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Somewhat related, my colleague has studied the interplay between distortion harmonics and chordal harmony in metal music: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/b2e2

Somewhat related, my colleague has studied the interplay between distortion harmonics and chordal harmony in metal music: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/b2e2/c20f8fe3ad45d39bc8f5623b50100338e35c.pdf https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/b2e2/c20f8fe3ad45d39bc8f562...

hrnnnnnn 6y ago
This is really interesting! One way to get a clearer sound with modern high-gain metal tone is to record each note of a chord running through the amp individually. (I can't remember exactly, but I think this avoids "intermodulation" distortion within the amp itself.)
- vnorilo 6y ago
  Yes, I can confirm you won't get intermodulation and the harmonic mix will be less dense.
- ubercow13 6y ago
  I wonder, has anyone tried making a guitar that outputs the signal from each string's pickup coils separately, and then an amplifier that distorts each signal separately? edit: Looks like this might be exactly that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EUbO59OO_Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EUbO59OO_Y
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - exDM69 6y ago
    Yes, a pickup that has an output for each string is called a "hexaphonic pickup". Note that normal guitar pickups have one or two coils (humbucker) that span all six strings. A hexaphonic pickup has 6 or 12 coils for 6 outputs, one (or two) per string. The first time I recall hearing about this was with In Flames' album Reroute to Remain. That album has pretty fat distortion sounds.
  - 01100011 6y ago
    Over the years my EE background led me to wonder about a number of different ways you could improve an electric guitar, only to find out later that they've all been done before. There are quite a few nerds who love music and they've been experimenting for decades.
  - ftio 6y ago
    The Line6 Variax does this. With their digital modelers, you can set different effects for each string. Pretty wild.
  - hrnnnnnn 6y ago
    Martin from Wintergatan (of Marble Machine fame) has made a bass guitar with a separate pickup and output for every string. This lets him do things like mute one string when another starts playing in software, as he won't always have his hands on the bass to be able to mute the non-playing strings. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvL83-iy-EQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvL83-iy-EQ
    - kchr 6y ago
      Wow, thanks for sharing.
  - Supernaut 6y ago
    The ARP Avatar could do this in 1977.
- smcameron 6y ago
  This is one reason Iron Maiden sounds so cool, because they have lots of harmonized guitar parts played by multiple guitarists. (loads of other bands too, but Iron Maiden is especially well known for this.) OTOH, so called "power chords" (root + 5th, or root + 4th) also sound pretty cool because of the "intermodulation" distortion. But it's true that "overly complicated" chords can be a tough listen with heavy amounts of distortion.
  - mrob 6y ago
    Intermodulation distortion creates new tones with frequencies at the sum and difference of the frequencies (and integer multiple of the frequencies) of each pair of tones you're distorting. Usually this produces tones that are harmonically unrelated, but in the case of a power chord it produces a harmonic series with a fundamental one octave below the root of the power chord (0.5 times its frequency). The fundamentals of the notes of the power chord have frequency ratio 1:1.5 Where i, j, k are all integers: 0.5 * i = 1 * j + 1.5 * k 0.5 * i = 1 * j - 1.5 * k No matter what combination of frequencies you select, you always end up with multiples of 0.5. Even if you extend the power chord with the octave (frequency ratios 1:1.5:2) you still only get multiples of 0.5. The same applies if you add the harmonic overtones of the fundamentals. This generation of a new bass note contributes to the "heavy" sound. But in reality guitar strings have non-zero thickness, which means they produce notes with overtones that aren't perfectly harmonic (they are non-integer multiples of the fundamental) . This means you actually won't get perfect multiples of 0.5 of the root of the chord, but it's close enough that the inharmonicity just adds even more "heavy" sound without sounding like noise.

hrnnnnnn 6y ago

This is really interesting! One way to get a clearer sound with modern high-gain metal tone is to record each note of a chord running through the amp individually. (I can't remember exactly, but I think this avoids "intermodulation" distortion within the amp itself.)

vnorilo 6y ago
Yes, I can confirm you won't get intermodulation and the harmonic mix will be less dense.
ubercow13 6y ago
I wonder, has anyone tried making a guitar that outputs the signal from each string's pickup coils separately, and then an amplifier that distorts each signal separately? edit: Looks like this might be exactly that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EUbO59OO_Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EUbO59OO_Y
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- exDM69 6y ago
  Yes, a pickup that has an output for each string is called a "hexaphonic pickup". Note that normal guitar pickups have one or two coils (humbucker) that span all six strings. A hexaphonic pickup has 6 or 12 coils for 6 outputs, one (or two) per string. The first time I recall hearing about this was with In Flames' album Reroute to Remain. That album has pretty fat distortion sounds.
- 01100011 6y ago
  Over the years my EE background led me to wonder about a number of different ways you could improve an electric guitar, only to find out later that they've all been done before. There are quite a few nerds who love music and they've been experimenting for decades.
- ftio 6y ago
  The Line6 Variax does this. With their digital modelers, you can set different effects for each string. Pretty wild.
- hrnnnnnn 6y ago
  Martin from Wintergatan (of Marble Machine fame) has made a bass guitar with a separate pickup and output for every string. This lets him do things like mute one string when another starts playing in software, as he won't always have his hands on the bass to be able to mute the non-playing strings. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvL83-iy-EQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvL83-iy-EQ
  - kchr 6y ago
    Wow, thanks for sharing.
- Supernaut 6y ago
  The ARP Avatar could do this in 1977.
smcameron 6y ago
This is one reason Iron Maiden sounds so cool, because they have lots of harmonized guitar parts played by multiple guitarists. (loads of other bands too, but Iron Maiden is especially well known for this.) OTOH, so called "power chords" (root + 5th, or root + 4th) also sound pretty cool because of the "intermodulation" distortion. But it's true that "overly complicated" chords can be a tough listen with heavy amounts of distortion.
- mrob 6y ago
  Intermodulation distortion creates new tones with frequencies at the sum and difference of the frequencies (and integer multiple of the frequencies) of each pair of tones you're distorting. Usually this produces tones that are harmonically unrelated, but in the case of a power chord it produces a harmonic series with a fundamental one octave below the root of the power chord (0.5 times its frequency). The fundamentals of the notes of the power chord have frequency ratio 1:1.5 Where i, j, k are all integers: 0.5 * i = 1 * j + 1.5 * k 0.5 * i = 1 * j - 1.5 * k No matter what combination of frequencies you select, you always end up with multiples of 0.5. Even if you extend the power chord with the octave (frequency ratios 1:1.5:2) you still only get multiples of 0.5. The same applies if you add the harmonic overtones of the fundamentals. This generation of a new bass note contributes to the "heavy" sound. But in reality guitar strings have non-zero thickness, which means they produce notes with overtones that aren't perfectly harmonic (they are non-integer multiples of the fundamental) . This means you actually won't get perfect multiples of 0.5 of the root of the chord, but it's close enough that the inharmonicity just adds even more "heavy" sound without sounding like noise.