High pitched guitar sound?

[TheSquidgster]

Hi all,

I really dont know how to describe this, so please bear with me (and thank you in advance for your patience!)...

The sound I'm looking to achieve is the high pitched, glassy, very reverb-heavy sound used mostly in intros (see TesseracT's Concealing Fate pt 2 : Deception or Hacktivist's Cold Shoulders for good examples). I've tried pitch shifting the guitar and applying a reverb, but that sounds too processed, I cant get the harmonic, glass chime-like sound that I'm looking for.

I currently have my main set up on Win7 using Reaper with Poulin VST's for my main tone, but if there's nothing anyone can suggest in Reaper I also have Pro Tools 8 LE and a MacBook Pro with Logic Pro 8. I'm definitely not averse to having to download more VST's, but if possible I'd like to stick to freeware.

I'm welcome to any and all suggestions, so please, fire away!

 

[JLP2005]

I remember reading the guitarist from Tess posting here saying that it was a pitch shifter/octave pedal + the Line 6 Piezoacoustic modeler with a healthy dose of treble and presence.. Neck pickup, presence up. Pick an octave-down and play on the upper frets.

He might even have a tone patch on here somewhere-- what interface are you using?

 

[TheSquidgster]

I'm using an mBox 2 - still on PT8 so I need Digi hardware to run it, and it certainly isn't the worst piece of kit I've used. Are there any half decent Piezoacoustic modeler VST's that you know of?

 

[JLP2005]

Oh, man, I haven't the slightest clue :\

 

[greglecompte]

if you have podfarm 2 you can do it or you can buy a vst wrapper from fxpansion and use whatever vat you want

 

[TheSquidgster]

I'm using Reaper, so VST's aren't an issue, I jus have little to no idea what to look for!

 

[DrewsifStalin]

no dude, just track one guitar part, then the same part an octave higher. clean amp modeling WITHOUT a cab impulse. little bit of compression and lots of presence.

 

[TheSquidgster]

no dude, just track one guitar part, then the same part an octave higher. clean amp modeling WITHOUT a cab impulse. little bit of compression and lots of presence.

Is that how you got the sound on 'An Unconventional Tempest'? That's exactly what I'm looking for, and that's a beautiful example (and one that I'm kinda kicking myself for not referencing!)

 

[jCo76]

Quad-track or double-track the same part, one in an octave higher and pan them accordingly (ie, lower octave panned to the left and higher to the right 100%). Send the tracks to an FX channel and process it with a long reverb-tail and blend to taste. Experiment with EQ & compression, add delay for a Tesseract-y feel.

 

[TheSquidgster]

Would this sound too artificial if I ADT'd it and used a pitch shifter instead of tracking a higher octave part?

 

[JLP2005]

Would this sound too artificial if I ADT'd it and used a pitch shifter instead of tracking a higher octave part?

I say go for it! You may end up finding something 'better' through your own methods!

 

[penguin_316]

What Drew said but also layer multiple tracks in different octaves around the neck...different positions and strings on the neck. Acoustic sim with no cab...very dry and presence up. Add delay+reverb in your DAW or you can have some in the actual tone as well.

The more tracks/octaves you do tends to give you that sound...same riff played in 3 different positions on the guitar gives this sound immediately.

 

[DrewsifStalin]

dont pitch shift it. track the higher part ya lazy goon!

 

[TheSquidgster]

Haha yeah, pitch shifting did NOT give the result I was after I'll be tracking later tonight, I'll let you know if I succeed!

 

[bhakan]

This video is a good demo on how to do it (on a pod HD). It gives a good idea of what effects to use, pod or not.

 

[DrewsifStalin]

that pitch shifter just doesnt cut it, dude. track the high octave!

 

[TheSquidgster]

Right, tomorrow night I'll be fooling around to try and nail this sound, once and for all. I think that vid is excellent (I don't have pod farm, but like you said, the FX are pretty universal) but I will be tracking the separate octaves instead of pitch shifting them, as it sounds just a little TOO unnatural. Many thanks Bhakan and Drewsif (on an unrelated note, I totally gushed like a little fanboy when I saw you'd posted Drew )!

 

[bcfox]

Right, tomorrow night I'll be fooling around to try and nail this sound, once and for all. I think that vid is excellent (I don't have pod farm, but like you said, the FX are pretty universal) but I will be tracking the separate octaves instead of pitch shifting them, as it sounds just a little TOO unnatural. Many thanks Bhakan and Drewsif (on an unrelated note, I totally gushed like a little fanboy when I saw you'd posted Drew )!

Pitch shifters aren't really universal so if you're going to go that route, I'd recommend experimenting with a few options. Most track terribly, and you'll need a solidly in key track running into it as it will intensify any pitch issues particularly with reverb and delay laden tracks. Intonation is a big deal regardless of technique so be mindful. I agree with Drewsif on the L6 pitch effects as my experience with the POD HD and X3 pitch shifters was pretty terrible. The tracking was always terrible for me so I would usually forgo and either track an octaves or give up altogether.

The best result I've had recently is taking the track out of my Eleven Rack, clean amp with compression, EQ, delay, and reverb. I then route it into Guitar Rig 5, split the signal, and then run two separate whammy instances. The first blends about 30-35% an octave up. I choose to run a small detune on this one (10 cents I think), but that's just something I like to do for a slight modulation of sorts. The second instance is an octave below blended anywhere between 10 and 20% depending on what I'm looking for at the time. I like the octave below to really rest low in the mix, existing more to round out the tone than actually be heard. I dual to quad track blending single-coils and humbuckers as well as different EQ's. This sounds great for me if it's the majority of the mix. If there's distorted guitars underneath, I usually have some more post processing to dull down the highs so the tracks aren't as harsh competing with the other tracks.

 

[Kurkkuviipale]

Pitch shifting will result in the original sound and the pitch shifted sound interfering in phase, so it will result in drastically different outcomes than just tracking it octave higher. Try both ways out and decide what you want, I bet they'll both be really nice sounding in their own way.

Actually, in a kind of related note, I used pitch shifter (12 semis) to 100% reverb in this piece. (For acoustic guitars) It adds a nice ambience, but isn't really what you're striving for, I guess:

https://soundcloud.com/kurkkuviipale/april-cover-clip

 

[irondavidson]

If you are looking to do it with a good pedal, i can recommend you the Morpheus Capo.
...and the Morpheus Drop Tune for lowering the pitch..