Korgscrew
Group: Super Admins
Posts: 3511
Joined: Dec. 1999 |
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Posted: May 18 2009, 09:26 |
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Sorry! I was leaving this one until I could work out a more specific answer...but here goes anyway...
You're right that it's fairly effect free, Antonuzzo. If it's that glassy Strat sound you're after, there's really not a lot to it - it's just a Strat recorded direct into the desk, usually with the middle pickup selected. Mike used an input module that he salvaged from the Audio Developments desk from The Manor when they threw it out to help with that sound (it had a mic preamp, compressor and EQ in it), but I find that various compressors and EQs can get you in the right ballpark. Having a decent DI box helps, so you don't lose any sparkle or sustain from loading the pickups. You might find you want to boost the extreme high end a bit, but equally, you might find with some guitars that they need a bit of taming up the top end (especially in the upper mids) so they're not head-splittingly bright. You'll probably find that it needs to be a bit brighter than you feel is comfortable if it's going into a mix, though, otherwise it'll come across as dull and recessed once everything else is laid on underneath it, but it's a delicate balance and possible to go too far with disastrous results!
You can play with things like the compressor's attack time to suit what you're playing - he quite often does seem to have quite a fast attack time set, so it squashes the very beginning of the note. I'd probably go for quite a heavy ratio, but not so heavy that it squashes all the life out of it (same applies to setting the threshold...there's a happy medium to be found, which depends a lot on how you're playing it - the best thing is to get to know how the compressor behaves so you can quickly get what you want out of it).
I think a lot of it is in the way he plays it too, you could pick up Mike's guitar going through a signal chain he'd set up himself and make it sound completely different (you can get a very country-esque sound with the same setup, or something more Knopflery, maybe even a bit jazzy or no doubt a whole load of things I haven't even considered trying).
I hope there's something helpful in amongst all my vagueness!
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korgscrew you are a genius, to know how mike creates that clean sound, its so complex, thanks for the comments, now to try one or two techniques, deb