Hi there, I'm doing a Surf Punk recording project and I'm struggling a little to get the guitars to get a good ratio of dirt/reverb/clarity. I'm unfortunate not using a studio full of vintage gender sample, and am having to settle for some Amplitube approximations, but I can't get much definition without the guitars sounding dry & dull.

I've compressed a little before the "reverb tank" and that's helped a fair amount, but it's there any other good rules of thumb? Should I be mixing in a smaller amount of more intense reverb? Or should it be a larger amount with less dwell? How bright should the verb be? And with a reverb heavy signal do you just have to keep things quite clean to get it to mix nicely? Does using a combination of bridge pickup for 1 guitar and bridge+neck help for some separation?

Sorry for the mountain of questions, but surf tones aren't something I've really much experience with, outside of messing about jamming stuff when I wanted to do a project like this about 15 years ago! I imagine it might be a case of faster stuff just being a little washed out sometimes, especially in sections where there's 2 guitars playing barre chords in the faster punkier bits, and that's a trade-off for the twangy single string stuff sounding nice and thick? The bass seems to anchor everything nicely, but with it being punky and dissonant I've been trying to have the bass a little dirty, and there just seems a bit too much contrast between it& the guitars if they're too clean. I've not used any dirt box plugins that are doing a big mid hump btw, just been running the "amps" pretty hot.

Thanks for any help!

Last edited: Jan 29, 2023 05:55:34

SurfingTheCesspool wrote:

Hi there, I'm doing a Surf Punk recording project and I'm struggling a little to get the guitars to get a good ratio of dirt/reverb/clarity. I'm unfortunate not using a studio full of vintage gender sample, and am having to settle for some Amplitube approximations, but I can't get much definition without the guitars sounding dry & dull.

I've compressed a little before the "reverb tank" and that's helped a fair amount, but it's there any other good rules of thumb? Should I be mixing in a smaller amount of more intense reverb? Or should it be a larger amount with less dwell? How bright should the verb be? And with a reverb heavy signal do you just have to keep things quite clean to get it to mix nicely? Does using a combination of bridge pickup for 1 guitar and bridge+neck help for some separation?

Sorry for the mountain of questions, but surf tones aren't something I've really much experience with, outside of messing about jamming stuff when I wanted to do a project like this about 15 years ago! I imagine it might be a case of faster stuff just being a little washed out sometimes, especially in sections where there's 2 guitars playing barre chords in the faster punkier bits, and that's a trade-off for the twangy single string stuff sounding nice and thick? The bass seems to anchor everything nicely, but with it being punky and dissonant I've been trying to have the bass a little dirty, and there just seems a bit too much contrast between it& the guitars if they're too clean. I've not used any dirt box plugins that are doing a big mid hump btw, just been running the "amps" pretty hot.

Thanks for any help!

I think you may try compression after reverb. Slightly compressed reverb really makes sound to pop out.
Here I use a lot of reverb from Surfybear into Blossom Point and then into amp and for me it’s pretty clear and well defined

https://waikikimakaki.bandcamp.com/track/lost-diver

There’s also some overdrive in some parts but I mostly try to keep it clean.

Waikiki Makaki surf-rock band from Ukraine

https://linktr.ee/waikikimakaki

Lost Diver

https://lostdiver.bandcamp.com
https://soundcloud.com/vitaly-yakushin

AndrewTesta wrote:

Samurai wrote:

SurfingTheCesspool wrote:

Hi there, I'm doing a Surf Punk recording project and I'm struggling a little to get the guitars to get a good ratio of dirt/reverb/clarity. I'm unfortunate not using a studio full of vintage gender sample, and am having to settle for some Amplitube approximations, but I can't get much definition without the guitars sounding dry & dull.

I've compressed a little before the "reverb tank" and that's helped a fair amount, but it's there any other good rules of thumb? Should I be mixing in a smaller amount of more intense reverb? Or should it be a larger amount with less dwell? How bright should the verb be? And with a reverb heavy signal do you just have to keep things quite clean to get it to mix nicely? Does using a combination of bridge pickup for 1 guitar and bridge+neck help for some separation?

Sorry for the mountain of questions, but surf tones aren't something I've really much experience with, outside of messing about jamming stuff when I wanted to do a project like this about 15 years ago! I imagine it might be a case of faster stuff just being a little washed out sometimes, especially in sections where there's 2 guitars playing barre chords in the faster punkier bits, and that's a trade-off for the twangy single string stuff sounding nice and thick? The bass seems to anchor everything nicely, but with it being punky and dissonant I've been trying to have the bass a little dirty, and there just seems a bit too much contrast between it& the guitars if they're too clean. I've not used any dirt box plugins that are doing a big mid hump btw, just been running the "amps" pretty hot.

Thanks for any help!

I think you may try compression after reverb. Slightly compressed reverb really makes sound to pop out.
Here I use a lot of reverb from Surfybear into Blossom Point and then into amp and for me it’s pretty clear and well defined

https://waikikimakaki.bandcamp.com/track/lost-diver

There’s also some overdrive in some parts but I mostly try to keep it clean.

Last edited: May 31, 2023 21:15:27

AndrewTesta wrote:

AndrewTesta wrote:

AndrewTesta wrote:

Samurai wrote:

SurfingTheCesspool wrote:

Hi there, I'm doing a Surf Punk recording project and I'm struggling a little to get the guitars to get a good ratio of dirt/reverb/clarity. I'm unfortunate not using a studio full of vintage gender sample, and am having to settle for some Amplitube approximations, but I can't get much definition without the guitars sounding dry & dull.

I've compressed a little before the "reverb tank" and that's helped a fair amount, but it's there any other good rules of thumb? Should I be mixing in a smaller amount of more intense reverb? Or should it be a larger amount with less dwell? How bright should the verb be? And with a reverb heavy signal do you just have to keep things quite clean to get it to mix nicely? Does using a combination of bridge pickup for 1 guitar and bridge+neck help for some separation?

Sorry for the mountain of questions, but surf tones aren't something I've really much experience with, outside of messing about jamming stuff when I wanted to do a project like this about 15 years ago! I imagine it might be a case of faster stuff just being a little washed out sometimes, especially in sections where there's 2 guitars playing barre chords in the faster punkier bits, and that's a trade-off for the twangy single string stuff sounding nice and thick? The bass seems to anchor everything nicely, but with it being punky and dissonant I've been trying to have the bass a little dirty, and there just seems a bit too much contrast between it& the guitars if they're too clean. I've not used any dirt box plugins that are doing a big mid hump btw, just been running the "amps" pretty hot.

Thanks for any help!

I think you may try compression after reverb. Slightly compressed reverb really makes sound to pop out.
Here I use a lot of reverb from Surfybear into Blossom Point and then into amp and for me it’s pretty clear and well defined

https://waikikimakaki.bandcamp.com/track/lost-diver

There’s also some overdrive in some parts but I mostly try to keep it clean.

What amp are you using? My surfybear metal is going Into a ‘65 TRRI and it sounds great but I have no means to record it at the moment, If it could sound like that I’d be happy

AndrewTesta wrote:

AndrewTesta wrote:

AndrewTesta wrote:

AndrewTesta wrote:

Samurai wrote:

SurfingTheCesspool wrote:

Hi there, I'm doing a Surf Punk recording project and I'm struggling a little to get the guitars to get a good ratio of dirt/reverb/clarity. I'm unfortunate not using a studio full of vintage gender sample, and am having to settle for some Amplitube approximations, but I can't get much definition without the guitars sounding dry & dull.

I've compressed a little before the "reverb tank" and that's helped a fair amount, but it's there any other good rules of thumb? Should I be mixing in a smaller amount of more intense reverb? Or should it be a larger amount with less dwell? How bright should the verb be? And with a reverb heavy signal do you just have to keep things quite clean to get it to mix nicely? Does using a combination of bridge pickup for 1 guitar and bridge+neck help for some separation?

Sorry for the mountain of questions, but surf tones aren't something I've really much experience with, outside of messing about jamming stuff when I wanted to do a project like this about 15 years ago! I imagine it might be a case of faster stuff just being a little washed out sometimes, especially in sections where there's 2 guitars playing barre chords in the faster punkier bits, and that's a trade-off for the twangy single string stuff sounding nice and thick? The bass seems to anchor everything nicely, but with it being punky and dissonant I've been trying to have the bass a little dirty, and there just seems a bit too much contrast between it& the guitars if they're too clean. I've not used any dirt box plugins that are doing a big mid hump btw, just been running the "amps" pretty hot.

Thanks for any help!

I think you may try compression after reverb. Slightly compressed reverb really makes sound to pop out.
Here I use a lot of reverb from Surfybear into Blossom Point and then into amp and for me it’s pretty clear and well defined

https://waikikimakaki.bandcamp.com/track/lost-diver

There’s also some overdrive in some parts but I mostly try to keep it clean.

What amp are you using? My surfybear metal is going Into a ‘65 TRRI and it sounds great but I have no means to record it at the moment, If it could sound like that I’d be happy

On this record I am using Quilter Superblock US, mostly through speaker simulated output, but also sometimes through speaker and microphone.
I think you may have a great tone with your setup! Is it a Tonemaster? I guess they have cool recording possibilities.

Waikiki Makaki surf-rock band from Ukraine

https://linktr.ee/waikikimakaki

Lost Diver

https://lostdiver.bandcamp.com
https://soundcloud.com/vitaly-yakushin

It's been mentioned already but EQ is very important.

SurfingTheCesspool wrote:

Hi there, I'm doing a Surf Punk recording project and I'm struggling a little to get the guitars to get a good ratio of dirt/reverb/clarity. I'm unfortunate not using a studio full of vintage gender sample, and am having to settle for some Amplitube approximations, but I can't get much definition without the guitars sounding dry & dull.

I've compressed a little before the "reverb tank" and that's helped a fair amount, but it's there any other good rules of thumb? Should I be mixing in a smaller amount of more intense reverb? Or should it be a larger amount with less dwell? How bright should the verb be? And with a reverb heavy signal do you just have to keep things quite clean to get it to mix nicely? Does using a combination of bridge pickup for 1 guitar and bridge+neck help for some separation?

Sorry for the mountain of questions, but surf tones aren't something I've really much experience with, outside of messing about jamming stuff when I wanted to do a project like this about 15 years ago! I imagine it might be a case of faster stuff just being a little washed out sometimes, especially in sections where there's 2 guitars playing barre chords in the faster punkier bits, and that's a trade-off for the twangy single string stuff sounding nice and thick? The bass seems to anchor everything nicely, but with it being punky and dissonant I've been trying to have the bass a little dirty, and there just seems a bit too much contrast between it& the guitars if they're too clean. I've not used any dirt box plugins that are doing a big mid hump btw, just been running the "amps" pretty hot.

Thanks for any help!

I've played around with Amplitube a little, but I found it to sound a little too sharp. I like dark, low tones, so it wasn't for me. With that I don't mean to say that it's bad, just not for me.

General reverb you can compress a fair amount because in fact the more you compress it, the more "roomier" it sounds, oddly. As for compression on the rhythm (I always use more reverb on one rhythm because I found your sound is much more "surfier" and more "splashy" if you do instead of shooting the lead to death with reverb. I don't do anything special compression wise, I generally compress it the way I would do a dry rhythm guitar. I use more gain on the lead to bring it more upfront, but that would be it. The main thing anyway is to get the EQ in the right proportions and that really depends on your taste. I'd be happy to give you my settings, but I think it's better for yourself to play around with the EQ until you have found the sound you like.

For that matter, I use mostly my Surfy Bear Blue Metal and sometimes my Surfy Bear Compact. I also use the Surfy Industries Brownfacer (or Blossom Point as it's called nowadays) and the Surfy Industries Stereo Maker. The former gives more "body" to your guitar sound and with the latter you can create a lovely full sound. I usually play the rhythm parts twice; one for the left channel and one for the right channel to get that nice carpet laying underneath the reverberated rhythm and lead.

Albums:
_Introducing; Impala '59; An Evening with; Herr Magnatech Bittet Zum Tanz; Europa

Changing label.

https://magnatech.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/magnatechmusic
https://www.magnatech-music.com

Last edited: Jun 01, 2023 14:00:55

SurfingTheCesspool wrote:

Hi there, I'm doing a Surf Punk recording project and I'm struggling a little to get the guitars to get a good ratio of dirt/reverb/clarity. I'm unfortunate not using a studio full of vintage gender sample, and am having to settle for some Amplitube approximations, but I can't get much definition without the guitars sounding dry & dull.

I've compressed a little before the "reverb tank" and that's helped a fair amount, but it's there any other good rules of thumb? Should I be mixing in a smaller amount of more intense reverb? Or should it be a larger amount with less dwell? How bright should the verb be? And with a reverb heavy signal do you just have to keep things quite clean to get it to mix nicely? Does using a combination of bridge pickup for 1 guitar and bridge+neck help for some separation?

Sorry for the mountain of questions, but surf tones aren't something I've really much experience with, outside of messing about jamming stuff when I wanted to do a project like this about 15 years ago! I imagine it might be a case of faster stuff just being a little washed out sometimes, especially in sections where there's 2 guitars playing barre chords in the faster punkier bits, and that's a trade-off for the twangy single string stuff sounding nice and thick? The bass seems to anchor everything nicely, but with it being punky and dissonant I've been trying to have the bass a little dirty, and there just seems a bit too much contrast between it& the guitars if they're too clean. I've not used any dirt box plugins that are doing a big mid hump btw, just been running the "amps" pretty hot.

Thanks for any help!

Late to the party,
In the context of producing a recording, there's nothing wrong with having slightly different amp/reverb settings for different guitar parts.
You could move the barre chord sections to a different track, separate from the single note sections, and set the amp and reverb to optimise the way they sound? It's fiddly, but worth doing if you have a very specific idea about how you want the guitars to sound.

Having said all that, I've usually managed find amp and effect settings that work for all the things I play within a given song....some of that excessive reverb wash is part of fun of the genre.

https://the-birdcage.bandcamp.com/album/wave-machine