I've tried for years now, I just can't sound like my favorite artists...

[JerGoertz]

Ever watch a documentary where the band plays the synth sound they used in a famous song and it absolutely blows? Thin and totally lifeless. After mixing, engineering and mastering, voila. HUGE sound.

Yes, exactly. "Band X used a Prophet in that song, so the sound comes exclusively from that fact" is nonsense, but often underlies the thought process here. Knowledge of effects chains and how to suit them to the task at hand is crucial. Not to mention playing styles, etc.

[JerGoertz]

I've found processing can make a huge difference.

that's it! it's not only, what your favs used, but how and where and in which combination... and all the coincidences and the work-arounds

And the fact that "that sound" was often a compromise

[harryupbabble]

You don't need to try to sound like your music heroes by way of gear. You don't even have to do it yourself, you can fake it by relying on sound designers and by using software. The sound designers don't do the note sequencing (otherwise known as "composing"). You do that. No?

With modern technology and sound analyzer software and stuff... how hard can it be for sound designers working as part of the Guitar Rig team (or any other team) to reproduce every single guitar sound that Jimmy Page used on all those Led Zep songs?

I bet it's not being done because Jimmy Page is secretive about his guitar sounds and without Jimmy Page's consent it is illegal to do it. And it can't be just about supply and demand because Guitar Rig did make a bank preset of some of Rammstein's guitar sounds. And I bet the demand for Jimmy Page guitar sounds is even bigger than the demand for Rammstein guitar sounds and yet Guitar Rig was able to supply that Rammstein guitar sound because they got the consent of Rammstein's guitarist.

Pianos have different sounds (depending on the piano maker, Steinway, Yamaha, etc) and piano players get to say things like "I want that Steinway sound" and "I don't want that Steinway sound but I want the Yamaha sound".

So if "virtual guitarists" who don't even play guitar prefer a guitar sound and it just happened to be the "Jimmy Page guitar sound" how is that different from piano players preferring a certain piano sound? It's just a sound. Music-makers play their own composed music through a sound that they like. Maybe they don't like the sound that they designed because they are not sound designers. They are music makers. And some are not even that, some are just trying to barely be music makers and they have no time to be sound designers?

[chk071]

Sure it's also about the artist. Or, even, mainly. It's just that it's no fun for me to work with instruments I dislike.

but that's not necessarily "the exact gear used on recording xyz"

True, but, I often find myself liking exactly the stuff favorite artist XY uses.

[Musicisbest]

I always thought it was best NOT to sound like the musicians i like.
To be derivative is a curse that many never get past.
Its always better to be an original, in any artistic expression.

[do_androids_dream]

I always thought it was best NOT to sound like the musicians i like.
To be derivative is a curse that many never get past.
Its always better to be an original, in any artistic expression.

Every single artist is derivative of something that came before it. What is 'original'? Original is usually the word ascribed to an artist who is 99% derivative and 1% ooooh daring. The techno producer who dared to use a hand clap instead of a snare in a subgenre of techno where a snare is expected. The pop producer who used a slightly distorted kick in his hit single instead of a clean one.. "wow, it's so original!" they exclaim.. When artists are truly 'original' they usually get called weird or even crap which is a huge incentive NOT to be original. True originality is rarely rewarded until everyone else has copied it, at which point it's familiar enough to not be weird anymore - and the originator has died penniless and unheard of.

[vurt]

Sure it's also about the artist. Or, even, mainly. It's just that it's no fun for me to work with instruments I dislike.

but that's not necessarily "the exact gear used on recording xyz"

True, but, I often find myself liking exactly the stuff favorite artist XY uses.

so for example, you want a minimoog pad or bass type sound. you going to buy a hardware minimoog? or is monark enough?

im not saying don't use the same sounds, of course that's a goal for many people. we all have our heroes, im just saying the op doesn't necessarily have to fork out for all the hw.
and im sure you know, im not anti hardware

[jancivil]

If you can't get away from conceptions of music strictly from pop, dealing with the notion of 'being an original' seems doomed to fail.

Yes, OBVIOUSLY there is some *derivation* in one's music. When one develops the more extensive vocabulary, one may turn out to be freer to escape the judgment or opinions of the crowd and make decisions via their own agency. The cliche is 'develop your own voice'.

When you get into, I almost hate to say it but more serious music, the way to establish an identity is to come up with some new twist or recombinations of factors. Musical life gets to be rather bleak if no one has the spine to stand up and do something which hadn't been done. Yes, so the philistines will say it's nonsense or garbage. So what? It was said about Ornette; crass insults resulting in fistfights occurred at the premiere to Le Sacre in 1913; I remember people reacting quite badly to Jimi Hendrix around the time I caught him in '69. If all you care about is fitting in, of course you don't want originality to seize any moment.

[deastman]

It has already been said, but bears repeating: the raw sound of a synth is only one part of the finished sound you hear on a recording. You have to consider the whole signal chain. That doesn’t mean putting a Yamaha or Boss multieffect box on the synth output, although that might be part of it. What EQ settings were used on the individual channel and on the mix bus and the master? What about compression? Was it recorded to tape? Was the tape overdriven while being recorded? Or was it recorded to ADAT with poor quality A/D/A conversion? Given the timeframe in question, there was probably a TC Electronics Finalizer in there too. There are a million factors to consider. Most of the time, buying the same gear alone is not going to produce the same results.

[tapper mike]

It was said about Ornette; crass insults resulting in fistfights occurred at the premiere to Le Sacre in 1913; I remember people reacting quite badly to Jimi Hendrix around the time I caught him in '69. If all you care about is fitting in, of course you don't want originality to seize any moment.

Yeah I still hate Ornette Coleman, Sonny Shamrock and Sun Ra. On the otherhand I love the 12 tone guys like Mundell Lowe especially the tv themes he did.