Distortion
What is distortion?
First of Distortion is a form of audio signal processing. Distortion is known to create a fuzzy, gritty and growling tone. Distortion can be used on almost if not all musical instruments however as I am a guitarist for the duration of this piece of writing I will be focusing greatly on its usage on music created with guitars. Distortion is a commonly used effect throughout music and is created through many ways. Traditionally distortion comes from guitar amps; where the amount of gain being let into the amplifier is more then what the volume of the amplifier can handle, this results in distorted sound. Distortion can be created in other ways apart from the gain from an amplifier, for example a very common way to gain a distorted sound is through guitar pedals. An example of a commonly used guitar distortion pedal would be the ‘BOSS DS-1’. Other ways of creating distortion include through rack mounts, pre-amps and power-amps.
History
Over the years Distortion has become a key part in multiple genres and modern music would not be the same without it. Lets take a look it where it all began. Distortion first began to take place in the music scene around the time of 1945. Some of the earliest musicians noted to use distortion in their music include Willie Johnson, Muddy Waters and Chuck Berry. However Distortion became more popular in usage more towards 1958 with the uprising in surf guitar music and in the 1960’ s with the massive uprising in rock music.. Some noticeable records include Link Wray’s ‘Rumble’ and Dick Dale’s ‘Misirlou’ which has been used in many films, television programmes and sampled on other tracks countless times. The first “hit” that used a distortion tone was the track “Don’t Worry’ written by Grady Martin; however this was did not occur on purpose as the distortion sound was actually caused by a faulty pre-amp that distorted the guitar signal rather than the earlier discussed ways through pedal or gain, from this other musicians began to take inspiration from this sound and tried to incorporate it into their own music. For example, rock band, The Ventures once they had heard this record seeked help from a friend session musician to try and get that tone this was the creation of the first Distortion stomp box the One of the earliest uses of the distortion pedal in mainstream music was the Gibson Maestro FZ-1 fuzz tone used by Keith Richards of the rolling stones in 1965 while recording the track ‘(I cant get no) Satisfaction’. The Gibson Maestro then went on to become the first commercially buy-able distortion stomp box. Throughout the years distortion pedals have become the most reliable way to gain distortion on guitar while also adding the ability to achieve multiple tones of distortion.
Types of Distortion
There are three main types of distortion that are commonly used throughout modern music. The first of the three is Fuzz. Fuzz pedals where the first distortion pedals that where commercially able to be bought in the mid to late 1960’s. Fuzz is commonly used in blues and blues rock music. Some examples of artists who’ve used the fuzz effect in their music includes Muddy Waters and Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys. One of the most famous and earlier fuzz pedals includes the “Fuzz Face”. The fuzz face was favoured by many guitarists and musicians, most recognisable Jimi Hendrix. Although Fuzz has a very successful career as a type of distortion many guitarists consider it to sound artificial as in some cases the effect has been over bearing.
The Second type of Distortion is Overdrive. Of the three types of distortion pedals overdrive was the latest to be used and be sold commercially. Overdrive is commonly known and associated with the music genre of Metal and all variations of this genre. Other genres that commonly use this effect are Punk or Grunge. One of the most recognisable artiists to use overdrive would be Stevie Ray Vaughan as it was essential to his famous tone. The overdirve pedal that Stevie used also happens to be the most famous type of overdrive pedal. The Ibanez TS8o8 tube screamer. Overdrive is known for preserving some of the undistorted guitar sounds. Another use of overdrive other than tone is that it is widely used in live performances/circumstances in order to boost the sounds of guitars.
The final type of distortion is just straight up distortion. Out of the three types distortion is known for being the most aggressive sounding of the three as they are designed to drastically change the tone of your guitar. Distortion is commonly used yet again in metal and rock music and is used be a vast arrange of different musicians and bands. For the sake of an example heavy metal band August Burns Red on their latest album where recognised for uing distotion greatly mized with clean tones (undistorted singals) to get intressting tones and sounds into their music. They are fantastic for tuning into a thick chunky sound used greatly for the technique of “chugging” or “Djent” on guitar.
How I plan to use distortion.
As I am currently in the process of writing a blues rock EP I am greatly relying on the tones of fuzz pedals to give the music I write a blues tone. However during the recording progress I will most likely use a guitar effects interface through logic rather than actual guitar pedals. As I have free acess to that and do not intend to spend money. However I do have the possibility of using a disotrton pedal as I already own one which might be usefull when trying to enhcancing certain licks or parts of a song. I plan to use subtle distortion on rhythm guitar parts and use a more boosted level of distortion on lead parts. This will allow me to achieve both the blues and rock sound.
Flanger
What is a flanger?
A flanger is a type of phase-shifting and audio effect (that falls under the category of modulation) which is created through mixing to identical audio signals together with having one of the two signals delayed by a very small and slightly changing period. Usually this period is bellow the 20 millisecond mark. This produces what is consider and called a swept comb filter. Most commonly flangers are either installed into guitar amplifiers or in the form of stomp boxes. The sound of a flanger has been commonly describe to resemble the likes of a swooshing noise or a drain pipe. A very well known flanger guitar pedal is the Boss BF-3 flanger. That comes in a neon pink colour for a price of around £105 - £125. Over ways of creating the flanger sound is through.
History
The first recorded use of the flanger dates back to 1952 on the track “Mammy’s Boogie” written by Les Paul. In fact it was Les Paul who created the effect by using two disk recorders with one having a speed control. However the first “hit” that used a flanger was the “Big Hurt” in 1959 by Toni Fisher which has a very dominating flanging effect. The flanger began to rise in popularity throughout the 60’s with likes of The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix and Captain beef-heart using them in their music. However the decade the flanger had hthe biggest affect on was the 70’s with the likes of british artists such as Brian May of Queen and David Bowie using flangers greatly in they’re own music. During the 80’s you’d expect to find the flanging noise on more experimental records from musicians and bands such as The Stone Roses and Frank Zappa. Notable usage of the flanger in the 90’s include being used by Blur and Nirvana. As we can clearly see the flanger tone is very much associated and used with the British sound and in British made music. The first flanger pedal to be commercially sold was the MXR M117 which is now produced and sold by Dunlop who also make countless other pedals.
How I would use a Flanger.
As I am yet to expieremtn and use a flanger more in my playing and writing. I am not sure on how I would personally use a flanger. However I am sure that If I did use a flanger I would like it to be used subtley and not be noticable straight away mostly as I am not a fan of the 80’s sound that flanger are assosiated with and would greatly like to try and avoid this tone in my own peronsal music. I also do not see how a flanger would fit into the EP I am currently writing as there are no major usages behind my inspirations for EP. However this does not mean I have shut the idea of using a flanger down completely and I am still open to the idea of using one and will be sure to experiment with a flanger at the next oppurtunity I get. What I do know for sure Is I will yet again use a interface to get the sound rather then buying a pedal or an amplifier with a flanger built in.
What went well
I found when using the Fuzz pedal interface on Logic Pro X the tone sounded almost identical to what I'd expect to gain from a real pedal. I used the "Octafuzz" which is based of the Octavia pedal which was commonly used by Jimi Hendrix. The tone of an Octavia greatly suits the blues rock tone that i was trying to achieve hence why i decided on using this pedal. As the Octafuzz is based off the Octavia I decided to use it. I was pleasantly surprised with my success with the flanger. Prior to experimenting with the flanger for this task i wasn't to sure what to expect but upon working with it i came to realise then when used minimally the outcome of the sound can be used across multiple genres of music.
What didn't go well
At first i found the software confusing to use and was not sure on how to hook up my guitar to the MacBook to run the audio signals through the effect pedals. After aid from my teacher I managed to get a signal and I was taught how to get a signal for future experimenting sessions. One problem I had was that no matter what I did, I did not like the tone of the two pedals combined. At first i though it was just a problem with the levels within the effects however after experimenting i had come to the conclusion that I do just simply not like the tone of the two pedals together.
Did i keep to the original tests
Rather than setting tests I set out to write riffs and sections of songs using the pedals whilst also experimenting. After I had written a intro and verse section of a song i continued to try the different variations of the pedals as well as mixing the pedals. This managed to give me a realistic idea of how i'd use the effects in my own writing as i was using effects that would be expected to be used in the genre of music i am trying to create.
What have you learnt from the tests and how will this help you with future projects
From the tests I have learned not to mix the two pedals together for my personal preference and how to mix the pedals individually for my preferred preference. For the Fuzz pedal i set the fuzz levels at around 10-11 O'clock, the level at 1 O'clock and the tone at 12 O'clock. For the Flanger i had the rate set at 1 O'clock the depth at 12 O'clock, the Feed back very low at 8-9 O'clock and the manual set down all the way. These tests have also in general allowed me to gain a better understanding of these effects work and I can use them in a recording environment.
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