The Beauty of Sound: The Guitar sound from the Doubt

For this article, I will explain the gears I used to record “The Beauty of Doubt”. I start with the guitars, then will come Bass, Drums and Synths on other posts.

For the guitars, I principally used my Gibson SG standard. It has a sound that I’m really in love with since the first day. I used it on almost all the titles excepting “Self-Mystery Girl”, principally for all the lead guitars cause it had a more sensual and luscious sound than my other guitars.

In addition of this guitar comes a Fender Stratocaster I used on clean tracks for “Beloved” and on all the “Self-Mystery Girl” guitars. The Fender Clean sound is iconic and fits with the coldwave sound I developped on previous albums.

I also used my Gibson SG Future on rhythm guitars for “Elegiac Frustration” and “Lustful Feelings” cause these songs needed a more rough and saturated sound, and this guitar is a good choice for this kind of sound.

For this album I made big use of Ebow, it’s an electronic device that makes notes endless. This effect is awesome and add a more dramatic touch to our music. You can hear it on the chorus of “Beloved”, on the ending lead of “Elegiac Frustration”, in the middle of “Lustful Feelings”, on the rainy guitars of “Endless” and on the dramatic final of “The Beauty of Doubt”. 5 songs on the 7 of the album.

For the effects, I only used analog pedals (except the Reverb one) from Marshall, Mxr and Electro-Harmonix. For the distorsion I used the Guv’nor that has a warm sound (even with a lack of treble) I really love with good low end. For songs “Elegiac Frustration” and “Lustful Feelings” I used the Jackhammer that has a more aggressive sound.

Now the Chorus Effect, it’s an effect I do love and never switch off, getting a richer sound. I used the MXR Analog Chorus that gives a warm effect without being too invading.

I also used on songs “Self-Mystery Girl”, “Endless” (on lead guitars), “Lustful Feelings” (on chorus lead guitars) the MXR Flanger. Very good pedal, always musical without drowning the guitar in its effect.

For the Delay, effect I also never switch off, I only used the Electro-Harmonix Memory Man. It’s an analog one, the sound is dirtier than a digital one (that I used on previous albums) but fits better in the sound by adding a luscious feel without drowning the guitar with its echos.

And at last, I used a TC Electronics Arena Reverb. It’s a digital one but I prefer Digital reverb more detailed and realistic adding space and air to the sound.

I forgot, I also used an Electro-Harmonix Bad Stone Phaser on the “Endless” rainy guitar, giving movement to the ebow lead.