VH Tone DEEP DIVE - Pete Thorn & Dave Friedman

**JUNGLE DRUMMER** · 12.01.20, 11:34 AM

Originally Posted by sinners__swing

That's pretty much it. I always thought the vocal melodies were really weak. It almost seems like a fuck around tune Ed and Al came up with and Dave just walked in threw something on top of it. Ed and Al played great on it.

I love the sparse lyrics and vocals. Really love Mike's cartoonish too high vocals meshed with Dave's growl on the chorus. Oh well lol.

**iplayguitaralot** · 12.05.20, 12:07 PM

There is even pitch shift on VH1. I want to say every guitar over dub and all the background vocals are ran through an eventide. It was part of Ted and Don’s arsenal and part of their technique. Especially the ice cream man overdub.

**Majestic** · 12.06.20, 06:14 PM

Unsurprised if an H910 was at Sunset Sound back then. I’ve never noticed it on the 1st album, but have NOT done a deep-dive on that tone, nor am I great at recognizing subtlety without it being highlighted for me.

Very interesting.

**Brett** · 12.06.20, 06:17 PM

There is a bit of tape processing on every Van Halen album. It’s just part of mixing. There is a lot more going on with Ed’s tone on that first album than just what is coming out of his amp. You can hear the signal processing in his tone if you put on headphones and listen. And as someone who does a lot of cover recordings trying my best to copy those tones with my amp modeler, I’ve been listening really closely to them to try to see how to finesse my processing to match his. And it’s really hard for several reasons and one of them is it’s not all just the amp.

**iplayguitaralot** · 12.06.20, 09:23 PM

Originally Posted by Brett

There is a bit of tape processing on every Van Halen album. It’s just part of mixing. There is a lot more going on with Ed’s tone on that first album than just what is coming out of his amp. You can hear the signal processing in his tone if you put on headphones and listen. And as someone who does a lot of cover recordings trying my best to copy those tones with my amp modeler, I’ve been listening really closely to them to try to see how to finesse my processing to match his. And it’s really hard for several reasons and one of them is it’s not all just the amp.

Yep, strangely enough the captain beefhart album Ted did has a lot of the same vibe as VH1. It’s just how they sounded at sunset. There’s no other place I would rather record then Sunset Sounds in the late 70s, early 80s that’s for sure. Definitely had a vibe.

I always thought the tone EVH got on that Nicolette Larsen song is way closer to what he just sounded like in a room, doesn’t seem like much post went on in that cut.

**Brett** · 12.06.20, 09:57 PM

Unless I’m crazy I’ve read in more than one interview where Ed said the first Van Halen album is not at all what he wanted his guitar to sound like, and when he started getting more famous and having more control from the second album on he started getting the sound that he really wanted. So it’s funny that everyone tries to get the album tone that Ed actually liked the least.

I totally agree that a lot of Ed’s tone comes from just the sound of those rooms in Sunset Sound. His tone was so much different there than in 5150 with the same producer and engineer. It’s just the sounds that place gets are different.

I would love to record there but I actually looked into it years ago and for my band it was just so expensive it wasn’t something we could do, but it would be cool. I just wanted to do the drums and the guitars there and do the vocals somewhere else, but we just couldn’t do it financially. This was years ago like 2005.

**JUNGLE DRUMMER** · 12.06.20, 10:08 PM

Originally Posted by Brett

Unless I’m crazy I’ve read in more than one interview where Ed said the first Van Halen album is not at all what he wanted his guitar to sound like, and when he started getting more famous and having more control from the second album on he started getting the sound that he really wanted. So it’s funny that everyone tries to get the album tone that Ed actually liked the least.

I totally agree that a lot of Ed’s tone comes from just the sound of those rooms in Sunset Sound. His tone was so much different there than in 5150 with the same producer and engineer. It’s just the sounds that place gets is different.

I would love to record there but I actually looked into it years ago and for my band it was just so expensive it wasn’t something we could do, but it would be cool. I just wanted to do the drums and the guitars there and do the vocals somewhere else, but we just couldn’t do it financially. This was years ago like 2005.

I dont remember about him not liking the guitar tone, but I do remember reading he and Al were extremely disappointed in the sound of the drums on the debut.

**Brett** · 12.06.20, 10:31 PM

Originally Posted by JUNGLE DRUMMER

I dont remember about him not liking the guitar tone, but I do remember reading he and Al were extremely disappointed in the sound of the drums on the debut.

I’m pretty sure it’s definitely in one of the interviews that I have on this website. I distinctly remember him saying when he started getting more control is when he got his guitar sounding the way he wanted. I know I’m not crazy I read that somewhere.

**Brett** · 12.06.20, 11:18 PM

I feel like I read it in an interview where he was talking about all the issues getting FW recorded. I know there’s a couple different interviews around that time that I’ve read. But it was definitely when Dave was still in the band I don’t think he was reflecting back on the past. So hard to remember now everything seems to kind of blend together.

**Jedi McFly** · 12.07.20, 06:43 AM

I recall something similar, Brett. Specifically that Ed was never fond of the reverb heavy / left panned guitar mix.

At the same time, he also said that with Balance he “got his sound back” - his ideal tone was always a moving target.

**iplayguitaralot** · 12.07.20, 04:50 PM

Originally Posted by Jedi McFly

I recall something similar, Brett. Specifically that Ed was never fond of the reverb heavy / left panned guitar mix.

At the same time, he also said that with Balance he “got his sound back” - his ideal tone was always a moving target.

It would be cool to have VH1’s gain structure inside of Balance’s stereo space. I know aftershock is with the Marshall but it doesn’t have the bite for whatever reason.

**garbeaj** · 12.09.20, 09:27 AM

Originally Posted by Jedi McFly

I recall something similar, Brett. Specifically that Ed was never fond of the reverb heavy / left panned guitar mix.

At the same time, he also said that with Balance he “got his sound back” - his ideal tone was always a moving target.

So true...Though I will say I was fascinated to discover from Brian Kehew in his Sunset Sound interviews that the reverb, was NOT panned at all, but it was rather stereo reverb in which the guitar was so loud that it drowned out the reverb in one channel. It gives the impression that it was purposefully panned, but it was not. As Brian explained, you can hear it when the guitar stops playing and the trails of the reverb continue in that channel.