Where does Johnny Marr say...

brojangles

Can anyone help me find a quote I need? Somewhere I've read or heard Johnny Marr talking about the importance of dynamics and saying something along the lines of 'If you start out with everything on 10 then you've got nowhere to go.' But Google isn't finding it because I've obviously got the words wrong. Please help!

Veganic

I remember him saying something similar about "distortion" or gain.

Maybe in the 'History of the Guitar Riff" on BBC4 or whatever it was called.

Edit: "Joy of..?"

badlydrawnbanjo

I think it’s in one of the series of short Fender YouTube’s where go goes through various size amps?

mudslide73

You're on ten on your guitar...where can you go from there? Where? Nowhere.

andrewaward

I remember J Mascis saying that in an interview once...…..doesn't help you I know!

bacchanalian

mudslide73 said:

You're on ten on your guitar...where can you go from there? Where? Nowhere.

11

Dave Grissom does a clinic about why he prefers using single channel amps.  He tweaks his volume all the time

brojangles

@Veganic - I think you're right, it was something to do with gain.

@badlydrawnbanjo - thanks, will investigate.

Funkfingers

brojangles said:

If you start out with everything on 10 then you've got nowhere to go.' 

brojangles

Yeah I like that I've got his wording mixed up with Nigel Tufnell's. 

Funkfingers

Not necessarily.

Marr has often been interviewed about how he achieves his distinctive guitar sounds. He usually tries to answer in a way that does not give too much away. 

For example, Marr has often talked about the modulation effect on How Soon Is Now. He implies multiple amplifiers, mic'ed up. He never tells which mics or how they were positioned relative to the loudspeakers in the amplifiers.

roberty

Billy Corgan talked about getting up to full volume/intensity on Siamese Dream and having nowhere to go.  His solution to that was to suddenly drop into a spacey/ambient bit, which they called a 'reset'.  Geek USA is a good example of that.  Not an answer to your question but an interesting idea for song arranging

clarkefan

Funkfingers said:

Not necessarily.

Marr has often been interviewed about how he achieves his distinctive guitar sounds. He usually tries to answer in a way that does not give too much away. 

For example, Marr has often talked about the modulation effect on How Soon Is Now. He implies multiple amplifiers, mic'ed up. He never tells which mics or how they were positioned relative to the loudspeakers in the amplifiers.

I remember yonks ago reading an article in one of the UK mags about the recording of that, by the engineer who did it.  Definitely multiple amps, and he was involved in playing on some of it as well.  Wonder if I've still got it.

Funkfingers

Try the archives of Sound On Sound magazine.

Calum13

J Mascis said it on a rig rundown episode.

digitalkettle

Reading Marr's biography at the moment and I don't remember coming across that...yet.

Clecko

I'm sure I saw this recently. It may have been in one of his interviews about using the Boss GT-100, I think...

thermionic

I don't think Johnny is reticent about his sounds at all - I've watched loads of video clips of him doing exactly that. The "How Soon Is Now?" recording is well-documented in, for instance, the book Songs That Saved Your Life by Simon Goddard. The rhythm part (presumably played by Johnny only) was re-amped to 4 Fender Twin Reverbs, with Johnny and engineer John Porter manually tweaking the tremolo speed of two amps each. They'd stop when they went too out of sync, which was after as little as 10 seconds in some cases. I don't know how they mixed the four tracks though, or whether the trems were all in phase, or out of phase in some way.

Deadman

I think it was in a Fender promo vid. I've definitely seen it on Youtube.

57Deluxe

he needs to come and say it here...

mrkb

bacchanalian said:

mudslide73 said:

You're on ten on your guitar...where can you go from there? Where? Nowhere.

11

Dave Grissom does a clinic about why he prefers using single channel amps.  He tweaks his volume all the time

Yep, once your amps on 11 why would you need to go anywhere else. It’s a bit like dating a plain woman rather than the hottie, just in case you ever feel the need to go upmarket. Go big or go knitting!

Alnico

Clecko said:

I'm sure I saw this recently. It may have been in one of his interviews about using the Boss GT-100, I think...

It's not that one, I just watched it again.

It's HERE if anyone would like to see it anyway.