Yes please do your reaper setup, I would love to be able to follow along with you onscreen! Thanks for all you do and share...ohh and Fuck you Glenn!!! Love ya man!
Got to say, I joined the discord & people on there have been very, very helpful with questions I've had. Even tho' I'm a total noob at Reaper, AND a bass player ;) Some great folks out there!
@@shanewalton8888 ESP LTD - great frets. I wish my Epis had decent frets. And true to form, my Gibson needs to be sold probably, its not meant for use.
Y'know, the worst thing is that you're right. Epiphone clearly know what they're doin' with their brains, and sure Gibson has guitars from recent times that stay in tune but should you have to pay 3 grand for a guitar to stay in tune? I don't think so.
I wish more guitarists understood the simple fact that the guitar is not a status symbol. No one in the audience you're playing for cares about the brand name on the headstock of your instrument. The guitar is a tool. If it does what it's intended for well, it is good.
Well, I mean, you're not wrong about the audience not really caring about the brand name, but guitars are status symbols as well. Just like phones, cars, shoes, or... well, just look up vintage tools on google, and you'll be transported into a whole new world of cork sniffery.
Hey Alex. Nobody buys gear for the crowd, they might think they do but in reality, they buy it for themselves. If they've got the money and it makes them happy, then that makes me happy.
When your audience is mostly other musicians, having a brand in specific is a status symbol. I don't think it's a healthy mindset but that's the world we live in
R.J. Ronquillo pointed out that many '80s albums were done using the brands of the $180 Rockman headphone amp. If you want the Def Leppard guitar sound or to play the Top Gun theme, that's what you can use.
That "play with feelings YEAH ANGER AND RAGE ARE FEELINGS" made me laugh so hard!!! I haven't laughed like that in a while definitely a funny cause its true moment for sure
Looking great my man! Also, I notice the changing camera angles (taken from Ola's reponse?) and I think it makes the VC way more dynamic and professional, nice dude!
Glenn: The name plate doesn't matter, brands don't care about you. Also Glenn and every other musician: Brands take up around 90% of conversations about music.
Behringer XR18 = Great option for startup studio, 18 channel interface + digital mixer with “Midas preamps”, plus you can simply take it on the road as your FoH or Monitor mixer with all your tracking settings!
Adam Steel has great stuff on Reaper. For the free options, I like Kenny Goia's videos. He goes pretty in depth about individual features, and paces his videos so you're not lost.
I bought a Harley Benton on eBay as a modding platform, i stripped it down and sprayed it yellow. I love it, very impressed with the quality considering its retail price is about £120.
Although I know they don’t literally say everything about a product, the name is important. It doesn’t have to be the biggest name or even the most expensive. Case-in-point, Harley Benton. I’ve seen enough reviews to know if I buy from them I won’t be disappointed. I did and I wasn’t. Plus I saved a ton of money and got a great product.
I sold almost my entire guitar collection last year and have replaced them with Evertune bridge equipped guitars. Ive even had the couple of guitars I kept upgraded with the Evertune. Literally give each guitar a 30 second tune once a week and that’s it. Best invention EVER! Highly recommended to anyone who’s sick of Gibsons going out of tune.
My main workhorse guitar is a Carvin V220 that I got in 1991. I played it in every show both here and in Europe from November '91 to this day. Based on the performance of that guitar, I ordered a Kiesel DC600 with all the bells and whistles I wanted (my wife told me NOT TO SETTLE when I picked out the components!). It will arrive around mid-December, and I look forward to running it through its paces. It's not cheap, but I knew that before I picked up the phone to place my order. As for the V220, I will keep playing it as well, since there's no reason to get rid of an instrument that has served me so well for the past 29 years!
My vote for the new studio space is to build your own. Depending on your bylaws and building codes for your area in Windsor. That way you can add onto your existing “garage”, maybe upgrade your electrical if you want. Then you can have input from the ground up so you aren’t renovating a space to sort of fit your needs. Then you own it and you can write of more on your taxes here in Canada by increasing the home office square footage. Add plumbing to the studio if you don’t gave it already. I wish I had done that to my garage when I built it. So much more expensive to add it later. It will increase your property value as well.
I've bought 4 budget electric guitars over the last 22 years none of them have cost me over $500.00 with a hard shell case. The most important things to have is (1) a good set up. (2) Quality tuning machines. (3) Pickups that are set up right so they're in optimum distance to the strings to catch the vibration of the strings in the pickups magnetic field. (4) Full size control pots that have the full sweep to get all the small increments in the tone and volume controls when moving them from low to high positions. (5) Quality pickup selector switch. (6) A good bridge and string saddles that can be accurately set for tuning and intonation. If the body, neck and fretboard are fine then if you really need to replace any or all of the parts mentioned. It won't cost more than $200.00 to $400.00. If the guitar you buy is around $500.00 and you add the other parts. Its still probably less than half of shelling out over $2,000.00 for big brand name. You probably won't have to buy all of the parts either.
Good tip for getting punchy snap for the snare: use a compressor with 4:1 to 8:1 ratio with fairly slow attack, like around 30ms with each hit hitting the compressor so you’ll emphasize the initial transient and clamp down the ring. Release depends on the tempo of the song. and after that crank it up and even out the peak volume with a soft clipper limiter (eg. JST Clip)
Way I see it, my Les Pauls (2001 Standard, 2003 Special) both do what I want them to do. No tuning issues, they sound great and feel right in my hands. That is what matters, regardless if they are Gibsons or not.
I recently purchased a Harley Benton Fusion II Pro Series with Floyd Rose.... Remarkable guitar for the price...Among my collection. I have a Fender Strat, custom BC Rich, Jackson Dinky, and a Les Paul Traditional....Let me tell you the Harley keeps up with the best of them and stays in tune....!!! The Paul is the worst of the bunch, for what I paid for the Paul, I could have purchased 5 Harley Bentons and had money left over! 😆 Thanks for this video!!!
I feel like there was a viewer's comments episode a few years ago where someone mentioned the old Rush studio and how it was abandoned, and you joked about setting up a Kickstarter/GoFundMe for a series to buy and rebuild it back to its former glory. I don't know about anyone else here, but if you're looking to expand, I would 100% donate to that and I feel like that would be an awesome series and project. Not sure what the financials look like or if that's even geographically feasible though, but a great thought!
Noone ever mentions Tascam interfaces. The Tascam 16x08 has 16inputs, 8output, phantompower, and costs around 280euro. Works with every DAW, and both Mac and PC. Ive been using it for two years and its great.
About Reaper... Getting a template together does take some time... I'm on Cubase, but the same applies to all software, even Solidworks, the CAD software I use for work! Now, if something annoys you, you have to set it up all the time, whatever... Think of the time you spend doing that! If you use that time to set things up and hitting "save as template" to automate these things that sucks time out of your recording sessions.
Recently I checked out my friends 2019 Gibson Les Paul. It was a fantastic looking and sounding guitar but it would not stay in tune at all. I have EVH Striped series with a locked Floyd Rose and I can play entire show without it going out of tune. His LP was over 2k euros while my EVH was 700 euros...
Good day Glenn and all. Hope you are all healthy and safe. In 2015 my wife (also a musician) and I decided to take the plunge and convert our 1970's home's basement into a studio with console room and live room separated with a doubled/angled window...all in all it turned out pretty good. Here's what I learned NOT to do: - Do not let the same person who did the sound proofing do the electrics...unless they are a licensed electrician. - Do not let the designer convince you to have recessed lighting in the ceiling...no matter how sound proof they say it is. A hole is a hole and lets sound through. - Do not settle for a cheap office carpet over concrete floor... - Do not build your studio in a 1970's house basement if you have a toddler...no sound proofing in the world will stop that sound...that terrible, terrible sound...if you have the cash, build it outside your home...
Its the headstock that Gibson won't change.. As a Les Paul player you either get a string butler for each guitar or buy a different brand than Gibson that offers awesome Les Paul type guitars, such as Prestige from Canada or Heritage from the USA. They have little or no break angle at the nut and much better tuning stability. Even Hagstrom has atleast less angle so they also stay well in tune
I'm no Gibson user. But I have a Maestro. It's a Singapore owned Gibson off shoot company. The model I have is an out of production double neck with the 5 string Bass on top and a 6 string guitar beneath. It's called the Double Neck Monstrosity. Paid for it used like over $280.00 (case included). I always wanted a double. But not the typical double of the same instrument. So I instantly bought it and had its kinks modified a bit. I actually use it a lot.
To the snare guy, a trick that may help you is copying your snare and gating the hell out of it with a really fast release so it will work almost as a parallel compression. It may help a bit. Maybe throw some distortion as well, gives a cool sound (imo anyway)
Adam's reaper guide is fantastic and worth every single penny. It cost nothing compared to what I have spent on gear that I did not need. It's an investment that will actually make you better.
I used to work in a boutique guitar shop...played more stuff than I care to talk about here. But, what we all found out there, is that the namesake means very little other than for resale purposes. We played Squire's that were so good in fit & finish and tone they fried our minds. And $5-7k Custom Shop stuff that wasn't worth a crap. I see that comment under videos all the time... "Of course that pedal or amp sounds great...you playing a $3,000 guitar." B.S.!!!
I bought a Harley Benton LP style guitar for around $120(USD) I put in a set of Fishman classic humbuckers and swapped out the tuners and strap buttons for some better ones that I had laying around, and I'm really happy with the guitar.
The most expensive instrument I ever bought was a 2019 Yngwie J. Malmsteen U.S. Fender Scalloped fretboard electric. Over $1700,00. But I always loved the sound of scalloped fretboards. I actually use it to play other songs from other artist that don't use scalloped guitars: Thin Lizzy, Ozzy Osbourne even Hendrix. It's a good feel.
As a bass player, I finally wanted to expand and start learning guitar. I finally got an Ibanez RGRT421 for less than $500USD (including shipping), w/ a free Kace case. You don't need expensive gear. Plenty of awesome instruments at a far lower cost than you'd think.
I grew up wanting a black and gold Les Paul custom with the aged binding, later on found the ESP version with the EC500, but wasn't a huge fan of that one. Last week i ordered the Harley Benton SC Custom-II in their satin black and I'm absolutely in love. Really feels like I've found the guitar I've been looking for since I started.
With regards to showing us how to build a studio, that would be absolutely awesome. I've always wondered what that surface behind your drums was untill you mentioned it was a hemholtz resonator i believe? Anyway, researching those has been a nightmare so any videos in that regard would be fantastic. Cant wait for the new OBB! Thanks for the great stuff Glenn :)
OMG Glenn! It has been a while since I can spare time to youtube videos in general and I am very surprised with your transformation! I am very happy for you man! Cheers!
Brands only mean so much insofar as having an idea of their starting point. For instance, I play Ibanez, not because of the brand or the influence of players who do play Ibanez. I pick them up first because I know that the specs are generally close to what I already like and I don't have to mess with it to much to play the way I prefer. It doesn't mean I'll only buy Ibanez, but it does mean I'll usually grab one off the shelf before I grab others.
Seriously...nostalgia is a real thing. I wasn't inspired to pick up a guitar because Harley Benton sells cheap guitars. The Gibson Les Paul's that Randy Rhodes, Jimmy Page, The Edge, etc., this is what made me want to play. I love plugging my Les Paul into my Marshall tube amp. Call me a boomer (I'm not), or a relic (maybe I am), but there is something special about the sound and the history of an LP into a tube amp with a little Memory Man and old Tubescreamer. Flamethrowers in 3...2..1.
With a guitar purchase there should only ever be 4 questions - does it give the sound I want, does it stay in tune, is it easy to play, and can I afford it without taking out a second mortgage. MAYBE if you are going to gig with it live you might also care whether it looks attractive, but anything beyond that like what logo is on the headstock and where it was made and you're just being silly - especially if you're going to knock it for being "cheap". Why pay more if you really don't have to - that's just dumb.
@@graxjpg You're right on the money man. That's the level I want to get to. I know enough to be dangerous, but I know my gear is capable of a lot of cool stuff I just never thought to use it for. Just pushing to get better each day and keep learning.
I recently got a Squier Classic Vibe Thinline Tele. Fantastic guitar, made in Indonesia. I wonder if it's made in the same factory as the Harley Benton.
I've got to admit that headstock decal is important to me if I'm spending bigger bucks, if only for resale value! But my two go to guitars are an epiphone wildkat, and a mim telecaster! Which aren't cheap but not going to kill me if they get damaged at a gig
Goedemiddag Glenn! Love your vids, just wanted to say that after 50 years of playing, (OK, only about 30 ACTUALLY playing) that the Perfect Tone™ seems to change everytime I walk up to my amps. What I have decided is that once I have dialed an epic tone for each channel I call it a day and leave it there and just use thes obivously epic tones because damn they are epic right? Once I have been playing epic for 5 minutes I notice it tends to become perfect. Funny how that change seems to coincide with me warming up a bit... So any epic tone is always better than the elusive never to be found perfect tone, you'll actually get to record it.
A guitar is a very personal personal thing. apart from it being a musical instrument, Its also something you can have a lot of fun with when it comes to modding so you can tailor something cheap that plays well to your tastes and needs should you want to go down that route. Does it play a string when you pluck it? a chord when you strike it? scream when you divebomb it? even if its the hello kitty guitar, its still a guitar and if thats what you like to play and enjoy playing then who are those to tell you that you cant? Back in the 80s and the 90s, we didnt have such amazing budget guitars that we do today. Brand names arent everything. Many times i have seen someone walk on stage with a frankenstein of a guitar they pulled out of a skip or landfill site and it blew away all the people with guitars that cost probably five or ten times as much. If what you have works for you, then more power to you. Even if it means buying $6000-8000 private stock and custom shop guitars. If you think that its important then go nuts. (its your money at the end of the day)
Bass player here. Brand name isn't important to me but some brands do hold more weight for me than others. But this isn't a status thing. For example, I would sooner buy an Epiphone than a Gibson. There are certain brands that I know I can trust to make a good product more than others. I have never played a Music Man that I didn't like, so I never have a doubt in my mind about any of their instruments. Conversely, despite being held in high regard by most bass players, I can't stand Rickenbacker's instruments. I'll spend money on a more expensive instrument if it's a good instrument, however I don't shop based off of brand but off of quality instead.
I agree about the nameplate thing, get something affordable and is comfortable for you to play. Even if you don't care for the sound, you can always switch out the pick ups.
The fact that Glenn went through every one of his emails for the Fake Drum challenge shows how much dedication he's putting on this channel. Been a big fan for a 4 years and i just wanted to say that i appreciate the effort, you can keep scrolling :D
Gotta be honest and say I'm pretty confident about picking up anything that says Jackson on it. I've played USA, Chinese and Indian made instruments and they all did the business with zero hassles. I'm not endorsed or any of that bollocks I just click with them instantly. Next buy is a Js22-7 budget beast to mod.
Gibson started automating machining in 1965. Fender Custom shop started CNC machining in the 80's. Why do we think that CNC is something new and makes tone better? Stradivarius didn't have a computer controlled router.
Stradivarius's above-all quality is a myth, much like it is for Gibson's “unique tone”. I once stumbled upon a comparison of Stradivaruis made violin and a cheap Chinese noname one. Guess which one sounds better.
I'll be honest, I've used Cubase and Reaper and a few DAW's and I'm not really good with them. Sometimes it won't record when I want it to. I don't know what all the little numbers mean. People make it look so easy. I've just been using Audacity and it seems alright for my purposes. But some day I might want to do more. Also, totally agree. You don't need pricey gear.
Hey Glenn. With my experience building control rooms in diesel trucks. If you need to expand. Might I suggest. If possible? Can you accommodate a, 24 x 8 x 8, shipping on your property? If so? I have a proven method. Building a bitchin' sounding control room. Within that small confined space. The likes of which will blow your mind when you hear it. And I'm quite happy to give you the simple building plans, for free. Now what does this mean, if you keep it on a trailer bed? It means. You need no building permits.. You need no inspections. You need no occupancy permits. You need no electrical inspections. And it's easily movable. And can be towed elsewhere. So it's a vehicle, a trailer. It's not a brick and mortar building. And when properly constructed. And you include a central HVAC unit for that. Like a wall mount Bard. You will have created a portable control room man cave. That you can take anywhere. Get yourself a nice big pickup truck. Or rent one with a trailer hitch. And you're in business. Pull it behind your favorite nightclub rock 'n' roll venue. When they reopen. Get permission to use the place during the day. When they are officially closed for business. And cut a deal. To record all of the performing bands for free. And you eliminate your rent and electrical. Then you contact your local FM rock stations. And tell them to come down and plug into your stereo output feed. And link that back to the radio station for on-air live broadcasts. You're going to host the show! And you learn about how to do live engineering for broadcast. Real fast. It's called use all SM-57 & 58's with additional foam pop filters. And you won't believe your ears.. You can even use them for drum overhead's. You'll love them. Just high-pass below 500-300 Hz. And crank up your high-frequency equalizer. And everyone will look at you and ask,, that's a pair of, 57's? Yes it is. How can they sound so good? Because I know what I'm doing. They are great microphones! My favorites over the Neumann U-87's. I know that seems wacky and strange. But it's true. In A/B double-blind listening tests. Most everybody ends up picking the 58's over the 87's. They sound warmer.. Than the 87's. And that's a simple fact, Jack. I'm a real old-timer at this stuff. Starting in the late 1960s. I love my premium old vintage stuff. But then I also made perfectly fine recordings on an old TASCAM DM-24. One of the first early compact digital mixers. A whopping $1500 worth. And I loved that piece of crap. Until one of the DSP chips blew out. Wa, FUCK! And that was the end of that thing. But that works very much like an SSL 4000 during minutes as everyone is using the same stupid algorithms to do this stuff with. And it's all handled as 32-bit internal processing. But you have to know what you're doing. Amateurs don't. So all anybody really needs is a cheap digital mixer. And a 500 rack. With a couple of pairs of microphone preamps and/or equalizers and/or limiters. To plug into your digital mixer for tracking purposes. At its built-in microphone preamps on all of the other, incidental tracks. And so you could just start with 2 premium good ones. With an API clone and a Neve clone. And no one will know the difference. Only wealthy folks get to show off the nameplates of their gear. Yes they have Bentley of equipment to Rolls with. The rest of us have Toyota and Chevrolet and Ford Mazda gear. And it still gets us to where we want to go. Though perhaps not in such great impeccable style. Oh well. I'm sorry we are not all wealthy. Some of us have to be poor. No matter how good you might be.. And I'm one of the very best I know. And I know all the very best. I'm one of my own favorite engineers. Along with Bob Clearmountain, Bruce with the, George Massenburg Geoff Emerick and all the rest. I either know, have worked around, have worked with, have schmoozed with or sold equipment to. That I used to own. And you know if they are purchasing such equipment. It could only be the very best stuff. And I've always only dealt with the very best, stuff. After I turned, 15 years old. I got an early start. Or was that 14? How about 12. No wait. That was 8 1/2.. I engineered my first commercial with a professional announcer for radio and TV stations, when I was 12. That was really the start. After I wired up my own 1940s/50s style radio station production control room at age 12. With equipment from the 1940s and 50s. In the late 1960s. That's a really early start. When we all had only one or 2 choices of only one or 2 items. And hits were made that way.
Here is some input from a guy without an anti-Gibson or anti-import guitar bias. I own a SC550 from Harley Benton, which I love and is great, and I own a 2019 Gibson LP Standard, which I love and is great. My LP stays in tune because unlike Glenn here I know how to make sure a nut is cut right. I had to file both my Gibson and HB nut to get the G string to stay in tune because its just the nature of that design. I needed to replace the Roswells on the HB and electronics before it sounded good. All in all I have 267.00 in for purchase, 209.00 for pickups and around 200.00 for electronics and hardware for a total 676.00 and it plays better and sounds better than what I got for a similarly priced Epiphone. At the end of the day my Gibson is still a better playing, feeling and sounding guitar in stock form if you don't consider the visual accouterments I did, blank TRC and HP chrome knobs. Is it 1800.00 better? I dont know because I have replaced everything on the HB that I can and its still not as good. I do feel good knowing I supported fellow American workers. I also can guarantee I won't be getting rid of either guitar.
Hey, Glenn. Long time subscriber here. Love the channel and I just wanted to thank you for all the information you have given here. I don't really produce metal, but many of the tips you give are applicable to other styles of music and the results are great. Keep up the good work, and greetings from Mexico.
Hey Glenn, it's been a while since I've watched one of your videos and I just wanted to say you're looking great. Awesome work on the weight loss journey and great info in the video, as always :).
I did a side by side comparison with a Reverend Thundergun bass and a Fender P bass. I went with the Reverend. It sounds and plays way better in my opinion. I'm considering a Harley Benton 6 string fretless.
Hey glenn ,cheers from southern ontario. I noticed your guitar strap in the background ,on the schecter . I have the same skull strap. i bought it from long and mcquades what feels like forever ago. Love the videos .been a subscriber for a long time now. Thanks for the great content.
As I have gotten older I do not care what I play as long as it is well made and works for the situation I'm in. Back in the day I would not be caught dead playing something like Harley Benton. The evil name in my day was Hondo.
Page Hamilton of Helmet plays a hot pink Kramer that he swears by. He says that this guitar is his favorite and that he got it out of a Sears catalogue. I’ve never seen him play a bad set, and yes, he does use it. If it sounds good and you’re comfortable with it, go for it!
Yeah, man! I'm glad you went for the hammer. I hope you don't get to use it very often, even though I envisioned it in action when I made the suggestion. Top notch content, dude!
I bought a gear4music 7 string last week for £150 just to mess around with, I expected weak tuning pegs and a bad neck with jagged fret edges but honestly the neck is really good! It took some adjustments to get the action right but for the money you can't go wrong
to all the people from abroad who don't know yet, and consider ordering something from thomann or other german retailers: the german government has reduced sales tax due to the pandemic until the end of this year to 16%. so if you want to order something from germany, do it this year before the sales tax goes back up to 19% in january again. on an item that's 1000€ it might save you the shipping cost ;)
Truthfully most fans aren't gonna care what guitar you play as long as you play it well and sound good. It's just other guitar players that obsess over what brand guitar you have and what it's made out of and the pickups.
I used to be one of those brand name junkies that look down on unknown manufacturers. That was way back when buying brand names assured the customer that the product you bought
Something you kinda missed with Dadpoos question: He is referencing your Pultec EQ trick video and what is important regarding that: This has not much to do with "free vs. expensive" but rather the fact that the design of this particular EQ is just different to the usual parametric EQ. In your video you have used the plugin for a very specific task, you didn't use it to actually replace your usual EQ'ing tasks with this plugin.
I’d definitely be up up for a drop in visual recording stuff,for example the constant cuts to different camera angles, if it cut production time and got more videos, no need for the constant back round music either, I know many will disagree but I’m here for the steak not the sizzle
I love Schecter guitars because they are great guitars to play. I've had a diamond series Bass for about fifteen years and I love it. But I would have no problem playing other brands because there is no sense tying yourself down to a single brand.
This was a great video since there was a ton of tips and suggestions across a wide spectrum of guitar and recording related topics. Plus videos of other necessary learning was referenced. So huge thanks to you for this video.
I just got this exact guitar in Green B Stock and saved 100€ and i cant even find a scratch on the thing. I love the guitar and these EMG Retros are badass.
Obviously a very different style of music, but Paul David’s did a “cheap guitar/expensive amp vs expensive guitar/cheap amp” video a while back. I felt like it showed that the amp had much more influence on the tone than the guitar did, but both had pros and cons.
My headless Harley Benton stays in tune better than basically anything with a headstock. Small tuning adjustments are ten times easier to make compared to the traditional designs.
I remember back in 1995 when I went to buy a guitar and amp. I had plenty of money to spend as I had saved for awhile. tested out several guitars and the one that felt the best? A $120 Peavey Tracer. I still have that guitar. Have had some upgrades of the decades but it is still my favorite guitar.
Nice Glenn, HB seems like they put in a ton of work to get their guitars into a pretty competitive range. Cool to see, I'm stoked to check one out at some point here. Cheers man, thanks for awesome vids. Fuck you from B.C. ..Hope your weather is better for you out there than here!
I'm going to guess that cheap guitar (200-500) going into an expensive amp (2000-3000) would be better than a cheap amp (500-1000) going into a pricey guitar (1500-2000). I think a better way to do it would be to just set a pricepoint and then break it down roughly 75/25 for the cost. Honestly there are a lot of cheap options that can still give you amazing tones. For example, Pantera and Acid Bath used Randalls and those things were CHEAP! (still good though). I really want to see a good cheap amp and solid state shootout (like Randall/Laney/Boss).
seriously i would never ever buy a guitar without a floyd rose and therefore a locking nut. i couldnt care less about a tremolo but the tuning stability you get with it and a locking nut is the sole reason. i have a gibson explorer and this thing stays in tune for about 5 bends.
In regards to the Stoner bass sound. My best experiences of recording and playing bass is a blend of a DI signal and your pedalboard/amp, try some tonebender MKIII or a Silicon Fuzz Face if you want tons of fuzz or my favorite choice for distortion that cut thru the mix and don't fight with the kick, ProCo Rat, I use those 3 pedals with my bass and they fucking melt faces. Focus your amp bass sound on 700 hz in mids and 2.2-2.9 Khz in mid-high freq. and your clean signal with a compressor from the studio/daw. Both signals with a HPF in 70 hz and a LPF of 6-8 Khz to give some room for the kick drum. If you need more room for the kick drum, cut 2-4 db in 5000-ish Khz and play with the drum room/reverb for the bass sound, like Glenn said. Finally and most important. Tell your bass player to practice the muting technique because when you play with distortion and you don't mute your strings properly, the rumbling of the strings makes the mix sound like a mess... oh wait...
The good drummers i've had all practiced on their own time between rehearsal days, improving their technique. Drummers that aren't so great, practice only when your band practices and it shows, there is no progress, the same fills that caused problems last time, are still a problem. I've been lucky to have honestly, just really good drummers after certain point. It makes things sooo much easier and they have been the power houses in the band, kicking everyone's motivation up by their example alone.
Brand Name only matters to me in the sense that if I try and eventually buy more of particular brand, the quality and reliability are things I can count on for going back to that brand each time. Beyond that? I could care less.
I went the Harley Benton route and honestly regret it. There is a lot of praise for their guitars on TH-cam but everyone generally seems to ignore how poor the fretwork and fret boards can be. There is crud all over them, half of the frets aren't level, they all need to be polished, the woods they use are dry, scratchy, and not carefully selected (so the board itself may have filler, cracks, gaps, or heavy grain), etc. Perhaps the Amarok model is a step up from their other models and is better, but if I had to suggest a cheap guitar brand, I would say that Agile or Wolf are far superior (they'll probably need a pickup swap just like most Bentons though). For middle of the road, Schecter, Ltd, and PRS SE seem to be the best bang for buck from what I've tried. I imagine there are a few other brands that could be added to that list. Indonesian guitars seem to be coming out quite good these days, and Korean guitars tend to be very good.
I would add onto the Mac vs PC... I use both regularly, PC is basically bang for the buck. You can build a MUCH more powerful Windows machine than a Mac for less money. I tend to use the PC's for mixing as a result because the extra HP comes in handy for plugins etc.... BUT.... Core audio (Mac) vs ASIO (Windows), there's no comparison. With Windows you typically can only use one brand (and sometime interface) at a time. With the Mac you can combine different interface models/brands into one and use them all at the same time, which is amazing for tracking, which is what I typically use my Macs for.
It's funny how you mentioned a guitar you got that was assembled in Indonesia. Most of my Ibanez are from there. Of course they're a company based in Japan (which they bought from Spain back in the day). Japanese models are mostly signature models.
Don't care about the brand, care about what I get for my money. Quality, also how you feel with the gear, its good to play, comfortable, does what you need, are very important things, the name that is in front of it does not matter.
bought 3 421s a month ago when they went on that crazy $199 sale. A month later and still waiting....thanks GC....you'd think we're talking about the NVIDIA 3 Series here...sigh....literally excited to be charged the $642 for them. What a deal!
Join the SMG DISCORD! Get help with your home recordings!
discord.com/invite/256B867
Great show!
Might have been asked before but what distro are you running on your hackintosh?
Glenn, in all the bands that you recorded, does the guitarist come in with the solos worked out or does he just adlib them on the spot.
Yes please do your reaper setup, I would love to be able to follow along with you onscreen! Thanks for all you do and share...ohh and Fuck you Glenn!!! Love ya man!
Got to say, I joined the discord & people on there have been very, very helpful with questions I've had. Even tho' I'm a total noob at Reaper, AND a bass player ;)
Some great folks out there!
Use the hammer on the Gibson Firebird zero
Do you know how a gibson that stay in tune is called ?
An Epiphone.
Actually it is called an ESP
@@shanewalton8888 ESP LTD - great frets. I wish my Epis had decent frets. And true to form, my Gibson needs to be sold probably, its not meant for use.
@@Crunchifyable2 yeah sure ltd are better but epi has a ridiculously better tuning stability than gibson for a fragment of the price
Y'know, the worst thing is that you're right. Epiphone clearly know what they're doin' with their brains, and sure Gibson has guitars from recent times that stay in tune but should you have to pay 3 grand for a guitar to stay in tune? I don't think so.
I was going to say heavily modified to do so
I wish more guitarists understood the simple fact that the guitar is not a status symbol. No one in the audience you're playing for cares about the brand name on the headstock of your instrument. The guitar is a tool. If it does what it's intended for well, it is good.
Well, I mean, you're not wrong about the audience not really caring about the brand name, but guitars are status symbols as well. Just like phones, cars, shoes, or... well, just look up vintage tools on google, and you'll be transported into a whole new world of cork sniffery.
my guitar said you are the tool, alex. now i have to nuzzle with my gibsons cos they're really upset now!~~
Hey Alex. Nobody buys gear for the crowd, they might think they do but in reality, they buy it for themselves.
If they've got the money and it makes them happy, then that makes me happy.
When your audience is mostly other musicians, having a brand in specific is a status symbol. I don't think it's a healthy mindset but that's the world we live in
R.J. Ronquillo pointed out that many '80s albums were done using the brands of the $180 Rockman headphone amp. If you want the Def Leppard guitar sound or to play the Top Gun theme, that's what you can use.
Glenn: ..and spend your money on recor-
Me: *pretty sure i heard weed*
That "play with feelings YEAH ANGER AND RAGE ARE FEELINGS" made me laugh so hard!!! I haven't laughed like that in a while definitely a funny cause its true moment for sure
"Oldies but Baddies should be returning this Sunday as well"...~
YUSSS!!!!
Yeah, hopefully I can get it edited in time...
@@SpectreSoundStudios Hey man question here, can i still send my entry?
@@sonnic1995 yes
Looking great my man! Also, I notice the changing camera angles (taken from Ola's reponse?) and I think it makes the VC way more dynamic and professional, nice dude!
It really sped up the editing process
@@SpectreSoundStudios liking the edits!!
Do like Dr.Mix ( Claudio) did and build your Dream studio... oh wait that costs MONEY! We’re gonna need a bigger garage 👍🏽
If I already wasn't a machinist I would love to be a studio engineer and you are to thank for that
Glenn: The name plate doesn't matter, brands don't care about you.
Also Glenn and every other musician: Brands take up around 90% of conversations about music.
Behringer XR18 = Great option for startup studio, 18 channel interface + digital mixer with “Midas preamps”, plus you can simply take it on the road as your FoH or Monitor mixer with all your tracking settings!
Adam Steel has great stuff on Reaper. For the free options, I like Kenny Goia's videos. He goes pretty in depth about individual features, and paces his videos so you're not lost.
Lest not forget Jon Tidey at Reaper Blog, learned a whole lot from him as well.
Kenny never gets the recognition he deserves for his videos.
I came here to mention Kenny, he's my go-to.
I bought a Harley Benton on eBay as a modding platform, i stripped it down and sprayed it yellow. I love it, very impressed with the quality considering its retail price is about £120.
i’ve been watching the older videos from 5+ years ago, then i forget all the changes you’ve made lol! love the channel, never gets old.
Although I know they don’t literally say everything about a product, the name is important. It doesn’t have to be the biggest name or even the most expensive. Case-in-point, Harley Benton. I’ve seen enough reviews to know if I buy from them I won’t be disappointed. I did and I wasn’t. Plus I saved a ton of money and got a great product.
I sold almost my entire guitar collection last year and have replaced them with Evertune bridge equipped guitars. Ive even had the couple of guitars I kept upgraded with the Evertune. Literally give each guitar a 30 second tune once a week and that’s it. Best invention EVER! Highly recommended to anyone who’s sick of Gibsons going out of tune.
I used to stay away from Harley Benton stuff, but now I proudly play them & Can recommend to everyone. They are that good.
My main workhorse guitar is a Carvin V220 that I got in 1991. I played it in every show both here and in Europe from November '91 to this day.
Based on the performance of that guitar, I ordered a Kiesel DC600 with all the bells and whistles I wanted (my wife told me NOT TO SETTLE when I picked out the components!). It will arrive around mid-December, and I look forward to running it through its paces. It's not cheap, but I knew that before I picked up the phone to place my order.
As for the V220, I will keep playing it as well, since there's no reason to get rid of an instrument that has served me so well for the past 29 years!
My vote for the new studio space is to build your own. Depending on your bylaws and building codes for your area in Windsor. That way you can add onto your existing “garage”, maybe upgrade your electrical if you want. Then you can have input from the ground up so you aren’t renovating a space to sort of fit your needs. Then you own it and you can write of more on your taxes here in Canada by increasing the home office square footage. Add plumbing to the studio if you don’t gave it already. I wish I had done that to my garage when I built it. So much more expensive to add it later.
It will increase your property value as well.
I've bought 4 budget electric guitars over the last 22 years none of them have cost me over $500.00 with a hard shell case. The most important things to have is (1) a good set up. (2) Quality tuning machines. (3) Pickups that are set up right so they're in optimum distance to the strings to catch the vibration of the strings in the pickups magnetic field. (4) Full size control pots that have the full sweep to get all the small increments in the tone and volume controls when moving them from low to high positions. (5) Quality pickup selector switch. (6) A good bridge and string saddles that can be accurately set for tuning and intonation. If the body, neck and fretboard are fine then if you really need to replace any or all of the parts mentioned. It won't cost more than $200.00 to $400.00. If the guitar you buy is around $500.00 and you add the other parts. Its still probably less than half of shelling out over $2,000.00 for big brand name. You probably won't have to buy all of the parts either.
Good tip for getting punchy snap for the snare: use a compressor with 4:1 to 8:1 ratio with fairly slow attack, like around 30ms with each hit hitting the compressor so you’ll emphasize the initial transient and clamp down the ring. Release depends on the tempo of the song. and after that crank it up and even out the peak volume with a soft clipper limiter (eg. JST Clip)
Or just get the drummer to hit it properly :p
Way I see it, my Les Pauls (2001 Standard, 2003 Special) both do what I want them to do. No tuning issues, they sound great and feel right in my hands. That is what matters, regardless if they are Gibsons or not.
I recently purchased a Harley Benton Fusion II
Pro Series with Floyd Rose.... Remarkable guitar for the price...Among my collection. I have a Fender Strat, custom BC Rich, Jackson Dinky, and a Les Paul Traditional....Let me tell you the Harley keeps up with the best of them and stays in tune....!!!
The Paul is the worst of the bunch, for what I paid for the Paul, I could have purchased 5 Harley Bentons and had money left over! 😆
Thanks for this video!!!
I feel like there was a viewer's comments episode a few years ago where someone mentioned the old Rush studio and how it was abandoned, and you joked about setting up a Kickstarter/GoFundMe for a series to buy and rebuild it back to its former glory.
I don't know about anyone else here, but if you're looking to expand, I would 100% donate to that and I feel like that would be an awesome series and project. Not sure what the financials look like or if that's even geographically feasible though, but a great thought!
Ok, I’ll keep that in mind!
Save the studio!
Noone ever mentions Tascam interfaces. The Tascam 16x08 has 16inputs, 8output, phantompower, and costs around 280euro. Works with every DAW, and both Mac and PC. Ive been using it for two years and its great.
About Reaper... Getting a template together does take some time... I'm on Cubase, but the same applies to all software, even Solidworks, the CAD software I use for work! Now, if something annoys you, you have to set it up all the time, whatever... Think of the time you spend doing that! If you use that time to set things up and hitting "save as template" to automate these things that sucks time out of your recording sessions.
Glenn super cool you're into Roy Fokker and Robotech. Longtime fan myself and always great to see fans of Robotech.
Recently I checked out my friends 2019 Gibson Les Paul. It was a fantastic looking and sounding guitar but it would not stay in tune at all. I have EVH Striped series with a locked Floyd Rose and I can play entire show without it going out of tune. His LP was over 2k euros while my EVH was 700 euros...
Good day Glenn and all. Hope you are all healthy and safe. In 2015 my wife (also a musician) and I decided to take the plunge and convert our 1970's home's basement into a studio with console room and live room separated with a doubled/angled window...all in all it turned out pretty good. Here's what I learned NOT to do:
- Do not let the same person who did the sound proofing do the electrics...unless they are a licensed electrician.
- Do not let the designer convince you to have recessed lighting in the ceiling...no matter how sound proof they say it is. A hole is a hole and lets sound through.
- Do not settle for a cheap office carpet over concrete floor...
- Do not build your studio in a 1970's house basement if you have a toddler...no sound proofing in the world will stop that sound...that terrible, terrible sound...if you have the cash, build it outside your home...
Its the headstock that Gibson won't change.. As a Les Paul player you either get a string butler for each guitar or buy a different brand than Gibson that offers awesome Les Paul type guitars, such as Prestige from Canada or Heritage from the USA. They have little or no break angle at the nut and much better tuning stability. Even Hagstrom has atleast less angle so they also stay well in tune
I'm no Gibson user. But I have a Maestro. It's a Singapore owned Gibson off shoot company. The model I have is an out of production double neck with the 5 string Bass on top and a 6 string guitar beneath. It's called the Double Neck Monstrosity. Paid for it used like over $280.00 (case included). I always wanted a double. But not the typical double of the same instrument. So I instantly bought it and had its kinks modified a bit. I actually use it a lot.
To the snare guy, a trick that may help you is copying your snare and gating the hell out of it with a really fast release so it will work almost as a parallel compression. It may help a bit. Maybe throw some distortion as well, gives a cool sound (imo anyway)
Adam's reaper guide is fantastic and worth every single penny. It cost nothing compared to what I have spent on gear that I did not need. It's an investment that will actually make you better.
I used to work in a boutique guitar shop...played more stuff than I care to talk about here.
But, what we all found out there, is that the namesake means very little other than for resale purposes.
We played Squire's that were so good in fit & finish and tone they fried our minds.
And $5-7k Custom Shop stuff that wasn't worth a crap.
I see that comment under videos all the time...
"Of course that pedal or amp sounds great...you playing a $3,000 guitar." B.S.!!!
I bought a Harley Benton LP style guitar for around $120(USD) I put in a set of Fishman classic humbuckers and swapped out the tuners and strap buttons for some better ones that I had laying around, and I'm really happy with the guitar.
Good luck on your expansion! I'm stoked to see where you go!!
The most expensive instrument I ever bought was a 2019 Yngwie J. Malmsteen U.S. Fender Scalloped fretboard electric. Over $1700,00. But I always loved the sound of scalloped fretboards. I actually use it to play other songs from other artist that don't use scalloped guitars: Thin Lizzy, Ozzy Osbourne even Hendrix. It's a good feel.
As a bass player, I finally wanted to expand and start learning guitar. I finally got an Ibanez RGRT421 for less than $500USD (including shipping), w/ a free Kace case. You don't need expensive gear. Plenty of awesome instruments at a far lower cost than you'd think.
I grew up wanting a black and gold Les Paul custom with the aged binding, later on found the ESP version with the EC500, but wasn't a huge fan of that one. Last week i ordered the Harley Benton SC Custom-II in their satin black and I'm absolutely in love. Really feels like I've found the guitar I've been looking for since I started.
With regards to showing us how to build a studio, that would be absolutely awesome. I've always wondered what that surface behind your drums was untill you mentioned it was a hemholtz resonator i believe? Anyway, researching those has been a nightmare so any videos in that regard would be fantastic. Cant wait for the new OBB! Thanks for the great stuff Glenn :)
You got it!
REAPER:
Kenny Gioya 's guides are painstakingly on - point
100%
100% second the comment. Everyone else is merely regurgitation....
I agree - go right to the source - the Reaper website and watch all the videos made for beginners.
I, like many, owe so much to Kenny for his exceptional tutorials. I am a die hard Reaper user for life thanks to Kenny
Yes! Those tutorials are awesome! :D
OMG Glenn! It has been a while since I can spare time to youtube videos in general and I am very surprised with your transformation! I am very happy for you man! Cheers!
Brands only mean so much insofar as having an idea of their starting point.
For instance, I play Ibanez, not because of the brand or the influence of players who do play Ibanez. I pick them up first because I know that the specs are generally close to what I already like and I don't have to mess with it to much to play the way I prefer. It doesn't mean I'll only buy Ibanez, but it does mean I'll usually grab one off the shelf before I grab others.
Seriously...nostalgia is a real thing. I wasn't inspired to pick up a guitar because Harley Benton sells cheap guitars. The Gibson Les Paul's that Randy Rhodes, Jimmy Page, The Edge, etc., this is what made me want to play. I love plugging my Les Paul into my Marshall tube amp. Call me a boomer (I'm not), or a relic (maybe I am), but there is something special about the sound and the history of an LP into a tube amp with a little Memory Man and old Tubescreamer.
Flamethrowers in 3...2..1.
With a guitar purchase there should only ever be 4 questions - does it give the sound I want, does it stay in tune, is it easy to play, and can I afford it without taking out a second mortgage. MAYBE if you are going to gig with it live you might also care whether it looks attractive, but anything beyond that like what logo is on the headstock and where it was made and you're just being silly - especially if you're going to knock it for being "cheap". Why pay more if you really don't have to - that's just dumb.
Great call on the Behringer Xenyx man. I've had my X2442USB for over five years and love it.
The Behringer ADA8200 has Midas preamps.
@@graxjpg Same! I was thinking of getting a second one to double the inputs to record my band off the floor
@@graxjpg that's a really good idea, I'll have to try something like that out!
@@graxjpg Once my space is no longer under construction, I'll need to try some of this out. Really appreciate the tips man!
@@graxjpg You're right on the money man. That's the level I want to get to. I know enough to be dangerous, but I know my gear is capable of a lot of cool stuff I just never thought to use it for. Just pushing to get better each day and keep learning.
I recently got a Squier Classic Vibe Thinline Tele. Fantastic guitar, made in Indonesia. I wonder if it's made in the same factory as the Harley Benton.
That Harley Benton looks beautiful
I've got to admit that headstock decal is important to me if I'm spending bigger bucks, if only for resale value! But my two go to guitars are an epiphone wildkat, and a mim telecaster! Which aren't cheap but not going to kill me if they get damaged at a gig
Goedemiddag Glenn!
Love your vids, just wanted to say that after 50 years of playing, (OK, only about 30 ACTUALLY playing) that the Perfect Tone™ seems to change everytime I walk up to my amps.
What I have decided is that once I have dialed an epic tone for each channel I call it a day and leave it there and just use thes obivously epic tones because damn they are epic right?
Once I have been playing epic for 5 minutes I notice it tends to become perfect.
Funny how that change seems to coincide with me warming up a bit...
So any epic tone is always better than the elusive never to be found perfect tone, you'll actually get to record it.
Harley Benton guitars look great. And being backed by Glen, I want one. It's awesome to be able to get a seven or eight string guitar on a budget.
A guitar is a very personal personal thing. apart from it being a musical instrument, Its also something you can have a lot of fun with when it comes to modding so you can tailor something cheap that plays well to your tastes and needs should you want to go down that route.
Does it play a string when you pluck it? a chord when you strike it? scream when you divebomb it? even if its the hello kitty guitar, its still a guitar and if thats what you like to play and enjoy playing then who are those to tell you that you cant?
Back in the 80s and the 90s, we didnt have such amazing budget guitars that we do today. Brand names arent everything. Many times i have seen someone walk on stage with a frankenstein of a guitar they pulled out of a skip or landfill site and it blew away all the people with guitars that cost probably five or ten times as much.
If what you have works for you, then more power to you. Even if it means buying $6000-8000 private stock and custom shop guitars. If you think that its important then go nuts. (its your money at the end of the day)
Bass player here. Brand name isn't important to me but some brands do hold more weight for me than others. But this isn't a status thing. For example, I would sooner buy an Epiphone than a Gibson. There are certain brands that I know I can trust to make a good product more than others. I have never played a Music Man that I didn't like, so I never have a doubt in my mind about any of their instruments. Conversely, despite being held in high regard by most bass players, I can't stand Rickenbacker's instruments. I'll spend money on a more expensive instrument if it's a good instrument, however I don't shop based off of brand but off of quality instead.
I agree about the nameplate thing, get something affordable and is comfortable for you to play. Even if you don't care for the sound, you can always switch out the pick ups.
The fact that Glenn went through every one of his emails for the Fake Drum challenge shows how much dedication he's putting on this channel.
Been a big fan for a 4 years and i just wanted to say that i appreciate the effort, you can keep scrolling :D
Thanks, Nikita!
I got back in to guitar about 6 months ago. Bought a Jay Turser, and a ESP Ltd. I play the Jay Turser every day.
Gotta be honest and say I'm pretty confident about picking up anything that says Jackson on it. I've played USA, Chinese and Indian made instruments and they all did the business with zero hassles. I'm not endorsed or any of that bollocks I just click with them instantly. Next buy is a Js22-7 budget beast to mod.
Glenn,
You are the most of Awesomeness!
I love you dude!
Gibson started automating machining in 1965. Fender Custom shop started CNC machining in the 80's.
Why do we think that CNC is something new and makes tone better?
Stradivarius didn't have a computer controlled router.
Stradivarius's above-all quality is a myth, much like it is for Gibson's “unique tone”. I once stumbled upon a comparison of Stradivaruis made violin and a cheap Chinese noname one. Guess which one sounds better.
I'll be honest, I've used Cubase and Reaper and a few DAW's and I'm not really good with them. Sometimes it won't record when I want it to. I don't know what all the little numbers mean. People make it look so easy. I've just been using Audacity and it seems alright for my purposes. But some day I might want to do more.
Also, totally agree. You don't need pricey gear.
Hey Glenn. With my experience building control rooms in diesel trucks. If you need to expand. Might I suggest. If possible? Can you accommodate a, 24 x 8 x 8, shipping on your property? If so?
I have a proven method. Building a bitchin' sounding control room. Within that small confined space. The likes of which will blow your mind when you hear it. And I'm quite happy to give you the simple building plans, for free.
Now what does this mean, if you keep it on a trailer bed? It means. You need no building permits.. You need no inspections. You need no occupancy permits. You need no electrical inspections. And it's easily movable. And can be towed elsewhere. So it's a vehicle, a trailer. It's not a brick and mortar building. And when properly constructed. And you include a central HVAC unit for that. Like a wall mount Bard. You will have created a portable control room man cave. That you can take anywhere. Get yourself a nice big pickup truck. Or rent one with a trailer hitch. And you're in business. Pull it behind your favorite nightclub rock 'n' roll venue. When they reopen. Get permission to use the place during the day. When they are officially closed for business. And cut a deal. To record all of the performing bands for free. And you eliminate your rent and electrical. Then you contact your local FM rock stations. And tell them to come down and plug into your stereo output feed. And link that back to the radio station for on-air live broadcasts. You're going to host the show! And you learn about how to do live engineering for broadcast. Real fast. It's called use all SM-57 & 58's with additional foam pop filters. And you won't believe your ears.. You can even use them for drum overhead's. You'll love them. Just high-pass below 500-300 Hz. And crank up your high-frequency equalizer. And everyone will look at you and ask,, that's a pair of, 57's? Yes it is. How can they sound so good? Because I know what I'm doing. They are great microphones! My favorites over the Neumann U-87's. I know that seems wacky and strange. But it's true. In A/B double-blind listening tests. Most everybody ends up picking the 58's over the 87's. They sound warmer.. Than the 87's. And that's a simple fact, Jack.
I'm a real old-timer at this stuff. Starting in the late 1960s. I love my premium old vintage stuff. But then I also made perfectly fine recordings on an old TASCAM DM-24. One of the first early compact digital mixers. A whopping $1500 worth. And I loved that piece of crap. Until one of the DSP chips blew out. Wa, FUCK! And that was the end of that thing. But that works very much like an SSL 4000 during minutes as everyone is using the same stupid algorithms to do this stuff with. And it's all handled as 32-bit internal processing. But you have to know what you're doing. Amateurs don't.
So all anybody really needs is a cheap digital mixer. And a 500 rack. With a couple of pairs of microphone preamps and/or equalizers and/or limiters. To plug into your digital mixer for tracking purposes. At its built-in microphone preamps on all of the other, incidental tracks. And so you could just start with 2 premium good ones. With an API clone and a Neve clone. And no one will know the difference. Only wealthy folks get to show off the nameplates of their gear. Yes they have Bentley of equipment to Rolls with. The rest of us have Toyota and Chevrolet and Ford Mazda gear. And it still gets us to where we want to go. Though perhaps not in such great impeccable style. Oh well. I'm sorry we are not all wealthy. Some of us have to be poor. No matter how good you might be.. And I'm one of the very best I know. And I know all the very best. I'm one of my own favorite engineers. Along with Bob Clearmountain, Bruce with the, George Massenburg Geoff Emerick and all the rest. I either know, have worked around, have worked with, have schmoozed with or sold equipment to. That I used to own. And you know if they are purchasing such equipment. It could only be the very best stuff. And I've always only dealt with the very best, stuff. After I turned, 15 years old. I got an early start. Or was that 14? How about 12. No wait. That was 8 1/2.. I engineered my first commercial with a professional announcer for radio and TV stations, when I was 12. That was really the start. After I wired up my own 1940s/50s style radio station production control room at age 12. With equipment from the 1940s and 50s. In the late 1960s. That's a really early start. When we all had only one or 2 choices of only one or 2 items. And hits were made that way.
Here is some input from a guy without an anti-Gibson or anti-import guitar bias. I own a SC550 from Harley Benton, which I love and is great, and I own a 2019 Gibson LP Standard, which I love and is great. My LP stays in tune because unlike Glenn here I know how to make sure a nut is cut right. I had to file both my Gibson and HB nut to get the G string to stay in tune because its just the nature of that design. I needed to replace the Roswells on the HB and electronics before it sounded good. All in all I have 267.00 in for purchase, 209.00 for pickups and around 200.00 for electronics and hardware for a total 676.00 and it plays better and sounds better than what I got for a similarly priced Epiphone. At the end of the day my Gibson is still a better playing, feeling and sounding guitar in stock form if you don't consider the visual accouterments I did, blank TRC and HP chrome knobs. Is it 1800.00 better? I dont know because I have replaced everything on the HB that I can and its still not as good. I do feel good knowing I supported fellow American workers. I also can guarantee I won't be getting rid of either guitar.
Hey, Glenn. Long time subscriber here.
Love the channel and I just wanted to thank you for all the information you have given here.
I don't really produce metal, but many of the tips you give are applicable to other styles of music and the results are great.
Keep up the good work, and greetings from Mexico.
I concur; Adam Steel's Reaper course is well worth the money.
Hey Glenn, it's been a while since I've watched one of your videos and I just wanted to say you're looking great. Awesome work on the weight loss journey and great info in the video, as always :).
Thanks, man!
I did a side by side comparison with a Reverend Thundergun bass and a Fender P bass. I went with the Reverend. It sounds and plays way better in my opinion. I'm considering a Harley Benton 6 string fretless.
Hey glenn ,cheers from southern ontario. I noticed your guitar strap in the background ,on the schecter . I have the same skull strap. i bought it from long and mcquades what feels like forever ago. Love the videos .been a subscriber for a long time now. Thanks for the great content.
As I have gotten older I do not care what I play as long as it is well made and works for the situation I'm in. Back in the day I would not be caught dead playing something like Harley Benton. The evil name in my day was Hondo.
The secret to mixing stoner doom bass, is parallel post processing on the bass. Gotta have that clean blend to retain the low end.
Page Hamilton of Helmet plays a hot pink Kramer that he swears by. He says that this guitar is his favorite and that he got it out of a Sears catalogue. I’ve never seen him play a bad set, and yes, he does use it. If it sounds good and you’re comfortable with it, go for it!
I got the HB jazz bass. Set it up and did some tweaks to it. It’s my workhorse. Thanks
I bought the HB EX-84 modern with EMG 81/60 a while back. For 450 USD its a steal. Can´t reccommend it enough!!
i mean, i got more expensive guitars but one of my favorite is a 150$+ Kramer baretta guitar. It kicks ass.
Yeah, man! I'm glad you went for the hammer. I hope you don't get to use it very often, even though I envisioned it in action when I made the suggestion.
Top notch content, dude!
I bought a gear4music 7 string last week for £150 just to mess around with, I expected weak tuning pegs and a bad neck with jagged fret edges but honestly the neck is really good! It took some adjustments to get the action right but for the money you can't go wrong
to all the people from abroad who don't know yet, and consider ordering something from thomann or other german retailers: the german government has reduced sales tax due to the pandemic until the end of this year to 16%. so if you want to order something from germany, do it this year before the sales tax goes back up to 19% in january again. on an item that's 1000€ it might save you the shipping cost ;)
Truthfully most fans aren't gonna care what guitar you play as long as you play it well and sound good. It's just other guitar players that obsess over what brand guitar you have and what it's made out of and the pickups.
I used to be one of those brand name junkies that look down on unknown manufacturers. That was way back when buying brand names assured the customer that the product you bought
Was a quality piece held to their highest standards.
Much better with the volume when you move to the lower camera bro. 🤘🇺🇸
Something you kinda missed with Dadpoos question: He is referencing your Pultec EQ trick video and what is important regarding that: This has not much to do with "free vs. expensive" but rather the fact that the design of this particular EQ is just different to the usual parametric EQ. In your video you have used the plugin for a very specific task, you didn't use it to actually replace your usual EQ'ing tasks with this plugin.
I’d definitely be up up for a drop in visual recording stuff,for example the constant cuts to different camera angles, if it cut production time and got more videos, no need for the constant back round music either, I know many will disagree but I’m here for the steak not the sizzle
The extra angles actually edit faster... weird but true
I love Schecter guitars because they are great guitars to play. I've had a diamond series Bass for about fifteen years and I love it. But I would have no problem playing other brands because there is no sense tying yourself down to a single brand.
This was a great video since there was a ton of tips and suggestions across a wide spectrum of guitar and recording related topics. Plus videos of other necessary learning was referenced. So huge thanks to you for this video.
Glad you found it useful!
I just got this exact guitar in Green B Stock and saved 100€ and i cant even find a scratch on the thing. I love the guitar and these EMG Retros are badass.
Obviously a very different style of music, but Paul David’s did a “cheap guitar/expensive amp vs expensive guitar/cheap amp” video a while back. I felt like it showed that the amp had much more influence on the tone than the guitar did, but both had pros and cons.
My headless Harley Benton stays in tune better than basically anything with a headstock. Small tuning adjustments are ten times easier to make compared to the traditional designs.
I remember back in 1995 when I went to buy a guitar and amp. I had plenty of money to spend as I had saved for awhile. tested out several guitars and the one that felt the best? A $120 Peavey Tracer. I still have that guitar. Have had some upgrades of the decades but it is still my favorite guitar.
Nice Glenn, HB seems like they put in a ton of work to get their guitars into a pretty competitive range. Cool to see, I'm stoked to check one out at some point here. Cheers man, thanks for awesome vids. Fuck you from B.C. ..Hope your weather is better for you out there than here!
I'm going to guess that cheap guitar (200-500) going into an expensive amp (2000-3000) would be better than a cheap amp (500-1000) going into a pricey guitar (1500-2000). I think a better way to do it would be to just set a pricepoint and then break it down roughly 75/25 for the cost.
Honestly there are a lot of cheap options that can still give you amazing tones. For example, Pantera and Acid Bath used Randalls and those things were CHEAP! (still good though). I really want to see a good cheap amp and solid state shootout (like Randall/Laney/Boss).
seriously i would never ever buy a guitar without a floyd rose and therefore a locking nut. i couldnt care less about a tremolo but the tuning stability you get with it and a locking nut is the sole reason. i have a gibson explorer and this thing stays in tune for about 5 bends.
In regards to the Stoner bass sound. My best experiences of recording and playing bass is a blend of a DI signal and your pedalboard/amp, try some tonebender MKIII or a Silicon Fuzz Face if you want tons of fuzz or my favorite choice for distortion that cut thru the mix and don't fight with the kick, ProCo Rat, I use those 3 pedals with my bass and they fucking melt faces. Focus your amp bass sound on 700 hz in mids and 2.2-2.9 Khz in mid-high freq. and your clean signal with a compressor from the studio/daw. Both signals with a HPF in 70 hz and a LPF of 6-8 Khz to give some room for the kick drum. If you need more room for the kick drum, cut 2-4 db in 5000-ish Khz and play with the drum room/reverb for the bass sound, like Glenn said.
Finally and most important. Tell your bass player to practice the muting technique because when you play with distortion and you don't mute your strings properly, the rumbling of the strings makes the mix sound like a mess... oh wait...
The reason Les Pauls don’t stay in tune is the headstock angle, plain and simple. Unless they decrease the angle, it will always go flat
So it’s a design flaw!
That's also the reason Epiphone Les Pauls stay in tune far better: the angle of the headstock is much smaller
The good drummers i've had all practiced on their own time between rehearsal days, improving their technique. Drummers that aren't so great, practice only when your band practices and it shows, there is no progress, the same fills that caused problems last time, are still a problem. I've been lucky to have honestly, just really good drummers after certain point. It makes things sooo much easier and they have been the power houses in the band, kicking everyone's motivation up by their example alone.
Brand Name only matters to me in the sense that if I try and eventually buy more of particular brand, the quality and reliability are things I can count on for going back to that brand each time. Beyond that? I could care less.
I went the Harley Benton route and honestly regret it. There is a lot of praise for their guitars on TH-cam but everyone generally seems to ignore how poor the fretwork and fret boards can be. There is crud all over them, half of the frets aren't level, they all need to be polished, the woods they use are dry, scratchy, and not carefully selected (so the board itself may have filler, cracks, gaps, or heavy grain), etc. Perhaps the Amarok model is a step up from their other models and is better, but if I had to suggest a cheap guitar brand, I would say that Agile or Wolf are far superior (they'll probably need a pickup swap just like most Bentons though). For middle of the road, Schecter, Ltd, and PRS SE seem to be the best bang for buck from what I've tried. I imagine there are a few other brands that could be added to that list. Indonesian guitars seem to be coming out quite good these days, and Korean guitars tend to be very good.
I would add onto the Mac vs PC... I use both regularly, PC is basically bang for the buck. You can build a MUCH more powerful Windows machine than a Mac for less money. I tend to use the PC's for mixing as a result because the extra HP comes in handy for plugins etc.... BUT.... Core audio (Mac) vs ASIO (Windows), there's no comparison. With Windows you typically can only use one brand (and sometime interface) at a time. With the Mac you can combine different interface models/brands into one and use them all at the same time, which is amazing for tracking, which is what I typically use my Macs for.
Yep. Mac Aggregate devices rule!
It's funny how you mentioned a guitar you got that was assembled in Indonesia. Most of my Ibanez are from there. Of course they're a company based in Japan (which they bought from Spain back in the day). Japanese models are mostly signature models.
Don't care about the brand, care about what I get for my money. Quality, also how you feel with the gear, its good to play, comfortable, does what you need, are very important things, the name that is in front of it does not matter.
Dude. What an awesome sweater/long sleeve shirt. Amazing.
bought 3 421s a month ago when they went on that crazy $199 sale. A month later and still waiting....thanks GC....you'd think we're talking about the NVIDIA 3 Series here...sigh....literally excited to be charged the $642 for them. What a deal!