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The Secret of Stevie Ray Vaughan ’ s Guitar Tone
By Clifton David Broadbridge
One of the most powerful musical influences that I had growing up was Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble . Stevie ’ s guitar tone was clean , clear , loud , and soulful , with a huge soundstage . Although I was aware that he recorded with multiple amps , there was still something happening sonically in the studio mixes that went beyond EQ , compression , delay , and reverb .
Reading through some old articles I discovered that Stevie loved the sound of the Roland Dimension D and how its subtle chorus effect would give his guitar a thicker sound without changing his natural tone . He would actually add it to his solos himself with the console ’ s effects send and return . Apparently , Stevie came across this technique during the recording of David Bowie ’ s Let ’ s Dance album , which he played on .
Thanks to Stevie Ray Vaughan , this has become one of the most useful techniques that I ’ ve learned that can give an instrument or vocal something special in a mix . I use the Universal Audio
Roland Dimension D plug-in on a stereo aux in Pro Tools and , like Stevie , add just enough of the effect to create a larger dimension without changing the source sound . This effect can be heard on the solos in Stevie ’ s songs “ Pride and Joy ” and “ Mary Had a Little Lamb ” from the album Texas Flood , as well as a majority of solos on Couldn ’ t Stand the Weather .
Clifton David Broadbridge is a studio partner of Eddie Kramer and engineer at El Mocambo
Productions . www . cliftondavidbroadbridge . com .
Miking Tips From Echoplant Sound Recording Studios ’ Ryan Worsley
My two favorite amps for this are a Fender Deluxe Reverb and a vintage Traynor YGM-3 . Sometimes this will end up as a cool effect that I blend to the rest of the kit , and other times , it will become the entire close mic sound , replacing the original unprocessed track .
I
really like sending miked signals into guitar amps , especially with drums . When I ’ m tracking drums , I usually have an amp miked up in the bathroom , with an SM7 on it , that I can send any of the close mics to . Typically , it will be a kick or snare … or both . You can do this right off the console via sends , or back out of your DAW sends , but make sure that everything is in phase ( especially when sending kick and snare together ).
Sometimes I ’ ll add a bunch of spring reverb from the amp , or keep it tight and punchy . I also like to do something similar but with pedals and a Radial EXTC . I ’ ll send the snare mic to the EXTC and send it through my guitar effects pedals . Usually I ’ ll have an overdrive , fuzz , delay , and reverb , and just pick and choose for whatever sounds right for the song .
This next tip is a more advanced technique for finding the ideal guitar tone . It ’ s adapted from Michael Stavrou as described in his book , Mixing with Your Mind .
One way I like to get guitar tones is by moving the mic around while wearing headphones . This can be tricky to do , because the volume of the amp is typically louder than the headphones , but there is a solution . I first put the mic in a place that I think will sound good . Once I ’ ve heard how it sounds with the loud guitar signal running through it , I ’ ll unplug the guitar from the amp . I then plug my phone into the amp via a headphone to 1 / 4-in . adaptor cable . I have a loop of pink noise that I play through the amp at a very quiet volume ( so I ’ m only hearing through the headphones what is being picked up by the mic ). Similar to white noise , pink noise contains all of the frequencies in the spectrum . One will need to be familiar enough with how it typically sounds . I crank the headphone volume and listen to the pink noise through them . Once I hear how the pink noise sounds in my first mic position , I adjust the mic placement to find a position that gives me what I ’ m looking for . For example , if the initial guitar tone sounded muddy , I change the position until the pink noise is more balanced and the midrange frequencies are no longer jumping out . This is great way to judge how the different mic positions sound .
Ryan Worsley is a producer , audio engineer , multi-instrumentalist , and songwriter who owns Echoplant Sound Recording Studios in Vancouver . He has worked with
Dear Rouge , Emilie & Ogden , Said the Whale , Courage My Love , and others . www . echoplantsound . com .
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