Black Metal guitar

[theblackmoon]

Does anyone have any clue how to get that "Gorgoroth - Twilight Of The Idols" guitar sound?

Ps: Rate this tones at www.myspace.com/eternalmalediction I would appreciate it very much.

Regards.

 

[theblackmoon]

Anyone?

 

[Matt Crooks]

Living Color is my favorite black metal band.

 

[theblackmoon]

Ok Matt, you´re not much of a expert in Black Metal. But does anyone else would like to help me on this? It´s a very distinctive guitar sound, and I having trouble reaching it. It reminds me of the Emperor - IX Equilibirum guitar sound, but with more harsh in it.

And I would like to hear some opinion on my first production. www.myspace.com/eternalmalediction

Thanks in advance

 

[Brooks]

metal zone

 

[Fragle]

sansamp psa1 straight into the desk sounds pretty black metal too....

 

[HeadCrusher]

Master volume to 11, crank the highs, cut the lows and the mids and place the mic just at the other end of a large warehouse from where the amp stands.

 

[theblackmoon]

Thanks for the feedback!

That HeadCrusher approach sounds bizarre yet very interesting. Although for me the Gorgoroth guitar sounds a bit more upfront. But I´ll give it a try.

Who here uses Psa-1? Almost bought once, but I was not sure if it sounds good DI, a least as much as a Pod. (I know Pod doesn´t sound THAT good, but with time it can sound very acceptable.)

Another question, do you guys like Laney? I´ve only read about Mesa, Marshall and Kranks(!) here.

 

[Sinister Mephisto]

Pretty sure headcrushed is making a fun of black metal guitar tone.

I've heard Laney's been used to make some good sounds, but no good black metal sounds but who knows.

 

[AmirH]

Black metal...
If you really wanna be tr00 is to take a small combo, take into the bathroom and put it in the bathtub. Careful that the faucet doesn't leak (unless you want extra distortion!) and use your computer mic or something cheap and hang it over the curtain or door. BAM instant kvlt as fuck guitar sound.

Or- put reverb on the rhyhtm guitars. Not TOO much but it would simulate the room ambience without sacrificing clarity entirely.

Black metal tone in general is really bad, so don't expect much serious advice. The best thing anyone's told you so far is use a lot of treble. You'd be a lot better off going for a good metal tone in general and using that for black metal.

 

[Sinister Mephisto]

Actually the Gorgoroth and the Emperor album mentioned don't have bad guitar sounds. Not great, but they're pretty good.

 

[AmirH]

Ah, ok. I don't have any gorgoroth and don't have that emperor album so I guess I was making assumptions. I've got anthems, nightside eclipse and prometheus only. Prometheus had a good sound but not one I'd generally associate with black metal so meh. *shrugs*

 

[LydonB]

pfft, just use shitty equipment like Varg.

 

[theblackmoon]

Actually the Gorgoroth and the Emperor album mentioned don't have bad guitar sounds. Not great, but they're pretty good.

EXACTLY! For me they sound great actually, especially talking about that style of music. An Arch Enemy tone would never fit in a band like Gorgoroth, and a typical Burzum guitar tone would never fit in Necrophagist.

Diferent styles, diferent approaches. Black Metal guitar is more about classical-ish melodies under piles of fuzz. Heaviness and punch doesn´t mean anything in that territory.

Talking about fuzz, wich one (modern) is the best?

 

[Suicide_As_Alibi]

Is there such a thing as a modern fuzz? All the ones I see are remakes of the classics - Big Muff, Fuzz Face, and (to a lesser degree) Rat. What else would you want?

As for Black Metal, I'd go for something nasty and digital - the Metal Zone is the perfect example, or the DigiTech Death Metal. If you just want it for recording, try Guitar Rig; pretty much everything that comes out of that sounds like a Black Metal tone to me Whatever you use, just turn the gain up full, and turn the contour/sweep/enhance/range knob to the top end.

Steve

 

[Sinister Mephisto]

EXACTLY! For me they sound great actually, especially talking about that style of music. An Arch Enemy tone would never fit in a band like Gorgoroth, and a typical Burzum guitar tone would never fit in Necrophagist.

I know exactly what you mean! Appearantly Infernus from Gorgoroth is endorsed by B-52. Maybe he used that.

 

[HeadCrusher]

Hey Mephisto, of course I was making fun of the tone!
Sorry about that but a friend of mine used to like tr00 ass shit like Darkthrone or Burzum - To me these guitars always sound shitty so that's were my suggestion comes from - Actually I'd really be interested in how that sounds!

But after all I can't be tooooo wrong as Death's Acre suggested to record the guitar amp in a bathtube - imo that'll also do the trick!

 

[tgs]

A lot of bashing of Black Metal tone on this forum. I can understand that some of you are put off by the sound of old Darkthrone and such (I personally love it since it's more about feeling than tone), but to say that "Black metal tone in general is really bad" basically means that you have no idea what Black Metal is at all.

I've been producing BM for almost 10 years, I've done all kinds of weird things when it comes to guitar sound, but I always stuggled to 1) find something that fits the music of the band of course and 2) find a balanced sound. And guess what! I use Engl Fireball. I use Peavey 5150. I use Rectifier. And I dial in the same kind of sound as you do probably. It's a matter of HOW you play it, mostly. But if you want to be narrow-minded, that's fine by me.

Anyway, to try to be on topic briefly. I don't know what they used, but maybe you can get in touch with the band directly and ask them what they used. It's usually no big deal. I've done this before with some bands and they're usually pretty helpful! Or you could also contact the studio of course (Shimmer Recordings in this case).

 

[Torniojaws]

Living Color is my favorite black metal band.

 

[theblackmoon]

I don´t think we´re all talking the same language here. The tone I´m looking for is not the tradicional 90´s Norwegian BM. Actually it doesn´t sound like BM at all. Try to listen to one of these albums:

Gorgoroth - Twilight Of The Idols
Emperor - IX Equilibrium

Than we can all discuss that tone. It has nothing to do with evil bathrooms, gigantic warehouses, the worst mic in the world or a shitty combo. When it comes to real BM tones I know what to do, even Amplitube or Pod can do the trick.

And if anyone thinks it´s just plug in and choose the worst tone ever, listen to Darkthorne - Under a Funeral Moon. It´s not that simple.

Thanks everyone for all the feedback.

Ps:TGS how do you usually record it?