If you’re just starting out performing with your saxophone, chances are you’ve already experimented with some saxophone effects. Maybe you stuck on some reverb or a bit of delay.
But what if you tried extreme effects for saxophone? What would that even look like?
Well, I’m going to help you answer that today because I’m talking with Rich Castillo. He’s a Sax School member.
Now, here’s the thing. Although Rich started as a classical saxophone player, he’s recording and playing gigs with a very full-on band at the moment called The Callous Daoboys.
This is a Mathcore band. It’s a full-on Metal band.
Yes, that’s right. He’s playing Metal on his saxophone. So let’s have a chat with Rich and find out the setup that he’s got. I think it’s going to blow your mind.
Playing sax in a Mathcore band
“It’s unlike any other saxophone situation that I’ve been in,” says Rich.
Richard playing guitar in a Progressive Metal band – a different subgenre of Metal. “We decided to throw in some sax, and it kind of started the same way with the Callous Daoboys,” explains Rich. “There were a couple of small parts on the first album I did with them. And then when I started playing with them live, I was like, well, I’m not going to just sit around on the side of the stage just waiting for my two solo parts to come up. So I decided to learn the guitar parts and apply them to saxophone.”
Rich’s extreme effects for saxophone set up
So as you can imagine, Rich has to have a pretty full-on setup to compete with all the other stuff going on in this band. So I wanted to ask him about his actual pedal board setup.
Rich has one chain of pedals which his sax mic goes through. I asked him to talk us through the elements.
The Pre Amp
It starts with my Pre Amp. When I’m in the studio, I like to run my AKG condenser mic and it needs Phantom Power.
When I play live, I use a Sampson wireless mic. And that is at line levels, so you don’t need a Pre Amp.
Noise Gate
The noise gate comes next, which prevents feedback by shutting off the signal. It won’t let any sound pass through below a certain level. So, If you’re not playing, the signal from the microphone (from other instruments or amps) won’t pass through.
Harmoniser
Next is the “Pitchfork”by Electro Harmonix – a harmoniser octave pedal. “It has like perfect fours, perfect fifths, everything,” says Rich. “And then it also has one, two, and three octaves down or up.”
Rich uses this to replicate the sound of the bass.
To get the sound of the heavily distorted Metal bass, Rich uses a fuzz pedal, with the Pitchfork. “With those two combined, it sounds pretty much like a bass. So when that part comes on live, it just kind of punches you in the chest,” says Rich.
Whammy Pedal
Next comes a smaller version of a guitar “Whammy Pedal” which has a rocker pedal to control it. “This is a different version where you can set how fast it goes up or down,” says Rich. “You can set it and then when you press down, it goes up and when you let go, it goes back down.”
Black Ash Fuzz Pedal
Next comes the Fuzz pedal which Rich uses to get the sound of a Metal distorted bass, when combined with the Pitchfork. “I like this one because it’s a little bit in between distortion and fuzz,” says Rich. “So I like it a lot for that, and to get that bass sax sound“.
Rich doesn’t only use this effect when he’s performing with The Callous Daoboys. “I’ll do covers online. I’ll take one of my favourite metal songs that has an awesome bass part. And I’ll try to replicate that sound and do it with, the Pitchfork and the Black Ash.”
The Delay Pedal
Next in Rich’s extreme effects for saxophone set up is the Avalanche Run by Earthquaker Devices. It’s a delay pedal.
“It can do crazy stuff or it can just do your simple every day, slap-back delay where you might not even notice it unless you’re looking for it,” says Rich.
Rich has so many options with this set-up!
Reverb Pedal
The Astral Destiny, also from Earthquaker, is a reverb pedal. “It has 8 different kinds of reverb,” says Rich. You can use it as a regular, everyday reverb pedal, and just have a sweeter sound”.
The Phaser
“this is an old phaser, I think from the 80’s,” says Rich. “I like using it a lot when I just do simple repeating patterns because it kind of matches the sweeping sound. And it sounds cool listening to it grow and decay and change.”
Another Reverb Pedal
Last of all is another reverb pedal. “I like it for simple stuff,” says Rich. “It’s called the Shim Verb. “It has this nice setting where it adds a slight octave to the reverb. So it has this cool, ethereal kind of sound to it, which I like for ambience kind of stuff”.
The sound
What’s interesting here is that most of us are just focusing on getting the saxophone sound with our mouthpiece and our reed.
Rich is doing that, but he’s also got this whole other layer on top where you can create all these different sounds. And for the type of gig Rich is doing, it’s important.
Managing an Extreme Effects for Saxophone Set Up
There’s quite a lot to think about when you’re on stage with this set-up. I ask Rich how he manages it.
“That’s part of the reason why my tour board is smaller. So, I’m not like either experimenting unnecessarily, or like, oh wait, which one do I have to press again?” says Rich.
Using the pedal set up is also part of the rehearsal process. “I don’t do anything on the fly as far as effects go. It’s all stuff that’s already worked out,” says Rich. “So when I’m rehearsing, I’m also rehearsing stepping on the pedals and turning them on and off at the right time. So it’s just another part of the live show process.”
Practice and Experimentation
Rich’s practice time includes experimenting with the sounds he can achieve with his effects setup. “There are even parts where I use the fuzz pedal and my reverb pedal live to create a synth sound. It sounds exactly like the synth on the record, so I was able to fill out that part that we didn’t have at the time on the tour.”
Adding to the set-up
Does Rich have any plans to add more pedals to his setup?
“This new pedal just came the other day,” says Rich. “It’s just an EQ pedal, so I’m not going to get anything crazy out of it. But it’s never going to end. I have to stop myself, once a week, from just buying some random pedal I saw someone using or saw on Reverb“.
Starting with effects pedals for sax
I asked Rich if he had to suggest just one pedal to a Sax school member who’s just starting to experiment with some different sounds, what would be good starting point?
“I’d say the delay or reverb,” says Rich.”You can just get your everyday sounds on there. You might not realise that like almost every saxophone that you hear on a record, has some effects on it in some way – whether or not you can even hear it,” Rich explains. “It’s almost always going to have some delay and reverb on there.”
So, you can start with these effects to get a fuller, sweeter sound- or you can use it for crazy effects!
Using Garageband to create sax effects
Rich has this tip to start experimenting with effects on your saxophone sound, using GarageBand.
“You don’t need effects pedals to do this… If you have a mic and an interface, you run the mic right into the interface, and then you open up the plug-ins on GarageBand. They’re all free… So you can start like that and experiment. Get your head around it there before you even spend all the money to get into the actual physical pedals.”
Final Thoughts
I hope that conversation with Rich has inspired you to go and explore effects a bit more yourself.
Also, don’t forget, if you want to dig further into your saxophone playing like Rich is doing with Sax School and thousands of other people around the world, then come and see what we’re doing over at SaxSchoolOnline.com.
There are just so many lessons and courses in there. And there’s a real diverse group of musicians that are studying with us too, from beginners through to advanced players like Rich and people that are out there even making albums.
It’s all going on inside Sax School, and we’d love to help you. Get a 14 day free trial here.