Death metal guitar sound

[Sakkaku]

As the title would indicate, this thread is about the sound of a death metal guitarist. So for those of you who aren't interested, feel free to click on another thread!

What I would like to know, is what do the guitarists employ to get such a savage, razorblade kind of tone ? Do they use a distortion pedal of sorts, or just the distortion that comes from the amp?

I'm thinking of bands in the vein of Six Feet Under, Cannibal Corpse, Obituary, and even Arch Enemy (although the 'death metal' status on their band is debateable - I personally rate them as death metal)... how do they do it ???

Another question is the solos in a death metal songs, I'm mainly thinking of Arch Enemy and Obituary here... obviously they use a whammy bar and do the 'shuddering' effect (or whatever it's really called), but do they use specific scales? I would think diminished because of the odd intervallic sound and structure, but I could be wrong.

Any one for a bite of this subject? Maybe I should ask a technical jazz question or something next time... death metal isn't what most people wake up thinking about in the morning, but each to their own.

[metaljustice83]

I think in most cases they use distortion from they amp, I know I do. Usually distortion pedals sound thin in the mix. And remember if you scoop your mids playin w/ a band you've just taken all of your prescence out of the band.

[wild_child]

And remember if you scoop your mids playin w/ a band you've just taken all of your prescence out of the band.

but if the rest of the band is playing with scooped mids it wont matter - i think thats the key to get a good death sound, you need to put alot of emphasis on bass, that goes for drums, too. you dont want anything too bright in there, especially if youre playing some chunky riffs or whatever.
when it comes to solos though, kick up the mid and you'll cut through it all like a chainsaw :)

[Sakkaku]

True. What kind of eq setup do you use on your Amps? I'm running a Marshall AVT150, and mic it through the PA. It sounds really fat (thick) when I'm practising by myself at home, but because my bass player changes his sound as frequently as most people change their underwear, sometimes the tone is good, sometimes it gets a little lost...

At the moment I'm about to go into a recording studio with some digital drum tracks laid down, and I'm going to record both guitar and bass parts... (vocalist to follow)... nothing fancy, just a mate with a computer, some decent instrument mics, and recording software etc, but it'll do.

Any ideas how to obtain that really thick wall of sound? Just throw a double-tracking in there (or quadruple tracking as I tend to do), or something more 'musically sound' ?

Cheers for your help guys.

[Vance]

but if the rest of the band is playing with scooped mids it wont matter :)

That may be a very hard thing to accomplish....especially with Drums and Bass. Remember, it's all about frequency. When playing live, the Drums and Bass can quickly "EAT UP" all them lows...and what little highs the guitar amp has left just won't be able to cut through.

I've fought with this for years, and unless you are set up with a happenin PA and, a soundman that is willing to spend a LOT of time tweaking your scooped sound into the mix, you will be buried.

Also. volume alone will not compensate for the lack of the midrange frequencies that are getting clobbered by the rhythm unit.

What I do now is after we are all set up, I go out front and the singer slaps on my guitar and the band just does a quick jam. I just showed him an easy 2 finger bar chord that he can chunk along with. Then I get to hear what it all sounds like out front.

Vance

[metaljustice83]

http://www.guitarworld.com/lessons/artists/0104.metalshop.php see what they say about scooping the mids, I agree w/ them

[wild_child]

i used the term 'scoped' mids a little too loosely there, i dont mean that you should take it out totally - that would definatley be no good. i'm suggesting that 'scooped' mids refers to the bass and treble being set higher, but still with a fair bit of mid range in there.
i still think alot of it depends on drums - you need those things tuned really low with a very tight snare.
oh, that reminds me of another thing - downtuning everything is pretty much the status quo when it comes to death, it really adds to the dark feel.

[oRg]

I'm able to mimic pretty much the death metal sounds and I use a pedal. The pedal I'm refering to is the Boss Metal Zone. It sounds very nice and it has a nice EQ on it. I run it through a Randall RG-100 watt head and a 4x12 Marshall cabinet. I play on the clean channel on my amp and use the pedal for distorsion. I like it alot and so far it fits with what I play. I play stuff like Six Feet Under, Behemoth, Darkane, Dimmu Borgir, Cradle of Filth, Slayer, Napalm Death, Lamb of God, etc etc. Of course I also use a PA system as well which I noticed makes a difference when you record. You hear one thing but when you record yourself playing through the amp it sounds totally different. I also mic my amp, and this set-up suits my style of playing well.

[Sakkaku]

. I play stuff like Six Feet Under, Behemoth, Darkane, Dimmu Borgir, Cradle of Filth, Slayer, Napalm Death, Lamb of God, etc etc. .

Woah, that's a good list right there. Have you got any Lamb of God, Napalm Death, and Six Feet Under tabs that you can throw my way? I've been meaning to get some, but just never got around to it...

Any links would also be appreciated.

[oRg]

Here's some Six Feet under tabs. my favorite song by them in Impulse to Disembowel off of True Carnage
http://metaltabs.com/band/49/

Here's some Behemoth tabs.
http://metaltabs.com/band/98/

Here's the website of the guitarist of Darkane. So you know the tabs are right :).
http://www.christofermalmstrom.se/frames.htm

Here's some Dimmu Borgir tabs.
http://metaltabs.com/band/19/

Here's some Cradle of Filth tabs. One of my favorite bands. Damnation and a Day is my fav CD of theirs.
http://mxtabs.net/songs.php?path=Guitar,c,276,Cradle+Of+Filth

Here's some kick *** Slayer tabs. I like South of Heaven.
http://metaltabs.com/band/21/

Here's some Napalm Death tabs.
http://metaltabs.com/band/13/

Here's some Lamb of God tabs.
http://metaltabs.com/band/319/

Overall if your looking for some tab so some pretty hardcore bands I would try mxtabs.net and metaltabs.com. Metaltabs usually has most of the stuff you would look for unless your looking for something like Defile or something like that. They don't have alot of local or unsigned bands to my knowledge but they got some kick *** bands like Iced Earth, Hypocrisy, Kataclysm, etc etc. Have fun...

[Sakkaku]

Thanks man! Those wil sure be really handy in my quest to blow peoples eardrums up!

[Carvinite]

did you guys try powertabs?

[Sakkaku]

did you guys try powertabs?

Yeah, I do.. Have you got some death metal powertabs ?

[oRg]

I don't have any myself...I mainly use Guitar Pro 4. I usually get my songs from a German website http://digitalsounds.de. I guess it kinda helps that I can read some German...not alot but some...:). GP4 is pretty cool as well cuz you can add extra instruments so it sounds like a real song...with out vocals of course.

[Sakkaku]

Only problem is, I can't open any GP4 files, because my copy is just that... a copy... it blurbs on something about it's an illegal hack, and won't open any...

I really want to learn Silent Wars by Arch Enemy, especially the solo, but I can't even open the file... If I REALLY wanted to, I could learn it by ear, but I'm too lazy when it comes to solos, which I guess is a bit of a downfall... maybe I shouldn't be so lazy...

Any ideas ???

[Sakkaku]

By the way, there's a button in that website, hard left, and underneath the first banner, that says 'English version', which translates the page. It's the icon with the British flag on it, click it, and voila! No German to decipher. :)

[Damienmdk]

If u like a bit of Arch Enemy u should check out Carcass. Micheal Amott was a guitarist in Carcass but Bill Steer's fluidity when shredding baffles me there minor scales i think but its's just excellent, if u get a chance check the album Heartwork.

[oRg]

I've heard Carcass before and I didn't know they both had/have the same guitarist. Ah well...also thanks for pointing the button out to me. I feel like an idiot now...lol.

[Sakkaku]

Arch Enemy is just so loose the way they have Angela ripping it up with her pipes... that's craziness.

The Amott brothers are freaky guitarists. In the sense they compliment each other really well!

Has anyone tabbed the solo to Silent Wars ?

[Tenebrae]

I once read an interview on the net with Chuck Schuldiner (from Death...I'm sure you can recall that if you wake up thinking "death metal" :P) in which he stated he didnt use nothing more than his Marshall(JCM 900 if I'm not mistaken) and his B.C. Rich on live performances since '92 if I'm not mistaken(I'd give you the link but I can't remember).
I, myself quite like the raw set-ups. I've used a bunch of Marshall amps with my Gibson Les Paul. I tell you...those DiMarzio humbuckers rock when you want a fat, greasy crunch :D. I've used it with a Valvestate 102R(which wasn't in very good shape...so not that much of a good sound[my guitar is 25 years old too..so the electronics might be starting to give up]); an AVT150(rocked) and with a JCM900 Triple Super Lead on a live gig...I loved this last setup...kicking the mids on the Lead Channel gave me a cutting lead sound..and kicking the bass up on the crunch channel gave me the power to play my riffs...but that's my personal taste...and Schuldiner's...it's up to you to experiment and try out all you can and to use it to form your personal sound...just keep experimenting with setups.

Cheers

PS-I hear the Metal Zone kicks ***..a buddy of mine bought one and he tells me it is the ownage(I haven't tried his yet...)

PS2-And Carcass has little to nothing to do with AE...I prefered ammot back in the days of Carcass...but once again, my personal taste... :D

[Slaindude]

Honestly, The MT-2 isn't that good. Its ok if you only play at home on a little home, its a good affordable distortion pedal for a medium player who just play at home or maybe jamming with others. But as soon as you want a good clean distortion, something professional (never seen any professional band playing with this!), something that sound very loud, i suggest you try something else. The MT-2 is too noisy, if you buy it be sure to have a noise gate otherwise you'll end up crying all night :D If you had a lot of money i would suggest that you buy a good marshall amp, that will provide you the sound you are looking for.

[forgottenking2]

I did play in a death metal band at some point (hey, you gotta try it all :) ) What I used to do was crank everything to 10 on the amp (it was some 30 watt marshall combo) I'd say try that out with the band if you want those bass and trebles there just crank your eq up to 10 and that way your mids will cut through and you'll still get the "coloring" of the high and the low... it worked for me (but I am not a death metal player by heart so someone else's opinion may have more weight), what I WILL tell you though is that you need those mids to cut through, you'll be able to hear yourself better and therefore keep your amp at a lower level (sound engineers will love you for that)... try it and see if it works for you.

Regards,

[Gandalv]

I think that MetalZone or one of the other extreme distortion pedals (digitech for example) are the way to go. In my experience, they give more flexibility and a more characteristic sound than amp distortion. But you need a good compressor before the pedal, and a good tube power amp.

[sam6]

there is a Death Metal Distortion by DOD and it has a killer sound just try it, i think most bands use full (teble and bass) and zero mid

[oRg]

Actually alot of good death metal bands don't scoop the mids. Cannibal corpse turns them allt he way up but they adjust the mid frequency to get more of the rumble. Most of it is actually EQ'n. As long as you have some good distorsion from either your amp or a pedal then you should be pretty much set. I would recommend picking up a rackmount EQ for about $150. Play around with the EQ a little bit and when you stumble upon something that you like just work from it.

[sam6]

i use for equalizing GE-7 by boss its old but great :graphic equalizer with 7 bands , for death metal rhythm sound i adjust it to smile mode (like letter U ),but for solos you need strong mid range boost , and try to redues the feedback... :confused:

[Los Boleros]

what do the guitarists employ to get such a savage, razorblade kind of tone ? Do they use a distortion pedal of sorts, or just the distortion that comes from the amp?If you are looking for the fattest, chunkiest tone for rhythm, You really should give a listen to the preamps made by Hughs & Kettner. I have a stereo rackmountable Marshall 50/50 amp and use the Hughs & Kettner for Rhythm and a Rocktron preamp for solos. My sound goes from heavy freaking duty to mesa boogie with a click of my midi controller.

[sam6]

for amps i think you can use the CARLSBRO Nu Tone.

[Sakkaku]

Talk about resurrected from the dead! Thanks a lot for the new posts guys ;)

[adambum]

Oh great oRg, now I have another things to learn from... lol.

[oRg]

I personally use a 2 channel 31-band EQ. One EQ is for lead and the other is for rhythm. I'm thinking about getting a really nice Behringer Ultracurve Pro. That way I can control which EQ's I want to use with a MIDI controller. Not to mention I can have more than just 2 EQ's saved in it.The reason some Death Metal bands don't scoops the mids is mainly becuz of the artificial harmonics. They really want them to sound out in the mix. If I was gonna record something though I would use a post-EQ. Turn you middle and treble all the way up on your amp and pedal and EQ everything with your EQ rack. You can easily get more bite in your solos/leads and more crunch in your rhythms that way. One thing I noticed alot of other death metal bands do as well is get a signal booster to add a little more gain to there sound. I heard the T.C. Electronic Line Driver was a good one but they don't make those anymore.

[Antagonist]

I use www.911tabs.com (http://www.911tabs.com) which is a tab site that is all the tab sites combined into one. So if your searching for some death metal (behemoth, death, belphegor, lamb of god, slayer, decapitated, nile, etc) They will most likely have it. If not just a tab or, powertab, Guitar-Pro and most of the time drum tabs and bass too.. They usually have it.

As for the death metal type sound, I use the Digitech Death Metal pedal, and it sounds good to me. But everyone has there own wants and needs when it comes to tone. I like the Zakk Wylde boost petal too.

peace

[Revenant]

A lot of that heavy sound can only be obtained in the studio. Keep in mind that these guys double track a lot of stuff and they usually overdub with different amps.

There is possible to get that "over-the-top" distortion with an amp though, but its useless with an unmodified strat for example. You will need something like EMG-81's in your guitar. Duncan makes some great pickups too.

A lot of that sound also comes from thicker string gauges, detuned guitars and 7-strings.

[Ragman]

the sound the bands anomalous, the faceless, beneath the massacre, and such i think is amazing, i believe its mostly just distortion from boogies or peavey 5150, or 6505, but i know beneath the massacre use line 6 amps so yeah, their sounds a bit different but pretty crazy good.