Why was Randy Rhoads' tone so crap?

  • Thread starter Thread starter petejt
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danyeo":3hc5cdg8 said:
Yup, probably the guys who recorded it. Even the drums sound like shit on the 2 Ozzy CD's, it wasn't just Randy's guitar. Compared to the early VH records from a production standpoint.........well there is no comparison. However, at the time in the early 80's the Ozzy CD's sounded great and Randy had a unique sound. Plus, the live album sounds great.
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This.

Remember, Ozzy wasn't exactly a bankable name in 1980. He was an alcoholic who just got kicked out of Black Sabbath. He wasn't getting the best recording/producing/mixing available at the time.
 
I think its that funky compressor max Norman put on the guitar tracks (AMS?). Plus the combination of mics I think there's lotsa phase cancellation going on. I'm not a fan of the triple tracked solos either. But the playing is so good for me it doesn't matter.
 
Dude, you're joking right?

Randy's tone was priceless. You must have tin ears. Randy was a brilliant guitar player and if you think his tone was not exactly what he wanted then you just need to crawl back into your closet.

I can't believe that I am even replying to your bullshit post, but you deserve a good kicking in the ass.
 
danyeo":3nnd4485 said:
just42dave":3nnd4485 said:
it was 1980
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The year these albums were made didn't matter.

Back In Black

First Boston Album

First couple VH albums

Pink FLoyd The Wall.
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What were their recording budgets compared to Blizzard? Diary was $65,000 with Blizzard being smaller than that.
 
Rezamatix":5qq5kkv1 said:
The question is...can that be re-amped and re mixed? That would be fuckin rad!!
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That is actually an interesting question. I would be interested in hearing that simply out of curiosity. If there is money to made then Sharon would be interested too.
 
Ok so Randy had monsterous tone live. Go listen to Tribute. The shitty recorded tone isn't Randy's fault.
 
+ 1,000,000

Randy Van Sykes":2j39ao6a said:
'Do we obsess over tone and buying amps way too much when we should be just practicing and writing more?' because Randy Rhoads, with a not great recorded tone, still becomes a legend among rock players.
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Who is Randy Rhoads? Does he do the brootlz stuff? :)

I thought the Diary album is better tone wise.
 
The year has NOTHING to do with it. Led Zep recorded their first album in 1968 (released in '69) and it still sounds amazing to this day...
 
I think it was a mixture of bad production and too much reliance on solid state boost pedals. Crazy train sounds like the majority of the grind is coming from a stomp.

Oh dear, I believe I have opened a real can of worms here.......
 
AmpliFIRE":1r4iefl9 said:
The year has NOTHING to do with it. Led Zep recorded their first album in 1968 (released in '69) and it still sounds amazing to this day...
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Agreed, but Zep used AMP distortion and Page wasn't going for MONDO amounts of gain. Rhoads wanted to make our faces bleed with drive and distortion, which I believe mainly came from a boost.....
 
rlord1974":11msd9ds said:
AmpliFIRE":11msd9ds said:
The year has NOTHING to do with it. Led Zep recorded their first album in 1968 (released in '69) and it still sounds amazing to this day...
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Agreed, but Zep used AMP distortion and Page wasn't going for MONDO amounts of gain. Rhoads wanted to make our faces bleed with drive and distortion, which I believe mainly came from a boost.....
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Yup, you've opened a can of worms big enough to catch Moby Dick. FWIW, many of the best recorded tones ever were done with a solid state Tube Screamer boosting an amp. As already stated, it was probably a combination of the producer and the fact that Ozzy was on a limited budget.
 
rlord1974":146567fo said:
AmpliFIRE":146567fo said:
The year has NOTHING to do with it. Led Zep recorded their first album in 1968 (released in '69) and it still sounds amazing to this day...
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Agreed, but Zep used AMP distortion and Page wasn't going for MONDO amounts of gain. Rhoads wanted to make our faces bleed with drive and distortion, which I believe mainly came from a boost.....
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Either way the drums, bass, vocals etc all sounded MUCH better on Led Zep 1...
 
Impossible to know, really. But I agree his recorded tone is not my favorite. I also agree with RVS that since his playing/writing was badass it doesn't really matter. Who knows how much of a role drugs played in the end tone too, lol. Tracking and mixing while everyone's flying, and likely everything done at loud volumes? Your high end gets messed up. Just like guys I know who dial in WAY too much high end, they've lost some hearing from years of loud volume and are just compensating to where it sounds normal to them. But Max Norman's work with Megadeth (RIP, Coundown, Youthanasia etc.) sounds better, IMO. Though RIP sounds good because of the songs/playing more than the "tone," too IMO. So not sure it's entirely his fault.
 
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