Unpopular opinions on gear

[Devyn Eclipse Nav]

In a similar vein to the above

You can scoop your mids a little, it’s okay - your tone won’t disappear because your mid control is low

Even super mid-scooped legend James Hetfield uses way too much midrange nowadays, it doesn’t really sound or feel like him IMO

 

[wheresthefbomb]

Scooped mids sound awful to me in a band context. The only time I scoop the mids is when I'm doing soundscape yoga workshops to make the fuzz sound warm and cuddly, otherwise that face-slapping grind is essential to my t0an.

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

In a similar vein to the above

You can scoop your mids a little, it’s okay - your tone won’t disappear because your mid control is low

Even super mid-scooped legend James Hetfield uses way too much midrange nowadays, it doesn’t really sound or feel like him IMO

With Het it was a good medium in the '90s. They were still kinda-sorta scooped sounding but it wasn't super-duper insane since they stopped relying on out-board EQs to do additional scoopage and tone shaping.

 

[Kyle Jordan]

With Het it was a good medium in the '90s. They were still kinda-sorta scooped sounding but it wasn't super-duper insane since they stopped relying on out-board EQs to do additional scoopage and tone shaping.

His tone on the new covers from Garage Inc., especially The Mercyful Fate Medley, are his best recorded tones. I also love whatever tweaking Bob Rock did to the older ones too, because Blitzkrieg and The Prince are up there too.

Truthfully, the Fate tone is my favorite Hetfield and Hammett tone and their best IMO. That may be an unpopular opinion.

EDIT:

Fuck it. This is the unpopular opinions thread, so I’m all in.

Disc 1 of Garage Inc. is the best sounding/recorded Metallica album. Everything sounds fantastic and balanced. Hell, Jason’s bass is particularly huge on the OG vinyl and even on the original release cd.

 

[NickS]

His tone on the new covers from Garage Inc., especially The Mercyful Fate Medley, are his best recorded tones. I also love whatever tweaking Bob Rock did to the older ones too, because Blitzkrieg and The Prince are up there too.

Truthfully, the Fate tone is my favorite Hetfield and Hammett tone and their best IMO. That may be an unpopular opinion.

I love those tones, too. I really love their Astronomy (B.O.C.) cover from that as well.

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

His tone on the new covers from Garage Inc., especially The Mercyful Fate Medley, are his best recorded tones. I also love whatever tweaking Bob Rock did to the older ones too, because Blitzkrieg and The Prince are up there too.

Truthfully, the Fate tone is my favorite Hetfield and Hammett tone and their best IMO. That may be an unpopular opinion.

I think the medley was James' TriAxis rig + a Wizard MC Mk1. The Garage Days section + Prince was the IIC++ (as well as the previously mentioned outboard rackmount EQs) and Blitzkrieg was the JMP 2203 + Tubescreamer.

 

[BenjaminW]

I was listening to something off of Hardwired a while back and found myself liking the tone on that album or at least Metallica's current tone in general.

 

[LiveOVErdrive]

This one's a doozy :

Micing a guitar cab is not that hard.

 

[TheBlackBard]

...And Justice For All's overall production has far more character than all the modern djent/core bullshit.

 

[StevenC]

...And Justice For All's overall production has far more character than all the modern djent/core bullshit.

All recordings from the 80s have more character than all modern recordings. There is just way less variety these days and a good mix is much more prescriptive, across all genres. It's also just way cheaper to make things sound good now, even if that results in everything sounding the same.

Weightless by Animals as Leaders and The Mountain by Haken are good examples of characterful "modern" metal albums, though they are both a decade ago.

 

[LeftOurEyes]

One thing I liked about recordings before modelers and IRs became so widely used is that every band kinda had their own tone even if using the same equipment. The cabs, mics, rooms and engineer combinations made things kinda have their own sound. Now it is so easy to just use the same axe fx models (or whatever modeler/amp/loadbox) and the same IRs and get a great sound. This results in less variety of tones I feel. I know people can use different IRs but most seem to stick to whatever is the most popular at the moment and I guess that is the problem really. Bigger bands might still do things a little more traditional but I'm sure that with even a lot of decently sized bands making no money from their actual albums anymore are probably trying to keep studio costs down and not waste tons of money on things like experimenting with tones when they can dial in a good tone so fast and easy.

I had a friend record a couple of songs in a studio a year or 2 ago. They recorded everything in a day using a kemper for guitars. Everything sounded great as far as the quality of sound and the mix but the guitar tone to me just sounded "generic" in the sense that it sounded almost exactly like half the bands I hear on the radio now. I'm sure it was cheaper to do it this way for my buddy and helped the studio go through clients faster but there is very little unique tone as a result. I used to be able to tell most times what band I was listening to as soon as a song started playing but now I feel like I almost can't tell until the singer comes in.

 

[-Cetanu-]

One thing I liked about recordings before modelers and IRs became so widely used is that every band kinda had their own tone even if using the same equipment. The cabs, mics, rooms and engineer combinations made things kinda have their own sound. Now it is so easy to just use the same axe fx models (or whatever modeler/amp/loadbox) and the same IRs and get a great sound. This results in less variety of tones I feel. I know people can use different IRs but most seem to stick to whatever is the most popular at the moment and I guess that is the problem really. Bigger bands might still do things a little more traditional but I'm sure that with even a lot of decently sized bands making no money from their actual albums anymore are probably trying to keep studio costs down and not waste tons of money on things like experimenting with tones when they can dial in a good tone so fast and easy.

I had a friend record a couple of songs in a studio a year or 2 ago. They recorded everything in a day using a kemper for guitars. Everything sounded great as far as the quality of sound and the mix but the guitar tone to me just sounded "generic" in the sense that it sounded almost exactly like half the bands I hear on the radio now. I'm sure it was cheaper to do it this way for my buddy and helped the studio go through clients faster but there is very little unique tone as a result. I used to be able to tell most times what band I was listening to as soon as a song started playing but now I feel like I almost can't tell until the singer comes in.

Everybody using the Axe-FX is certainly a reason why most shit started to sound the same. When IRs became a thing I started to make my own IRs with my cab, the speakers I choose for it and broke in and the mic combinations I use with a few particular amps. It's the same with profilers. I wanted the Kemper to capture the tone of my own preamps/amps and basically have my tone in a still somewhat portable and lightweight form factor. Most are buying the same packs and using whatever is in vogue for whatever style they're playing. And YouTube made it even worse. Everybody pushing everything through the same IRs and/or plugins. It's boring.

 

[GunpointMetal]

A "unique tone" doesn't make mediocre music better, the same as an amazing tone doesn't, either. But a "unique tone" that is bad will have a detrimental effect on good music.

 

[drb]

We're creeping away from unpopular opinions on gear here but nevertheless...

Give me a 'generic' sounding guitar tone and extremely refined and polished mix any day of the week over spinning a roulette wheel when listening to a record as to whether it has some aspect to it that makes it almost, if not entirely, unlistenable.

 

[LeftOurEyes]

We're creeping away from unpopular opinions on gear here but nevertheless...

Give me a 'generic' sounding guitar tone and extremely refined and polished mix any day of the week over spinning a roulette wheel when listening to a record as to whether it has some aspect to it that makes it almost, if not entirely, unlistenable.

I mean to me listening to bands that all sound the same makes their music unlistenable and uninteresting but to each their own.

 

[-Cetanu-]

I mean to me listening to bands that all sound the same makes their music unlistenable and uninteresting but to each their own.

I wanted to say the same. Yes, he was talking about his own taste but it's funny that he didn't even think about a "generic sounding guitar tone and extremely refined and polished mix" being entirely unlistenable to others. 😄

 

[TedEH]

Everybody using the Axe-FX is certainly a reason why most shit started to sound the same.

I used to think this, but I don't anymore. Modellers are more capable of variety than we've ever had access to before, so that doesn't track with being a reason for same-y-ness compared to everyone using the same tube amps.

I think same-y sounding mixes are a result of the combination of:
- Using similar sounds because we've collectively decided what "sounds good" to within a particular ballpark
- Using the same drum samples. (and programmed drums in general)
- Using the same IRs (and using IRs in general)
- Using the same mix techniques and templates
- Using the same mastering tools and processes
- Honestly.... just derivative songwriting to start with

There are only so many ways to make high-gain chug chug over 16ths on a kick drum sound unique when you're all using the same tools.

 

[GunpointMetal]

I used to think this, but I don't anymore. Modellers are more capable of variety than we've ever had access to before, so that doesn't track with being a reason for same-y-ness compared to everyone using the same tube amps.

I think same-y sounding mixes are a result of the combination of:
- Using similar sounds because we've collectively decided what "sounds good" to within a particular ballpark
- Using the same drum samples. (and programmed drums in general)
- Using the same IRs (and using IRs in general)
- Using the same mix techniques and templates
- Using the same mastering tools and processes
- Honestly.... just derivative songwriting to start with

There are only so many ways to make high-gain chug chug over 16ths on a kick drum sound unique when you're all using the same tools.

It really does seem like some people mixing in certain genres all watched the same 6 YouTube tutorials and all bought the same 5 sample packs. But you're right. Modelers and IRs aren't the reason everything sounds the same. It's the artist and engineers decision to sound the same.

 

[-Cetanu-]

I used to think this, but I don't anymore. Modellers are more capable of variety than we've ever had access to before, so that doesn't track with being a reason for same-y-ness compared to everyone using the same tube amps.

I think same-y sounding mixes are a result of the combination of:
- Using similar sounds because we've collectively decided what "sounds good" to within a particular ballpark
- Using the same drum samples. (and programmed drums in general)
- Using the same IRs (and using IRs in general)
- Using the same mix techniques and templates
- Using the same mastering tools and processes
- Honestly.... just derivative songwriting to start with

There are only so many ways to make high-gain chug chug over 16ths on a kick drum sound unique when you're all using the same tools.

I still do believe that but I agree with your points completely. I noticed this development basically around 2008-2010 when a shitton of people started using the Axe-FX and seemingly everybody used the same presets/IRs that they got from the same forum threads paired it with the same Drumkit from Hell and/or Addictive Drums samples to write the same kind of music. Before that tones/mixes were much more diverse. People were seemingly more willing to experiment and find solutions on their own and now they're probably watching the same boring shit on YouTube and the same shitty tutorials. I couldn't even listen to Devin Townsend's Ziltoid because I was sick and tired of the EZ Drummer samples.

 

[drb]

I mean to me listening to bands that all sound the same makes their music unlistenable and uninteresting but to each their own.

I wanted to say the same. Yes, he was talking about his own taste but it's funny that he didn't even think about a "generic sounding guitar tone and extremely refined and polished mix" being entirely unlistenable to others. 😄

Fellas, not only is 'unpopular opinion' in the title of the thread, I referenced it in my post.

Also, I explicitly said "Give me a generic sounding...", meaning I quite literally made the post about my taste. At what point did I assert that others would find it unlistenable?