"Brown Sound" Artist Pack | Based on Eddie Van Halen's guitar tones (ML Sound Lab)

ML SOUND LAB

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Get yours here: https://ml-sound-lab.com/products/brown-sound-artist-pack-fractal

This Artist Pack is compatible with Fractal Audio Systems™ Axe-Fx III, Axe-Fx II and AX8. "Brown Sound" is a collection of perfectly matched guitar tones that were first matched with the Eddie-esque guitar sound that I was able to get with my 1971 100w Marshall Super Lead driving a pre-Rola 4x12 cabinet. That sound was then recreated with Fractal gear and finally match EQ'd to sound just like the real recordings.

Included tones:
ML-BS-VH1 based on Van Halen - Van Halen
ML-BS-VH2 based on Van Halen - Van Halen II
ML-BS-W&CF based on Van Halen - Women and Children First
ML-BS-FW based on Van Halen - Fair Warning
ML-BS-DD based on Van Halen - Diver Down
ML-BS-’84 based on Van Halen - 1984
ML-BS-SISO based on Van Halen - 5150
ML-BS-812 based on Van Halen - OU812
ML-BS-F*** based on Van Halen - For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge
ML-BS-BAL based on Van Halen - Balance
ML-BS-VH3 based on Van Halen - Van Halen III
ML-BS-DKOT based on Van Halen - A Different Kind of Truth

All presets come with Van Halen esque effects scenes including flanger, phaser, chorus, delay and reverb. You can hear the delay in the "Dance the Night Away" sound sample. Flanger on "Unchained" and chorus on the "Panama" and "Fire in the Hole" riffs. :) I spent quite a bit of time getting those effects really close to the actual recordings.

Feel free to ask me anything and learn more at: https://ml-sound-lab.com/
 
Hey guys! Letting everyone know that if you bought this pack already the IR's were updated today. It sounds even better now. :) Also if you bought this pack during that "bug" period I recommend you check your email and maybe even spam folder. You should have a nice little gift waiting there.
 
Find these presets are pretty good ,but really cannot get on with the cabs, finding them all fizzy & weak sounding, even after the update. Initially pretty dissapointed, but then as I had also downloaded leon's marshall patch , I changed the cab on these VH ones to leons mixed cab & they came alive...
so really enjoying them, but as I say , dont know if its just me but the cabs are weak & fizzy
 
Find these presets are pretty good ,but really cannot get on with the cabs, finding them all fizzy & weak sounding, even after the update. Initially pretty dissapointed, but then as I had also downloaded leon's marshall patch , I changed the cab on these VH ones to leons mixed cab & they came alive...
so really enjoying them, but as I say , dont know if its just me but the cabs are weak & fizzy

Hi Chris,
Thanks for your comment. I was looking at this product and from the demo vid I got that feeling too. Glad you gave me tis heads up and prevent me from spending money on a disappointment.
Harm
 
I did not buy this pack but I’ve bought the pre-Rola pack...and if the IR is from this cab pack, it should not be fizzy.

I’m not looking for presets (anymore) but as far as cab IRs are conerned, ML are still my favourites.
I find Leon’s cab and presets on the « bright side » for me. I believe that he is used to a big present bass to his side.
 
Hey guys! Just to be clear - these cabinet sections are not "actual IR's". They're match EQ blocks as in tone match blocks. They match the real recorded tones pretty much spot on especially if you have a Floyd Rose type guitar. That recorded tone however may not be to your liking as they are fairly bright. I've been thinking about adding a high quality IR file to these packs so people who don't want to use the tone matches will also have a high quality IR option. Do you think this might be a good idea?
 
I have NO DOUBT that these are very faithful to the recorded tones. That said ..., supposedly not every V.H. record was recorded w/ Eddie's famous Marshall ....

IIRC - the "legend" is that "Carnal Knowldege" was recorded w/ a proto-type CAE Preamp fed into the power section of one of Luke's Marshalls ( at least I think that's what John Suhr said ? ). And somewhere along the line I think I remember Eddie saying that he used a Soldano too ?

But then again ..., Eddie was also know for strategic misdirection ..., so who really knows ?

Anyway, I'd love to have an IR ( or two ) to experiment with ..., and see if I could get a representation of his tone, just prior to the final EQ'ing and Mastering touches that were used to make it fit better in the overall mix.
 
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I have NO DOUBT that these are very faithful to the recorded tones. That said ..., supposedly not every V.H. record was recorded w/ Eddie's famous Marshall ....

IIRC - the "legend" is that "Carnal Knowldege" was recorded w/ a proto-type CAE Preamp fed into the power section of one of Luke's Marshalls ( at least I think that's what John Suhr said ? ). And somewhere along the line I think I remember Eddie saying that he used a Soldano too ?

But then again ..., Eddie was also know for strategic misdirection ..., so who really knows ?

Anyway, I'd love to have an IR ( or two ) to experiment with ..., and see if I could get a representation of his tone, just prior to the final EQ'ing and Mastering touches that were used to make it fit better in the overall mix.

I'm pretty sure the For Unlawful album was a Soldano, which the 5150 prototypes were somewhat modeled after around the same time and then used for the tour. Pre-90s era I'm not sure that everything was recorded with Eddie's famous old Marshall. There were some rumors of sporadic JCM 800 use in studio years ago but not sure if any of that has been verified or disproven. But generally speaking, I think everyone associates his pre-90s tones with the plexi, followed briefly by Soldano and then the 5150s. But even with the 5150s I don't think he used stock, but rather ran them into completely different power amps.
 
IMO his best tone since the early days
Was on the Van Halen 3 tour w Cherone even though the album kind of sucked
I Was watching the live in Australia and i think he had proto 5152 but man it was lean and raw gone was the harmonizer chorus wash and tons of effects
Its very dry and in your face
 
Okay guys I think I'll shoot a nice IR of an EVH Celestion speaker that goes with these presets. I think the VHIII preset is really nice as far as EQ balance goes. "The brown sound" is probably still going to be VHI for me. :)
 
This is the amp that was used for this pack:

55635

1971 Marshall Super Lead 100w and to get that low end palm mute flub thing ala EVH I had to have the normal volume jumped. So the way the pack works is that this will be the amp template with as neutral settings as possible. Then the match EQ does a lot of heavy lifting so whether it's a plexi sound or not it'll be very close. Just thought this would be of interest. :)

In it's unpushed natural form it sounds like this:

 
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Hey guys! Just to be clear - these cabinet sections are not "actual IR's". They're match EQ blocks as in tone match blocks. They match the real recorded tones pretty much spot on especially if you have a Floyd Rose type guitar. That recorded tone however may not be to your liking as they are fairly bright. I've been thinking about adding a high quality IR file to these packs so people who don't want to use the tone matches will also have a high quality IR option. Do you think this might be a good idea?
Hi, thanks for your reply. Well let me just honestly say that I am a noob and would like to stay a noob haha. What I mean by that is that I just wanna plug and play. I realize that many recorded guitar sounds are quite thin, but what I want is what I think I hear, and that is a thick raw sound with a nice bottom end.
So If adding an IR will do the trick, yes please
Kind regards, Harm
 
what I want is what I think I hear, and that is a thick raw sound with a nice bottom end
This is very interesting as it's something someone else also said. As a mathematical guy I think it's not a constant, as in what you think you hear when you're listening to the whole mix varies between different people. Some understand that bass is responsible for the low end and guitar is for the mids and highs but some guitar players will want the guitars to essentially do everything that makes a mix great. (Hence the guitarist jokes from bass players) Also there are the inbetweeners who understand both but would love to have something inbetween. All I know is - I don't even know how I would measure something like this or explain it to customers. "This sounds like what YOU think the guitar is doing but it's not doing that in real life"? :)
 
This is very interesting as it's something someone else also said. As a mathematical guy I think it's not a constant, as in what you think you hear when you're listening to the whole mix varies between different people. Some understand that bass is responsible for the low end and guitar is for the mids and highs but some guitar players will want the guitars to essentially do everything that makes a mix great. (Hence the guitarist jokes from bass players) Also there are the inbetweeners who understand both but would love to have something inbetween. All I know is - I don't even know how I would measure something like this or explain it to customers. "This sounds like what YOU think the guitar is doing but it's not doing that in real life"? :)

Exactly my point. I remember a quote about computers: They do wat you SAY, not what you MEAN. The same applies here. What I SAY is: I want " That" Van Halen sound, what I MEAN is: " I want what I think I hear as the Van Halen sound. What I think the whole " van Halen sound experience" would preferably be is that you turn on the patch, No backing tracks or whatever, and play something and go : Wow yeah, that is " the" sound. In a perfect world it sounds awesome in a mix too. A thin sound but " wait till you hear it with a backing track" is something completely different.
So yeah, I see the major problem you, as a sound producer/preset make have. All I can say is, GOOD LUCK haha.
And yes, I must admit that I have been asked to dial out some low end by bass players haha. (and then PRETENDED to turn it down...(sshhh...)

Thank you for your reply.
 
And yes, I must admit that I have been asked to dial out some low end by bass players haha. (and then PRETENDED to turn it down...(sshhh...)
Oh this is textbook - as an audio engineer whenever someone asks to turn themselves up (f.ex. vocalist wants vocals louder, guitarist wants guitars louder, bass player wants bass louder) never change the volume - just ask if it's better now and 9/10 they'll think it got better. :D
 
Oh this is textbook - as an audio engineer whenever someone asks to turn themselves up (f.ex. vocalist wants vocals louder, guitarist wants guitars louder, bass player wants bass louder) never change the volume - just ask if it's better now and 9/10 they'll think it got better. :D

Yep! Loool. VERY true.
 
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