A brief discussion on common electric guitar timbres and equipment debugging

A brief discussion on common electric guitar timbres and equipment debugging

Abstract The electric guitar plays a very important role in modern electroacoustic bands. In a wonderful piece of music, the electric guitar is often used Plays a decisive role. A pleasant timbre will often sublimate a section. On the contrary, if an unreasonable timbre is used in a section, it will make the section look bad. Producing the final tone of an electric guitar is actually a very complex and huge engineering system, so we need to use scientific and reasonable methods to connect the tone system of the electric guitar. By reading this article, everyone can gain a certain understanding of the connection methods of different tone systems used on electric guitars in recording, live performances, and rehearsals. And the most scientific and advanced connection methods and concepts can be used in future actual operations to make the tone of the electric guitar better integrated into the music. Therefore, it is crucial to master the debugging and application of electric guitar equipment. The content to be explained in this article is as follows:

Keywords electric guitar debugging and application of popular music

1. Basic types of commonly used electric guitar tones

With the development of modern pop music With the development of music industry, electroacoustic bands play an increasingly important role in this process. The electric guitar plays a vital role in the band. A wonderful guitar solo performance often brings different levels of sublimation to the song. Of course, if you want to do this well, you must have a good guitar tone as support. The process of producing guitar tone is actually a very complex and huge engineering system. Let’s briefly talk about the equipment tuning and application of electric guitar.

Our commonly used guitar effects are roughly divided into the following types:

Compression (COMPRESSOR), noise gate (NOISE GATE), wah-wah (Wah-Wah), distortion (distortion) , EQ, Reverb, Delay, Chrous, Flange, Phase, Octave, Pitch shifter, Harmony (Harmonizer), Tremolo (TREMOLO)

The above effects constitute some of the tone effect types of electric guitar.

2. Disadvantages caused by misunderstandings in the use of equipment by Chinese guitarists today, and scientific solutions and concepts are proposed

Among Chinese guitarists today, the use of equipment by their families There are many misunderstandings about usage and lagging consumption concepts. This results in us not getting good tone, which directly affects our performance and creation. Many guitarists make misunderstandings when choosing equipment. For example, they will spend a lot of money to buy the latest synthesizer, and then buy a guitar with overwhelming advertising. Then the price is to pay high advertising fees for the manufacturer, and in the end they still have to pay for it. I have a little bit of budget left to buy a guitar amp that only produces sound. In the end, you will completely lose yourself in the tedious adjustment parameters of the synthesis effects. In fact, these are completely avoidable things. Because first of all, our choice of equipment should focus on the speakers, because this is the final medium for sound production. Therefore, the quality of a speaker is directly related to the final quality of your sound. So when you have an excellent tube amp, you almost have the tone you need. Then there is the connection method of the device. Many people are confused about the connection of devices, and even connect them randomly. Of course, the results will be bad. The correct connection method is actually as mentioned before. Effects (chorus, phase shift, vibrato, octave, etc.) should be connected in the loop loop of the speaker, and should not be connected between the guitar and the speaker preamp. . Space effects (delay, reverb) should be connected behind the Mic, or they can be connected at the last position in the loop. Before the guitar enters the amplifier, the wah pedal, Clean Booster, compression, and overdrive should be connected in order.

Then connect it to the preamp interface (Input) of the speaker and place the Mic slightly off-center of the speaker to pick up the sound. Finally, your guitar tone is transmitted through the Taiwanese speakers. This set of connections simply constitutes a guitar tone system. Of course, these are hardware configurations that require a certain economic foundation to be realized. Therefore, it is out of reach for some domestic guitarists with average economic base, so they will choose synthesis effects. However, most of their connection methods are wrong, because the chip calculation method of synthesis effects is connected according to the above-mentioned. It is designed according to the method, so our synthesized effector must not directly enter the front stage of the speaker, because most synthesized effectors now propose the concept of speaker simulation. First, the first calculation is to simulate the speaker preamp, and then at the beginning Simulate loop connections for various peripheral effects. Therefore, if we use a synthesis effector, it is recommended to connect the mixer or sound card directly through the LineOut port or the soft DI that turns on the effector. If we want the real speaker sound of the speaker, we can directly connect the power amplifier input (Poweramp In) on the speaker. In this way, we can fully exert the synthesis effect by adjusting the parameters in the synthesizer according to the guitar connection method and sequence described above. The function of the equalizer, and remember that the equalizer is always a post-stage attenuator. The real pre-amp adjustment for the guitar is actually the three frequency bands of high, middle and low. Some equalizers above 7 bands have a post-attenuation function, which is something that many Chinese musicians do not pay attention to. If we do this, we will not be helpless on some issues. When we fully understand the principles of the equipment, we can spend very little time debugging the equipment and get a very ideal sound. At this time, we can put more experience into the music itself, and will pass Some wonderful and pleasant sounds to get some great creative inspiration.

Let’s talk about how to choose equipment correctly. Good guitar tone is the pursuit of every guitarist, but what exactly is good tone? Some people say that expensive equipment naturally produces good timbre, others say that the timbre is good if they think it is good, and some say that the timbre is good if it suits them. My opinion is that the above statements have some correct aspects and some biased aspects, and should be viewed together.

First of all, the sound produced by very high-end equipment is definitely better than that of high-end equipment (in an absolute sense), but this does not mean that the sound of expensive equipment must be better than that of cheaper equipment. It should be said that when it comes to equipment, Once the grade reaches a certain level, the difference is basically a difference in timbre characteristics rather than timbre quality, especially when the price gap is not very large. Secondly, the ability to appreciate timbre also needs to be cultivated. A person who has never really listened to real live good timbre may have a wrong understanding of timbre. He should improve his ability to appreciate timbre and then find his own satisfaction. timbre. Finally, you need to rely on your own appreciation ability among the many good timbres and equipment to find the equipment and timbre that best suits your music.

For example, if we are looking for a sound similar to S R V, then we can buy a MESA BOOGIE speaker worth 2,000 US dollars. Although its sound quality is very high, the sound characteristics are not suitable, so it is better to buy A $1,000 Fender tube amp is great. But if you only spend 200 US dollars to buy a Chinese-made FENDER transistor speaker, I am afraid it will not be satisfactory. The above is the concept of the first item. Let’s look at the second item again. If the player himself has a problem with his ability to appreciate timbre, but thinks that the timbre of a Dinosaur speaker is more like an S R V than a high-end tube FENDER speaker, then there is nothing to say. So, It doesn't mean that the timbre you are satisfied with is necessarily good. This requires the ability to appreciate timbre as a prerequisite.

To sum up, I think the concept of good timbre can be expressed in two aspects:

First: good timbre in an absolute sense, that is, using high-end The sound produced by the equipment