A pattern into decline - chasing the tonal dragon

W

White Light of Death

Power User
In these trying times, Ive taken extra stock of what Im doing in The studio - and lately its not been much of all! Lol šŸ˜‚

Since getting my axe 3, and subsequently any FRFR [and even pickups] to match it properly, almost everything has been related to tone

my music writing is stagnant and stale, and Iā€™m not recording anything of value because I keep going back to check tones and knobs

by the time i get to arming the track, i dont want to record anymore, let alone barely play

i only realized this months later when my accumulated track list has added to zero and Iā€™m not proud of that lol time to get back to writing And recording


so FAS Headz - how do YOU stop the axe 3 tone addiction and just get back to the music????
 
I have always been "set it and forget it" when it comes to my rig. With my tube amp and pedal set up there was only a finite number of things to dial in. Moving from this approach to the AXE FX has been always been a struggle for me. The number of parameters that you can adjust is overwhelming at times.

My recommendation is find a sound you like and don't touch it for a month or two. I'm to the point now where I won't adjust my tone unless there is a major firmware upgrade or a new parameter added. If this happens, I create another scene, adjust and toggle back and forth for a couple days, decide which one sounds best and move on. This is easy for me because I only use a couple presets and they are all variations of the same theme.

Another thing I do when I fall into a rut is listen to new music. It always seems to provide some type of inspiration or affirmation that I'm continuing down the right path. If you haven't heard of them, check out: Goose, Charlie Hunter, Miles Davis' Tribute to Jack Johnson or Acid Mother's Temple. Good luck!
 
Get something you like and stop... That's only possible with self control ;)

Unless you need a specific sound or effect then just leave it alone.

Also, record with the intent to re-track or re-amp (make sure to record a DI for the latter). Approach things as if these are just scratch tracks... You might be surprised when you listen back later.

It will never be perfect... Trust me on that one :D
 
Great ā€œrulesā€ to live by
  • set and forget
  • when stuck, listen for inspiration
  • dry and wet record (instead of going crazy or needing to go back to fix , you can just re amp, which is quite genius)

Thank you
 
Make a really crappy sound that responds to your playing the way you like but sounds like trash. Record with that to get the performance, lay down a DI with it at the same, then you can go back and tweak the tone later when you're in mixer mode.

Tweaking a guitar sound to perfection in isolation, then you go to record with it carefully and it comes across in the performance as careful...which carefully kills the vibe.
 
Just listening to Robben Ford's interview by Rick Beato. Robben says: "I pick up the guitar for a reason [...] I don't simply play for enjoyment."

He talks about the reasons he plays starting at 25:30:
 
Set and forget. F*** tone, that's just a never ending chase. Pick a sound that sounds decent, accept that it will NEVER get better and stick with it. The Tom Morello approach to guitar tone. All I need is a nice Fender Twin for cleans and a nice Marshall for crunch. And a decent fuzz tone.

The only reason I spend way too much time to still edit my presets is to adjust them during rehearsal. When I discover that the cleans are too loud, or too soft, or the lead tone is too loud, or too soft. Or needs some additional EQ to cut through. Things you just can't do at home without a band playing along with you. The moment those tweaks work, no more tweaking. No more trying out different amps or drives. That's a waste of time. I'd rather spend that time trying out cool effects to use with my new riffs and stuff.
 
Set and forget is the rule of thumb it seems.
And thank you for the vid of Robben Ford

great point about the isolation square, itā€™s very true. Actually going back Iā€™ve noticed the tone that I thought I improved is often worse later in the mix
 
Before you record put a tape distortion after the whole chain and crank the tone knob up, record with that :bomb: then play mixer man later
 
yyz67 said:
Just listening to Robben Ford's interview by Rick Beato. Robben says: "I pick up the guitar for a reason [...] I don't simply play for enjoyment."

He talks about the reasons he plays starting at 25:30:
Click to expand...

I agree completely with the sentiment of picking up a guitar for a reason, and not just for enjoyment. My reason for picking up my guitar is to find out another thing that a PRS 10 top does that it cannot, and hound my wife about it.
 
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