Getting a good drone metal sound

[SMILEYSIXX]

Mods, this may be in the wrong section, feel free to move it.

I'm finding myself more and more into drone metal, specifically Sunn O))), and I'm a bit hellbent on playing it. The issue is that I can't nail the specific sound. I got my fuzz sufficiently fuzzy, are there any other effects that would be useful? I was thinking some reverb... and I need to increase my sustain. Drone metal notes are held for a long time, and I'm having trouble with that. Any ways to get my notes to hold longer?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Absentia]

Drone metal?

Edit:
Okay I googled it, so it's basically the very beginning of the Terminator 2 intro only stretched out over 3 minutes?
Throw a compressor at it, maybe some delay?

 

[GHI]

More cabs and more power! And feedback...

What rig do you play? Sunn O))) use Sunn amps
A cranked high powered tube amp would help alot.

A good setup and intonation could help with substaining notes, but it could be you just need more volume and drive to feed.

I don't know about reverb, but a EHX Freeze Sound Retainer creates a drone out of a short part of the input signal. Not sure, but I think it has a bit of a organ'ish sound to it, but with a fuzz pedal after it you may take care of that and could have a drone go on forever. Tho this may be considered cheating

Soundwise I think more like a octave down pedal with good tracking, but this I think could also be considered cheating

Compression is a very good suggestion and could help your rig with substaining notes.

 

[Metal Matt]

Mods, this may be in the wrong section, feel free to move it.

I'm finding myself more and more into drone metal, specifically Sunn O))), and I'm a bit hellbent on playing it. The issue is that I can't nail the specific sound. I got my fuzz sufficiently fuzzy, are there any other effects that would be useful? I was thinking some reverb... and I need to increase my sustain. Drone metal notes are held for a long time, and I'm having trouble with that. Any ways to get my notes to hold longer?

Thanks in advance!

Fuzz, reverb, delay, you name it. Nothing is really off limits here. Only pedals I'd stay away from is anything that'll remove feedback from the signal. On the amp end, you want volume/feedback and lots of it. High volume through lots of speakers along with reverb and fuzz will lead you to near infinite sustain if done right. What having heaps of reverb will do is make your feedback smoother. Instead of your note decaying fast and jumping into feedback, the lower fundamental notes will fade out slower, and the higher harmonic feedback will come in smoother. It will also mask your attack a bit, which seems to be common in Sunn O))) stuff. Another trick for sustain is butting your headstock against one of your cabs. For me, my minimum for getting all this stuff done is 2 amps and 2 2x15's. Live I use a couple more cabs. Slowly selling off/buying new stuff so I end up with 3 2x15's and 3 amps.

IMO drone isn't about just having one set sound. At the speeds the music is played, it's more about exploring the subtleties of your instrument/pedals/amps. Changing controls to get certain frequencies to sound out, moving your picking hand to get different sounds, etc... All things that are considered in faster music, but they become the focus when you're playing a riff that takes over a minute to play through one time. You hear Sunn play a power chord and your focus is on that one chord and the subtle little noises and sounds going on within it.

 

[SMILEYSIXX]

I guess it could help if I posted my current set up. Fender Bassman 350 (tube amp, 15 watt speaker), using a little big muff for overdrive, sound hold on my ME-50B, and reverb on ME-50B. There are a few compressor options: d-comp, 1600 hard, 1600 soft, limiter, and natural. I'll check out the compressors when I have a chance.

Sound good?

 

[GHI]

Yeah, sure. If your serious tho, I would read more into what Metal Matt said in his post. I think this guy knows what he is talking about.
A compressor could help, but personally I think I would want to have the sound as open as possible and would prefer not to use a compressor. Try them out and see, but I would go for more speakers if you can. And perhaps a amp and cab to pair up with your rig, if you can afford it.

I hope you meant 15 inch speakers, and not watts. If not we may have found your problem
How many of those 15" you got? I say; If only one, get another. If two, get more cabs and more amps.

 

[SMILEYSIXX]

Yes, 15 INCHES lol. I have that and, once I get it fixed, a 60 watt rumble series. I have two outputs on the ME-50B, so I'll send on through the big muff and another through a wah to add a little mixture to the sound. The muff will go the Bassman 350, the wah going to the Rumble 60. The compression altered the raw sound too much for me, so I think added voume will be best.

 

[Metal Matt]

Yeah, sure. If your serious tho, I would read more into what Metal Matt said in his post. I think this guy knows what he is talking about.

FWIW, I've never played drone stuff live, although my bands sets sometimes incorporate lots of noise/drone in between songs. Made some strictly drone stuff on my own though. No expert, just got a little experience with this stuff.

SMILEYSIXX. I'd say with those two amps, you'd be off to a good start to record some stuff, and it would give you enough volume to get the kind of feedback interaction you would want for this. For a live setting though, I'd save up and get a couple separate amp heads and 2 or more large cabs. I wouldn't personally run the fuzz into one, and the wah into another, but that's just me. I meant to mention wah actually. Mixed with reverb you can sort of play around with the feedback using a wah so you can bring out different harmonics within the notes you're playing. Say you hold out a chord and sweep the pedal to like half way, or wherever it lands on a harmonic you want present and hold it, then sweep the pedal till it picks up a different harmonic and hold that etc... I use my wah pedal for this type of slow sweeping, opposed to more traditional "funk" sort of uses of the pedal. Not sure if having your fuzz and wah in a different chain will produce the same results, as I have all my pedals together going into the same amp, at which point I run the line out to my 2nd amp, and from there into my 3rd.

 

[panama]

You need more speakers!

 

[SMILEYSIXX]

FWIW, I've never played drone stuff live, although my bands sets sometimes incorporate lots of noise/drone in between songs. Made some strictly drone stuff on my own though. No expert, just got a little experience with this stuff.

SMILEYSIXX. I'd say with those two amps, you'd be off to a good start to record some stuff, and it would give you enough volume to get the kind of feedback interaction you would want for this. For a live setting though, I'd save up and get a couple separate amp heads and 2 or more large cabs. I wouldn't personally run the fuzz into one, and the wah into another, but that's just me. I meant to mention wah actually. Mixed with reverb you can sort of play around with the feedback using a wah so you can bring out different harmonics within the notes you're playing. Say you hold out a chord and sweep the pedal to like half way, or wherever it lands on a harmonic you want present and hold it, then sweep the pedal till it picks up a different harmonic and hold that etc... I use my wah pedal for this type of slow sweeping, opposed to more traditional "funk" sort of uses of the pedal. Not sure if having your fuzz and wah in a different chain will produce the same results, as I have all my pedals together going into the same amp, at which point I run the line out to my 2nd amp, and from there into my 3rd.

Maybe a better idea would be to run it through my big muff, into the ME-50B, and send one channel directly to the amp and the other through the wah?

And yes, I'm saving up for some more amps.

 

[Metal Matt]

Maybe a better idea would be to run it through my big muff, into the ME-50B, and send one channel directly to the amp and the other through the wah?

And yes, I'm saving up for some more amps.

Do it and find out. I don't know anything about the ME-50B. I'd give all possibilities a shot though. I'd go wah into fuzz, into the ME-50B, as wah sounds drastically different before and after a fuzz. After fuzz it's way harsher sounding. Do what works for you man. I'd just make sure that little noise suppressor switch is off on your ME-50B.

 

[SMILEYSIXX]

Do it and find out. I don't know anything about the ME-50B. I'd give all possibilities a shot though. I'd go wah into fuzz, into the ME-50B, as wah sounds drastically different before and after a fuzz. After fuzz it's way harsher sounding. Do what works for you man. I'd just make sure that little noise suppressor switch is off on your ME-50B.

Well I'm on my way home from from school right now going home to an empty house so I can experiment with the loud feedback without worries

The noise suppressor might be on, so I'll check it first. I'll experiment with some different possibilities, I'm not sure how the wah is gonna turn out because it's for guitar and removes a lot of bass when I play with it.

 

[SMILEYSIXX]

Update time: running my bass into my wah, then to the ME-50B, and finally through the fuzz aand then into the amp. Didn't split the signal anywhere. Matt's right, wah can be greatly affected by what order it's in. I turned my noise suppressor al the way off and get tones of feedback. The sound hold and reverb on the ME-50B along with a cranked up amp are giving me massive sustain. I turned the compressor off completely, it really restricted the sound. EQ-wise, I'm emphasizing the low frequencies and boosting my mids and cutting the treble down quite a bit. I'm getting some astounding sounds out of it.

Thanks everyone!

 

[Kagakuninja]

I'm more experienced at guitar drone, but the same techniques should apply to bass. One approach is the giant stack of amps, as described by others. However I have a bad back and messed up ears, that is not for me...

I use fuzz and/or distortion, into a digital delay, optional flanger, into an analog delay, with an optional compressor last.

The digital delay time is several seconds, either set at 100% feedback to make loops, or lower feedback to have something that evolves (95% is a slowly changing sound, 50% changes faster). The analog delay is around 300-400ms, set at as much feedback as possible before it will self-oscillate. The analog delay basically blends everything, then the compressor evens out the overall volume.

To make the drone, feed volume swells into the effect chain. At high feedback on the digital delay, you can stack multiple layers of swells (different octaves and/or 5ths, slightly detuned notes, etc) to create a rich complex sound. At a lower feedback setting, you can create synthesizer like tones. The swells and delays mute the attack of your playing.

Personally I avoid things like "freeze" effects or static loops, the key is to have a sustained sound that evolves. A note that is unchanging, yet always changing...

 

[Hutzbordello]

two 2x10's at 500w enough?