To Be Alone
Hozier
A creeping, dirty blues sound built on pedals and a small Vox.
What is the To Be Alone guitar tone?
The To Be Alone guitar tone is a creeping, dirty blues sound built on pedals and a small Vox, heard on Hozier's 2010s blues rock recording. It is a distorted riff tone, and Hozier reportedly tracked it with Rob Kirwan's Eastwood Airline guitar, which Kirwan, who produced the album, says Hozier loved and which played a very prominent role on the album, through an Electro-Harmonix Memory Man with the gain turned up loudly, a ProCo Rat for the distortion, one of the new hand-wired Vox AC15s and a Knas Ekdahl Moisturizer spring reverb, the guitar chain Kirwan describes for the album rather than for this song in particular; Hozier told Bonedo the guitars were recorded with an old 1980s Memory Man, which Kirwan gave him after the sessions, and that one of the sounds they had the most fun with chained it with a Big Muff, a Rat and Kirwan's reverb; Kirwan calls To Be Alone one of his favourite songs on the album, says it involved a lot of playing around with arrangements and trying out crazy sounds, and says the record had to sound dirty and tough; it is a melancholy blues song with a simple drumbeat, guitar licks and church organ, and Clash called it creeping blues; Kirwan made almost all the recordings at his Exchequer studio in Dublin, where he generally records guitars with a Shure SM57 and a Sontronics Delta ribbon microphone, and the album, which took three months, came out on 19 September 2014. Here the album's guitar dirt came from a pedal chain, a Memory Man with its gain turned up and a ProCo Rat into a small Vox AC15, rather than from the guitar's volume knob on an amp at the edge of breakup, and the producer says the record had to sound dirty and tough.
You do not need that exact gear to land in the same place. What carries this sound is the gain structure, the EQ curve, the pickup choice and the order of the effects, and all four can be rebuilt on equipment that costs a fraction of the original. The numbers change from amp to amp, because a high-gain head and a small practice amp reach the same voicing from different knob positions. That translation is what Tonelify works out for the rig you actually own.
To Be Alone amp settings: a starting point
On a generic five-knob amp, start at Gain 4, Bass 5, Middle 6, Treble 6, Presence 5, Reverb 3, with the bridge pickup.
- Gain 4
- Bass 5
- Middle 6
- Treble 6
- Presence 5
- Reverb 3
- Signal chain
- Electro-Harmonix Memory Man, gain turned up → ProCo Rat distortion → Hand-wired Vox AC15 → Knas Ekdahl Moisturizer spring reverb
- The control that matters most
- The distortion pedal. Kirwan's guitar chain for the album is a Memory Man with the gain turned up and a ProCo Rat into a small Vox AC15, so set a Rat-style distortion in front of a small Vox-style amp and keep it rough: he says the record had to sound dirty and tough. The spring reverb at the end of the chain, a Knas Moisturizer, adds the space.
These positions are free and they are a starting point. A Katana, a Spark and a valve head reach this voicing from different knob positions, so Tonelify rewrites every value above for the amp and guitar you own. Your first match is free with an account, and needs no card.
Adapt these to my amp- Pickup
- Bridge pickup
These are positions on a generic five-knob amp with gain, bass, middle, treble and presence, each running 0 to 10. They are a starting point, not the settings used on the record, and they will not transfer unchanged to an amp with a different gain structure or EQ voicing. If you tell Tonelify which amp you own, it rewrites every value above for the controls that amp actually has.
Does the To Be Alone tone sound off on your amp?
Pick what you hear. You get the knobs to turn from the starting point above, and how far.
What gear did Hozier use on To Be Alone?
Rob Kirwan's Eastwood Airline guitar, which Kirwan, who produced the album, says Hozier loved and which played a very prominent role on the album, through an Electro-Harmonix Memory Man with the gain turned up loudly, a ProCo Rat for the distortion, one of the new hand-wired Vox AC15s and a Knas Ekdahl Moisturizer spring reverb, the guitar chain Kirwan describes for the album rather than for this song in particular; Hozier told Bonedo the guitars were recorded with an old 1980s Memory Man, which Kirwan gave him after the sessions, and that one of the sounds they had the most fun with chained it with a Big Muff, a Rat and Kirwan's reverb; Kirwan calls To Be Alone one of his favourite songs on the album, says it involved a lot of playing around with arrangements and trying out crazy sounds, and says the record had to sound dirty and tough; it is a melancholy blues song with a simple drumbeat, guitar licks and church organ, and Clash called it creeping blues; Kirwan made almost all the recordings at his Exchequer studio in Dublin, where he generally records guitars with a Shure SM57 and a Sontronics Delta ribbon microphone, and the album, which took three months, came out on 19 September 2014.
Sources: Sound On Sound: Inside Track, Hozier's Take Me To Church, Bonedo: interview with Hozier (German), Wikipedia: Hozier (album)
Tonelify reads that chain and translates it to the amp and guitar you already own, returning gain, bass, mids, treble and presence values along with a pickup position.
How do you get the To Be Alone tone on your own amp?
Tell us your guitar, amp, and pedals
AI researches the original tone of To Be Alone
Get exact knob settings adapted to your rig
To Be Alone tone questions
What amp settings do you need for To Be Alone?
On a generic five-knob amp, start at Gain 4, Bass 5, Middle 6, Treble 6, Presence 5, Reverb 3, with the bridge pickup. These are positions on a generic five-knob amp with gain, bass, middle, treble and presence, each running 0 to 10. They are a starting point, not the settings used on the record, and they will not transfer unchanged to an amp with a different gain structure or EQ voicing. Tonelify rewrites the same values for the specific amp and guitar you own, because a high-gain head and a small solid-state combo reach the same creeping, dirty blues sound built on pedals and a small Vox from different positions.
What is the most important control for the To Be Alone tone?
The distortion pedal. Kirwan's guitar chain for the album is a Memory Man with the gain turned up and a ProCo Rat into a small Vox AC15, so set a Rat-style distortion in front of a small Vox-style amp and keep it rough: he says the record had to sound dirty and tough. The spring reverb at the end of the chain, a Knas Moisturizer, adds the space.
Can you get the To Be Alone tone without the original gear?
Yes. The original was tracked with Rob Kirwan's Eastwood Airline guitar, which Kirwan, who produced the album, says Hozier loved and which played a very prominent role on the album, through an Electro-Harmonix Memory Man with the gain turned up loudly, a ProCo Rat for the distortion, one of the new hand-wired Vox AC15s and a Knas Ekdahl Moisturizer spring reverb, the guitar chain Kirwan describes for the album rather than for this song in particular; Hozier told Bonedo the guitars were recorded with an old 1980s Memory Man, which Kirwan gave him after the sessions, and that one of the sounds they had the most fun with chained it with a Big Muff, a Rat and Kirwan's reverb; Kirwan calls To Be Alone one of his favourite songs on the album, says it involved a lot of playing around with arrangements and trying out crazy sounds, and says the record had to sound dirty and tough; it is a melancholy blues song with a simple drumbeat, guitar licks and church organ, and Clash called it creeping blues; Kirwan made almost all the recordings at his Exchequer studio in Dublin, where he generally records guitars with a Shure SM57 and a Sontronics Delta ribbon microphone, and the album, which took three months, came out on 19 September 2014, but the parts that define the sound are the gain structure, the EQ curve, the pickup position and the effects order. Those translate to other equipment, which is what the adaptation step does.
Is To Be Alone a rhythm or a lead tone?
It is a riff part with a distorted character, from Hozier's 2010s blues rock catalogue.
Does Tonelify cost anything to try?
Your first match for your own gear is free with an account, and needs no card. After that it takes a plan, charged when you subscribe: Stage is $6.99 a month for 20 matches, Headliner is $10.99 a month for unlimited matching within a fair use limit of 150 new matches a day, and yearly billing works out cheaper on both. Reading this page and the rest of the library costs nothing and needs no account.
