The instrumental guitar sorcerer uses "Mladek" off the 2011 album 'Empros' to demonstrate how he builds bulldozing tones while onstage. Rig Rundown: bit.ly/RussianC... "Harper Lewis" Riff Rundown: bit.ly/HarperLe...
I was just literally front row at an RC show....I could have touched his pedal board. Freaking amazing show and super fun to watch! Hey Mike, I was the fat bald guy smiling my ass off the entire time....oh yeah...doesn't narrow it down.
I love how Mike has always embraced the low end in heavy guitars. The whole “tight” metal craze is essentially “scoop out the lows” for a ubiquitous “modern” sound. Since he gain stages using pedals, there is a little low end loss, but that’s made up with his choice of pickups and amps. This is a heavy, low tone that works well in a mix.
@Toxic Potato True, but a three piece that overdubs a lot of loops with different gain structures and a bass player that also plays synth lines. Certain parts definitely need to cut more than others.
I agree completely except what you say about gain staging with pedals being responsible for little low end loss. In fact most gain pedals can very easily be responsible for low end loss, and someone has to be very picky to find some that don't do that. The heavy bass+low mid guitar sound of Russian Circles comes from a careful combination of every link in the chain, including very resonant 4x12s, big heads and solid bassy guitars. After these you just pay attention to your pedals, and if you need some that cut some bass then you also use them (like the old+very popular trick of treble boosters or tubescreamers in front of vintage British heads like Laneys, Marshalls etc).
bloodySunday77 I think you misread my meaning. “Little” might have been a poor choice of words, because my intention was to point out that the other things he does compensates for the low end loss of the pedals. I basically meant what you articulated in a different way. And I know Mike has infamously used Ampeg 8x10 cabs instead of a typical 4x12 to retain the low end. I would be interested in the choice of speakers in his Tyrant cab for the current rig.
Back in April '06 saw them open for ISIS at a small bar in Cleveland called the Grog Shop. I'd never heard of them. This was a month prior to the release of "Enter." I remember before they started I thought 'this guy looks like he's 12 years old' (didn't have the beard or the long hair at the time.) Anyway, their performance really blew me away. Particularly Mike Sullivan and the drummer. ISIS performed three new songs that night. Absence was still six months away at that point, and what I had the privilege of hearing were early versions of Dulcinea, 1000 shards, and Holy Tears. I feel like 2006 was a watershed year for "post rock." Just off the top of my head: Russian Circles debut, Red Sparowes every red heart, In the absence of truth, 10,000 days, Cult of Luna somewhere along the highway. All 2006 releases. What an amazing year as a fan of the genre. Almost forgot: Mouth of the Architect's The Ties that Blind was also 2006. Goddamn.
i could kinda see a little bit of Kurt cobain hidden behind Mike's back playing his NEGATIVE CREEP but only a little bit much love SULLIVAN your Russian circles will always great a great inspiration for me since i also compose similar type of instrumental music but with a little of that goth doom Metal touch to it
Record chug with a wee bit of reverb, overdub a pretty dry tapping part, then switch on a digital delay, chorus and booster to cut with the octave chords. If you watch the video, it's all in front of you.
This is how he creates loops. Each one depends on the riff, you're not gonna use chugging with a huge wash reverb (or yes, maybe). The thing is how he adds layers, and how he shapes the sound he explains that. Practice a lot to nail the loop without cuts.
hmm never noticed this before, in the final chugging section he's holding a power chord on the 5th/4th strings.. maybe so that any sort of mistake in picking ends up sounding good? sort of an adam jones thing?
i think your talking about the octaves, so yes hes muting the 4th. Octaves on thicker 4 strings are i string and one fret apart so fret 5 on 5th string and fret 7 on G.
the other part is just using a looper that overdubs.. >ON, chugging riff, OFF, repeat, ON, tapping riff, OFF, repeat.. add octaves over top, done this is actually the easy part, trying to get the 3 parts to stack together and sound good is much more challenging
