In this video, Fab Dupont and Grand Baton share the secrets behind Grand Baton's incredible guitar tones.
Guitar by guitar, pedal by pedal, amp by amp, mic by mic, every step in the process of achieving wild new sounds is described and outlined. This is great information and inspiration for guitar players and producers alike.
00:00:07 Good morning children!
Today, we are going to torture some
guitars into making some weird sounds.
00:00:13 To do so, we're gonna have the assistance
of the incredible Grand Baton,
and we're gonna use his song
called "Caribbean" as an example.
00:00:19 If you remember,
Caribbean is the song that is featured
in the video called Mixing Caribbean.
Here we go!
What we're gonna do now is take a look
at how he got those insane guitar sounds.
00:00:50 And to do so, JC was kind enough
to bring his pedal board,
a couple amps,
I've put some microphones up,
and we're gonna dissect the sound,
just for you.
00:01:03 So first, I have a question: how...
00:01:05 I mean, you don't just come up
with this kind of crazy setup.
00:01:08 How does it start? Where do you start?
For the album, my first concern was
recording my guitars,
and I wanted for once to do something
that guitar players don't usually do,
it's recording guitars with fuzz pedals
directly into the board.
00:01:24 So, a fuzz pedal direct, straight
into your interface or your board.
00:01:28 - Yes.
- Ok!
How did that work out?
- Pretty well!
- Oh yeah?
Yes, I was looking for that kind of synth
sound with the guitar,
like very destructive,
completely destroyed sound of guitar,
and it worked well.
00:01:44 Ok, great! Why don't turn the amps off.
00:01:48 First, let's play
the clean guitar sound. Fully clean.
00:01:52 That's it.
00:02:00 Ok, great. So then, what happens?
You're going from your guitar into what?
So actually, right now,
I can make it simple.
00:02:07 It's basically this fuzz pedal right here.
- Who makes that?
William Mathewson Devices.
00:02:15 It's the Geiger Counter.
I love this pedal, it's great.
00:02:17 So then I can turn on
the fuzz pedal right here.
00:02:30 - So that's the WMD thing?
- Yes.
00:02:32 Ok, and then what happens?
And then, I was so used
to use this Octave pedal...
00:02:38 I've been playing in this band,
playing all the bass parts
on the guitar with this pedal.
00:02:43 Basically, it's active
on a certain range of the guitar.
00:02:47 So basically for this song,
I set it pretty high.
00:02:50 It goes from... here...
00:02:53 Still there...
00:02:56 And no octave here.
00:02:57 So the Octave pedal is only working
on the 3 bottom strings of the guitar,
but not on the top strings?
- Right.
00:03:04 And how do you do that,
is that a part of the pedal?
Yes, that's exactly
what the pedal is supposed to be.
00:03:09 You can set it up to do this.
So, like this.
00:03:22 Gnarly! Ok, great. And then what?
This is only it for the direct sound.
This is it.
00:03:28 Just for us to know,
what's that blue thing over there?
The Tone Monk.
00:03:34 That's a buffer.
00:03:36 That's something that you use when
you have a lot of pedals to go through.
00:03:40 This is, like to clean your signal
and keep it at a certain level,
because you're supposed to lose
a lot of signal level
going through all the pedals.
00:03:52 If you just go to three of them,
it's not useful.
00:03:55 Ok, so then you go to the tuner.
00:03:58 - That's the TC tuner thing.
- Yeah. Well, this setup right here
is just because of last gig.
00:04:03 Of course, when I'm recording,
I take out every pedal
that I'm not using
for the specific part that I'm playing.
00:04:09 - Why?
- Just to make sure that I have
the best sound possible
and the best level.
00:04:14 A lot of guitar players
have like big boards
with a hundred pedals
and lots of noise and lots of stuff.
00:04:19 And you're saying that if you remove
some pedals, it sounds better?
Yes, I would say that.
00:04:25 And I would say that, also the order
of how you plug the pedals
into each other is really important too.
00:04:32 Usually, you try things with pedals.
It's never...
00:04:35 It's not an exact science.
00:04:38 I'd like to summarize
something very important,
a piece of information
that would save the world:
the least amount of pedals,
the better the sound.
00:04:46 Just saying. I'm just saying.
00:04:48 What's that
psychedelic looking thing there?
That's the Boiling Point from Rockbox.
00:04:55 It's a... It's an overdrive pedal.
00:04:58 But you didn't use
that sound on Caribbean?
No. I've used it, but not together
with the fuzz pedal.
00:05:04 Ok, so let's get rid of that.
So you have the WMD, the yellow one,
and then the octave,
and then what happens?
And... Then I have this little guy here.
00:05:14 This is what I use to split my signal
between guitar amp, and bass amp.
Because I do that.
00:05:21 First, I have two outputs.
I have a parallel out
that is not processed, so this is
for my guitar signal.
00:05:28 And then this is going to the bass amp,
and this is just to add some settings
if I want to control
the sound of the bass amp from here.
00:05:36 There's an EQ, and there's a distortion.
00:05:38 And it's really made for bass, so...
00:05:41 it kind of enhances my sound as a bass.
00:05:45 So for those of you
who missed an episode,
starting from the pickup into the black
cable, into that blue buffer,
into the TC Electronic PolyTune,
because you've got to tune the guitar
from time to time,
into either...
00:05:57 the Boiling Point overdrive,
or the Geiger Counter fuzz,
to add dirt...
00:06:04 Then out of that
into the Super Octaver by Boss,
which adds an octave below,
but only on these three strings,
and not these three strings.
00:06:13 Out of the octaver, into the MXR Bass DI
which is used as a splitter.
00:06:17 Part of the signal,
which is already distorted,
because it's either going through
the Boiling Point or the fuzz,
but just exactly as is,
is going to the guitar amp.
00:06:27 And the other part of the signal,
which could have additional distortion,
because you can't have too much
distortion, is going to the bass amp.
00:06:35 - Just like that?
- Just like that!
Ok, now we know the rig. So before
we turn the amps on and go crazy,
I'd like to know how the song started.
00:06:44 You didn't wake up one morning
and have this whole thing in your head.
00:06:47 So where did it start?
It's actually started
in the most simple way.
00:06:52 I've been recording
a whole bunch of riffs with that sound:
a guitar into a fuzz pedal,
straight into the board,
straight into the computer, of course.
00:07:03 I was using mostly this guitar.
I can show you.
00:07:07 I'm curious to know
what's the difference in sound.
00:07:09 What part would be
the first one you came up with?
Actually... This one.
00:07:15 This very easy one.
00:07:24 Ok. Let's listen to it
with the SG over there.
00:07:30 That's an old SG.
00:07:31 - Yes, this is a 74 SG.
- 74, great year! And what was that?
This is a Blade. This is actually...
00:07:39 a guitar that I've been having
for more than 20 years.
00:07:44 It's made in Switzerland,
and it's... a great guitar.
00:07:47 - Let's check out the difference.
- Ok.
00:07:49 - Same part, same thing.
- Ok! This is it.
00:07:59 - It's about twice as fat.
- Yeah.
00:08:02 So I understand why you used that.
So you started the song with this.
00:08:05 - Yes!
- Then what?
Then, I... I put a drum on this part.
00:08:10 And I recorded the drum
playing this thing...
00:08:17 And as I was rolling with this,
I came up with this thing.
00:08:29 On top of the drum. And that was
the beginning of the song right here.
00:08:32 Ok, so you do your demos right?
What do you work in?
Logic, Pro Tools, Studio?
- Logic.
00:08:36 Logic. Ok. Tremendous choice.
00:08:39 So you record directly in Logic?
Yes. And I wanted
to use this sound, actually.
00:08:44 I was already thinking
that I would have to record
through actual amplifiers, but I wanted
to have this direct sound,
so I have wanted to build this song
with this sound.
00:08:55 Ok. Well actually,
when I got the session to mix it,
the DI sound was still in there.
I used it a couple of times.
00:09:01 I think it is actually in the center
and the middle of this sound
on the record.
00:09:06 I used the DI in combination
with the other amps
you've recorded after to be able
to get precision without room,
and then I used the rest
to make the dirt around it.
00:09:16 Ok. Then, what happened?
So then I had this riff,
and then I came up with
a bunch of different ideas.
00:09:23 First, the vocals, I wrote a verse,
and I had a chorus that happens
to be now the ending of the song.
00:09:33 The guitar was doing something like this.
One, two, three, four...
00:09:53 When you play this,
I notice that maybe...
00:09:56 the main riff
would be better with that guitar.
00:09:58 Yes. That was one of the ideas
that I came up with much later,
when recording
the actual guitars of the song.
00:10:06 So on the song, you've recorded the
(he sings the riff)
... with this one.
-Yeah.
00:10:11 And (he sings the other riff)
with this one.
00:10:14 - Yes.
- Alright.
00:10:16 When did you decide to start...
00:10:19 going beyond the DI and having
some actual guitar amps involved?
Well, I had you in mind!
I was like -- my fellow partner here,
in this crazy story,
would be very happy
to have an actual amplifier sound
instead of just
having to deal with the DI.
00:10:39 So I brought my stuff, these two amps,
as guitar amps.
00:10:44 Depending on the part
I would use this one, or this one.
00:10:47 And of course, a bass amp.
00:10:50 I would set this amp
to completely clean.
00:10:53 No distortion on the amp,
because I'm like
having a lot
going on right here already!
So this is
a Mesa Boogie Single Rectifier,
with a 2x12 cabinet.
00:11:06 And this is a 1x12 combo amp
from Brunetti.
00:11:11 - This is called a Singleman.
- Ok. Great.
00:11:14 And I would bring a bass amp.
00:11:18 Sometimes I would use a PA system.
00:11:20 I mike them in a way that I like,
I like to have ribbon mics
on the guitar amp,
so this setup right here.
00:11:29 You had a 57 also?
- Yeah.
- You have an SM 57.
00:11:34 And then on the bass amp,
you had a ribbon too, right?
- Yes.
- Ok.
00:11:40 Today, after listening to the amps,
I felt like using a Shure SM7,
which is kind of like a 57 vibe.
- It's a great choice.
00:11:48 I love it. And then, for the ribbon,
I picked a KSM 313 from Shure also.
00:11:55 And then on the bass amp,
I chose a condenser, not a ribbon,
a KSM 44, I don't know why,
that's just the way it felt.
00:12:01 I'm sure it would sound great
with another one of these.
00:12:03 But this sounded fantastic
right out of the box, so why not use it.
00:12:07 And then... So it sounds like this!
Let's turn everybody on.
00:12:12 And play the same riff.
00:12:28 Scary!
Why don't you play the riff,
and we're gonna listen
to every mic separately.
00:12:33 Like 2 bars of the riff,
with the distortion, everything,
exactly like on the record.
00:12:38 So first pass, let's listen to the SM7.
00:12:50 Wow! Now the KSM 313, the ribbon one.
00:13:03 And the two of them together
sound like this.
00:13:05 This is the blend of the two,
at unity gain.
00:13:15 Alright!
On the bass side, let's listen to
just the bass amp, with a KSM 44 on it.
00:13:31 That sounds great.
00:13:33 This is providing me with the elastic
"woomph" at the bottom,
and also a little bit of extra dirt,
but without the brightness.
00:13:41 It's not "in your face" dirt.
00:13:43 So that's very nice.
00:13:45 And this provides me with
the definition and the anger,
and then the DI gives me the solidity
and the precision in the middle.
00:13:52 And the combination of the three...
00:13:55 is pretty gnarly.
Let's check it out.
00:15:25 Whenever I get a record to mix
and I open the session,
I solo the tracks and I try
and figure out what's been going on.
00:15:32 Who did what? How does it sound?
And from time to time,
I solo an instrument and I ask myself:
how did they do that?
And when that happens,
that makes me happy,
and I have the luxury of being able
to call whoever is responsible
for the absurdity
that I'm listening to in my mix room.
00:15:48 I thought you guys would enjoy
being able to do the same thing
and have a sneak peek
behind the scenes
at how on earth one can get
one guitar to sound like that.
00:15:59 I think that the combination
of fat from this amp,
precision from the DI,
and crazy definition
from the guitar amps is pretty unique.
00:16:08 I had never heard anything like it before.
00:16:10 Consequently, I asked
-- in this case, Grand Baton --
who was kind enough
to explain it to us step by step,
or should I say dubstep by dubstep.
00:16:18 Et voilà!
Once logged in, you will be able to read all the transcripts jump around in the video.
Equipment & Software
Equipment used:
'74 Gibson SG
Blade
Mesa Boogie Head
Demeter Cabinet
Ampeg SB12
Shure Microphones: SM7, KSM313, KSM44
Featured Music
If you would like to know more about Grand Baton, please visit:
Fab Dupont is a Grammy winning NYC based record producer, mixing/mastering engineer and co-founder of pureMix.net.
Fab has been playing, writing, producing and mixing music both live and in studios all over the world. He's worked in cities like Paris, Boston, Brussels, Stockholm, London and New York just to name a few.
He has his own studio called FLUX Studios in the East Village of New York City.
Fab has been nominated for Grammys 6 times, including two Latin Grammys and has received many other accolades around the world, including Victoires de la Musique, South African Music awards, Pan African Music Awards and US independent music awards.
This guitarplayer is not my bag. However, I do think the octiviser would sound better after the splitter into the bass amp, so the guitar amp could be cleaner and have more punch.
weissmar
2016 Nov 07
Video has not full length. It's only about 0:57 in the player. There was a similar problem with another video. Can anyone of the puremix team fix it?
sebF
2014 Sep 12
Nice video !
I highly appreciate the details about the sound, and audio comparisons with amps/DI sounds.
Thanks for this !
jimi88
2014 Sep 10
Very informative. I'd be back for more but a little too pricey per mo. for me right now.
