Michael Nielsen (Big Hairy Guitars ) Ask Me Anything?

Thanks Woody. I hear stuff from the top down. My partner in my scoring company hears things bottom up. I'm sure it's because growing up I was listening for the guitar, and ignoring the bass, and keys. When I remember many songs from my youth, I sing the harmony line, not the lead line. So there are some weird things that I've had to sort of unlearn myself. (if you will)

Thinking about it, one of the biggest challenges to me for rock music is the separation of bass guitar and E guitar. Until I was 20ish I would always try to cover both areas with the guitar. Listening to most hard rock, when the bass is following the guitar part, it just sounds like a huge deep guitar sound. Like I said, I'm listening top frequency's downward. I suppose if I was listening bottom up, I'd focus on the bass, then hear when the guitar takes over. So the idea of HPF / cutting the guitar bottom end to make the overall mix sound bigger was something I couldn't grasp.

Once I had to dig into orchestral arranging, it opened everything up for me. You can't really fudge an orchestral arrangement by adding distortion to the double basses, or massive low end EQ to cellos, or quad tracking cellos. Everything has to have it's place, and less is more, OR the end result is small the out of balance.

Guitar gets more complicated because the tone of guitar/pedals/amp can drastically effect it's optimal range, and how it blends with the other instruments. I think that's where the fascination comes from, because the tone of the guitar is almost as important as the parts. There are still some miracles out there like Pantera... how can everything be so scooped and cutting, but also full and punchy 🥷

Thanks Michael,
today this reply popped up in my head again.
What kind of process is arranging for you? Is it linear in a way that you start somewhere and chip away on stuff until it feels "ready"?
Or are there stages or certain moments that regularly appear that make you shift focus on different aspects of the arrangement?

I find you are pretty amazing in marrying great parts with just the right tone, and inquiring minds wanna know, right?
I am pretty sure that much of it is just hard and dedicated listening and practice, but having a look into other people's mindframe at work is always interesting and sometimes enlightening.
 
I've really dug your BHS TH-U profiles, so glad you teamed with those folks.

In particular having a Metaltronix M1000 pack was an absolute treat given that I had written off all hope of ever being able to play one of those in any form given their scarcity/obscurity.

And along those lines, if they ever get their marketplace sorted would you ever consider doing caps for Neural Quad Cortex? How about IK's now imminent ToneX plugin?

The Diezel VH4 is kinda flat (the Herbert is great). The Vox and Morgan are kinda thin. I hope they rework them into a fatter more Matchless kinda vibe. I've tried some 3rd party ones too that were meh, but don't really remember their exact model now.
Pretty huge fan of your channel and the Synergy stuff, so I was happy to see your demos and have watched them multiple times for info and to preview modules...

One of the 3rd party ones you could have been thinking of is the 'JJ' Dirt. You demoed that on your channel and noted that it didn't sound too much like the JJ.


You seemed really into the 800 module on that vid.
 
I believe it's $350. Which puts me back in "hold up, you know you're just going to use your modeler anyway" territory.
That's not too out there? I paid $3XX for the Woodrow which was limited in control af the whole while wanting a Marshall style box of the same form factor. While still probably going to use my modeler anyway :bag
 
That's not too out there? I paid $3XX for the Woodrow which was limited in control af the whole while wanting a Marshall style box of the same form factor. While still probably going to use my modeler anyway :bag
Look forward to reading about your pre-order.
 
That's not too out there? I paid $3XX for the Woodrow which was limited in control af the whole while wanting a Marshall style box of the same form factor. While still probably going to use my modeler anyway :bag
Yeah, I don't think $350 is unreasonable at all, given how great it sounds, how much versatility it presents, and the limited number of units that are likely to be manufactured. But step 1 is (or at least should be?) actually needing a product like it.

My highest compliment is that I don't need a product like it at all, but I'm still tempted to track one down. :)
 
That's not too out there? I paid $3XX for the Woodrow which was limited in control af the whole while wanting a Marshall style box of the same form factor. While still probably going to use my modeler anyway :bag
I thought about ordering one, but figured at least for now would overlap my Helios a bit much.
 
We're going to need more info on that Helios :hmm
Been waiting on ordering a Captor X for the longest time. At home volumes I pretty much have stuck with clean to edge of break up playing.


Still haven’t really put the Helios through its paces properly.

:bag
 
Been waiting on ordering a Captor X for the longest time. At home volumes I pretty much have stuck with clean to edge of break up playing.


Still haven’t really put the Helios through its paces properly.

:bag
I bet the dinosaur suit has excellent hearing protection baked into the mask!
 
That sinking feeling that you must have missed a couple of threads...
Twitch Get It GIF by CA in LA
 
Back
Top