Suggestions for Pedal specific clips

[The Iron Chef]

I have built a bunch of pedals and feel that I'm ready to record a few of them and post them for general sonic knowledge.  My problem is this: I don't know what genre/style music will present each build in the proper context.  This is a problem because  I'm not a guitar player.  My son will do the playing, Is a very talented player but young and does mostly all his own music.  He really doesn't cover anyone else's stuff. So, i would like to record the following circuits and present them in proper context:

Tonepad RAT
Tonepad Big Muff Pi Triangle
Tonepad MXR envelope filter (he can play funky stuff )
Tonepad Ross Compressor
Tonepad Small Stone
Gausmarkov Foxx Tone Machine
Runoffgroove Double D

He's got a Custom Partscaster (single coil) and a very custom Vee (Burstbucker Pro 2 humbucker) and a bunch of other guitars too.

So, If anyone can suggest a song or style for any of these effects I would be thankfull.

-Keith

[Ronsonic]

Original isn't bad for demo stuff. Free form is good, at least for a first take and then follow the same or similar path for the money take. Perfect playing isn't important, but enough basic technique to get tone out of it is.

What a pedal inspires you to play is part of what makes it good. I say demo with the songs, riffs, solos that he uses each pedal on. Or the ones he feels like playing with that sound coming out of his guitar. That's the context.

It's up to you two whether to do backing tracks and such, but a bare bones raw recording has the advantage of clarity and simplicity. Easy to hear just what the pedal's doing. Please nothing more than a touch of reverb in post production and/or a speaker sim if you're recording direct.  Raw is good.

Anyway those are my thoughts on the subject.

[nosamiam]

I actually prefer demos not to have actual songs. Like your son, I don't do covers or imitate a style necessarily. So the demos I enjoy hearing the most are very basic. I want to hear what an effect does to (each in a few spots on the fretboard):

1) single sustained notes

2) open chords

3) power chords & barre chords

4) slow lead lines where notes get a chance to breathe

Most pedals will sound better in certain areas than in others. But I like to be the judge. It bugs me a little when someone plays "Insert song here" and doesn't let me hear some of the other things the pedal can do.  The fact that someone can play Muse or RHCP or whatever is cool, but I don't really find that helpful in a pedal demo.

[hday]

Nosamiam has got it right. There is always going to be something that sounds best with each pedal. Individual notes, open chords, barre chords, palm mutes, slow leads, fast leads, bent notes, and double stops are the key things for a great effect demo. It's nice to hear as much as you can. And for each of those, it's great to hear different levels of effect or mix. If it's a fuzz, I want to hear 9, 10:30, 12, 1:30, 3, 5 o'clocks. If it's a delay, I want to hear differences in depth, speed, mix, etc. That's a whole lot for each pedal. There's probably a lot you could omit, and I'm sure it'll be easy to choose from.

And if you're going to take the time to record these things, make sure you get a bypassed signal. My absolute FAVORITE thing about effect reviews, is a straight, raw signal. No reverb, no amp warmth, so I can hear exactly how it sounds and how it will sound for me. And if I wanted, I could output that signal to my amp and hear how it sounds on my amp.

Don't get me wrong, I like to hear it sound really pretty with reverb and delay and whatnot. The goal shouldn't be to impress your audience, it should be to document the exact tone of a pedal.

[grathan]

Hearing the bypassed signal for comparison is useful.

[DougH]

This is all IMHO, YMMV, etc...

I think people make a mistake when they attempt to make sound clips that can somehow be "objectively" compared to each other. Even if everyone recorded the clips direct to a sound card, differences in sound cards, guitars, strings, playing styles alone will still make comparisons subjective. You're never going to get to an "objective" comparison so don't bother with it.

My favorite clips are the ones that tell me "this is what this can sound like" not "this is what this will sound like". The idea is to connect emotionally with people and get them excited about what you did. Nothing wrong with that. So don't record direct to sound cards or use speaker sims. Use a real amp as 99% of the time that's how people are going to use your box anyway. If you start with a couple chords on bypass, as others have mentioned, people will hear how your amp sounds as a reference. They can make the conceptual leap from your amp to theirs and how the box might affect it.

Having said that, stay away from backing tracks and keep it simple and uncluttered. Try not to use other "production" effects like reverb unless it is just really dry. You can add a touch if necessary but don't drench it. Also, should go without saying, but don't use other effects in the clips too. Keep it isolated to the circuit you are demoing. Nothing worse than someone demoing a new amp they just built that you've been dying to hear, only to hear the clip dripping with wet phasing, flanging, or chorus, masking whatever was cool about the amp - for example. Just keep it simple and natural sounding- that works the best.

[shredgd]

My favorite clips are the ones that tell me "this is what this can sound like" not "this is what this will sound like". The idea is to connect emotionally with people and get them excited about what you did. Nothing wrong with that. So don't record direct to sound cards or use speaker sims. Use a real amp as 99% of the time that's how people are going to use your box anyway. If you start with a couple chords on bypass, as others have mentioned, people will hear how your amp sounds as a reference. They can make the conceptual leap from your amp to theirs and how the box might affect it.

I agree 100%!

And I add: DON'T bother showing the ugly and useless sounds you can get, for example, by maxing out the tone pot of an overdrive... In other words, set the pedal the way it sounds best! Of course, there are some controls, like gain, of which people may be interested in hearing the range of action, but again, try to focus in finding the "sweet spot" of each knob and just record that!

Giulio

[asfastasdark]

What I prefer is first a very short (~10 seconds) clip of playing bypassed, and then with the pedal on and playing open notes or power chords, but very slowly after another. Then different knob settings preferably for me by playing power chords and slowly rolling up or down the knobs for simple pedals like distortion or boosts or whatever. But with delays and flanger/phasers it may be better to just show the min and max speed.