KVR Audio

blueman · Post by **blueman** » Fri Jun 19, 2015 5:57 pm

Eddie Van Halen: "The Brown Sound Wasn't My Tone—It Was Alex's"

jupiter8 · Post by **jupiter8** » Fri Jun 19, 2015 8:27 pm

That's an old story and i frankly don't see what's wrong about it. He thought his brothers snare had a woody (brown) tone to it and wanted the same tone in his guitar. He succeeded and that is one of the alltime classic guitar tones. Can't argue with success.

blueman · Post by **blueman** » Fri Jun 19, 2015 8:35 pm

jupiter8 wrote:He thought his brothers snare had a woody (brown) tone to it and wanted the same tone in his guitar.

Not exactly, according to this latest interview with Billboard:

“I was [never] talking about my guitar tone,” he says.

I suspect he just enjoys toying with fans and the press, unless he has some sort of pathological condition for telling tales. Not a big deal, of course, but a bit humorous to hear his stories--especially those about DLR and Sammy--change over the years.

As of late, EVH is saying some odd things :

"Every note Mike ever played, I had to show him how to play," Van Halen said. "Before we'd go on tour, he'd come over with a video camera and I'd have to show him how to play all the parts."

Yeah, ummmmmm

zerocrossing · Post by **zerocrossing** » Fri Jun 19, 2015 8:46 pm

Eddie Van Halen is an alcoholic. What more do you need to know?

deastman · Post by **deastman** » Sat Jun 20, 2015 12:38 am

Not too shabby at playing the old guitar though.

blueman · Post by **blueman** » Sat Jun 20, 2015 12:46 am

If I were his brother, I would encourage him to stop talking to the press. He should protect his legacy as a pioneer of rock guitar. Right now, he's just making himself look ridiculous.

arkmabat · Post by **arkmabat** » Sat Jun 20, 2015 1:20 am

He wanted his guitar to sound like Alex's drums. They sounded "brown" to him and he spent albums chasing a sound that complemented Alex's drums.

On a side note, he didn't like brown M&M's...

ccDuckett · Post by **ccDuckett** » Sat Jun 20, 2015 1:44 am

arkmabat wrote: On a side note, he didn't like brown M&M's...

http://www.snopes.com/music/artists/vanhalen.asp

On the other hand, not sure why EVH decides to wait until just before the new tour's start to yet again say unkind things about DLR. (Although watching/hearing Dave recently has been pretty cringetastic.)

Also, whatever nasty things Ed or anyone else wants to say about Michael Anthony's bass playing, DEM BACKING VOCALS.

goldenanalog · Post by **goldenanalog** » Sat Jun 20, 2015 2:08 am

This was the sort of incident that the rider was 'in place' to prevent:

http://www.angelfire.com/tn2/elvisgirl/ ... garet.html

'On September 9, 1972, while performing her nightclub act, a platform suddenly collapsed, plummeting the singer 22 feet to the ground, smashing the bones in her face , breaking her jaw in two places, and breaking her left arm. For the first time, Roger was not with his wife at a performance. When he was notified of the accident,he forbade any treatment of his wife until he could bring her home to her own doctors. He frantically sought about for a means of transportation and finally decided upon a small plane, which he stole from the airport and piloted, himself, at top speed to Ann-Margret's side. Amid the protests of Lake Tahoe doctors, he gently carried his wife to the plane and flew her back home. The actress remained comatose for four days. Miraculously, despite the destruction which had taken place inside her mouth and jaw, Ann-Margret's face was unharmed. Smith instructed the surgeon to perform his work without making any incision in her face. With amazing skill, the doctor reconstructed the tiny broken bones in the actress's face and re-positioned them around a ball of thread. When Ann-Margret awoke, her jaws were wired completely shut. After courageously enduring wired jaws and intricate reconstructive facial surgeries, Ann-Margret was eventually and remarkably returned to her former beauty.'

Who knows? Maybe some of the bullsh!t rumors about 'brown m&m's misbehavin' were started by venue managers and/or staff who got caught and 'called out' for not fully reading and following the tenants of the contract(s) -

people believe what they want to believe, no?

planetearth · Post by **planetearth** » Sat Jun 20, 2015 3:10 am

blueman wrote:If I were his brother, I would encourage him to stop talking to the press. He should protect his legacy as a pioneer of rock guitar. Right now, he's just making himself look ridiculous.

+1

It's a shame. I really like the classic Van Halen, and even some of the stuff with Sammy. (The songs were good; his singing is not my style.)

But Eddie does have a nasty habit of talking bad about everyone he's ever worked with, despite the mess of a human being he himself is.

Dude, you've made it: You don't have to keep trying to "prove" you're better than anyone (or everyone). And demeaning other world-class musicians and singers is no way to make yourself look better to anyone...except yourself.

Steve

zerocrossing · Post by **zerocrossing** » Sat Jun 20, 2015 4:48 am

I always thought that "brown" referred to "brown out" as in a partial power loss. The way he used a power soak on his power amp so that he could overdrive the preamp. Is that not true?

arkmabat · Post by **arkmabat** » Sat Jun 20, 2015 5:53 am

I think brown is just a compressed, mid-rangy sound actually. He said it was like a radio turned up loud.

Hink · Post by **Hink** » Sat Jun 20, 2015 1:54 pm

zerocrossing wrote:I always thought that "brown" referred to "brown out" as in a partial power loss. The way he used a power soak on his power amp so that he could overdrive the preamp. Is that not true?

I always thought it was the opposite and had to do with his use of a vari-arc

meanwhile, about colors? I dont think I have a condition but I see tone in colors and textures and always have. However it doesn't apply just to music, I associate many things I feel with colors or textures. So the concept of the brown sound was quite logical to me

jsp1979 · Post by **jsp1979** » Sat Jun 20, 2015 2:17 pm

That interview is such a mess. He expresses doubt that this cigarette smoking caused his tongue cancer, and then he points to the fact that he uses metals picks (which he put in his mouth) and is around a lot of electromagnetic equipment. Yeah, that's probably what caused it, Ed.

When I hear brown noise, I think of this.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.p ... rown+noise

Here's EVH on the Ellen Degeneres show performing Jump. Roth's constant smile is really awkward looking. It's uncomfortable.

goldenanalog · Post by **goldenanalog** » Sat Jun 20, 2015 2:54 pm

Hink wrote:I always thought it was the opposite and had to do with his use of a vari-arc :shrug

It's vari-ac - variable AC - it functions as a front-end power supply for AC equipment allowing a guitar player (in this case) to undervoltage or over voltage his amp - which changes the transfer function characteristics (distortion) of the tubes -

A power soak fits between the output of a power amplifier and a speaker - it's function is merely to provide a level of control over the overall volume of the amp (useful for studio work) - what you lose is the distortion provided by the (usually celestion) speakers, since a power soak will run them well below their 'break-up' volume -

EVH has finally lost it