My Sound Clinic

Most drum programs are self explanatory, enabling easy use and creative freedom. But getting them to sound right, or real, is whole other story. Below are a couple of settings that work brilliantly. They work equally as well for real drum setups when recording a live acoustic kit too. Note that these settings are pretty universal for metal and hard-rock sounds, but you may want to adjust to your preference.

Provided you have access to the EQ management try something that looks a little like this for your kick drum.

Notice the deep ‘V’ shape. This is not too dissimilar to the way most metallers have their guitar tone in the sense that the mids are heavily scooped out. On a guitar this helps accent the percussiveness of the playing, forming an aggressive chug. On a kick drum however it reduces the “boxiness” from the mix, taking away the sound which, to me, sounds like a huge balloon being burst in a concert hall!

Scoop out quite a lot from 125-500hz, but leave in a few more DB’s of the 125hz end, which helps deliver the punch of the bass frequencies.

Around the 50hz mark are your bass frequencies, which, seeing as it’s the bass drum you’re modelling, should be slightly boosted. If you raise them too much however they can boom a bit more than required, so just play with it until you find a nice balance.

Taking your 1k back just a tiny bit, the rest of the EQ should raise in an upwards slope, peaking at 4k to get the attack. These are your highs and provided you’re trying to get the thrash metal “click” then these must be boosted. Depending on how much attack you want of course, it’s all to taste, but if, like me, you’re a huge metal-head then the more click you’ve got the better! Listen to drummers such as Jason Bittner of Shadows Fall or Chris Adler from Lamb of God and you’ll hear an abundance of click in their kick pedal EQ, which aides greatly when cutting through the mix of thunderous guitars, and helps develop the overall aggressive sound.

As I mentioned, it’s not for everyone, and if you’re more partial to a typical rock sound then just roll back the highs and dial in a touch more of the mid frequencies.

Now, for the snare I’ve noticed there are no real rules. As with the kick it very much depends what the sample is like. I’m only basing mine on the fact that my samples are real drum hits recorded with a mic, or at least “real sounding”. Snares tend to be a bit trickier and what works with one snare might not work with another where as kicks tend to be a bit more universal.

These are the EQ settings I use for the snare that I have and it gives a nice heavy rock style crack, with plenty of oomph to cut through the mix of the heavy bass pedals. Now, it does take some playing around, but if you use this model as a blueprint for your snare then just adjust to taste depending on what sounds best for your sample. It’s good to find a snare that you like the sound of by listening to the bands that you like, then listen along to a song and try to emulate it. I’ve based mine on the very sort after Abe Cunningham (Deftones) sound.

Reverb is a great way to make a snare sing out and sound great. Over-use it though and it will sound out of place in context to the rest of the mix. Dial it in until it sounds reasonable, and then roll it back a touch (you always over-use to begin with).

Happy programming!

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In my endless search for that perfect tone I came across another avenue of possibilities. There are so many factors to take into account when approaching tone, depending on how meticulous you are of course, right down to the size of your speakers and the grain of the wood that they are mounted in.

String tension is my newest venture and it’s one of great impact. The gauge of string that you use can vary your sound massively. Because the actual mechanical movement of the string varies with its width you can therefore control the range of tones coming from it. Generally it’s quite self explanatory, the thicker the gauge the bassier and rounder the sound.

I chase a tone that’s chuggy, percussive, responsive, yet clear with a slightly scooped mid. I tend to use very light strings at the treble end and thicker strings at the bass end (9 – 46 with a 50 for the B string on my 7 strings). I like the way they feel, you can bend with ease and if you have a lot of control then you can command a massive range of sounds through them. A lot of people don’t like light strings because of the slack tension which is another factor – tone vs playability. It’s all about finding the optimum medium. For example; fast alternate picking can become clumsy on lighter strings because the string doesn’t return to centre very quickly, which is why mine thicken up as the pitch gets lower to provide a much more even tension.

Lighter strings can be combated of course with a lighter attack with your pick, but a lot of people can’t find the control. At speed your picking tends to become more aggressive as the muscles in your arm contract, so people up the gauge. Opt for a gauge that’s really thick though and you lose all clarity all together. For some people this is the desired consequence (I know people who have a .52 for an E string, and a .65 for B!!) but it’s not for me.

Heavier strings, therefore, do not mean heavier sound. The key is to experiment and find your perfect match taking into account all the factors. I manage to get a massively chuggy and heavy sound out of my strings because of the way they vibrate in context to my picking attack. Try it out for yourself.

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Dimebag’s Guitar Tone: Hints, Tips and Settings

Although his setup was as simple as can be, the cutthroat tone that launched forth from his axe is seldom achieved by amateurs and professionals alike. It’s probably the most sought after sound in the metal community, and has been ever since he emerged on the scene with Pantera in the early 90’s.

Pantera themselves were a force more innovative than any other during that period, forming a mechanical tightness that has been constantly imitated but never surpassed. Years ahead of their time they were pounding out grooves that influenced the likes of Machine Head, Killswitch Engage, Chimaira, Lamb Of God, and Unearth a decade before such acts had even launched their debuts.

The monstrous rhythm section fronted by Dimebag, with his brother Vinnie Paul on drums, found the band rocketing to the forefront of heavy music in the 90’s, and consistently pushing the boundaries into early 2002 before the band’s unfortunate demise.

Being a guitarist myself I always found Pantera’s music particularly interesting, not having to mention the fact that their sole axe-man was, in my opinion, the greatest that ever lived. Not perhaps for his technical ability, jaw dropping as it may be, but his innovation, fire, soul, spirit and sheer energy that was thrusted into every note. Most fretwork you’ll hear nowadays in the genre sounds stiff, lifeless, and without feeling in comparison.

The thing I always latched onto with Dimebag’s playing was how much it made me want to get out my seat and windmill like a motherfucker! This was probably due to the “push-pull”, or “groove” that was incorporated into the rhythms of the riffs and solos alike. Being heavily influenced by blues (as is most metal), and being a man of the South, there was even a warm country feel to his work. The stompy and catchy rhythms created by the two Abbott brothers were a fine concoction to get even the most placid of folk’s feet tapping, including my dad - possibly the biggest loather of heavy metal that ever walked the earth.

The Tone

The rhythm was one thing, but getting that “chainsaw” tone is another entirely. Just like with any guitar playing it can compare to an almost ‘nature or nurture’ argument, i.e. “is it the equipment he uses or the way he plays?” For Dimebag, as well as any other guitar greats, it’s a mixture of the two (unfortunately for us). But the desired tone can still be created, you’ll just never sound exactly like him – and on that note, nobody ever will.

Darrell favoured what has since been referred to as the ‘scooped’ tone. Ever evolving since the early days of thrash, the scooped tone is achieved by cutting or ‘scooping’ the mids out of your amp settings. This brings out that grunting, growling, snarling beast of a sound from your playing. Started by bands such as Metallica and Slayer in the early 80’s, it’s a must for most metal styles, although with today’s production you’ll find a lot less of the mid tone is cut to compensate for downtuning. But yesteryears bands used it in abundance, which is how they managed to have such a beefy, percussive, staccato sound whilst remaining in standard tuning.

So for a quick metal setup to your amp, assuming all tone pots are rated 0-10, it should read something like this:

Gain – 9

Bass/Low – 8.5

Mid – 2

Treble/High – 10

Dime used enough treble to make your head explode so make sure you crank it up. This helps achieve that razors edge tone, ensuring you have enough high dynamic to make all your pinched harmonics and lead runs scream out.

The Equipment

Obviously, the gear you use is going to have an impact on the sound, but you don’t have to have the exact rig to get close. His rig was possibly the simplest of any shredder that I’ve ever known, which is a great way to be if you’re a budding musician yourself. I find that getting bogged down in too many effects, eq’s, pointless tweaking devices and other expensive crap can deter from your creative styles. Keep it simple.

Dime was synonymous with his x-shaped Washburn, a design originally conceived by Dean, which was then sold onto Washburn in the early 90’s. The design is now, however, back in Dean’s hands with them producing the ‘Razorback’, a commemorative axe with all Dimes’ typical specifications.

Pick-up wise he used Seymour Duncan’s. In the neck position was an SH-1 ‘59 model which he used for those sweet blues textures (just check out the solo for ‘Walk’), and in the bridge was his signature monster – the SH-13 Dimebucker, which kicked out enough gain to maim a grown man, and all too often did - in the fierce mosh pits that his music spawned at live shows all over the world.

To ensure an even edgier crunch to his guitar attack Dime was adamant on using solid state amps (an avid Randall abuser for years), as opposed to tube/valve state. This is simply because you can get more drive from a solid state, where as valve driven amplification tends to be warmer, and more controlled. However, not long after he was on the road with Damageplan he developed an amp, alongside new company Krank, utilizing new valve state technology which had all the crunch and wildness that comes with solid state amps. It’s since become a must for the metal giants, with a barrage of names signing onto the Krank signature list, including axe slingers from As I Lay Dying, Shadows Fall, Godforbid, Nevermore, Avenged Sevenfold, Children of Bodom, and Arch Enemy, to name just a few.

As I said, Dime’s rig was simple and he used very few effects. The only ones you’ll hear are flange, and chorus (check out the intro to Revolution Is My Name) to get that watery effect and to add texture. Apart from that, the only other weapon in his metal arsenal was the trusty Jim Dunlop Cry Baby – the world’s favourite wah-wah pedal. A must for any metal player in my opinion, it’s the most versatile yet simplistic piece of equipment you’ll ever own.

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