How to get that palm muting sound

[RiDimSky93]

Hi everyone!

I'm new here and I hope this is the right section for this thread. I was listening to some records from the band Helloween, and I was wondering how can I get the palm muting sound that they have used in some of their songs.

A few examples:

in this song, from 0.47 to 1.13


in this one, from the beginning till the start of the verse


and in this one, from 0.11 to 0.28

Thanks to everyone who will try to help me, have a nice day!

 

[Drew]

Just a hunch, but do you listen mostly to djent-style metal? I guess we're calling it "prog" these days?

This is bone-standard palm muting, for virtually all other genres of metal. For whatever reason, djent favors a more percussive style of muting, where you choke up on the strings a little more while muting, moving your palm a little further out onto the strings and away from the bridge to really deaden them for that percussive "djent" sound where it's mostly pick attack. Here, you're not nearly as choked up, so you get more of a "chug" sound when palm-muting.

Basically, just try moving your palm back further on the bridge so the strings are less deadened, and experiment a little until you find a sweet spot. But, this IS what palm muting sounds like, for like 95% of metal.

 

[RiDimSky93]

To be honest I listen almost nothing of djent. When it comes to the Metal genere I mainly listen to heavy and power. But the problem here is that I've tried every technique I know, but I can't get that sound. Maybe there's something about the rig and the general equipment that I'm missing.

 

[nickgray]

But the problem here is that I've tried every technique I know, but I can't get that sound

It would be helpful to post your results.

The palm muting in the videos is nothing special. Maybe it's your technique? Do you know that muting at different locations (closer or farther from the bridge) drastically changes the sound? Pick angle, the shape of the pick, and your picking technique also play a huge role.

 

[RiDimSky93]

Here are some samples I've recorded. This is the closest results I could get experimenting with the right hand. But still the sample 3 sounds really different compared to the other two samples and the videos.

 

[nickgray]

Here are some samples I've recorded

Well, your playing isn't as tight as it needs to be, plus your picking doesn't sound overly aggressive and/or you don't have enough gain, plus you might want to raise your pickups a little bit. Tone wise, you need a bit more highs I think. But overall - you got reasonably workable palm mutes. You just need to tweak things slightly. I though the examples would be way worse somehow Not bad at all though.

 

[awjb68]

Try exploring with your palm position relative to the bridge and find the sweet spot. I find moving up the bridge some way but also using a light touch helps.
Also make sure that you are using the least amount of gain that you can handle and play hard.
Aside from that, avoid flubbiness in your tone.

 

[Mathemagician]

It’s definitely alternate picked as well. So if you’re able to downpick (blessed be thy hand) that fast, my first rec would be that you change it up to alternate picking. Also definitely try to move your palm closer to the bridge/barely muting the strings.

 

[Themistocles]

Hi everyone!

I'm new here and I hope this is the right section for this thread. I was listening to some records from the band Helloween, and I was wondering how can I get the palm muting sound that they have used in some of their songs.

A few examples:

in this song, from 0.47 to 1.13


in this one, from the beginning till the start of the verse


and in this one, from 0.11 to 0.28

Thanks to everyone who will try to help me, have a nice day!

It seems lore like that standard Marshall flavor of amp with a tube screamer into it.... as others have said its super standard. Iron Maiden prolly does it best. Pick super common gear... Humbuckers like SD JB's into a tube screamer into a standard marshall style amp for that high midrangy voice. Consistent picking and palm muting as others are noting.

 

[RiDimSky93]

Well, your playing isn't as tight as it needs to be, plus your picking doesn't sound overly aggressive and/or you don't have enough gain, plus you might want to raise your pickups a little bit. Tone wise, you need a bit more highs I think. But overall - you got reasonably workable palm mutes. You just need to tweak things slightly. I though the examples would be way worse somehow Not bad at all though.

Thank you for the compliment about the samples! In fact I usually try to keep the gain at a reasonable level. If I raise the gain I usually get some muddy tones and I don't like it Yes, I think I should try to hit the strings a little bit harder, tweak the things a little and see what comes out of it

 

[RiDimSky93]

It’s definitely alternate picked as well. So if you’re able to downpick (blessed be thy hand) that fast, my first rec would be that you change it up to alternate picking. Also definitely try to move your palm closer to the bridge/barely muting the strings.

I use alternate picking for that. The first sample is really though to get by only downpicking xD

 

[RiDimSky93]

It seems lore like that standard Marshall flavor of amp with a tube screamer into it.... as others have said its super standard. Iron Maiden prolly does it best. Pick super common gear... Humbuckers like SD JB's into a tube screamer into a standard marshall style amp for that high midrangy voice. Consistent picking and palm muting as others are noting.

In fact, I know that they used Marshall amps for the recordings. But for the model, I really don't know. They used JVMs live for some time. Recently I saw that they're using either fractal and Vox Tonelab Le. But obviously in studio you can use as many amps as you wish

 

[Themistocles]

Sleeping on it I thought about the OP's tone. Yeah, that high midrange bump in most Marshalls is a such a character of those amps. I had a combo 50 watter in high school... ages ago... took that to teach me I didnt like it. But it did palm mute like a boss, my favorite thing about it

as to the OP's dilemma... yes more gain is needed so raise the pickup and hit those strings but your interface input might not be helping. If you dont have Jfets try using a more guitar dedicated preamp in (on clean if you want to reamp. I have an old fender m-80 rack preamp I sometimes use on my DI though I mostly mic speakers I like to add a little back in to get that quicker attack. the compression might be squashing things before they can drive the plugin too. its not terrible... just thin.

 

[Flappydoodle]

Here are some samples I've recorded. This is the closest results I could get experimenting with the right hand. But still the sample 3 sounds really different compared to the other two samples and the videos.

If you want an aggressive sound, you need to pick harder and be more aggressive.

 

[VESmedic]

If you want an aggressive sound, you need to pick harder and be more aggressive.

bingo... most players have NO right hand strength or aggression. ALOT of online youtubers have the right hand of a 90 year old grandma... pick hard, pick aggressive, play the fucking notes like you mean it, the end.