Phil Collen Lessons:

Pyromania Tone:

Steve insisted on using his personal JCM800. ALL the rhythm tracks were done by Pete Willis on a Hamer Standard with Duncan pickups and a Randall tube amp. ALL the effects on Pyromania were added by Mutt at the console. All the guitar parts were recorded dry. Some songs on Pyromania feature multiple guitar tracks, layer after layer, sometimes as many as 7 tracks of just guitar.
 
So how do you replicate that live so it sounds somewhat like the records ? I watched Def the other day on TV of them recently. They sounded really good .
 
JohnnyGoo said:
So how do you replicate that live so it sounds somewhat like the records ? I watched Def the other day on TV of them recently. They sounded really good .
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That's the key....using the same equipment used in the studio - this usually means a huge box of rack mount effects live. However, on Hysteria, Mutt had them use Rocktrons, so replicating the live sound was easier.

They sounded better on Hysteria (live) than they did on the 'Pyromania" tour, and I think the "over-production" by Mutt Lange had a lot to do with that....
 
JohnnyGoo said:
So how do you replicate that live so it sounds somewhat like the records ? I watched Def the other day on TV of them recently. They sounded really good .
Click to expand...


I saw U2 perform recently from backstage a few months ago and I was talking to members of the sound crew. On several U2 songs, they add pre-recorded guitar tracks to the outgoing mix and everything is synch'd to flow seamlessly. This is actually done quite often....and has been done for many years. The Who has always used tapes for the synthesizer parts of Baba O'Reilly and Won't Get Fooled Again.
 
Check this out...watch what happens around 1:45


Apparently, Mick wanted to play the solo and the rest of the band kept on playing the verse! Then, the "Hey" background vocal comes flying in off of tape to show where they should have been in the song!
 
The use of pre-recorded material on a live stage isn’t really new. In the ’70s, Queen began using backing tracks live on “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Rush seems to have been using the greatest array of backing tracks, vocals and instruments, for the longest time in their live performances...
 
Well i really love Mick Mars playing. I sometime have my earphones in and listen to the old Crue stuff and just focus on his playing .
 
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