AJFA Episode 7 - Tone wood debate, Drum plugin, Setting up a lead tone etc....

[@JamieSlays]

sickkkkkkkkkkk - dont worry RE: the shopping channel thing. we dont care. we will buy any thing any way ;P its all about support

[@loganpriest6029]

Yes Jamie! Thank you, it's so hard to make a living as a musician or even an engineer these days. I'm actually not surprised Josh doesn't make much of a living off Sylosis, though he should. But yea the real fans will support either way with any sort of creative project or thing he has in mind. But well said, how was your Japan trip?

[@Aleksisguitar]

@@loganpriest6029the operative word was "take" money off Sylosis! Of course Sylosis makes money, and at this stage it's actually super super smart to keep that money in the company and invest it. Being a musician doesn't mean one should lack business skills. Yeah, we're all people of integrity here (hopefully). Also that poverty mentality doesn't serve anyone nor complaining that it's hard "nowadays", as if things worth pursuing were ever easy in life. Been a fan of you since 2011 Josh! Just scored the ticket for Helsinki show in December, can't wait! Good luck with all your entrepreneurial adventures and thanks for gifting us with these treats ❤

[@DGamBrz]

Sick news on the plugin Josh! I think I speak for most of us when I say we're happy to be sold sick products!! 🤘

[@ayeapprove]

6:15 thank you for actually being so transparent about this.

[@UMCmetal]

Do your thing mate! Love your stuff

[@edwardrummer]

Don’t pay attention to any one who thinks like that in regard to the Ola shopping channel notion. You’ve put hard work into something and you need to get the word out so you are using Your Own KZbin Channel. Giant corporations want to advertise in the night sky but let’s give out about people using their own platforms to support themselves 🤦‍♂️ Ps take my money already 💰 your IR pack is amazing 🤘and worship decay is a fucking banger! 🤘

[@Spliffmauler]

I'm excited for the new drum plugin. Can't wait to get my hands on it.

[@DonutBalls528]

Also i agree worship decay being in that metal playlist is how i discovered Sylosis, now it's my favorite band

[@juancamiloplazas5560]

Hello Josh 👋, huge Sylosis fan here 👌 I have a question: how did you make the vocals in Empyreal? that "the graves you made will pull you down" (chorus) sounds sort of clean and with distortion. That seems to me like a fry scream blended with something...? is it something production-wise like layers or a specific process? PS: a demonstration would be really cool to hear haha

[@maxutaibi5986]

Worship Decay is one of my favorites as well. The chorus hits hard

[@QuincyKane]

I always enjoy these!

[@colinmitchell1287]

Yooooo I can't wait for the drum library. Super exciting to hear.

[@seanmorgan9020]

Oh hey, I got mentioned! Tah very much and looking forward to the drums!

[@n00dl3]

You should look at the videos by Jim Lill about where tone comes from! Great set of videos.

[@g3ng4rb0i3]

Bro u dont need to explain yourself on getting your bag, i bought your stl plugin when it came out, been using it for my band and it has not only surpass the tones i needed but exceeded what i could do in tone shaping. I recommened all my friends of your plugin and all of them bought it. Cus its that good. The clarity of it gets me every time. Thanks josh.

[@deankiroff7528]

I'm sure old time fans would like to see more talks with your band members telling stories. Especially about Monolith and Dormant Heart. There's a niche full of us that appreciate those two in particular.

[@aKhemu]

Firstly, thank you for your videos, Josh. I've been enjoying your content and no need to worry, you have to promote your business and I think most people will understand that money doesn't grow on trees. Thanks for reading so far, the rest is for the ones who want to argue xD. Now here is my take on the "tone wood debate" or rather a statement to the influences on the tone in general. I'm open for discussion and if anything is objectively wrong, feel free to correct me below. In short: It's a concept of direct and indirect influences don't have the same levels of impact on the tone, yet they still have an impact. I think it's a no-brainer, that the components don't have a difference on the tone, but they have individual levels of influence. Let's have a look at the sound, from the creation to the finished song. For the active influences we have: The parts that the string touches and the strings themselves are the first stage of the tone, the second stage is the pickup and it's positioning. Then the "signal chain" (including the amp, cab and mic) and finally the mix in the track. On the other hand, there are the indirect influences. These are not effecting the audible directly but only through another component of the active influences. Here is for example the weather and climate which affect the wood which then has an influence on the strings via the resonance. The wood of the guitar does matter to a certain extent, so does every component and how the instrument is build. But its effect is not that big, that you can't achieve the tone you want with tweaking other settings than buying a guitar with a certain wood in it. In a mix, it's even harder to tell the difference. I bet, nobody can tell from the finished song without knowing beforehand, which wood was used on the guitar. That doesn't mean that you can't hear a difference in the sound, it's just not that strong compared to other parts of the guitar or even the signal chain afterwards. It's more about getting the tone you want and what is the most effective way to get there: buying a guitar for the wood doesn't seem like the easiest solution to that. Obviously, when played unplugged the difference in the wood is suddenly very present, since the sound now doesn't go through the pickups but the only thing you can hear is the strings and the resonating body: the "signal chain" changed. But once the signal is amplified through the pickups, the wood looses in significance, since you can't hear the resonance of the wood as clearly as the sounds from the pickup. -> The more you modify the signal, the less important the indirect influences become. 8:32 And obviously, if you use another material than wood or (like Aristides guitars) a material made to match the characteristics of wood, it will sound way different. In conclusion: Ask yourself how to get the tone you want, there are multiple ways to do so since there is more than one thing influencing the tone. If you think that the easiest way is to have a certain type of wood in the guitar, then so be it. I think that the easier solution is to change other parts of the signal chain rather than buying a new guitar when I'd like to have a change in tone or feel. In the end, the listener can't "feel" the guitar like you do.

[@lordmorgoth7]

Josh, I do not mind you selling your plugins or stuff, if anything I know whatever I purchase will sound huge and I'd be helping your cause and or your family. Keep it going brother!

[@omjeeo]

Agree, Worship Decay is a top 5 Sylosis song for me. Would love to see a re-release of Monolith like you did with Conclusion of an Age

[@Fanafranky]

Yeah the practicing unplugged tip was invaluable to me, and you did play a part in me adopting that mindset 😜 The first time I heard Empyreal part 2 I couldn't believe you pulled off that sweep with a clean tone, I had heard clean (and not so clean) sweeps from others before but always with tons of gain, never anything like this. And it goes to show that the best high gain playing isn't about hiding mistakes and playing something that you wouldn't nail clean enough unplugged, but to bring forward everything that we actually do properly

[@sambrookes5092]

I bought your STL Tones pack over the weekend, absolutely love it! Looking forward to seeing you guys in Leeds at the end of the year.

[@josh_riffs5369]

Can we get a look and some insight into your tattoos?

[@juliendemills3213]

Question for the next AJFA, will the The Supreme Oppressor and Casting Shadows ep ever be on streaming services?

[@latanezimbardo7129]

Interested in your drum software, sounds like something I would like to have.The existence and improvements of these software is inspiring too!

[@GERGOHAJEROFFICIAL]

As far as I know, your last European tour went through Quad Cortex. Did you choose it over the Kemper because of its size, or do you like it better in terms of sound?

[@renimcdonaldhill]

Nice shout-out to Stamping Ground, '' Carved From Empty Words'' remains one of my fav metal mixes to this day, i still remember the 1st time i heard the double kick on Officer down, absolutely brutal! A recreation of that guitar tone would be very cool dude.

[@scattaredlight]

Thank for the video!🖤

[@AJoylessEon]

Just bought you LTD jm ii and it's amazing.. just a question.. what height do you set both your pickups?

[@who_we_are______5926]

I just bought a midi drum pad so I'm excited to see what your custom drum plugin does. I'm on the market for a good metal vst for drums so hopefully I can buy yours!

[@ValentinGibouleau-d5v]

I was absolutely certain that was the "project" you mentionned in the Dystopia video, and the "Ultimate Heavy Drums" Kontakt library we saw on this video !

[@joeylizotte7537]

Technically, with PanterA, Seth from EyeHateGod did a lot of backing vocals on Trendkill..

[@justinsuitor1907]

Where this link to your drums plugin man? I'm keen to buy it ASAP, You're an absolute workhorse. Bring us the goodiessss!

[@dAvE73906]

Hey Josh, do you still own the silverburst ESP Eclipse? What do/don't you like about this model?

[@robertpaten]

Down for this drum plug in!

[@brandonbryson3317]

Bought your signature recently and man is the an incredible sounding guitar! My only qualm is I really wish you went with the Thin U over the extra thin U…but hey, that’s why it’s YOUR signature. Just a bit too thin and carpal tunnel/fatiguing for me but I’ll adapt. lol my ultimate guitar would be your signature with a thicker neck and the single coil in the neck. Maybe one day I can get ESP to do it custom for me.

[@AndyMacNevin]

Hey Josh. I was wandering how you optimise your D.I signal for running through amp sim software? Like is it straight into your interface using the high Z input or is there some kind of D.I box or preamp before the interface? Also do you have any general tips for getting a really good clean D.I signal? Thanks

[@npaz24]

Sir i agree and been saying this for ages, tonewood does matter, but so does the way the guitar has been constructed, I had a lespaul copy once with mahogany set neck, and used a passive emg in it then compared it to a cheapo basswood body bold on, the lespaul sounded so much thicker but at the same time tighter The basswood one had almost no low end and little treble, also fast tight playing didnt sound right, but for lead playing it was smooth and compressed like the frequencies doesnt jump too high and hurt your ears

[@vorpalblades]

Unless you swapped all the electronics, it doesn't mean anything.

[@dee-ehm8408]

How long did it take to practice for the Bleed For Within shows that you filled in for Scott? How did you find out you were going to be covering for him? Also, any plans to come to NZ with Sylosis?

[@Vonliderhof]

Is there a reason you didn’t put diamond inlay on the JM-2?

[@espec1000]

Congrats on the new drum plugin! Question: would mind doing a brief walkthrough of your signal chain/settings when reamping your live amps?

[@chaosbringer2641]

Hi Josh, do you have any tips on mixing/recording transitions between clean and distorted guitar. I really like the way you guys do it on Thorns.

[@Durkhead]

On your drum plugin will i be able to blend in my own samples?

[@Cheesusaurusrex]

Just curious as to your overall thoughts on the marshall jvm? it seems like a sweet harmony between your old gower amps and the more '"modern" amps, cheers!

[@Hoardingcorpses]

Josh bro, I will gladdly buy shit with your name on it! Honestly I wished you announced drums earlier.

[@ruariferguson1932]

Loving ASOTTC and was great seeing you guys live again in Leeds! Would you ever make another Passages album?

[@FabianHorn]

are you using the suhr reactive load for recordings, or just to jam? it has a 100 watts limitation I remember, do you still use it with those 120 watts amps?

[@scottwyllie]

Killer vid Josh. Would you be willing to go into your reamp process and how you know when to leave/commit to a sound?

[@azhariwarman]

Hi Josh, its okay about selling your products, as long as you are honest about its quality and its pricing! Cant wait to hear the drum vst!

[@loganpriest6029]

Would you be open to re-record or revisit "Conclusion" with your vocals and the band now when it turns 20? I know there's probably some Copyright involved. You doing "After Lifeless Years" still blew me away and came as a surprise.

[@DonutBalls528]

Hey Josh could you show us how you do the screams at 0:40 Beyond the Ressurected

[@bradboswell2104]

Should we hold out any hope for a Monolith vinyl release in the future like you did with COAA & EOTE?

[@richardwilliampadua9866]

Monolith actually has some of my favourite metal guitar tones.

[@3.eRicc_]

how much fun was it filling in for scott in Bleed From Within

[@deigov]

Hi! What do you think about Mesa Mark amps?

[@rockemoore2192]

You mentioned you do not take money from sylosis. Can you elaborate on this topic.

[@willbeyer]

Any chance Worship Decay and the other non album track get a special 7inch vinyl release or something?

[@marcpeiron_studio]

It would be interesting you do a video showing that difference you hear in tonewood. I'm saying it in a positive way!

[@vorpalblades]

Or run it through a spectrum analyzer and oscilloscope and actually show it. Which the tonewood believers never do. I'm not interested in what someone else hears, show the results.

[@aKhemu]

@@vorpalblades well, there are little differences audible in two guitars, built the same way with the same electronics but a different wood. But the difference is almost not audible, and if you change the amp settings slightly they can sound the exact same. I don't think, that two different components don't sound different, but everything that touches the strings and the pickups are obviously the most influential.

[@timbules1779]

2 questions. What was your experience like working in Monnow Valley Studios? Do you think traditional studios and producing on consoles still relevant? The drums sounded huge on Monolith. Thanks Josh.

[@Durkhead]

The toan is stored in the daws

[@NeZversSounds]

Tonewood matters for acoustic guitars and clean electric guitars, not for distorted electric guitars. Those that say materials don't have any difference are speaking out of ass. Those that accuse Glen Fricker for spreading those words need to pull their heads out of their ass, because that's not what Glen says. Glen has said that difference with electric guitar + distortion is insignificant. Feelings doesn't matter, matter what gets recorded, because that can be measured and actually heard in blind testing. More importantly your feelings are not captured for listeners (not talking about musicality). I've tested that my self. I recorded 7str, 8str, active, passive with same riff, matched signal loudness and signal chain. With an idea to prove that Glen is wrong. In the end I heard it myself that I wouldn't be able to tell the difference (except Ibanez Inf pickups sticking out as a sore thumb). And on top of that you guitar doesn't exist in a void. In the mix any remaining difference is lost.

[@StEvEn420BrUlE]

Tone wood doesn't matter for any electric guitar. Pickups are nor microphonic and there's never been any proof that rosewood matters for an electric guitar

[@vorpalblades]

Yet none of the tonewood defenders actually show the difference. Run it through a spectrum analyzer. I have no interest in your magical ears.

[@doum]

What drum vst you talk about...?

[@MetalJams]

As a fellow bald man, what was it like for you when you made the decision to shave? Were you more or less self-conscious after making the decision?

[@AaronWilliamGilbert94]

You've probably answered this before, but have you any advice on breaking out of your country's local scene and getting signed?

[@bburritt666]

Great news about the plugin! Congratulations! Question, Certain amps and plugins emulating those amps can sound great on a rhythm tone but the harmonics sound like it’s going through a towel/muffled vs something like Zack Wylde harmonics if that makes sense. Why does that happen? Is it the Speakers? Or the way the gain stages work?

[@vorpalblades]

Usually it's the shitty speakers Monitors are not guitar cabs.

[@bburritt666]

@@vorpalblades thought it would be something small lol. Thanks for the tip and I will try it out.

[@PerfectForm09]

Yourself and Alexi Laiho are the biggest influrences for me, what are your thoughts on Alexis playing? And do you dig his Pink esp :D

[@joesmith5617]

Like the wood might make a difference but your focus is better spent on amp choice cab and mic placement not is this rosewood or maple

[@dfsgbrdstgfds6918]

With tonewood I find the majority of people saying there's no possible way it could make a difference are people who don't play a lot of chuggy palm mutes. That's where I notice the biggest difference between guitars - when I'm picking really hard and I'm muting. Whether that's the wood of the guitar, where the pickup is located, the pickup itself or any other variable I don't know, but there is a very noticeable and very important difference between guitars with that style in particular. This goes doubly for pickups. People who say pickups make no difference make my head spin. They make an enormous difference in the frequency response over time which likewise is particularl evident on palm mutes. How the notes sag, bloom etc. Certain big youtubers get hung up on frequency charts and forget that one of the most important qualities of music is the temporal aspect. Think of a JB and how it has that completely signature low end bloom. I'm sure there's a way to chart stuff like frequency increase/decrease over say a 16th note at 140bpm but they don't do it, it's all single average EQ curves ala old school izotope ozone match EQ. Are these differences absolutely huge? Generally no, but we're talking about styles of music where the guitar is going 80+ percent of the time so small-medium differences are super important to think about because they're a big part of the sonic character of a release. It's like that squelch thing you can sometimes get with EMGs and I'm guessing some other pickups. I don't necessarily hate it, but there are albums like the third TGI album where you can hear it the whole way through on the guitar tracks. The fact that some of the people saying it makes no difference present themselves as audio production experts adds an extra layer of bafflement.

[@dfsgbrdstgfds6918]

In short go and re-record Nile's discography with PAFs instead of Invaders and see if it sounds the same

[@MASTERRIFFS]

🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸🎸 👍😁🇧🇷

[@andrewphillips9142]

Do you use the Fortin Tempest? I bought one, wasnt fussed so I sold it. I then bought another one and think it's great 🤣

[@lordgarbage4319]

do the A/B tests then if you think there are differences in tonewood, and shock the world josh

[@vorpalblades]

I don't have amy issues with people selling their product. I don't use plug-ins myself, but sell whatever you want, people will buy it.

[@hourglassmedia9949]

What are your thoughts on releasing albums vs just dropping singles in today's age?

[@eyyomama]

havent watched it yet, i just deeply hope he is not one of the esoterics who believe in tone wood on electric guitars

[@vorpalblades]

Funny how none of them actually run samples through an oscilloscope/ spectrum analyzer to show the results. Yet they all have such amazing ears they hear every difference.

[@joesmith5617]

Not hating either man i just think people looking for better sounds shouldnt really focus on the woods of there instrument and more about set up and maintence because most of the rest comes from other variables

[@BathedInTorment]

I believe tone wood is real. None of my guitars sound the same with same pickups and tunings.

[@vorpalblades]

You can't compare pickups/wood combos with different electronics layouts. Unless you're swapping the full electronics package, its not a valid comparison.

[@HeavyDude3000]

You don't take/earn any money with Sylosis? Can you say a few things about this topic? At the stage where the band I right now, one would imagine that it generates some money for the members. So are you having a certain businessplan, or am I getting something wrong here?

[@falricthesleeping9717]

you don't take money from sylosis? why? it's your life's work!

[@Orkam616]

u just said u didnt get any money from sylosis, why??

[@Penberth1]

"No qualifications" - I think you're doing your experience and general guitar nerd-ery an injustice there. Nolly's not formally V30 qualified I'm assuming....

[@draleigh8881]

TONE WOOD LIVES MATTER!!

[@tritex6350]

You don’t take money from sylosis? Why? It seems like you’d be the person most entitled to have that money

[@joesmith5617]

Look josh I've being a fan for a while but if you take a let's say ibanez in the exact same configuration but just change the woods every time you record the exact same riff with every other variable being the same that your gonna be able to here the difference because of the woods is just nonsense there's a video of this and you can watch it it's by spectre sounds studio's and even on a graph you can see the frequency response coming through the cab with distortion and the wood made zero difference to the tone you know what's important its good electronics being well built through a reliable rig through good speakers that gets tone not wood