Octave Chord Tone

[XNightrage87X]

Hey guys, been trying to find something on this, but have had no such luck. Trying to find a good tone that allows strummed octave tones to come through clearly. At the moment I am just using my lead tone, which is coming through a little scratchy. I've tried adjusting it, but haven't had much luck with making it any better. I was just curious if anyone had any tips or tricks they wouldn't mind sharing to produce those very clean octave chord tones.

 

[GearMan2point0]

Make sure the guitar is tuned perfectly.
Are you playing these chords along with rhythm guitar?

 

[XNightrage87X]

Yeah, there is usually some type of rhythm riff behind it. The chords sound perfectly in tune. I just am not able to obtain that type of smoothness that Joey can get, I'm hearing too much crunch almost. Even when I lay off the gain.

 

[Joshua Wickman]

Eq is your friend. Cut all the lows. Delays and verbs help smooth things out as well.

 

[ahjteam]

octave above or below? I used an octaver for octave below at the end of "Chrome" on the lead tone (it's in my soundcloud page, link in my sig). For octave above on many songs I use a method where I play chords, but then I double the chords highest note as single notes so they become very clean.

So if the guitar below plays like this:

c|12-0-0-0
g|12-0-0-0
c|12-0-0-0

the other guitar plays like this

c|12-0-0-0
g|--------
c|--------

I used this for example on the song "The Generation" and "State", also in the soundcloud page

 

[XNightrage87X]

Will definitely try adding some Delay & Reverb. Should I even cut extra lows out of the amp head itself?

It's gonna be octave above. That lead tone at the end of "Chrome" sounds really awesome. But I feel like just using the Octaver would just add some thickness to the sound instead of giving it a chord effect. I'm probably wrong though, as I haven't experimented much with it.

The chords I'm playing are as follows:

|-------------------------|
|-------------------------|
|--9-9-9-9---9-9--9-9--|
|--x-x-x-x---x-x--x-x---|
|--7-7-7-7---7-7--7-7--|
|-------------------------|

That type of stuff.

 

[ahjteam]

yeah, try to play just the nines on the third string, add an octaver (like the one on podfarm) so that you have the original sound at max, then the first octave for taste, like 25-50% or even 75%

 

[XNightrage87X]

I'll definitely try that and see how it sounds. Is that how a lot of producers do it? I've watched some videos of bands tracking these kind of chords and they seem to play it normal. The producer just ends up getting a sweet smooth tone from it. And they playing at about the same tempos, and most are also strumming 1/8th triplet feel notes.

 

[Fandus]

I eq them into the space that I've scooped on the main guitars

 

[Fandus]

Also use wayyyyy less gain on them

 

[olif8]

It may sound obvious, but clean strings are the most important thing.

 

[kernelxsanders]

new strings (being the recommended size for your tuning, perfect tuning, and the kind of pick that is being used also make a large effect on your sound.