How to make my electric guitar sound more electronic.
May 3, 2010 2:35 PM Subscribe
Help me make my electric guitar sound electronic. (Please dissect these Daft Punk and Justice songs with me.)
I'm interested in making my guitar, bass, and drums sound like the fuzzy, effects-heavy sounds that are found in a lot of electronic music. I'm curious about recreating the sounds of synthesized and actual instruments and am wondering if anyone knows of a couple pedals, EQ settings, or techniques that are so typical of this genre that they're almost always found in this music.
I'm looking for the sounds found in a couple different songs, mostly from Daft Punk and Justice:
In Aerodynamic, around 00:15, I hear what sounds like a phaser being put on the drums, but am wondering about the main riff: is this a synthesizer or a guitar with a lot of effects on it? What effects?
In Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger, I'm curious about the effects on the bass.
In DVNO and Genesis, at 00:10 and 00:40, respectively, I'd like to recreate the main synth sound and the funky slap bass.
If anyone has any insight on the guitar solo in Digital Love, that would also be appreciated. I can hear distortion, phaser, whammy bar, and a lot of dives that I assume are a pitch shifter expression pedal?
And anyone who knows what Squarepusher uses on his bass would be helpful, too.
I understand that these might be the result of studio magic or laptop patches or other electronic things that I know nothing about and that an electric guitar or bass couldn't recreate. But I'm wondering if anyone has tried, and what pedals and settings have sounded especially good.
A broader version of this question, and one I'd also appreciate answers to, is How can I train my ear to better recognize effects beyond the obvious distortion, flange, phaser, chorus, wah, delay and start to hear the settings or versions of these, e.g., high overdrive vs. high gain.
I'm interested in making my guitar, bass, and drums sound like the fuzzy, effects-heavy sounds that are found in a lot of electronic music. I'm curious about recreating the sounds of synthesized and actual instruments and am wondering if anyone knows of a couple pedals, EQ settings, or techniques that are so typical of this genre that they're almost always found in this music.
I'm looking for the sounds found in a couple different songs, mostly from Daft Punk and Justice:
In Aerodynamic, around 00:15, I hear what sounds like a phaser being put on the drums, but am wondering about the main riff: is this a synthesizer or a guitar with a lot of effects on it? What effects?
In Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger, I'm curious about the effects on the bass.
In DVNO and Genesis, at 00:10 and 00:40, respectively, I'd like to recreate the main synth sound and the funky slap bass.
If anyone has any insight on the guitar solo in Digital Love, that would also be appreciated. I can hear distortion, phaser, whammy bar, and a lot of dives that I assume are a pitch shifter expression pedal?
And anyone who knows what Squarepusher uses on his bass would be helpful, too.
I understand that these might be the result of studio magic or laptop patches or other electronic things that I know nothing about and that an electric guitar or bass couldn't recreate. But I'm wondering if anyone has tried, and what pedals and settings have sounded especially good.
A broader version of this question, and one I'd also appreciate answers to, is How can I train my ear to better recognize effects beyond the obvious distortion, flange, phaser, chorus, wah, delay and start to hear the settings or versions of these, e.g., high overdrive vs. high gain.
1. in "Aerodynamic", that's almost certainly a guitar, and almost certainly sampled from a 70's funk record, considering Daft Punk's history. I can hear a reverb and some compression on it but I'll bet 90% of the "effects" were from the original sample.
2. I think that's an early synth bass, but I'm not sure. Again, you want to listen to the original instead of Daft Punk: Cola Bottle Baby.
3. The people at gearslutz or KVR could probably tell you exactly how to recreate them, but they're both synthesizers.
You could recreate #3 most easily with a soft synth like MASSIVE.
As for guitar, I'd suggest you start with either an effects box like the Line 6 M13 or software like Guitar Rig 4.
I have the M13 and have enjoyed getting some very synthetic-sounding sounds from my guitar. There are specific effects like this and this that would help you get there, but a multi-effect box is more versatile.
In general, though, at least with #2 and #3, you could recreate the sounds with free or cheap software synths far, far easier than with a guitar and effects.
For #1 I'd say learn to play funk guitar, record a bunch of jams, and then take a little sample of 4-5 seconds here and there, loop, and add effects.
Good luck!
posted by mmoncur at 3:28 PM on May 3, 2010
2. I think that's an early synth bass, but I'm not sure. Again, you want to listen to the original instead of Daft Punk: Cola Bottle Baby.
3. The people at gearslutz or KVR could probably tell you exactly how to recreate them, but they're both synthesizers.
You could recreate #3 most easily with a soft synth like MASSIVE.
As for guitar, I'd suggest you start with either an effects box like the Line 6 M13 or software like Guitar Rig 4.
I have the M13 and have enjoyed getting some very synthetic-sounding sounds from my guitar. There are specific effects like this and this that would help you get there, but a multi-effect box is more versatile.
In general, though, at least with #2 and #3, you could recreate the sounds with free or cheap software synths far, far easier than with a guitar and effects.
For #1 I'd say learn to play funk guitar, record a bunch of jams, and then take a little sample of 4-5 seconds here and there, loop, and add effects.
Good luck!
posted by mmoncur at 3:28 PM on May 3, 2010
Oh. That solo in Digital Love has been bitcrushed significantly.
There's probably some TalkBox in there, too.
posted by Sys Rq at 3:59 PM on May 3, 2010 [1 favorite]
There's probably some TalkBox in there, too.
posted by Sys Rq at 3:59 PM on May 3, 2010 [1 favorite]
How can I train my ear to better recognize effects beyond the obvious distortion, flange, phaser, chorus, wah, delay and start to hear the settings or versions of these, e.g., high overdrive vs. high gain.
Download Audiomulch (it's free!---but suicidal) and a bunch of free VST effects plugins, then just fool around with 'em till stuff makes sense.
posted by Sys Rq at 4:08 PM on May 3, 2010
Download Audiomulch (it's free!---but suicidal) and a bunch of free VST effects plugins, then just fool around with 'em till stuff makes sense.
posted by Sys Rq at 4:08 PM on May 3, 2010
Bitcrush
extreme pitch shifting (say, over an octave, Digitech Whammy Pedal is a good example)
short delays with lots of feedback (in the range of 1-30 ms)
Those all sound very "digital" to me.
For more "synth" sounds, heavy distortion plus a enveloper filter (and/or a low pass filter) and maybe a analog "octave" effects work well. There are also all-in-one units that work in similar fashions (the electro-harmonix microsynth works in this fashion, iirc).
My personal favorite "synth" effect is an old Korg X911. It's a pitch-to-cv and an analog synth unit. It glitches like crazy and generally sounds amazing.
posted by alikins at 6:09 PM on May 3, 2010
extreme pitch shifting (say, over an octave, Digitech Whammy Pedal is a good example)
short delays with lots of feedback (in the range of 1-30 ms)
Those all sound very "digital" to me.
For more "synth" sounds, heavy distortion plus a enveloper filter (and/or a low pass filter) and maybe a analog "octave" effects work well. There are also all-in-one units that work in similar fashions (the electro-harmonix microsynth works in this fashion, iirc).
My personal favorite "synth" effect is an old Korg X911. It's a pitch-to-cv and an analog synth unit. It glitches like crazy and generally sounds amazing.
posted by alikins at 6:09 PM on May 3, 2010
seconding the bitcrushing & talkbox on the digital love guitar - also some heavy phasing in places.
posted by messiahwannabe at 12:22 AM on May 4, 2010
posted by messiahwannabe at 12:22 AM on May 4, 2010
for the "Aerodynamic" sound, I get a decent approximation with autowah + fuzz + hi-pass filter + very short slap delay
posted by _dario at 12:53 PM on May 4, 2010
posted by _dario at 12:53 PM on May 4, 2010
Response by poster: Thank you for the answers so far. Bitcrush is something I wasn't familiar with but I can now hear it pretty well in these songs. Is there a good multi-effects pedal that has looping, bitcrush, envelope filter, expression pedal, and so on, or is it much better to get separate pedals for each?
A (possibly stupid) follow-up question: assuming that some of these riffs are played on synthesizers using a keyboard or computer software, is there a way to make a guitar produce a uniform (bland?) sound that can then be modified with pedals to sound like a synth? I guess I'm asking if it's possible to strip the standard timbre and attack of a guitar and then run that through pedals to make something else.
posted by jalexc at 10:45 AM on May 5, 2010
A (possibly stupid) follow-up question: assuming that some of these riffs are played on synthesizers using a keyboard or computer software, is there a way to make a guitar produce a uniform (bland?) sound that can then be modified with pedals to sound like a synth? I guess I'm asking if it's possible to strip the standard timbre and attack of a guitar and then run that through pedals to make something else.
posted by jalexc at 10:45 AM on May 5, 2010
I guess I'm asking if it's possible to strip the standard timbre and attack of a guitar and then run that through pedals to make something else.
That's what a pitch-to-cv converter (like the Korg X-911 or the Roland SPV-355 or, more recently, this thing) does, basically. The pitch of the guitar controls an oscillator, i.e., the sound that comes out is actually a synthesizer.
posted by Sys Rq at 11:02 AM on May 5, 2010
That's what a pitch-to-cv converter (like the Korg X-911 or the Roland SPV-355 or, more recently, this thing) does, basically. The pitch of the guitar controls an oscillator, i.e., the sound that comes out is actually a synthesizer.
posted by Sys Rq at 11:02 AM on May 5, 2010
« Older What size iPod Touch for a 12-year-old? | Question about life and grad school (or lack... Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by fantasticninety at 2:50 PM on May 3, 2010 [1 favorite]