| Unscooping mids helped me realize my sound. The sound I wanted, ultra thick and heavy with just enough bite so that it cuts through a mix, came about when I gave it some serious thought about where I stood in the band and my role. Bass and bass drum help fill in the low in the overall sound, cymbals and even keys help with the high end, my domain was the midrange.
(Part 1)
Now that being said, I still love gain and low end, but I learned that if I pulled my gain back my playing became more articulate and more defined and in a band situation you hear notes not just " fizz fizz fizz". My sound is thicker due to lowered gain. Season to taste as they say but gain should be high enough to provide the edge you're looking for, but low enough so that it doesn't engulf your playing. It's an effect..an enhancement, remember that.
(Part 2)
The key to the sound I want lies in the relationship between mids and bass. Once you find the right balance you won't need bass on 10 and low mids. My triple X amp said it best involving eq "Bottom"-Bass, "Body"-Mids, "Hair"-treble, and that's the way I think about it.
Your mids are the body of your sound, everything else works around the amount of mids you put into your sound.
The bass is the bottom, it gives punch and backs up the mids to help fill it out. Bass acts to help thicken and provide "oomph" in your sound. You will learn that lowered bass and upped mids will give you that sound you were trying to get with lots of bass. Bass can't do it alone.
Treble is the hair.It rests on the body as a fine edge. It provides the cut and edge that you need to help cut through a mix. It puts the finishing touch so to speak on your sound and I've gone from having it on 10 to having it on about 3. My sound is fatter and cuts better because of it. Treble also helps put a fine tune to your articulation, and if you play a lot of fast stuff, it comes in handy.
(Part 3)
The relationship between presence and resonance is important. Assuming your amp has these features, you need to know what they do. The presence acts as fine tuning your high end to make it bright, or dark. I like a lot of presence, but I counteract that with not having a lot of treble. It helps the "cut" to my sound by making it sharp, yet without the razor ice pick edge. The resonance helps the low end frequencies. To me it's like turning your cab into a "hallway" making it longer, thus low end resonates more, or turning your cab into a "wall" sound hits the wall and there you go..that's it. This also helps to give your low end a little more depth, or to cut it back to give chunk, yet not too much "oomph" for faster playing.
(Part 4)
You can make other instruments in the band work for you. Ever listened to a cd and heard a guitar sound that was extremely bassy and thought "man how'd they do that', then the riff changes and you realize it was the bass, not just the guitar? Let's face it, guitar, especially in metal, is the dominant instrument, and you can use the other guitarist, bassist, even drummer to your advantage. The other guitarist will help fill out the overall guitar sound, the bassist provides ultra low end and when you're playing along with him with your new complimentary tone you'll sound massive. Chord punches also sound killer because the cymbals help the high end, bass and bass drum provide the punch, and your new complimentary tone is there to fill it all in and what the listener mainly hears is you (since you're the mid) and the cymbals, bass drum, bass..all complimentary.
Now all of this is just my take on guitar playing, so don't take it as the gospel, but the morals of the story still hold true. Recognize and realize your role and purpose in the band, relate to the band in such a way that your tone helps the band, not hurts it. Learn what the knobs on your amp do exactly and pay close attention to how it effects your sound. Once you find that sound without the dreaded "10-0-10" eq type, you'll never go back |