James Freeman
Rock Star
- Messages
- 3,716
To me it sounds like there is a lot of studio compression on his guitars to bring them even further, very in your face with barely any gain.
Deep Dive into Adam Jones's Tones
- Thread starter MirrorProfiles
- Start date
- Messages
- 6,553
The panning on that Aenima album is really interesting to me. Take 46 and 2:
from 1:56 where it goes from the calm section to the chorus, and the main theme riff is double tracked, but both parts are just straight down the middle, until around 2:20 where there is a bit of a refrain before the next chorus, and then the guitars are fully spread across the stereo field.
Another moment is from 3:20ish up until around 4:05.
They do that sort of thing A LOT in Tool songs, and quite often they go wider on the "smaller" sections and narrower on the large anthemic chorus bits. Quite unique.
from 1:56 where it goes from the calm section to the chorus, and the main theme riff is double tracked, but both parts are just straight down the middle, until around 2:20 where there is a bit of a refrain before the next chorus, and then the guitars are fully spread across the stereo field.
Another moment is from 3:20ish up until around 4:05.
They do that sort of thing A LOT in Tool songs, and quite often they go wider on the "smaller" sections and narrower on the large anthemic chorus bits. Quite unique.
JiveTurkey
Goatlord
- Messages
- 16,627
- Messages
- 6,782
I'll be honest, while I like his approach and tone -- it's not something I've ever chased after. The songs are always what intrigued me.
JiveTurkey
Goatlord
- Messages
- 16,627
Me neither.
- Messages
- 6,782
JiveTurkey
Goatlord
- Messages
- 16,627
I'm sorryHow DARE YOU change my words!!
- Messages
- 6,782
I'm sorry
- Messages
- 2,346
Would be funny though if it's a DS-1 boosting a Marshall.
< Mick Mars has entered the chat. >
- Messages
- 6,553
Actually I do think back in the day he did boost his Marshall. I'm sure I read that once.Gosh, I haven't heard that track in yeeeaaarrrss. Love that album. Would be funny though if it's a DS-1 boosting a Marshall.
- Messages
- 6,782
Not surprising at all. Listening back it sounds like he also uses or used lighter gauge strings. It just has that vibe to it, like what Iommi did.
- Messages
- 9,740
I think Adam is one of those guys that instead of developing himself to be your typical guitarist with a wide range of tones, playing styles or chops, he developed himself to be the best guitarist Tool could have. All the other dudes in that band are or could jump into other projects and hold their own, but I really can’t hear Adam doing anything other than Tool.
MirrorProfiles
Rock Star
- Messages
- 3,314
I’m not sure I really hear that, BUT I do think his cranked Marshall and Diezel tones are very compressed sounding (when his guitar volume is up).
something other than the MXR micro amp?
- Messages
- 6,553
Yeah I'm fairly sure I read he'd used an SD-1 at some point, during the Undertow years. But I could be wrong. I can't find where I'd read it now.
EOengineer
Shredder
- Messages
- 1,585
Back in the late 90s when I was a teen trying to nail those Aenema tones with my Rev G Dual Rec I always thought it was interesting how I could hear that element in his tone, but then there was a Marshall thing happening that I wasn’t equipped to recreate. It wasn’t until later that I understood why that was.
There’s a cool interview floating around with the producer/engineer on that album where he talks about using a ton of mid side mixing techniques on the entire Aenema album. That centered, up front, dry guitar tone starts to make a lot more sense in that context. Such a great album. I’ve always loved how vertical space is represented on that record…you’ll notice how the vocals and guitars frequently occupy the center, but he’s using EQ and ambiance to seat the vocals above the guitar height wise. Fucking clever.
Also - the BF-2 is such an undervalued flanger. I thought he used some ridiculously complicated wet dry thing with some crazy expensive flanger and of course then the internet happens and his core fx tone is a BF-2 and DD-3. Fucking hilarious.
We all just need to shut up and play.
There’s a cool interview floating around with the producer/engineer on that album where he talks about using a ton of mid side mixing techniques on the entire Aenema album. That centered, up front, dry guitar tone starts to make a lot more sense in that context. Such a great album. I’ve always loved how vertical space is represented on that record…you’ll notice how the vocals and guitars frequently occupy the center, but he’s using EQ and ambiance to seat the vocals above the guitar height wise. Fucking clever.
Also - the BF-2 is such an undervalued flanger. I thought he used some ridiculously complicated wet dry thing with some crazy expensive flanger and of course then the internet happens and his core fx tone is a BF-2 and DD-3. Fucking hilarious.
We all just need to shut up and play.
- Messages
- 6,553
Yeah his rig is pretty stupid simple to be honest. And to be honest with my rig, I am constantly fighting the urge to get rid of the clever shit and just whack a Boss DD3 in front of a high-gain amp and call it a day!
I don't really think in terms of favourite guitarists. But my favourite bands are: Tool, ISIS, Cult of Luna, Bossk, The Ocean, Karnivool, A Perfect Circle, Mastodon, A Swarm Of The Sun, Katatonia, Wheel, Rage Against The Machine, Soundgarden, Opeth, Rosetta, Deftones, 65daysofstatic, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Soen, The Prodigy, Chevelle, Pelican, Limp Bizkit, Oceansize, The Offspring, Bad Religion, Amplifier, Circa Survive, and a bunch more.
And almost to a man... they all use pretty simple setups. Certainly live, but also in the studio, things are fairly conventional, with rarely an all singing all dancing multi-effects unit in sight.
EOengineer
Shredder
- Messages
- 1,585
That’s a good point that IMO pokes at what many of us know and reaffirm continuously. Music is an art form, effective art is about making a connection with others, and more than anything the song is the vehicle that makes that happen.
We don’t need the best tools. We need THE RIGHT tools…the ones we know how to use to convey what we want to put out there.
