I'd like some feedback on this crap.. please!

Erkan

mr-walker.bandcamp
Jun 16, 2008
3,305
5
38
Uppsala, Sweden
mr-walker.bandcamp.com
Hai guise! How do .... uhh, nevermind.

I've been experimenting with this tone for some time now. I've always used the same old preset from last summer but I've grown so tired of it so I tried making something completely different, which I discovered a couple weeks ago. Since then, I've made the tone much better and gotten rid of some nasal boxy stuff, but now I feel I'm at the point where I can't do anymore without the advice of some fresh ears.

Therefore, I give you three tracks, ladies and gentlemen! The first is my tone before consulting Metaltastic/Marcus, the second is after the consultation and the third is a variation of the second - I won't say what I did on it since I want unbiased feedback =)

(Unfortunately, only the first test is guitar only. The rest have Addictive Drums, played by me on midi-keyboard heh, gotta love it when it's not 100% tight! Still no bass or anything though, just guitar and drums.)

The BEFORE tone: This was my latest revision of the tone, before consulting Marcus. I brought it back with me home and PMed it to Marcus and we agreed on that it had a bit too much going on in the mud area so I cleaned it up in a couple ways, which are below.

The AFTER tone: Here I've cleaned up some in the mud frequencies and... probably done some other stuff too.

The AFTER tone - 2: See if you like this one better or not.


---------Latest-Version-Is-Below--------

The AFTER tone - 3: This one is addressing the mid abundancy that Marcus mentioned. I did sweep around on that spot and I think I found where it was too much so I lowered it.... quite a lot. Now that I've rested my ears a while and gotten back home, I can hear it's maybe too much but I won't say anything. I'm kinda operating out of my league now, I feel like my experience with guitar sound is lacking when it comes to locating abundancies and eliminating them, so your feedback is extremely helpful here guys. Compare this one with the others and tell me if it's better or worse.



(the text below might not make sense now that we've progressed a few steps but I'll leave it there in any case :D)
Feedback would be appreciated guys! Personally I am kinda happy with the tone's character in general... it certainly is a lot more fun to play the guitar with than with my old preset (the ones that are on my MySpace for example... yuck). The mix was whipped together really fast and I haven't done anything to fit the tracks together (surgical EQ, compression, master bus compression etc.).
 
Hey man, I'm thinking I like the "After tone 2" (FO v4 plus) the most, seems ever so slightly clearer than the other "after tone." Still got that X-TREME abundance of mids at around 1k that I'm gathering seems to be pretty characteristic of Revalver from the clips I've heard; a narrow cut there would do good IMO!
 
Nice feedback Marcus, I had totally missed that abundance of mids and I still can't detect it with my limited guitar-analysis-hearing :p I'll need to "investigate" it a little I guess and try again.

Other than that though, does it sound useable? How's the bottom, fine, too much or too little? And how's the fizz, good, more or less? (Well, I know these probably depend on the mix and once I get songs together for a new project, I can of course tweak it but need to ask just in case :))
 
i like that after tone 2 nice and thick sounding not too muddy wish my guitar track were sounding like that :(
 
I like both of the "after" tones... a lot. But there is something in "after 2" tone that I just can't put my finger on that makes me lean to it just a little more.
 
Hmmmmm.... very interesting feedback guys ;) Your feedback means a lot.

I'll do a little cutting in the EQ over the weekend and link a new version... I'll be sure to bump the thread when I do so we can see if there's anything else that is really obvious that needs to be fixed.

Threads like this rule because they help a lot in the pre-work before actually sitting down and making a bunch of songs. Most of the guitar sound will be finalized by the time I have a bunch of songs to record, so after that it's just whatever that is neccessary for the mix, that needs to be done.
 
Personally, I've always thought the tonal benefits of quad-tracking weren't worth the effort it takes to get 'em. And as for the tones, besides the 1k mids, I think they sound great; neither too fizzy nor too muddy/bassy!

So what all did you do for each after tone, anyway? ;)
 
Hmm yeah, think I'll do without quad tracking, since I plan on atleast trying to use synths a lot to thicken up the sound and stuff.

Oh yeah, what I did was:

The AFTER tone: Reduced about 5 db at 200 hz with a narrow enough Q value to contain the reduction between 100 and 300 hz. I did this before the signal hits Revalver just to see what happens, instead of doing it after Revalver. Doing it before should mean Revalver gets less of those freqs, which means those freqs are getting a bit less distortion, and maybe this helps against mud... I don't know how it works really, I just tried :) I didn't sound bad, but it could get better, so I did the same thing after Revalver, but only 2-3 db, but same frequencies. I don't remember 100% now but I think I fiddled with the mids and boosted them 1 db o so after Revalver, sort of to "make up" for the loss.

The AFTER tone - 2: Same thing as above but with a 7 db boost to the frequencies around 1000 hz, with a pretty wide Q so it started rising from 400 hz and peaking at 1000 hz. This was done before Revalver obviously, to bring out some "djent" (not that I'm aiming for djent music, but it's cool when you have traces of a djenty guitar in whatever metal... atleast I think so, haha). I also increased the previous scoop at 200 hz, after Revalver. Think I lowered the gain on that band to -6 db instead of the previous -2 or -3. I also decreased the mids from within Revalver just a tad... like from 7.40 to 7 or something.

I think that's all I did... not completely sure though :)

I can give more detailed info about the chain later when the tone is "done", if anyone is interested.
 
I'm going to have to go with After Tone 1, not 2, sounds more pleasing to my ears.

I would also retrack the part from :57 seconds on. Sounds like you looped it (the punch in is very obvious) and it's a little monotonous to me.

Cool riffage and tone otherwise:kickass:
 
I'm going to have to go with After Tone 1, not 2, sounds more pleasing to my ears.

I would also retrack the part from :57 seconds on. Sounds like you looped it (the punch in is very obvious) and it's a little monotonous to me.

Cool riffage and tone otherwise:kickass:

Hehe cool that you enjoyed the first one instead! Yeah I'm not really sure which one I like personally the most... they're both fun to play with, but the first one is a bit more "smooth" and "round" ... it's not as cocky as the second one :D But the second one is a bit more like... has some attitude to it, and I like 'em both (except the middle abundance that Marcus mentioned)

Hehe dude, no worries, this song isn't anywhere near final. Yes, a lot of stuff is looped, I do this just to build a scratch track to lay drums over later (if I play the drums myself, which I intend to do on my next project too). This still suffices as a sound test though, all that matters right now is to get the guitar to sound ok (by the norms of our great forum :)), so I have less to worry about later.

Thanks for the feedback, much appreciated!
 
A small bump here, I've made a new version with your feedback, and addressed the mid abundancy you mentioned Marcus. The link is in the main post at the top.

Also, keep on listening, I added a few extra riffs ;)

Oh and, newcomers, if you haven't noticed yet, this is just a sketch of a song so there are looped parts and bad punch ins etc, it's just for the sake of putting a song together. The important thing right now though, is to polish the guitar sound early so I won't have to worry about it later as much. The idea is to make a few songs and record everything myself (with real drums) and do another project like the one in my sig. Your feedback makes this happen <3
 
I like the after tone - 2 after the changes, pretty nice, but one thing that is distracting ALOT, is that ringy snare, cut that out with a somewhat narrow Q, it sounds awful and distracts from guitars
 
Hey Erkan, listening to the newest, though I do like it better, I think you sucked just a bit too much mids out - how many dB's did you cut, and at what frequency? Cool riffage as well, though I agree about the ringy snare, and the kick isn't clicky enough and a bit poofy (and that part at 1:49 when the kick goes into a triplet feel, the timing gets pretty off in times I feel). Coming along nicely though man!
 
I'd like to hear this with vocals, because I have a feeling that the vocals might not fit very well.

Hmm good point, but I'm not counting on being able to take this chain and slam it into the project later when I have vocals and everything. I'm of course going to have to do further adjustments in the EQ later, but I'm just trying to get a "good guitar sound" early on, so that I won't have to do that AND fitting later.

Hey Erkan, listening to the newest, though I do like it better, I think you sucked just a bit too much mids out - how many dB's did you cut, and at what frequency? Cool riffage as well, though I agree about the ringy snare, and the kick isn't clicky enough and a bit poofy (and that part at 1:49 when the kick goes into a triplet feel, the timing gets pretty off in times I feel). Coming along nicely though man!

Yeah, I think I overdid it Marcus. I'm not 100% sure but I did cut very narrowly but deeply, like 8 db at 700 hz. The Q value is very high so it's a very narrow cut, mainly because that frequency was "standing out" all the time no matter what the guitar plays. The main cut though, is something like 4-5 db at just under 900 with a Q value that keeps the cut between 700 and 1000 hz.

Maybe if I bring the narrow cut back up again, or get rid of it completely, and back off 2 db or so on the main cut, it might be good enough for a starting point for my tone.

Haha yeah the timing is due to me not being a great MIDI-keyboard drummer :D But those are just details, I'll hopefully play it better on real drums than on a keyboard :)

Oh, and in the sparse part, the hi-hat is too loud IMO

Yeah, I haven't done ANYTHING to the drums haha :D I know it sounds like shit to you guys, but my mind set was like "Well, this is just some quick programmed drums as a place holder for when I record the drums for real", so my ears are completely ignoring the details on the drums. But don't worry, it'll be fixed later once the recording begins!

The FO_v5 is awesome, but you took too many mids, something between that and the previous one would be absolutely awesome. Great tone!!!

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking now after reading your awesome feedback, guys :) I think I will land on an ok tone if I get the mids somewhere in the middle of "The After Tone - 2", and this new one.

Thanks a bunch!!