have a wah pedal. Any will do, but
usually the rule of thumb is, the
wider the sweep the better, since
you can get a bigger range of tones.
Put the wah first in your signal chain,
followed by any boosts, overdrives,
and distortions. Place the Avalanche
Run last in the chain, so we can get
the desired sound heard here. Now,
when it comes time to play, mute the
strings with your fretting hand and
strum percussively across the strings,
matching your tempo on the off-beat
of the delay. Rock the wah pedal back
and forth while doing this to create
this cool effect. The reverb and delay
on the Avalanche Run work hand-inhand here, adding all the necessary
ambient space to the vocal tone. I
18
TONE TALK //
really don’t do it justice here, so if you
want to hear a true master at work,
check out Bjørn’s work with Airbag.
There you have it friends, a bit of my
foray into the strange and uncharted
territory of the EarthQuaker Devices
Avalanche Run. If you love ambience,
weird noises, expansive soundscapes,
and huge tones, this pedal is most
definitely for you. You can see it has
its uses beyond just the pedalboard,
and it could just be the tool you need
for your next budding film score. Until
next time friends!
Sculpting Soundscapes with the EarthQuaker Devices Avalanche Run