Typical hair metal effects chain?

  • Thread starter Thread starter WhiteShadow
  • Start date Start date
WhiteShadow

WhiteShadow

Active member
I've been trying to find a good baseline for writing/recording original hair metal style songs, and for the longest time I couldn't figure out why even though I played similar riffs to those big bands of the 80s, I always sounded heavier and more aggressive than them, closer to thrash in some cases.

I started to realize that what gives hair metal its sound is often some kind of modulation like chorus and/or phase/flange. The tone always seems to be out of phase slightly.

The only problem is I'm not sure exactly where you start in terms of what sorts of effects and make/models to shoot for, where to stick them in the effects chain, and settings.

I know I'm not wanting something that is TOO chorusy sounding, like a power ballad. Something closer to RATT, Skid Row, Warrant, VH, etc...

Who here is a guru with this type of tone and can share some insight?
 
It's classic metal bud! People who call it 'hari metal' never mean it in a good way

For me it's all about the right amount of gain and plenty of tasty mids :cheers:

 
Plate or hall reverb and stereo digital delay with a 275ms decay plus light modulation will get you most of the way there. Also, turn down the gain a little and don’t scoop all your mids out.
 
iI4hYaF.png


In all seriousness, that swirling effect comes from several different sources. The most common way it's done is simply by multi-tracking guitars. After that, there's chorus. Probably the least common but most natural sounding would be an Eventide-style pitch effect blended in with the dry signal.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top