It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Subscribe to our Patreon, and get image uploads with no ads on the site!
Base theme by DesignModo & ported to Powered by Vanilla by Chris Ireland, modified by the "theFB" team.
Comments
Even better in a band, when you're all synchronizing together. I don't see it as looking backwards. I see it as escaping from the doldrums of where the rest of the world of music is going.
I really don't think there are very many 'original' tones. When we get down to it, it is all variation on a theme for the most part - especially with bread and butter sounds. If a piece of music calls for something more radical then there is more scope for potentially creating something unique I guess, but most of the time people are really just finding different ways to achieve similar end results within most genres.
I've come to accept that I can't out imagine the sounds I've heard on the albums I like, I can only hope to recreate a ballpark tone to those which is tailored to suit my own playing and the music I create. I'd call this re-imagination as opposed to creation or recreation, and I don't think that it is a bad thing.
This is of course a large generalisation and it depends on what your definition of a new sound is. I'm quite finely tuned to hearing small differences in sounds but that doesn't mean I believe every small difference makes a new tone. I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to get the best tone I can get though, that isn't how GAS works!
Arguing which inspires which is like the chicken and egg situation, sometimes one inspires the other and vice versa.
But ultimately, tones are just the vehicle for musical creativity and how thoughts are manifest into sounds. IMO anyway.
Stop worrying, get a nice sound and make some music. Or do endless A/B tests, spend lots of money and drive yourself mad. Both options are available! You have to know what your priorities are at the end of the day, are they making tones or making music? For some people it is both, and for some one more than the other. If it is one more than the other I think there is wisdom in focusing on getting good at the one you care more about, because life is too short otherwise.
I could just be talking shit though, it is late. Plus I still want a 5150 even though I don't need one...
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
The boutique pedal industry is, for the most part, built on recreating sounds from the past. I don't really understand this - some are great effects, but I'd rather they innovated and created cool new effects. Some are doing this, but I always cringe when I see another tubescreamer with 'premium components'.
A lot of folk also chase the sound in their head, rather than just trying to sound good or great even. I make sounds that work for me, and I know I sound good. I would not necessarily sound better with different gear, just different. Nothing wrong with trying to better yourself, but it can be painful watching people spend silly money to sound like someone when they already sounded great with a sound that suited the music.
If you slavishly recite or deliberately eschew what's been before it's undeniably influencing your sound.
Studio: https://www.voltperoctave.com
Music: https://www.euclideancircuits.com
Me: https://www.jamesrichmond.com
Studio: https://www.voltperoctave.com
Music: https://www.euclideancircuits.com
Me: https://www.jamesrichmond.com
I don't deny that my influences have shaped the way I view guitar tone. But I think those influences and interests came about because of who I am, not because of who they are. You're basically never going to hear me play plexi-crunch-blues-jazz type stuff... ever. Just isn't me, so regardless of how much of that stuff I'm exposed to (and it's deliberately very little, because I think it is wank) it wont affect me as much as a new Tool album, or finding out that ISIS used Fryette amps, so 'holy shit... I have to go and get me a Fryette amp.' Or by realizing 'holy shit... so many of my influences used Marshall amps, I'll go and get a Marshall....'
Influences count for a lot. But it's still you making the decisions at the end of the day.
Also a tone has nearly *never* inspired a song for me. A part or a whole song gets written, and I then find tones to fit. I am writing music literally *all the time* - I come home, and in between rinsing Battlestar Gallactica, getting my bonk on, or eating food.. I'm playing guitar. This is how I explain my GAS to myself anyway... coz I don't always have the tone to hand that I am looking for - hence buying the EVH, hence buying the F-1, hence buying several delay pedals spanning the last few years.
I'm sure it'll never end. Humans have a symbiotic relationship to technology, and all of this stuff is just a result of that. It's no different than buying shoes, or tennis rackets, although arguably more art comes from the music gear than the footwear!
Ringleader of the Cambridge cartel, pedal champ and king of the dirt boxes (down to 21)
A lot of bands that went on to be great started off as little more than not-quite-nailing-it copies of their idols. And yes, Beatles, I include you in that.
Ive always loved valve tone but also really like Valve state , Im also pretty fond of digital and solid state distortion into loads of different methods of amping , I grew up listening to hard rock and metal then later got into thrash and death metal and now find my self going backwards towards styles of music I never paid enough attention to the first time round (mainly 70's music) I just find the guitar sounds were more individual back then , obviously the medium was still a guitar amp but the attitudes towards the guitar were way less copied or imitated than they are these days ...its just a wave generator so should be as flexible as any other in theory .
Ive been thinking about this a lot recently , one of my ambitions is to explore ways of painting pictures (textures) with sound , I could just use my Korg triton and mess around with loads of out board gear but that wouldnt be where my heart is .
Still love the guitar but quite bored with established PRODUCER mentality because even if one is to write the most original musical content the chances are it will still be dished up with a typical layer of icing on top . Better off forgetting about the herd unless your prepaired to run through the shit .