Guitar Tone

I’m going to start with one word. Simplify!



The main thing to remember in both live and recording applications is that whatever you send into the mix is what will come out on the other end – no amount of processing can fix bad tone. Take everything back to the signal source – your guitar.



Turn off your effects - the distortion, the delay, the flange, the compressor, set the EQ on your amp flat, and plug a great guitar into your amp. Yes, all by itself – then turn your amp up! Learn what each pickup selection option sounds like, mess with the tone knobs in all possible combinations. Let your guitar sound like itself – just like there’s no way to make me sound like Todd Agnew when I sing, no amount of effects will make a Les Paul sound like a Stratocaster, and vice versa.



Play like this until you have the defining moment every guitar player should have: learning to play clean exposes all the nuances of your playing – and given time can sound bigger and better than you sounded with all your pedals. Don’t throw the pedals away though – just use them with discretion, LATER. I love practicing with my Strat plugged straight into a PA via a DI box – it’s so much easier to hear my playing deficiencies.



Next, get a good equalizer. My signal chain starts with a 30-band rack mount Rane EQ with a sweepable high and low cut. I know it’s overkill, but it was just sitting around after upgrading our main PA to a digital eq/crossover unit, and I’ve found it extremely useful in my guitar rig. I’ve found that basic 7-band EQ pedals don’t have enough bandwidth to really be effective – though they help! Something with 10 or more bands or even parametric capabilities will give you more options.



Here are some general EQ guidelines I’ve figured out over the years:



Roll off everything below 80hz (In live situations, the 100hz cut on most soundboards will suffice).

100Hz can bump up low end nicely if you’re palm muting, but watch out for it interfering with the bass guitar.

200 – 250Hz adds punch and fullness.

250 – 800Hz is the “mud” zone. Roll off here if your sound is muddy.

600 – 650Hz boosted can REALLY warm up a lead tone.

2.5kHz – 5kHz adds edge and bite.

5kHz – 8kHz adds clarity.

8kHz – 12kHz adds “shimmer.”



Once you have your guitar sounding the way you want it, add effects back in one at a time, dialing each until you LOVE the tone.



For “The World Will See” my signal chain typically looked like this: Guitar (Gibson Les Paul, or Fender Stratocaster) -> EQ -> Ibanez TS-808 Tube Screamer -> BBE Sonic Stomp -> Peavey Classic 50/50 Tube Amp at full volume -> 1x12” Cabinet in another (padded with foam!) room -> Sennheiser e906 mic about 2 inches from the speaker -> Protools.



For most parts, this was it – if I wanted something to sound a little thicker, I just recorded the same part several times, sometimes with both guitars. For reverb I mostly just used Protools plugins after laying a part down dry. In “Almighty” and “For The Joy” I used a dot-eight delay from the digital effects section of my Digitech GSP2101. Several other songs have a quarter note delay, also from the GSP2101. Delay doesn’t really change tone – it just duplicates whatever you’re playing at a certain time interval.



Just a quick word on recording your amp with a microphone – have someone else move the mic around in the isolation room while you play and listen in the control room with headphones. An inch can make a huge difference! The center of the speaker is going to sound a little brighter, and the edge will sound much darker. People have come up with tons of rules on proper mic technique, but the only rule I really abide by is if it sounds good in your headphones in the control room, the mic placement is correct.



By the way, I highly recommend the BBE Sonic Stomp for any guitarist or bassist – it simply corrects a time-delay issue that is created in the higher frequencies of amplified sound – something called “envelope distortion.” Basically this means the lower frequencies will reach the listener’s ear before the higher ones, causing a “muddy” perception. The Sonic Stomp corrects this.


While recording our album I started using my simplified setup regularly for live performances – a little extra reverb, compression and overdrive can definitely help fill the sound out with a band, but I don’t change much for either live or recording applications. Great tone is great tone, whether live or in the studio – and it all starts in your fingers on your guitar.

-Travis