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Creating a clean-guitar auto-loop recording for dialing in Tone, and ideal amp Tone recordings

Concepts
Composing the progressions
Creating the direct-guitar MD/CDR
Creating the ideal-Tone MD/CDR
Posting the clean-guitar and ideal-Tone files to the web
Downloading, using, and listening to the files

 

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Concepts

Have you often wished you had 4 hands, so that you could play guitar and tweak your amp-tone settings at the same time? Thanks to digital recording, here is a solution that is even more powerful than that. You couldn't do this with cassette tape -- it's too hissy, and you can't seamlessly repeat a track during playback. It is crucial to minimize hiss before distortion/saturation, or else this shows up as greatly amplified background noise. When an MD or CDR direct recording of a clean guitar is played back, it is practically impossible to tell the difference between the direct guitar sound itself and the recording; any differences in hiss are less than the monitor amp's own hiss.

For homing in on a great amp tone, you need to hear the same thing over and over while you concentrate on adjusting the settings. So record a short progression onto a random-access digital medium such as MiniDisc or CD-Recordable, and play it back using the Repeat Song function of a portable MD or CD player. The progression needs single notes, 2-note chords, and complex chords, at nut, 6th, 12th, and high up on the neck. A wind-up music box, a short repeating song/loop. With repeating tonal qualities throughout the progression. Play the same figure at multiple places on the neck, because what sounds ideally EQ'd for the nut position will sound too trebly when played higher; a riff EQ'd ideally for the 18th position will sound too bassy when played at the nut.

The MD plays ideal passages, well-executed, and looping automatically and thus with consistent articulation, so your hands and mind are completely free to concentrate on EQ'ing and compression and levels, and listening to the sound in the headphones / monitors. It's all very controlled and organized, with reference passages, keeping track of the pickup used, exploring nonstandard pickup settings, and differentiation between lead and rhythm. Rhythm = less dist/sat, basic chords emphasis; lead = more dist/sat, single-note emphasis

You will create an MD with 11 songs/progressions, 1 for each pickup setting*, with separate rhythm and lead parts. Each song hits the entire fretboard. (*The humbucker is used for a metal progression as well as a psych-blues progression.)

When playing back this MD, you will only ever hear 2 licks, with a variety of pickups, in a variety of positions/keys. One lick is rhythm, one lick is lead.

With the guitar playing authomatically via MD loop playback, you can dial in the best possible sound even for the unmusical pickup combinations, and learn a lot -- by choosing the most challenging pickups, develop your production approach the toughest, most robust and general way. Also, could learn to make some very unusual musical sounds, distinctive exploration of Tone.


Composing the progressions

Compose the following:

Play the same progression/figure with all pickup settings. Use generic riffs and playing style, for wide applicability. Each progression can have some gentle picking and some aggressive picking; a rapid cycle that hits all sonic types once in every two measures. Each key or position of the progression has a same passage, consisting of some single notes and some 2-note chords and some complex chords. Each key is played in a different position: nut, 6th, 12th, 18th. Keys/positions: A (5th position), E (open position), then B (about 18th position). Must be relevant to standard songs/playing. Quasi-pentatonic, quasi-blues/creative/psychedelic.

One song emphasizes lead/single-note, one emphasizes chords (semi-arpeggiated). Lead, rhythm. Need a generic progression/song for rhythm, and another for lead. Must be typical; must be repeated pattern in each key, rhythm must have a little single notes, lead must have a little chords.

Just play the same rhythm thing for each of the 5 pickups, and the same lead thing for each of the 5 pickups. Compose 2 mini-songs: or rather, 1 minisong, with separate lead and rhythm parts.

Record the rhythm progression multiple times, once for each pickup setting.
Record the lead progression multiple times, once for each pickup setting.

The progression is 12 measures.

These licks need to be clever and multi-faceted. In the rhythm lick, bring out the beauty of a few 2-note chords, the complexity of a couple less consonant chords, and a few single-notes as well. What about transposing this? Should I try an alteration? Probably - more listenable, less fatigue, more realistic.

Transpose to 3 positions/keys, to create the progression from the lick/riff.


Creating the direct-guitar MD/CDR

Hookup for original recording:

  1. Guitar
  2. MD recording deck Rec In
  3. Play/Out
  4. EQ (use your quietest EQ unit here)
  5. Compressor
  6. Overdrive
  7. Preamp distortion
  8. EQ (often available here via OD/dist box and in amp)
  9. Tube power amp, speaker, mic
  10. EQ
  11. Compressor
  12. Headphones and monitor (listen to both, for reference, while adjusting settings).

(Before and after amp, you can compare EQ->comp, and comp->EQ. Similar voicing considerations as EQ-and-distortion placement.)

I have definitely felt the need for parametric EQ after the amp, due to the often constricted sound of the speaker and mic (most recently, an ancient Rola 12" speaker, in a speaker isolation cabinet, with a lapel mic). I need ways to search out the best tone and very rapidly compare sounds, ways that a graphic EQ is not optimal for. -- perfect example: looking at my graphic EQ, what would happen if I could effortlessly slide this dip left or right, or widen or narrow it? My fingers can't move fast enough on the graphic EQ sliders, to easily compare these changes. And practically, a parametric EQ sounds significantly different than a graphic EQ - I am forced to conclude this after much tweaking. Graphic EQ seems ok for early in the chain, but I'd like to try parametric there too. Parametric EQ makes it easy to try subtle systematic shifts that would be hard to explore with a graphic EQ.

The latter signal is not to be recorded at this time; it's just to help you play in a realistic way, and to reduce the noise: when you record, be sure to Find Mecca (the sitting position with the least noise).

Make the direct tape 2-channel. Do that by playing the rhythm track from MD player into the left ch of the MD recorder, while laying down the lead track into the right ch of the MD recorder.

Record in this order:

  1. Neck single - the psych-blues rhythm lick in A, E, and B.
  2. Middle single - the psych-blues rhythm lick in A, E, and B.
  3. Bridge single - the psych-blues rhythm lick in A, E, and B.
  4. Bridge-humbucker - the psych-blues rhythm lick in A, E, and B.
  5. Middle single and neck single, out of phase - the psych-blues rhythm lick in A, E, and B.
  6. Middle single and bridge single, out of phase - the psych-blues rhythm lick in A, E, and B.
  7. Middle single and neck single, in phase - the psych-blues rhythm lick in A, E, and B.
  8. Middle single and bridge single, in phase - the psych-blues rhythm lick in A, E, and B.
  9. Middle single and bridge humbucker, out of phase - the psych-blues rhythm lick in A, E, and B.
  10. Middle single and bridge humbucker, in phase - the psych-blues rhythm lick in A, E, and B.
  11. Bridge-humbucker - the metal rhythm lick in A, E, and B.

12.  Neck single - the psych-blues lead lick in A, E, and B.

13.  Middle single - the psych-blues lead lick in A, E, and B.

14.  Bridge single - the psych-blues lead lick in A, E, and B.

15.  Bridge-humbucker - the psych-blues lead lick in A, E, and B.

16.  Middle single and neck single, out of phase - the psych-blues lead lick in A, E, and B.

17.  Middle single and bridge single, out of phase - the psych-blues lead lick in A, E, and B.

18.  Middle single and neck single, in phase - the psych-blues lead lick in A, E, and B.

19.  Middle single and bridge single, in phase - the psych-blues lead lick in A, E, and B.

20.  Middle single and bridge humbucker, out of phase - the psych-blues lead lick in A, E, and B.

21.  Middle single and bridge humbucker, in phase - the psych-blues lead lick in A, E, and B.

22.  Bridge-humbucker - the metal lead lick in A, E, and B.

For my rough but successful trial run, I had some bass clipping/overloading when recording the clean direct guitar into the MD deck on a trial run. I actually think I overloaded the analog input of the deck... [see if the problem goes away when turn the Recording Level way down. If not, the analog input stage is overloading and you must either turn down the guitar's volume knob, which I fear could alter the EQ, or else use a compressor to bring the bass peak level under control.] OR, use my volume-pot box to reduce the level. So there is one alteration I might need to make: when recording the clean-direct guitar, put just a little compression at that point -- to keep above any noise floor and prevent clipping.

So, first try outboard volume reduction between guitar and MD. Then, if there's too much hiss when played back into dist/amp, re-record the clean guitar, with a compressor or limiter.


Creating the ideal-tone MD/CDR

Using the ideal settings, play back the MD through good pre-processing, good tube amp, good guitar speaker, good mic, and good post-processing; record the resulting signal, and post the recordings to the web.

For a single tube amp, create an ideal-Tone MD, and take notes about the ideal settings used for rhythm for each pickup and for lead for each pickup:

For rhythm playing, with pickup setting #2, the generallly best sound I can get sounds like this track [ ], and is obtained with the following settings: _______________.

For lead playing, with pickup setting #1, the generally best sound I can get sounds like this track [ ], and is obtained with the following settings: _________________.

When you have the clean-guitar MD, you can then record the results of various equipment and settings.

Ideal sequence to bring out power-tube response:

  1. Moderate pre-amp compression
  2. Moderate overdrive
  3. Graphic EQ
  4. Moderate power tube breakup
  5. Parametric EQ
  6. Moderate post-amp compression.

Place the rhythm tracks both on the other channel along with the lead tracks, *and* on their own tracks, because when the rhythm tracks are bounced once, it might generate too much hiss and warbling; if you want to use those for demo's to post on the Web, the input clean guitar signal has to be absolutely as quiet as possible.

Rearrange the songs on the MD to play back in this order:

Track 1:
Left channel: Neck single-coil - the psych-blues rhythm lick in A, E, and B.
Right channel: Neck single-coil - the psych-blues lead lick in A, E, and B.
Track 2:
Left channel: Middle single-coil - the psych-blues rhythm lick in A, E, and B.
Right channel: Middle single-coil - the psych-blues lead lick in A, E, and B.
Track 3:
Left channel: Bridge single-coil - the psych-blues rhythm lick in A, E, and B.
Right channel: Bridge single-coil - the psych-blues lead lick in A, E, and B.
Track 4:
Left channel: Bridge-humbucker - the psych-blues rhythm lick in A, E, and B.
Right channel: Bridge-humbucker - the psych-blues lead lick in A, E, and B.
Track 5:
Left channel: Middle single-coil and neck single-coil, out of phase - the psych-blues rhythm lick in A, E, and B.
Right channel: Middle single-coil and neck single-coil, out of phase - the psych-blues lead lick in A, E, and B.
Track 6:
Left channel: Middle single-coil and bridge single-coil, out of phase - the psych-blues rhythm lick in A, E, and B.
Right channel: Middle single-coil and bridge single-coil, out of phase - the psych-blues lead lick in A, E, and B.
Track 7:
Left channel: Middle single-coil and neck single-coil, in phase - the psych-blues rhythm lick in A, E, and B.
Right channel: Middle single-coil and neck single-coil, in phase - the psych-blues lead lick in A, E, and B.
Track 8:
Left channel: Middle single-coil and bridge single-coil, in phase - the psych-blues rhythm lick in A, E, and B.
Right channel: Middle single-coil and bridge single-coil, in phase - the psych-blues lead lick in A, E, and B.
Track 9:
Left channel: Middle single-coil and bridge humbucker, out of phase - the psych-blues rhythm lick in A, E, and B.
Right channel: Middle single-coil and bridge humbucker, out of phase - the psych-blues lead lick in A, E, and B.
Track 10:
Left channel: Middle single-coil and bridge humbucker, in phase - the psych-blues rhythm lick in A, E, and B.
Right channel: Middle single-coil and bridge humbucker, in phase - the psych-blues lead lick in A, E, and B.
Track 11:
Left channel: Bridge-humbucker - the metal rhythm lick in A, E, and B.
Right channel: Bridge-humbucker - the metal lead lick in A, E, and B.
Track 12:
Left channel: Neck single-coil - the psych-blues rhythm lick in A, E, and B.
Track 13:
Left channel: Middle single-coil - the psych-blues rhythm lick in A, E, and B.
Track 14:
Left channel: Bridge single-coil - the psych-blues rhythm lick in A, E, and B.
Track 15:
Left channel: Bridge-humbucker - the psych-blues rhythm lick in A, E, and B.
Track 16:
Left channel: Middle single-coil and neck single-coil, out of phase - the psych-blues rhythm lick in A, E, and B.
Track 17:
Left channel: Middle single-coil and bridge single-coil, out of phase - the psych-blues rhythm lick in A, E, and B.
Track 18:
Left channel: Middle single-coil and neck single-coil, in phase - the psych-blues rhythm lick in A, E, and B.
Track 19:
Left channel: Middle single-coil and bridge single-coil, in phase - the psych-blues rhythm lick in A, E, and B.
Track 20:
Left channel: Middle single-coil and bridge humbucker, out of phase - the psych-blues rhythm lick in A, E, and B.
Track 21:
Left channel: Middle single-coil and bridge humbucker, in phase - the psych-blues rhythm lick in A, E, and B.
Track 22:
Left channel: Bridge-humbucker - the metal rhythm lick in A, E, and B.

The idea is to play back in the order that requires the least adjustment of the pre and post eq, and levels, from one track to the next. Rhythm and lead will need different settings. Also, this approach will make sure the progressions are composed and played in a more song-like, coordinated way.

My rough and sloppy and overloaded "clean" MD for my trial run made for a very rockin', SRV-sounding, and rock-and-roll greasy sounding amp-Tone demo. I just fumbled through an E-A-B 12-bar blues progression. After sending this through the signal processing chain including cranked-tube-amp, with EQ before and after, the sound is great -- definitely in the right ballpark, and not far from perfect. With some of the oddball pickup settings, I could only do so much, and did a couple of takes with different settings. After I had all 10 amp-Tone tracks on a second MD, I sorted them into order of Tone quality, with these tentaive results (best first) (it's uncertain, because I didn't play the same exact notes for each pickup setting; hard to compare):

1. Neck single-coil
7. Neck single-coil and middle single-coil, in phase
2. Middle single-coil
4. Middle single-coil and neck single-coil, out of phase
5. Middle single-coil and bridge single-coil, out of phase
9. Middle single-coil and bridge humbucker, out of phase
3. Bridge single-coil
6. Bridge humbucker
8. Middle single-coil and bridge single-coil, in phase
10. Middle single-coil and bridge humbucker, in phase

The best pickup settings for power-stage saturation are toward the neck, and single-coil is better than humbucker.

Using this Tone tweaking setup, I would like to hear a Les Paul style neck humbucker and a tele-style neck-and-bridge single-coil combination.


Posting the clean-guitar and ideal-Tone files to the web

Make this available as an MP3 high-fidelity stereo file, for recording to MD or to MP3 portable. Convert from MD/CDR to MP3 files, and upload them to an amp tone samples site such as ToneFrenzy.com or the other one (see my Links page).

Files:

With clean direct guitar:

  1. Neck single-coil
  2. Middle single-coil
  3. Bridge single-coil
  4. Bridge humbucker
  5. Middle single-coil and neck single-coil, out of phase
  6. Middle single-coil and bridge single-coil, out of phase.
  7. Middle single-coil and neck single-coil, in phase.
  8. Middle single-coil and bridge single-coil, in phase.
  9. Middle single-coil and bridge humbucker, out of phase.
  10. Middle single-coil and bridge humbucker, in phase.
  11. Bridge humbucker, flash-guitar playing style

With ideal-Tone processing:

  1. Neck single-coil
  2. Middle single-coil
  3. Bridge single-coil
  4. Bridge humbucker
  5. Middle single-coil and neck single-coil, out of phase
  6. Middle single-coil and bridge single-coil, out of phase.
  7. Middle single-coil and neck single-coil, in phase.
  8. Middle single-coil and bridge single-coil, in phase.
  9. Middle single-coil and bridge humbucker, out of phase.
  10. Middle single-coil and bridge humbucker, in phase.
  11. Bridge humbucker, flash-guitar playing style

Downloading, using, and listening to the files

After you download a Tone file, play it back using Repeat; you can also do post-amp time-effects processing such as chorus, flanging, slapback, multitrack, echo, reverb, as well as tremolo, phaser, or vibe.

Each file is ideal power-tube Tone. left ch is rhythm, right ch is lead. 1 cycle of the progression. Each file is for 1 pickup. All progressions are played with psych/blues style, and the humbucker is also played in a metal/shred/flash style.

People need to listen to channels separately as well as together, to hear the details of the rhythm Tone and the lead Tone.


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