View Full Version : Question about "Ugly" guitar sound


PuzzledMuzzle
05-15-2018, 02:59 AM
That tjacka-tjacka clean sound is so thick and meaty, how did he get that?

Maybe like a great clean amp and just running a compressor pedal to get more low-mid frequencies? Is the signal boosted? I can't even tell.

teh b0lly!!1
05-15-2018, 03:51 AM
i think it's triple tracked, with at least one of the main tracks at the front being a guitar with a Piezo pickup. you could get that sound from electric guitars as well, i had one, but he probably just DI'd his Ovation acoustic straight into the console and threw it on there. he's a good guitar player so his triple tracking is so lined up, it sounds like an effect.

teh b0lly!!1
05-15-2018, 03:58 AM
the rest is just mixing. there are no other instruments to compete for the spectrum so they can EQ and process it to make it sound huge and not worry about having to fit the bass/drums in. which would explain the meatyness.

PuzzledMuzzle
05-15-2018, 04:51 AM
i think it's triple tracked, with at least one of the main tracks at the front being a guitar with a Piezo pickup. you could get that sound from electric guitars as well, i had one, but he probably just DI'd his Ovation acoustic straight into the console and threw it on there. he's a good guitar player so his triple tracking is so lined up, it sounds like an effect.

Cool, did not know this. I've DI'd acoustics too but I never knew you could get a tone like that out of it.

houseofglass11
05-15-2018, 08:25 AM
There’s definitely some delay on the guitar. You can hear it as he slides to the next notes.

themadcaplaughs
05-15-2018, 09:55 AM
I know Billy has since said he wishes he had recorded "Ugly" as initially written; with the quiet-loud-quiet dynamic, but I do love the version he released.

Funbags
05-15-2018, 10:30 AM
There’s definitely some delay on the guitar. You can hear it as he slides to the next notes.

This. The delay is set to 8th notes with a single repeat.

fluxequalsrad
05-15-2018, 11:16 AM
Why has there been multiple threads about the "Ugly" guitar sound its just a palm muted guitar, maybe one of the least interesting songs tone wise in their catalogue.

teh b0lly!!1
05-15-2018, 11:38 AM
list your best sp tones


slow dawn

Ram27
05-15-2018, 01:00 PM
Rocket live @ Rio

PuzzledMuzzle
05-15-2018, 04:25 PM
94 tone all the way. That German show, the tone is fucking divine

And I never use the word divine

Ram27
05-16-2018, 12:31 AM
^Alabamahalle?

That show is fucking divine, don't be ashamed. Guitar tone is amazing, band is speeding the songs up a ton, everyone is sweaty

You can stop throwing cups now. The joke is over

Butt Pope
05-16-2018, 12:38 AM
Hummer first verse/chorus and outro

Butt Pope
05-16-2018, 12:39 AM
Here is no why

Ram27
05-16-2018, 12:52 AM
The last Dsus2 in Hummer with Jimmy doing the cymbal swells just made me glad to be alive for like 5 years

so pretty

meatngreet
08-01-2018, 10:54 PM
i think it's triple tracked, with at least one of the main tracks at the front being a guitar with a Piezo pickup. you could get that sound from electric guitars as well, i had one, but he probably just DI'd his Ovation acoustic straight into the console and threw it on there. he's a good guitar player so his triple tracking is so lined up, it sounds like an effect.

No, that's not it at all. As another poster mentioned, it's really a straight-forward sound. The "Ugly" guitar sound is really not that much different than the guitar sound used on the intro to the Cars' "My Best Friend's Girl", which is probably the very song that inspired Billy to go for that sound in the first place. Billy was a Cars fan, and the band recorded a cover of the Cars' "You're All I've Got Tonight" around the same time.

It's electric guitar -> delay -> amp.

"Ugly" has a delay in there for the rhythmic effect, but it isn't needed to get that midrange-heavy click. No need for a compressor either. It's all in the pick attack and touch.

Here's the Cars doing "My Best Friend's Girl" recorded and live. Simple as that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkSmLh2Hbi0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XH7NxDB5lE4

johncg
08-01-2018, 11:48 PM
Does anyone have any sources for these extremely specific technical details they are putting forth about the “Ugly” recording ?

houseofglass11
08-01-2018, 11:53 PM
Who knows what he used. They had so many amps and guitars at their disposal. I’d go with a Silverface Fender amp of some sort, with a jazzmaster, and delay for the “Ugly” tone. That’s what it sounds like to me. Could just ask him on instagram, he usually replies.

Skradgee
08-02-2018, 01:11 AM
let us not be afraid to ask the difficult questions

redbreegull
08-02-2018, 01:37 AM
No, that's not it at all. As another poster mentioned, it's really a straight-forward sound. The "Ugly" guitar sound is really not that much different than the guitar sound used on the intro to the Cars' "My Best Friend's Girl", which is probably the very song that inspired Billy to go for that sound in the first place. Billy was a Cars fan, and the band recorded a cover of the Cars' "You're All I've Got Tonight" around the same time.

It's electric guitar -> delay -> amp.

"Ugly" has a delay in there for the rhythmic effect, but it isn't needed to get that midrange-heavy click. No need for a compressor either. It's all in the pick attack and touch.

Here's the Cars doing "My Best Friend's Girl" recorded and live. Simple as that.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkSmLh2Hbi0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XH7NxDB5lE4

the tone on ugly is similar, but way way fatter. I'm pretty sure it's double-tracked. Listen to the first 20 seconds of the song and you can tell there are multiple guitars because he is sliding up a beat apart on some of the changes. I'm not sure it's just delay

redbreegull
08-02-2018, 01:42 AM
now listening with headphones, maybe it is delay. but I still think there are multiple guitars there

SlingeroGuitaro
08-02-2018, 02:11 AM
It sounds like a really quiet amp with the mic pres cranked up and compressed with a medium to slow attack and a fast release.

TuralyonW3
08-02-2018, 02:48 AM
how bout that keyboard tone

meatngreet
08-02-2018, 10:50 AM
Does anyone have any sources for these extremely specific technical details they are putting forth about the “Ugly” recording ?

http://www.starla.org/articles/crsh4_96.htm

Billy goes over the gear used on the MCIS sessions. No surprises. He used his rack setup and a handful of extremely common amps. The guitars he mentions in the interview are the same ones that everyone already knows about, and which can be seen in the various rehearsal/studio pics and videos. The ES-335 he mentioned using on “Tonight Tonight” showed up at one of those Award show performances. MTV I think.

So, with regards to what was used on “Ugly”, Occam’s Razor applies.