Day: December 12, 2017

Guide to Sounding like Michael Franks with Music Gear

Smooth Operator

Michael Franks, affectionately known to his fans as SOJG (Some Old Jazz Guy…but more on that later) has made fans the world over with his buttery smooth vocal stylings and innuedo-laden jazz lyrics. He is widely regarded as a great singer and songwriter, whose extensive catalog includes the hit song ‘Popsicle Toes,’ famously covered by Diana Krall along with a host of other smooth and sensual hits up through his last album ‘Time Together,‘ which includes a great song called ‘Mice.’

But how can you sound like Michael? You may think it’s hard, but it’s easier than you think.

 

Jazz History

Before dipping into Michael Franks style songwriting, you’ll need to learn about Jazz and Jazz history and Jazz theory. So you need to watch this Ken Burns’ DVD series about Jazz. It is sold for a cheep price.

Here you will learn about Bird, Diz, Monk and the rest of the guys who invented the jazz sound that MIchael use to make his music. So get the DVDs and that’s a good place to start.

Guitar

In order to song-write, you will need a music instrument such as a guitar, which MIchael use to write his songs. There’s no need to cut corners, go for a good one. This Martin guitar costs just under $4000 but is worth every penny.

Once you get this guitar you will start playing and sounding like Michael.

 

Voice

In order to sound like Michael, you will need to use a Mic like he  uses. Why not try this classic mic, the Shure SM-57, which Michael probably used at some point. Plug it in, play the guitar and your voice, and you are on the way to the Michael Franks’ type of sounds.

Under the Tahitian Moon

After you acquire the recommended gear, you’ll need experience to compose Michael Franks-esque lyrics. We recommend booking a trip to Tahiti so you can write a song similar to his Tahitian Moon song. And you can’t go on the trip without a travel book.

Lonely Planet’s Guide to Tahiti and French Polynesia is a great starting point. If you can’t afford a trip to Tahiti (it is quite pricey), why not pick up a bottle of Kelis Polynesian Sweet-n-Sour sauce. It’s the taste of Tahiti without the expensive travel tickets, and perfect inspiration for writing a Michael Franks style song.

 

You could also go for the much larger 72 0z bottle if you plan on making alot of food. It goes for a very reasonable price.

 

Along those same lines, you could try becoming a vegetarian and stop eating meat, because that’s what Michael does.

In Conclusion

Sounding like Michael Frannks is not easy, but with these tips it just got a whole lot easier to sound more like he sounds.

How to Sound like Ty Segall with guitars and pedals (on a budget)

Rock Man





Ty Segall’s psychedelic rock music took the world by storm when it came out. People heard the sweet rock sounds he was making and loved the songs he made. His unique guitar and rock tones are very interesting and great, but how can you achieve those tones? “It must cost alot of money to do so with all the guitars and pedals” is what you probably are thinking. The fact is, it doesn’t have to. This guide will show you how to get the Ty Segall sound on a budget.

Rock Guitars

Ty Segall plays heavy rock guitars and even sings about playing guitar on his 2017 album with the song “Break a Guitar.” But hopefully he’s not breaking any of his guitars that he owns, which are all quite expensive ones. He uses a Fender Telecaster, a Fender Jaguar, a Gibson Les Paul and a Hagstrom II among many others. THese are all very expensive and costly pieces of gear and probably costed more than $400 each, which is too much money for the aspiring guitarist on a budget. Fortunately you don’t have to pay an arm and a leg for a Ty Segall style guitar.







The fact is that all guitars sound the same and the differences are just in branding and cosmetic looks. So why not try the Davison Sunburst guitar? It costs a very cheap low price online and will be a good option for sounding like Ty Segall and his band with the weird rock music.

Amps

Ty uses all kind of heavy, loud amps from Fender and Music Man but these amps are firstly, too heavy to carry anywhere. THey might sound very good and very cool because they are loud rock amps, but the reality is they are too expensive to buy when you are on a budget and too heavy to carry without also paying for an expensive gym membership to get strong enough to carry them.



Why not try something cheaper and smaller?

The Pyle Pro Home PCA 30-Watt Stereo Amplifier features a very good sound coming from the box. It’s a great little amp, and the very low price makes it an even better one. Just plug the guitar into there and hear the Ty Segall tones coming from out of the amp.

Pedals–Important for the Sound

One element that’s very important to the Ty Segall sound is the pedals he was using–which there were many of. To achieve the psychedelic rock sound he used Electro-Harmonix Big Muff fuzz pedals and Electro-Harmonix Small Stone Phase Shifters along with some very, very expensive Death by Audio pedals such as the Fuzz War and Octave Clang. These pedals might be very cool sounding (and looking) but for the guitarist on a budget these are not options.



The key to Ty Segall’s sound is the use of loudness and being loud rock music. SO the best option is to get a classic Ernie Ball Volume pedal. This pedal makes the guitar louder when its pressed all the way. So press it all the way, and hear as the guitar gets louder. And for the unbeatable price, how could you go for something else?


In COnonclsuion

Ty Segall’s music has a very good sound which is hard to achieve, but with these gear suggestions it’s much easier to sound like him.