Riff Tone

Ghost

Neutral Milk Hotel

Guitarrock1990s

Original Gear

Guitar1940s Kay acoustic guitar (exact model unknown, likely archtop or parlor)

AmpNo guitar amp; signal distorted by overdriving tube microphone preamp

PickupsNone (acoustic guitar, mic'd)

Amp Settings

gain7

bass5.5

mid6.5

treble6.5

reverb2

presence5

Effects & Signal Chain

No effects used for this tone

Notes

Studio recording, 1997, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea sessions. The distorted sound is achieved by miking an acoustic guitar very close and running the mic signal into a tube preamp with the gain set high, causing preamp clipping. No guitar amp or pedals used for the main riff.

Tone Character(10)

blown-out acoustic distortionwarm and fuzzy texturelo-fi and saturatedcompressed and mid-forwardraw and organicslightly nasal upper midsgrainy, tape-like breakuppercussive strumming attackroomy, natural ambiencenoisy, vintage character

Difficulty

The riff is primarily fast, percussive strumming on acoustic guitar with little technical complexity, but requires stamina and control to maintain clarity and energy at tempo.

Sources

Neutral Milk Hotel [Production Thread] : r/WeAreTheMusicMakers How to achieve NMH distortion sound? : r/neutralmilkhotel Does anyone know how to get a similar tone as Holland, 1945?What songs or artists have your favorite gain sounds? : r/guitarpedals

This tone has been researched 2 times by the community

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