Maybe the wrong forum, but what's the "Clanky" sound?

[Hamlet7768]

I've heard people mention it, often in the context of either Steve Harris or plucking very hard (or both). What exactly does it refer to? Is it just that very distinctive tone Harris has?

[sammyp]

clank is playing so hard that your fretted or open string hits and clanks against the next fret above what you are fretting.

it is accepted in heavy music as part of the sound ....for my own playing i hate it any time any style!

[F Clef Groovist]

I personally can't stand this style either. However, the best way, for me, to go between a good nice warm finger style and a "clack" (or avoid the clack in my case) is to think about the string's angle of movment. If you move the string perpendicular to the body, you will more than likely strike the fretboard on the attack causing a clack, and in many cases get fret buzz due to the string motion going up and back down and striking the frets several times. Obviously the inverse of this is going to be to make the string move parallel to the body, and the string will not move into the frets. To get the clack, that i used to use, I just simply make my fingers a little more parallel to the body, and with a decent amount of energy play on top of the string. It's kinda like slaping with your first 2 fingers somewhere between the midpoint of your bridge and the edge of the neck. When you want a clean sound, it get's easier the closer you play to the bridge, but you can really play anywhere. pluck on the side of the string with your fingers closer to perependicular to the body.

While playing hard is an important part of the clack, you can play hard without clacking.

[Geroi Asfalta]

I enjoy the clanky sound for some reason, except with new strings, because all I get are "CLICK! Zing...." sounds. But after a few days, I get the sounds I like.

I don't glide over my strings, I whack them. On a steady line, it's kind of a
"thump-clack-click-doink-thump-clank-fart" type sound.

[Psycho]

It's either achieved with low action, or a very heavy attack.

Steve Harris has a clanky sound, but actually one of the lightest touches out there.

Compare him to another metal bassist, Alex Webster, who gets his clanking sound from sheer force of fingers.

[Jazzdogg]

Most of the problem resides in the hands of the player. But, there are a few other things that can be done to reduce the annoyance:

Play with a lighter touch.

Increase the height of the strings above the frets.

Adjust the truss rod to increase relief.

Switch from stainless to nickel rounds, flat-wounds or tape-wounds.

EQ to reduce output @ ~600Hz.

Turn down or turn off the tweeter on your bass cab.


IMHO; IME; YMMV; YADDA, YADDA, YADDA

[Ric5]

This is clank on bass

Freewill - Rush - YouTube

[RBrownBass]

Originally Posted by F Clef Groovist

I personally can't stand this style either.

It was once referred to as a technique flaw or the result of a poor (or nonexistent) setup. Some even opine that making a short trip to the amp and turning up the volume a bit is in order if you're having to play hard enough to have strings clacking and clanking against the frets in front of the one you're holding down.

String and fret noise are not "ambient". They can and ought to be minimized if they cannot be eliminated outright.

Not a dig at you. Neither of us can stand it. You were diplomatic enough to call it a style is all. We're on the same page.

[CannyBusDriver]

is it only me or do Rickenbackers get a lot of clank? sure it has more to do with the player of course...

[lowendfriend]

Clank or clack is setup (action) vs playing hardness/precision. If you get more than you like, increase the action.....just had to on my Corvette.

[Hamlet7768]

Originally Posted by Auriaprottu

It was once referred to as a technique flaw or the result of a poor (or nonexistent) setup. Some even opine that making a short trip to the amp and turning up the volume a bit is in order if you're having to play hard enough to have strings clacking and clanking against the frets in front of the one you're holding down.

String and fret noise are not "ambient". They can and ought to be minimized if they cannot be eliminated outright.

Not a dig at you. Neither of us can stand it. You were diplomatic enough to call it a style is all. We're on the same page.

I'll just say that some bassists, notably Steve Harris and Cliff Burton (Harris far more notably) made great use of the clank to make the bass more forward in the mix. I like their tones, but I asked this unsure of what exactly caused it.

[F Clef Groovist]

You may hear it more in the mix, but what you prodominantly hear (especially live), to me, sounds like a broken slapstick. That's what the drummer is for. You have diatonic pitch. use it. Also, it sounds to me like the actual note volume is a little quiter than you can get with usual fingerstyle at loud dynamics coming from the hands. Also, I hear people defend this "style" and picking as a way to be heard in metal. That just doesn't make any sence to me. If you're maxed out on your hands' volume, turn your amp up. If the sound guy won't let you, just do the soundcheck with your volume a little lower, then crank it. If the sound guy is lame enough to kill the bass sound, he won't be smart enough to turn you back down most of the time, unless you over-kill it.

[RBrownBass]

Originally Posted by Hamlet7768

I'll just say that some bassists, notably Steve Harris and Cliff Burton (Harris far more notably) made great use of the clank to make the bass more forward in the mix.

Asking here, not disagreeing really... If it's truly clank, you're not going to hear more bass because of it. You're going to hear more of Harris and Burton, yes, but seems to me the added bass presence bass would be cancelled out by the introduction of clank. Now they've got to cut thru guitars, vocals, drums, a crap mix AND their own clank --which is always doubling the bass, while the guitars, drums and vox may or not be-- for the bass to be heard better.

Sounds like a soundman (live) or production (studio) problem to me. I've seen only a couple vids of Burton and none of Maiden (I'll check them out). What I've heard of Burton didn't have that clank, but it was during a solo of sorts.

Give me some examples of both that illustrate what it is that's impossible to address by simply putting the bass a bit more forward in the mix, either thru mixing or using a bass with more cut-thru than a P (in Harris' case) pickup. I'm no metal fan, but I've read here plenty of times that Metallica's albums don't have much bass to them.

[Psycho]

Originally Posted by Auriaprottu

I'm no metal fan, but I've read here plenty of times that Metallica's albums don't have much bass to them.

This is true, the bass tracks get so butchered in the mixing...

Metallica - Master of Puppets - Bass Only - By Cliff Burton - YouTube

Cliff Burton has clank and plenty of actual bass sound.

In my listening to Iron Maiden, Steve seems to have a lot more going on in terms of mids than bass. Harris seems to favor the higher strings, as well as his EQ being mid heavy.

I think the amount of clank overpowering the bass is more of an EQ issue, not an inherent problem.

[grendle]

Its basically a technique which gives mainly finger players more attack and pecusive tone. By striking down on the strings more than across (with your picking / plucking hand) you get the sound of the strings clicking on the fretboard which is the "clank". Easier to get with fingers but you can get it with a pick also. Steve Harris is a prime example, also check out old anthrax or skid row (skid row uses a pick n lots of mids). Geddy lee and john entwistle also get a good clank tone. Sounds good when you do it right and it fits the music.

[ksandvik]

Low string setup + compression. Helps if you have a maple neck that sounds more bright.

[Hamlet7768]

Originally Posted by Auriaprottu

Asking here, not disagreeing really... If it's truly clank, you're not going to hear more bass because of it. You're going to hear more of Harris and Burton, yes, but seems to me the added bass presence bass would be cancelled out by the introduction of clank.

I meant the bass, as in the bass guitar itself, not the "bass frequencies."

[RBrownBass]

Originally Posted by Psycho

This is true, the bass tracks get so butchered in the mixing...

Metallica - Master of Puppets - Bass Only - By Cliff Burton - YouTube

Cliff Burton has clank and plenty of actual bass sound.

In my listening to Iron Maiden, Steve seems to have a lot more going on in terms of mids than bass. Harris seems to favor the higher strings, as well as his EQ being mid heavy.

I think the amount of clank overpowering the bass is more of an EQ issue, not an inherent problem.

Thanks! Checked out a few more vids while I was at it.

Cool playing. But between the distortion and the clank, I still can't see how the bass would be heard thry a mix any better than pure bass turned up a bit. I get that I'm not an expert in how metal works, but I'm sure there's metal that uses a more traditional bass sound.

I'm not for a moment dissing Cliff Burton's note selection, but this still sounds to me like a solution to a "How do I cut thru this mix without volume?" question. Volume isn't the key to most solutions, but in Metallica's case, it is.

[grendle]

Not about cutting through, just the tone. Check out some iron maiden videos.

[Jeff Huber]

This is somewhat in counterpoint to an earlier post, but I find I end up with unwanted clank when I set the strings too high or when I leave the truss rod adjustment so there's too much of a bow in the neck. The clanks will mostly occur in the vicinity of the 8th fret where the bottom of your bow normally is, and where the guides I have used say to measure the string height with your feeler gage.

Thanks for introducing this topic as it doesn't seem to be discussed as much as fret buzz.

Jeff