Oklahoma-based Hinder has done very well in a relatively short amount of time – at least a short amount of time in the music business. The band was formed in 2001 and by 2005 had released the multi-platinum Extreme Behavior.
What’s really interesting about Hinder’s music is that it all seems familiar. In some cases, that’s a bad thing – if the music is so lame that it sounds like you’re listening to a flashback from the ‘80s, then that’s bad. But that’s not Hinder.
Their music reminds me a lot of Nickelback. Great songs, singing, guitar playing and straight-ahead rocking throughout the album. Actually the song “Get Stoned” is quite a bit like Nickelback’s “How You Remind Me.”
There are songs on the album that we can all associate with. “Better Than Me” and "Lips of an Angel" are a couple of the best rock ballads I’ve heard in a long time.
From a guitar player’s perspective, guitarist Mark King’s tone was an interesting one to tackle. King uses Mesa Boogie amps and cabs, so you know where he gets that awesome chunky tone. The thing is – if you can believe this – King doesn’t use any effects.
Besides the Mesa Boogie amps, King uses several Gibson Les Pauls, including the GT, Goddess and a Silver Burst Custom.
You may think the lack of effects would make my job of preparing a Hinder guitar tone really easy, but that’s not so. Without any effects, every parameter of the amp becomes much more important.
To make King’s tone I used Line 6’s POD Farm amp modeling software. There is an amp model in POD Farm that closely matches the Mesa Boogie, but I chose one with a little less gain. That gave me a few more options to shape the tone, instead of just turning up the gain.
So, let’s take a look at what I have. First of all, I did a dual tone, with songs like “Get Stoned” in mind. We’ll look at the chunky tone first.
I used a Cali Diamond Plate amp with Drive 83 percent; Bass 73 percent; Middle 36 percent; Treble 72 percent; Presence 78 percent and Volume 66 percent. I used a 4x12 Treadplate cabinet with a 421 dynamic mic.
I did put a Screamer in the chain to boost the signal a bit. You can use the Screamer for solo parts, but there is no need to use it for the rhythm parts, unless you want to. Settings for the Screamer are Drive 55 percent; Gain 70 percent; and Tone 34 percent.
The tone also has a Compressor with a Threshold of -19db and Gain of 2db. Just to add some depth to the tone I inserted a Large Hall Reverb with settings of Predelay 0 percent; Decay 28 percent; Tone 50 percent; and Mix 34 percent. I’m also using a Gate to silence any feedback.
I was using a guitar with active pickups, so you may need to make small adjustments depending on the instrument you’re using.
Now the clean tone. If you listen to the verse parts of “Get Stoned,” you’ll notice a very unique sound. I went part way between that tone and a purely clean tone – enough to give it some character.
I used a Brit Gain 18 amp with settings of Drive 2; Bass 4; Middle 2; Treble 4; Presence 6; and Volume 5. I put in a compressor with a Threshold of -19db and 0db Gain. The last thing I added for the clean tone is an Analog Chorus with settings of Speed 0.83Hz; Depth 29 percent; Bass 50 perce1nt; Treble 50 percent; and Mix 26 percent.
I hope you enjoy playing Hinder!
Click here to download the Mark King Guitar Rig preset.