Scotch Sampler

[HecticArt]

Vernon Reid from Living Color has a massive pedal set-up.

This is the 8th or 9th version of it that I've seen. I don't think he gigs twice with the same setup. Vernon is a badass.

 

[JHDK]

Scotch has the foot pedals right.
For example, you can step on a button and go from a clean mellow tone to a loud distorted sound for a solo. Add delay (echo) to make it sound like there's more going on. Reverb is almost an echo, but not quite. For no reverb, stick your head in a closet that's full of coats and clothes and talk. You don't really hear anything back in your ears after you've stopped talking. For reverb, talk in a church or large room with hard walls. You hear your voice hang in the air just a little longer than your last word. Delay is like a longer version of reverb where you distinctly hear the word (or note) a second time like an echo from yelling in a canyon.

With the right foot pedals, you can sort of make one guitar sound a lot like just about any song on the radio.

hmm. well first off i enjoy sticking my head in random places.

second, so reverb is a fancy word echo? ok. i can get that.

third that dude looks like a weird david schwimmer. trey usually just uses his foot and doesn't bend down to touch the knobs. he seems to me like a guy who really knows about guitar...so is he doing it wrong or what am i missing something here?

fourth. thanks guys. you just taught me stuff and learning stuff is cool.

 

[HecticArt]

hmm. well first off i enjoy sticking my head in random places.

Iew.

second, so reverb is a fancy word echo? ok. i can get that.

Almost echo. Scotch said it better. It's like talking in a large restroom vs talking in a full closet.

third that dude looks like a weird david schwimmer. trey usually just uses his foot and doesn't bend down to touch the knobs. he seems to me like a guy who really knows about guitar...so is he doing it wrong or what am i missing something here?

He's just using his hands to show what each pedal does. Most of the time you set them where you like them and only have to step on them when you're playing. You can see the girl in the video Scotch posted with the flanger step on her pedals.

fourth. thanks guys. you just taught me stuff and learning stuff is cool.

 

[JHDK]

cool. thanks hectic.

(now go back to living is almost canada and stop making me feel weird for having gratitude towards you.)

 

[scotchandcigar]

Reverb is short for reverberation. It's the continuation of a sound after the source has stopped, due to reflections from surfaces like walls and ceilings. Echo is a delayed copy of the original sound. The announcer at a ball park is echo. Reverb is everywhere; any room large enough for a performance has it. Our brains expect it, that's why it's added to most voices and instruments in the recording process.

This seems like the right place to mention that I have friends who work for this local company - Fractal Audio - that makes these world-renowned amp processors, used by some of the biggest names in the music industry.

 

[HecticArt]

Fractal stuff is sweet, and expensive. That’s cool.

 

[sadchild]

Singing in the shower. That's reverb too (oo oo oo oo oo...)

 

[scotchandcigar]

Fractal stuff is sweet, and expensive. That’s cool.

This is from a new product intro, in one of their sound test rooms.

 

[scotchandcigar]

Turning back to music, here's another one of my favorite post-90s performers. Pavement (yes, the 90s band) front-man and guitar god Stephen Malkmus went solo in 2001. In 2008, Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks released Real Emotional Trash, my favorite effort of his, because it blends the Pavement sound with grunge and psychedelia. This is a true "jam band"; here's 2 lengthy examples of the many great songs off this album (I had a hard time picking just 2 to post).

Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks – Hopscotch Willie


Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks – Baltimore

 

[HecticArt]

This is from a new product intro, in one of their sound test rooms.

View attachment 6325

That looks like a fun job to have.

 

[scotchandcigar]

That looks like a fun job to have.

Funny you asked. Mrs Scotch and I spent 30 years living in the east corner of southern NH. 75% of the people living there commute to work in Massachusetts (as I did). So anyway, we became friendly with the realtor who spent months finding us a lot to build our house in Maine. Her husband had just gotten a job at Fractal Audio, which I never knew about, and it's located in one of the NH towns I lived in! I was speechless. The guy's job is to make awesome audio equipment for the world's best guitarists, and the place is a mile from my house. Holy shit!

OK, so 2 things:
- It's a small company. They only use a select number of very qualified engineers. My friend is a top-tier firmware engineer, and also a professional drummer/ musician.
- He left the place after 3 years, because the management treated the employees like slaves.

Also, once I moved to Maine, it was no longer near me. One of my friend's band-mates still works there.

 

[HecticArt]

That's crazy. It's a shame they treat their people like shit. Gibson guitars has that reputation too, but Gibson has been making shitty (and overpriced) products for a while now.

 

[scotchandcigar]

First random favorites entry. The Foo Fighters have dozens of songs I really like, but Times Like These has a special meaning to me. The song says a lot. And Grohl's acoustic version was a near pick for the father-daughter dance at my older one's wedding. Here are both versions

 

[sadchild]

Whenever I hear a Foo Fighters song, I know there's something a little wrong with me.

Because I love everything about Dave Grohl.... his drumming, his attitude, his quotes in the media, his sense of humor, his support for upcoming rock acts (like Royal Blood), his voice, his ballbusting of other rock bands, that time a group of 1000 Italians played "Learn To Fly" all at once so Dave flew his band out there and played a huge set for them .... I love everything about Dave Grohl, except his songs. And I don't know why. I don't dislike the songs, but I don't go out of my way for them. And I know I should.

But I also like that he can write a song that has special meaning to a fellow music-head. So I lift my glass to Dave, and continue to wonder why I don't connect with his songs.

 

[scotchandcigar]

I too love Dave Grohl. I've spent a good part of my life chasing the bands he's played in. With Teeth by NIN, Songs For the Deaf by QOTSA, Mike Watt, Cat Power, Them Crooked Vultures, etc. But I don't love everything by Foo Fighters. Some of it is "corporate rock", some sounds redundant. I hate Big Me. But most of their albums have 3 or 4 songs I like, and a few I love. Their album Echoes... has a bunch of very deep emotional stuff. But if you're not into them, that's the way it goes.

 

[HecticArt]

I like Foo. I really like a handful of their songs.
I'm impressed how they can keep grinding out hits. (Corporate or not.)
Dave's attitude, spirit, love of music, and appreciation of their fans is great.
The Sonic Highway series was really cool.

My bass player hates Dave for some of the same reasons, except he sees him as smug and hates him screaming to no particular key in every song. That and the gum chewing.

 

[scotchandcigar]

I too love Dave Grohl. I've spent a good part of my life chasing the bands he's played in. With Teeth by NIN, Songs For the Deaf by QOTSA, Mike Watt, Cat Power, Them Crooked Vultures, etc.

Speaking of all this, Hurt by Nine Inch Nails is a favorite song of mine, and Johnny Cash's version is really moving

 

[Aaron]

Great tune. I'm partial to the Cash version.

 

[sadchild]

Before The Fragile, NIN could do no wrong in my eyes. You might see the niners almost nine times on my 333 list....

 

[HecticArt]

I saw NIN open for Bowie. That was a crazy show.