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Nolly Getgood Explain His Sound

#21
MCS4 said:
While there are exceptions to every rule, it is much more common in the metal scene to attempt to play every part and every song as consistently and exactly "correct" as possible, every time. The impact of the instruments locking together precisely in the manner in which the parts were written is generally considered more important than any concept of freshness or spontaneity. A player who tried to "play every tune a bit differently every time" would probably be fired from most metal bands pretty quickly.
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This is pretty meaningless as a blanket statement, IMO.

Like any other genre, great metal is all about dynamics. "All instruments locked in exactly" is just one tool in the toolbox, and can often be deployed most effectively when juxtaposed by sections that breathe a little more easily.
 
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#22
callofcthulhu said:
This is pretty meaningless as a blanket statement, IMO.

Like any other genre, great metal is all about dynamics. "All instruments locked in exactly" is just one tool in the toolbox, and can often be deployed most effectively when juxtaposed by sections that breathe a little more easily.
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Totally agree. I probably would have said.. "tell that to Voivod, or Black Breath, or...."
 
#23
I’m not so full of myself to say that Nolly’s “wrong”, but wow do I not like his picking technique and I don’t like it being pitched as the way to get a great metal sound. Nearly everything about it just bugs me. There’s not a single good reason in the world why a bassist’s upstroke shouldn’t be just as heavy sounding as his downstroke, unless maybe he’s playing an 8-string or something like that. And if you’re going to bounce the strings off the fretboard to get that aggressiveness then you may as well use your fingers, you’re taking on the limitations of a pick and not really getting much back. And... changing up your picking technique to avoid notes sounding out of tune? Why wouldn’t you just use heavier strings? Isn’t string tension the whole point of that style of fretboard? I dunno.

Like I said, he’s not “wrong”, his way clearly works very well for him and probably for some other players as well. You can’t argue with results. But wow... blech, I just really don’t like it.
 
#24
Its funny, I watched this come up in the metal scene. It all started because bands were doing pre-production with MIDI drums that were hard quantized and they got used to that sound and feel. So then in the studio, the drummer was either awesome or fired for another guy who could play on the beat as tight as possible so that drum editing was easier.

Then guys started doing MIDI bass too since a lot of the demos were written by guitarists who hard quantized the drum and bass parts. Anyway, thats how it all got its start. Basically the sound and feel of the demo became the desired sound on the finished release. I think people will grow tired of it and want some slop back in there, but it's been the sound for a while now. I personally preferred the old Lamb of God record As the Palaces burn, that Devin Townsend did. Technically sounded kind of bad, but it had a vibe and became a legendary release due to that fact.They remastered it, and you can hear the bass better now which is cool, but I still like the original the most.
 
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#25
callofcthulhu said:
Like any other genre, great metal is all about dynamics. "All instruments locked in exactly" is just one tool in the toolbox, and can often be deployed most effectively when juxtaposed by sections that breathe a little more easily.
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I'm not talking about everyone playing the same "part" as each other at all times, I'm talking about everyone playing their own individual parts generally the same way night after night so everyone can lock in, rather than frequently improvising or ad-libbing.
 
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#26
Nashrakh said:
As I commented on the video also, I find this notion of sounding like a midi track funny. So why not actually use one? I'm being serious. If it works for Meshuggah and their programmed drums, it might as well work for other instruments.
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Meshuggah only programmed drums for one record, and have never used programmed bass.

Periphery currently tours without a live bass player though.
 
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#27
It surprises me that Nolly's tone became as wildy popular a fad as it did. For a number of years there, every new metal band under the sun (not really, but it sure felt like it) was grabbing Darkglass stuff and copying that sound.

Never much cared for it, personally. I always thought it makes the bass sound way too thin.
 
#28
BurtMacklinFBI said:
I’m not so full of myself to say that Nolly’s “wrong”, but wow do I not like his picking technique and I don’t like it being pitched as the way to get a great metal sound. Nearly everything about it just bugs me. There’s not a single good reason in the world why a bassist’s upstroke shouldn’t be just as heavy sounding as his downstroke, unless maybe he’s playing an 8-string or something like that. And if you’re going to bounce the strings off the fretboard to get that aggressiveness then you may as well use your fingers, you’re taking on the limitations of a pick and not really getting much back. And... changing up your picking technique to avoid notes sounding out of tune? Why wouldn’t you just use heavier strings? Isn’t string tension the whole point of that style of fretboard? I dunno.

Like I said, he’s not “wrong”, his way clearly works very well for him and probably for some other players as well. You can’t argue with results. But wow... blech, I just really don’t like it.
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Why are are you going to the trouble of arguing with the results if “you can’t argue with results”?

Some of what you said is factually incorrect: upstrokes and downstrokes will always sound slightly different, and there are specific reasons you may choose one or the other for a given part.

That’s why James Hetfield and many other metal players use downstrokes even on passages that are REALLY fast.

No idea what you’re talking about with the “limitations of a pick” bit, or the “if you’re going to play hard you should just use your fingers” piece either.

It seems like you’re not really understanding the concepts that he’s discussing in the video: he’s picking downward so that he can attack the strings aggressively enough to get the sound he’s after without the initial attack of each note going sharp.

What you’re framing as needless change is simply just sound technique: putting on heavier strings won’t stop the note from going sharp when you first attack it if you’re playing that hard.

That’s why fingerstyle players like Alex Webster have a similar “bounce the string off the fretboard” technique.
 
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#29
IconBasser said:
It surprises me that Nolly's tone became as wildy popular a fad as it did. For a number of years there, every new metal band under the sun (not really, but it sure felt like it) was grabbing Darkglass stuff and copying that sound.

Never much cared for it, personally. I always thought it makes the bass sound way too thin.
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Nolly’s bass sound is some of the thickest and most present on any modern metal recording: no idea how anyone could hear it as “thin” unless you’re listening on a system with no response from 200Hz down.

There’s a YouTube video of him building a sound ITB using a clean DI, definitely worth checking out.
 
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#32
MDBass said:
Why are are you going to the trouble of arguing with the results if “you can’t argue with results”?

Some of what you said is factually incorrect: upstrokes and downstrokes will always sound slightly different, and there are specific reasons you may choose one or the other for a given part.
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Sorry, but I worked very hard on my upstrokes to make them sound the same as my down strokes. I honestly don't believe anyone could tell.

Hmmm....getting an idea for a shootout.
 
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#33
MDBass said:
Nolly’s bass sound is some of the thickest and most present on any modern metal recording: no idea how anyone could hear it as “thin” unless you’re listening on a system with no response from 200Hz down.

There’s a YouTube video of him building a sound ITB using a clean DI, definitely worth checking out.
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"Thin" is an inherently subjective adjective. I'm not talking about the lowest frequencies exclusively, but the whole low to midrange spectrum. Darkglass stuff has a huge notch right around the 500 hz range, which leaves the bass feeling kind of... empty, I guess.

Actually, now that you mention it, Nolly's tone is pretty lacking in the bass region, too. It's all hi mid grind. Just doesn't feel right
 
#34
JimmyM said:
Sorry, but I worked very hard on my upstrokes to make them sound the same as my down strokes. I honestly don't believe anyone could tell.
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I’ve spent enough time engineering that I can just about guarantee that a straight 8th line will not sound exactly the same, even to your own ears, when played down-picked versus alternate.

It’s more of a feel thing than a timbre thing: again, there is a reason why downpicking or alternate picking is used.

They even sample alternate picking in MIDI bass VST’s for the same reason: the feel is a little different.

He mentions and demonstrates the more “rolling” feel of alternate picking a few minutes into the video.
 
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#35
IconBasser said:
"Thin" is an inherently subjective adjective. I'm not talking about the lowest frequencies exclusively, but the whole low to midrange spectrum. Darkglass stuff has a huge notch right around the 500 hz range, which leaves the bass feeling kind of... empty, I guess.

Actually, now that you mention it, Nolly's tone is pretty lacking in the bass region, too. It's all hi mid grind. Just doesn't feel right
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The only Darkglass pedal that has an inherent notch is the B7k, and it’s closer to 350Hz: the VT isn’t mid shy, and neither is the AO.

You can notch the crap of the the X7 if you want, or dial in a large mid boost.

Listen to the sound he builds on that video I mentioned: nothing at all “lacking” about the low end.

Even the tone on the video the OP posted is quite dark and meaty sounding.
 
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#36
MDBass said:
I’ve spent enough time engineering that I can just about guarantee that a straight 8th line will not sound exactly the same, even to your own ears, when played down-picked versus alternate.

It’s more of a feel thing than a timbre thing: again, there is a reason why downpicking is used.
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OK, it's on, bro!
 

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