This trick works best with a pre-recorded track—say a fresh
guitar track—because the signal will be line-level, which
overloads inputs better. If an old wood-and-metal tape
deck isn’t available, go to a thrift store and find one—
make sure the deck features “aux in” and “line
out” jacks. Use adapters if necessary. Now,
plug your source into the tape deck, and
the tape deck back into a recording
interface. Crank the output volume
of the recorded track very high for
gnarly compressed fuzz—there aren’t
a whole lot of pedals that can make
fuzz like that. When turning the volume
of the track down further and further, the
effect devolves into a compressed overdrive, and
finally subtle compression. That’s a pretty neat trick
for an old tape deck!
Texturizing
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TONE TALK //
DIY Workarounds for Studio Effects
Kathinka Pasvee
Real studio savants have been utilizing “found
sounds