Kurt Ballou's guitar tones on Converge "I Can Tell You About Pain"

Kurt Ballou explains his guitar tones including the guitar amps, cabs, pickups and more on "I Can Tell You About Pain" by Converge!
This is a clip from his August, 2018 Nail The Mix session, available at nailthemix.com/...
He goes over how he blended the various tones(including a Sparrow, a Marshall JMP and room mics), does some EQ with Fabfilter Pro Q and goes into more detail about how he dialed in the guitar tones on this Converge song.
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[@URMAcademy]

Who watched the whole thing and got inspired to blend 11 tones on their next mix?? 😂

[@ViciousAudioTX]

Def me... im about to leave my drum room mics set up and add a 57 across the room too lol

[@mekanikaltitan]

Same with Monstrocity - meshugga

[@jabooky15]

After watching this I feel like I should mic my entire town for my next recording

[@Lukewarm111]

That’s actually a cool idea 💡

[@jfv8661]

It's a huge relief to know that Kurt forgets things that he did or used.

[@Lukewarm111]

“You see, he’s just a man” -that one character to Neo in the matrix

[@fenneltron9483]

Love how Kurt had no idea he had a ton of solid tips for controlling feedback before he started talking about it.

[@thedavegoodman]

gazebothief 😆 so true

[@axrrecordings7256]

I could listen to Kurt talk all day

[@URMAcademy]

He should have an NPR show tbh

[@othag2809]

Kurt is the Ron Swanson of audio engineering

[@hogblockula9335]

he's way too nice though haha

[@Charlyfromthenuclearcity]

Ahah, this is perfect ! :D

[@calebrobinson3144]

He explains everything he does so well. Except when he forgets. Such a legend, a true expert at his craft

[@Jinvomixing]

Sorry for the broken english but that little thing of the drum ''settings'' for the guitar is stupid how great is that logic and anybody mentioned that... now i'm feeling inspiring for that way of thinking, incredible video

[@MangoOverload91]

Kurt talked about the room mics with everything on a CreativeLive course and it blew my mind back then. It blows my mind now, too. I can't think of any other example when someone else has done this, but it makes so much sense! Also that JMP sounds mean as fuck.

[@angelocatapang6054]

fantastic guitarist,engineer,producer,backing vocalist kurt fucking ballou.fantastic songs,albums,all around production,character,attitude,work ethic (truly independent)consistency.fuck converge had it all.loved this tune.still my jam.'dusk in us' lp's awesome album.

[@mikehomme]

"People always ask me about feedback as if there's some weird crazy technique, but no, it's, you, turn the amp up loud and you stand in front of it." - I clapped my hands and laughed out loud when he said that.

[@chrisjdgrady]

Guys a genius

[@vkuolema79]

its nice to see that Douglas is doing great with DARKGLASS

[@XChristianNoirX]

Kurt is awesome. He says he's not a social person, but he seems like an incredibly nice and easy to get along guy who has great teaching skills. He's also not affraid to share his secrets. Speaking of feedback... The screeching noises in the solos of Quiet and Soma on Siamese Dream are crazy. Haven't seen anyone doing a cover get it right at all... Me neither. Maybe I just have to crank the master volume on 10 haha and stack a ton of gain. With that said, you guys really need to get Butch Vig for a show. No.. Not for Nirvana, but Siamese Dream. He already broke down a lot of Nevernind... But Siamese Dream is his sonic masterpiece.

[@220_hz4]

Christian Noir the feedback squeals off mayonaise too!! I heard billy used a cheap guitar that would feedback every time he took his hands off the neck for that album :0

[@XChristianNoirX]

@@220_hz4 that's a different feedback sound. It doesn't screetch like the solos in Quiet and Mayo, and that guitar sticks to play solos with lol. Basically, the pickups in that guitar are mocrophinic and feedback when playing stops. In the solos I mentioned, the feedback/screeching occurs while playing.

[@davidcjupp]

It's so iconic that part of me wonders if Billy made Butch promise never to give up the secret. Potentially the Mutron BiPhase interacting with a Marshall at 10?@@XChristianNoirX

[@dominicmcmahon4798]

I mic'd my mic up but then realized I needed to simulate mic bleed on top for academic purposes so I mic'd up the mic that was mic'ing the mic then mic'd that mic with the mic that mic mic'd. Oh and added a notch filter. Easy really.

[@Mindartcreativity]

Kurt Ballou: looks like a dad, but does not play dad rock :D

[@Chad_Fuckhammer]

I have a Krank cabinet with 4 12" Texas Heat speakers. More fat bottom than an Atlanta strip club

[@michaelspurk2051]

Kurt....Favourite Guitarist and Best Producer ever......favourite trackHanging Moon" with yo=u on percussion...sounds awesome.....God City all the Way..........this is my best Album to listen< too especially for the Overall production of Tone and Clarity and density ........some nice riffs Also on this Album.Peace From Australia.

[@Lukewarm111]

Why you typing like that bro

[@BrutalistJr]

4:15 KURT YES

[@The_Dusk_Sage]

I listen to this shit like it’s an ASMR wizard podcast.

[@ryanfitzgerald3775]

Kurt was saying that he'll use "extreme isolation headphones" while in the room tracking. Does anyone have any idea what he uses or have any good suggestions for a pair? I have the AT M50x headphones but do not find them to be extremely isolating by any means. Thanks.

[@petestyles8911]

Are these different tone the same take or different takes for each amp?

[@sickasdahmer666]

Same question

[@serdiezv]

In Reap What You Sow he uses 2 amps for the right channel and another two amps for the left channel. The 2 on the right are recorded at the same time, the 2 on the left at the same time.

[@petestyles8911]

@@serdiezv Thanks dude! I actually subbed to nail the mix and bought this one as I wanted to know

[@thedavegoodman]

I can never tell the difference when he does the EQ switching. Am I going crazy? Bonkers... High five ✋🏼

[@yourelettingthelightin6799]

When he mentions “parasitic oscillation” on the 6543+, does anyone know what that means?

[@xhowdyx]

Ha, nope. I was wandering the same.

[@diabeticmonkey]

Probably has something to do with the frequencies from the 6534+ eating the tone of any other amp in the mix

[@Psyfonify]

@@diabeticmonkey No, it's an amp background noise issue

[@shealeffler6147]

Parasitic oscillation is when you get a super high frequency self-oscillation, usually in the power amp, and usually way out of the range of human hearing. It’s often because of a bad tube, and it usually manifests as a drop in volume/volume going weird when you turn up the gain or master controls on the amp. It’s a dangerous thing because it’s a constant high output from the amp; it can cause the output transformer to overheat, so it’s something you want to manage carefully and fix whenever possible.

[@shitstormnachos284]

what is nifty 150? is this an amp or a pedal?

[@xangrycatmanx5104]

Amp

[@diabeticmonkey]

Peavey 5150

[@xangrycatmanx5104]

@@diabeticmonkey no it's a boutique amp he uses on bass

[@diabeticmonkey]

John Caulfield Really? Link me up. I thought I was someone mishearing 5150

[@xangrycatmanx5104]

@@diabeticmonkey It's made by Verellen, but it's a custom specifically for Kurt

[@polishpunk911]

ELLE!!!!

[@marcinszymanek3894]

Kurt turns into H3H3

[@OEpistimon]

I don't wanna be an asshole, but I'm pretty sure that the song's called "I can tell you about pain".

[@URMAcademy]

I make that mistake every fucking time I type out the name of this song lol

[@OEpistimon]

@@URMAcademy We all have that ONE THING that we NEVER get right, don't we???

[@axelmurphy2397]

plays like bahdah

[@LuckyPkerz]

Feel an Ethan from h3h3 resemblence

[@chrisjdgrady]

Umm

[@BeardedMenace25]

What is it? The glasses that Ethan doesn't wear? The mustache Ethan doesn't have? The completely different voice? The expertise in mixing instruments? Oh they both have hair. That must be it.

[@Lukewarm111]

Nah Ethan is a beta

[@LuckyPkerz]

@@Lukewarm111 i agree on that part lmao

[@Lukewarm111]

@@LuckyPkerz Lol