For a 7 string. Do you prefer 25.5 or 27 scale length? Why?
I prefer 25.5 if standard/drop A tuning, 27 from G down below.
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Latest answers from Francesco Filigoi
Best headphones for mixing??
I just purchased Sennheiser HD600 with the Sonarworks treatment....I'm not sure if they're the best, but to me it's as good as it gets really. Super comfy as well!
Can you tell me some albums that have shaped your songwriting ? or have left you speechless :)
So many... Off the top of my head:
Jason Becker - Perpetual Burn
Gojira - The Way Of All Flesh
Wintersun - Time I
Animals As Leaders - S/T
Nevermore - Dead Heart In A Dead World
Guthrie Govan - Erotic Cakes
Arcturus - The Sham Mirrors
Slipknot - S/T
Testament - The Gathering
ARK - Burn The Sun
Dimmu Borgir - Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia
Soilwork - Natural Born Chaos
Theory In Practice - Colonizing The Sun
Carcass - Heartwork
Decapitated - Nihility
Children Of Bodom - Follow The Reaper
Suffocation - Pierced From Within
Metallica - ...And Justice For All
Immortal - Sons Of The Northern Darkness
Behemoth - The Satanist
In Flames - The Jester Race
Dodheimsgard - 666 International
Jason Becker - Perpetual Burn
Gojira - The Way Of All Flesh
Wintersun - Time I
Animals As Leaders - S/T
Nevermore - Dead Heart In A Dead World
Guthrie Govan - Erotic Cakes
Arcturus - The Sham Mirrors
Slipknot - S/T
Testament - The Gathering
ARK - Burn The Sun
Dimmu Borgir - Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia
Soilwork - Natural Born Chaos
Theory In Practice - Colonizing The Sun
Carcass - Heartwork
Decapitated - Nihility
Children Of Bodom - Follow The Reaper
Suffocation - Pierced From Within
Metallica - ...And Justice For All
Immortal - Sons Of The Northern Darkness
Behemoth - The Satanist
In Flames - The Jester Race
Dodheimsgard - 666 International
Do you belive that you can get descent intonation with a 7 string guitar with a lower scale than 25,5" scale ?
If intonation is your main concern, it doesn't get any better than a fanned fret guitar. That being said, less than 25.5" is still good if you play in B standard, but lower than B would be tough to intonate.
It also depends on how far back you can put the bridge saddles, but as a general rule I'd never go lower than 25.5" on a 7.
It also depends on how far back you can put the bridge saddles, but as a general rule I'd never go lower than 25.5" on a 7.
how far can you go with superior drummer 2 ? I mean is it possible to make it sounds real ? thanks im advance
You can go REALLY far. I do think you can get really really close, for sure.
It's all about knowing how to use it properly - too many guys just go with presets and poorly programmed drums, and it sounds fake as hell. If you pay attention to:
- use raw sounds (SDX, not EZX expansions)
- keep velocities more natural and human
- keep every hit slightly off the grid
- choosing good sounding kit parts
- keep bleed on in between all mics
That's already a good starting point. Couple it with the X-Drum feature (blending samples together or bring in samples from other libraries) and complete control over microphone routing, and you get lots of tools to make the sound even more unique and realistic.
Part of that is also mixing, too many inexperienced folks just use 90% direct mics and not enough room mics - that's a shortcut for dry and fake sound for sure.
The more you raise room mics' volume, the more they'll glue everything together in a pleasing and realistic way.
I look forward to SD3.0 to see how they can up their game even further, but SD2.0 is already super powerful!
It's all about knowing how to use it properly - too many guys just go with presets and poorly programmed drums, and it sounds fake as hell. If you pay attention to:
- use raw sounds (SDX, not EZX expansions)
- keep velocities more natural and human
- keep every hit slightly off the grid
- choosing good sounding kit parts
- keep bleed on in between all mics
That's already a good starting point. Couple it with the X-Drum feature (blending samples together or bring in samples from other libraries) and complete control over microphone routing, and you get lots of tools to make the sound even more unique and realistic.
Part of that is also mixing, too many inexperienced folks just use 90% direct mics and not enough room mics - that's a shortcut for dry and fake sound for sure.
The more you raise room mics' volume, the more they'll glue everything together in a pleasing and realistic way.
I look forward to SD3.0 to see how they can up their game even further, but SD2.0 is already super powerful!
Hey hope everything is going good man. I was just wondering if you could point me in the direction of any decent or good free/cheap plugins for mixing metal/harsh vocals ? Thank you for your time and can't wait for the Abiogenesis stuff !
One plugin in particular that will get the job done, and on top of that it's pretty cheap, is Gain Reduction Deluxe by Joey Sturgis Tones.
Check it here: http://joeysturgistones.com/products/gain-reduction-deluxe
Other cheap stuff I use all the time to make vox stand out more, is SkNote Disto (Distressor emulation plugin): http://www.sknote.it/Disto.htm
Last but not least, a pretty common plugin to make Metal vox even more aggressive is Soundtoys Decapitator, I love it! http://www.soundtoys.com/product/decapitator/
Apart from that, if you just want to reply on free stuff, TDR VOS SlickEq as an EQ and any free 1176 comp emulation will get the job done. Good luck!
Check it here: http://joeysturgistones.com/products/gain-reduction-deluxe
Other cheap stuff I use all the time to make vox stand out more, is SkNote Disto (Distressor emulation plugin): http://www.sknote.it/Disto.htm
Last but not least, a pretty common plugin to make Metal vox even more aggressive is Soundtoys Decapitator, I love it! http://www.soundtoys.com/product/decapitator/
Apart from that, if you just want to reply on free stuff, TDR VOS SlickEq as an EQ and any free 1176 comp emulation will get the job done. Good luck!
Hey bro, hope it's all good! I've been suffering from writer's block for quite a long time now. I've tried it all: listening to non-metal music, stop playing for a while, doing other stuff etc. but nothing happened. Do you have any advice? Thanks in advance!
Everyone suffers from writer's block, it can last months or even years. I can assure you forcing new stuff to come out of nowhere just doesn't work - it has to come out by itself, you can't control the "creative flow".
If listening to new stuff hasn't inspired you enough, or taking a break didn't work either, what I strongly suggest is to cover some tunes you find pretty fresh sounding, or learn new techniques you'd like to apply within your songs. By learning other people's stuff you will internalize these techniques and eventually will be able to re-interpret them with your own twist.
Basically, challenge yourself as a guitarist by learning stuff you're not as comfortable with, but that you still like of course :)
In my case, I often go through months without a single new riff, but tbh I don't care since I have so much music already written that I have yet to release, that focusing on new stuff doesn't help much. But I'm still happy to sometimes have those nights in which new ideas just come out of nowhere, everything flows perfectly and I'm in "the zone" until 8am ^_^
If listening to new stuff hasn't inspired you enough, or taking a break didn't work either, what I strongly suggest is to cover some tunes you find pretty fresh sounding, or learn new techniques you'd like to apply within your songs. By learning other people's stuff you will internalize these techniques and eventually will be able to re-interpret them with your own twist.
Basically, challenge yourself as a guitarist by learning stuff you're not as comfortable with, but that you still like of course :)
In my case, I often go through months without a single new riff, but tbh I don't care since I have so much music already written that I have yet to release, that focusing on new stuff doesn't help much. But I'm still happy to sometimes have those nights in which new ideas just come out of nowhere, everything flows perfectly and I'm in "the zone" until 8am ^_^
When making tones in the Axe Fx how do you know when a cab is just "right" in terms of balance for a specific amp model??
Every time you're comparing different cabs, always ask yourself while listening "is the tone too harsh/scooped/bright/dark/dull/etc?" - If the answer is yes, then it's not the right cab.
Once you listen to a cab that is right, the tone is just there, there's no offensive frequencies and the overall character is full and balanced with "musical" midrange.
A lot of this has to do with experience - the more you get used to listen to tons of cabs, the more easily you can spot good and bad ones. But it's also easy to get ear fatiguing when comparing tons of them, so I often take breaks to rest my ears a bit.
Since it's so easy to get overwhelmed by lots of cab choice and getting confused on which one sounds right to you, here's a tip on how to not get confused.
I call this "elimination tournament": instead of going randomly in between one cab, then another one, then another one, then everything starts to sound the same...just pick the first two cabs in the list and ask yourself "which one is the most balanced? which one is more right to me?" - let's say the first one is better, so just discard the second one and then compare the first with the third, and repeat: "which one is better?" - and again and again, just discard one out of two and repeat once you find the overall best cab out of your list.
Once you listen to a cab that is right, the tone is just there, there's no offensive frequencies and the overall character is full and balanced with "musical" midrange.
A lot of this has to do with experience - the more you get used to listen to tons of cabs, the more easily you can spot good and bad ones. But it's also easy to get ear fatiguing when comparing tons of them, so I often take breaks to rest my ears a bit.
Since it's so easy to get overwhelmed by lots of cab choice and getting confused on which one sounds right to you, here's a tip on how to not get confused.
I call this "elimination tournament": instead of going randomly in between one cab, then another one, then another one, then everything starts to sound the same...just pick the first two cabs in the list and ask yourself "which one is the most balanced? which one is more right to me?" - let's say the first one is better, so just discard the second one and then compare the first with the third, and repeat: "which one is better?" - and again and again, just discard one out of two and repeat once you find the overall best cab out of your list.
What's your way of processing vocals- especially screams- in a metal mix? Would love to know your approach. Also, how important is headroom for vocals?
Here's what I usually do, I'll try to be as detailed as I can!
- Even before recording, make sure to "plan" when to have just one single take, double-takes, three or four takes at the same time, scream/growl at the same time, etc.
Vocals are a key element in driving the flow of the song - because of this, just one take on the center with no automation is not gonna cut it and will likely sound pretty boring. It depends on the genre, but within modern Metal, it's crucial!
- Make also sure there is enough versatility in the screaming itself, from low to high range, depending on what the song needs on each part.
- If you can't be the "producer" and you're just mixing, let's hope the singer has a nice range and you get at least two takes to play with :)
- Once takes are recorded, there's quantizing to be done. If there's also clean vox, autotuning as well, as long as it's done lightly and not the fake stuff you hear on the radio. All this careful editing prior to mixing will actually make the tracks easier to mix and flow better.
If you don't know what quantizing is, basically it's aligning transients to the grid. With vox this is super important since, with multiple takes overlapping each other, you always get weird "T-T" or "S-S" effects because transients don't happen at the same time. Quantizing takes care of that and just makes everything sound more cohesive and tighter.
Google "Vocalign" for easy ways on how to do it - I personally let my editing guy do it, but if you wanna do it the right way, google "slip-editing".
- Group all your tracks into the VOX buss, and pan them according to what the band wants, like "I want them to be all over the place during breakdown", or "make them wider on the high screams", etc. Pan dynamically: you gotta change how close/open the panning is depending on the part. LOTS of automation to be done on vox.
- EQ: start by filtering out boomy lows/low-mids. If, after that, you still get some nasty plosives, you can notch 'em out with mb compression.
Also notch out bad freqs that can make vox sound boxy, look for the center mids area and apply a slightly wider Q cut once you find the boxiest spot.
After that I usually apply additive EQ, usually to boost presence and "in your face" upper mids.
- After boosting high freqs, I apply a De-esser to get rid of harsh syllables. Or I just automate volume down on those parts.
- Since vox are so dynamic, I usually apply two compressors in a row: the first one accentuates transients (Distressor/1176/etc), the second one acts as a "polish" to make everything even (LA2A/3A/etc).
- Saturation/distortion to add even more grit and aggression.
- If needed, another instance of de-essing since comp/sat will bring S's up inevitably.
- Parallel reverb and delay up to taste! Make sure to blend them in with the mix going, otherwise they'll be drown by the other tracks once you un-solo vox.
That's it, hope that helps! As usual, hit me up on FB if interested on Skype lessons, thanks!
- Even before recording, make sure to "plan" when to have just one single take, double-takes, three or four takes at the same time, scream/growl at the same time, etc.
Vocals are a key element in driving the flow of the song - because of this, just one take on the center with no automation is not gonna cut it and will likely sound pretty boring. It depends on the genre, but within modern Metal, it's crucial!
- Make also sure there is enough versatility in the screaming itself, from low to high range, depending on what the song needs on each part.
- If you can't be the "producer" and you're just mixing, let's hope the singer has a nice range and you get at least two takes to play with :)
- Once takes are recorded, there's quantizing to be done. If there's also clean vox, autotuning as well, as long as it's done lightly and not the fake stuff you hear on the radio. All this careful editing prior to mixing will actually make the tracks easier to mix and flow better.
If you don't know what quantizing is, basically it's aligning transients to the grid. With vox this is super important since, with multiple takes overlapping each other, you always get weird "T-T" or "S-S" effects because transients don't happen at the same time. Quantizing takes care of that and just makes everything sound more cohesive and tighter.
Google "Vocalign" for easy ways on how to do it - I personally let my editing guy do it, but if you wanna do it the right way, google "slip-editing".
- Group all your tracks into the VOX buss, and pan them according to what the band wants, like "I want them to be all over the place during breakdown", or "make them wider on the high screams", etc. Pan dynamically: you gotta change how close/open the panning is depending on the part. LOTS of automation to be done on vox.
- EQ: start by filtering out boomy lows/low-mids. If, after that, you still get some nasty plosives, you can notch 'em out with mb compression.
Also notch out bad freqs that can make vox sound boxy, look for the center mids area and apply a slightly wider Q cut once you find the boxiest spot.
After that I usually apply additive EQ, usually to boost presence and "in your face" upper mids.
- After boosting high freqs, I apply a De-esser to get rid of harsh syllables. Or I just automate volume down on those parts.
- Since vox are so dynamic, I usually apply two compressors in a row: the first one accentuates transients (Distressor/1176/etc), the second one acts as a "polish" to make everything even (LA2A/3A/etc).
- Saturation/distortion to add even more grit and aggression.
- If needed, another instance of de-essing since comp/sat will bring S's up inevitably.
- Parallel reverb and delay up to taste! Make sure to blend them in with the mix going, otherwise they'll be drown by the other tracks once you un-solo vox.
That's it, hope that helps! As usual, hit me up on FB if interested on Skype lessons, thanks!
Top tune recommendation for the weekend?
What's your favourite motto or saying?
The wider the vibrato, the bigger the dick