less is more. overdrivewise....

hi friends,
i just learned a new thing. during the first takes on my new recording project, i found out that too much overdrive kills basically everything. specially if you are after a retro-orientated/rootsy sound. i recorded all my guitartracks cleaner and new new and now i am much happier. plus i found out that tubereverb modelers are really cool. so far so good, eddie

agreed — i've been using a POD for ten years and have tried other modelers, and it seems the presets ALWAYS have too much Drive. (i haven't tried the Fender Amplitube, that may be a different story.) all that OD really smothers the tone if you're going for the rootsy sound. it sounds cool in the headphones, but it doesn't sing out in the mix.

It's always good learn on your own but here you've recreated the wheel. Do some browsing and you'll find this and all kinds of stuff people learned years ago. It might make things go faster (less trial and error) but hey, if this was 1977 you'd have no choice but to learn on your own. Then again, you may be the first to find something no one else knows. Be sure and keep sharing!

I agree too.
Been slowly building my own patch collection on a Boss GT 8 and turn the gain way left. Same on the software modellers.

You'll also find that the 'less is more' attitude carries over to mic'ing and recording amps and overdrive/distortion - whether it's all amp 'drive' or employing a pedal (IMO - 'live' sound too). ESPECIALLY if you're going to layer/double guitar tracks. *Of course this is not a hard and fast 'rule' but 'generally' speaking if you back off a little on the gain you'll be able to actually get 'bigger' layered tracks.

Agreed with all of the above.

On the flip side. There have been many occasions where I've been requested to dial in a "pristine clean sound" by an engineer or producer, only to have it sit in the mix like so much ineffectual fairy dust with no girth and body whatsoever. In my experience, *the best* clean tones always have "a bit of hair on them".

The trick here is to respectfully take direction, but to ultimately dial in what you know in your heart of hearts is the tone that you believe will best allow you to bring the part to fruition. You have to learn to trust your instincts. The other thing is to not get caught when bucking the tide.

It's sort of like the Tommy Tedesco story where his score for the session included a stipulation for "Spanish Guitar". After playing the part on a nylon string guitar, the producer said, "No, no, no, I want Spanish Guitar!" So Tommy placed the guitar back on its stand, waited a few moments, picked the exact same guitar up, and played the score exactly as he had on the previous take - only to be greeted with the jubilant cries of "Yes, that's perfect!" from the session's producer.

In my experience, *the best* clean tones always have "a bit of hair on them".


That needs to be a sticky somewhere.

All great stuff...what I learned in college and in Nashville was to record one pass clean then lay another with the effects...then in mix down sweeten the clean channel and take your pick...again just another technique for the tool box.

I recently started recording guitar direct via my POD X3 Live, which enables me to simultaneously lay done one completely clean track and another with effects. I can use the wet track (or two wet tracks with separate amp and effects chains) or re-amp the clean track via a plug-in (in my case, Gearbox) send it out to an actual mic'd amp (which I'm not going to do).