not recorded live) guitar sound that I wouldn't have just as soon missed.

I'm in a situation now where I need to come up with a perfectly-recorded, very powerful recurring guitar hook that will be central to a song, and I've been stewing over how I'm going to do it for days.

I get physically ill at the thought of going into the studio to even begin.

Last edited by Bezmotivnik; 07-07-2009 at 06:55 AM.
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Old 07-07-2009, 07:07 AM   #21
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I recently gave my guitars a bit of attention. My Ibanez semi was just little bit harder to play, after quite some tweaking I settled for about 1/10 turn of slack to the truss rod (for a bit more neck relief), about 1/8 turn to lower the bridge (to compensate for the truss rod adjustment) and a set of 10/46 strings instead of the 11/49 I had on it.

The difference in string height is virtually undetectable but it plays and sounds like a different guitar.
From that description, I'm assuming an incidental relative change in pickup height after those other adjustments and the fresh .011"s (!) are the reasons.

Man, I can't imagine having the strength to play .011"s...but my hands are pretty messed up.
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Old 07-07-2009, 07:34 AM   #22
virgo47
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bfloyd6969: Thanks for tips, I'll try that. I tried actually a lot of free plugins. Many of them bring quite subtle sound changes I can't judge right now. Sometimes subtle change in a chain makes a huge difference in the end, change that is far from subtle sound-wise. Some plugins I delete right away, maybe not the right ones, but even then I have tons of things to play with - and I will. In a course of time that is.

I downloaded Voxengo stuff (I even had something from them already, but not this one), and I'll give it a try. Probably many tries. :-)

About Guitar Rig... I simply don't wanna go there yet, not even with demos. I have some EUR to spare, to be true, but I rather spared them on a new guitar recently (and even that in a massive sale ;-)). I bought REAPER - as that is something I really like and need, but I don't wanna start mess with paid VSTs now, as there is TONS of them (not the same tons like in the free realm, but still ;-)). I have time to struggle through free ones. More than I have EURs to buy everything I would probably like. :-) My policy can change and will change probably, but not now. I'm still very fresh in the business.

Now it's time to go through few more VSTs and play some scales again. :-P
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