How to Play and Sound Like RAMMSTEIN
Have you ever listened to Rammstein and just marvelled at their guitar sound?
It’s just delicious, isn't it? It’s like the guitar tone equivalent of fine champagne. It always has been as well, from the early Herzeleid days right through to the recent Zeit album. Co-guitarists Richard Z Kruspe and Paul Landers have a combined sound that has helped propel the Berliners to the very firmament of the hard rock world. Ever controversial, Rammstein aren’t afraid to push buttons, and its won them an enormous worldwide fanbase.
Today, I want to dive into their guitar tones, and I want to explore how they approach their playing in order to get that humongous, instantly recognisable Rammstein sound.
Contents
Playing Tips for Nailing the Rammstein Sound
Space for Vocals (+Call and Response)
The Three T’s of Rammstein: Tone, Taste and Timing
The Rammstein Sound
- Both tube and solid state amps are required.
- Tube is fat and slow: solid state is harsh and fast. The blend is the key.
- ‘Vintage’ is not a thing for this band.
When assessing the Rammstein guitar sound, one word comes to mind first: expensive. This isn’t a scratchy sounding lo-fi band who make a virtue out of a DIY budget: they have a very polished, manicured sound that is carefully crafted and grafted for maximum effect. The sound of Rammstein’s guitars is very ‘deliberate’: you almost never hear artefacts like handling noise or fingers on strings. It’s a very definite sound, and I have to say, that’s a huge part of why it sounds so powerful!
In the early days, the band actually considered sampling all of their guitar parts in order to make the resulting ‘performances’ more machine-like. That didn’t happen in the end, because they understood that what they had achieved was more unique and powerful.
So, how is this unique power achieved? The answer lies in each player using a different approach to amplification. Richard Kruspe has always gone for traditional all-valve high gain amplifiers, with the Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier being his favourite. There’s no secret here, it’s just phenomenal amps set to stun!
As for Paul Landers, he goes in completely the other direction. Instead of valves, he prefers solid state technology, specifically Tech 21’s Sansamp gear. This is pre-digital, so we’re not talking about amp modelling in the way that a Helix or Quad Cortex would approach sound. This is analog technology, old-school but revered amongst those who appreciate it. Landers’ preferred unit was the Sansamp GT2 (presumably using the ‘California’ setting, but that’s my guess) until Tech 21 released his signature Sansamp Paul Landers Fly Rig. Get one for your gig bag!
The point to make clear here is that you can’t get the Rammstein sound with only one of these technologies. Two expensive high gain valve amps together will not get you there, and neither will two Sansamp units. You need both, and two people playing them!
The Guitars of Rammstein
- ESP and Gibson are the main acts
- Solid body guitars that can handle outrageous levels of overdrive
- Both active and passive pickups are used
Richard Z Kruspe has been an ESP endorsee for as long as I can remember. My first experience of Rammstein was in David Lynch’s Lost Highway movie, and by the time I’d found them, Kruspe was playing ESP Kirk Hammett signature guitars. This was largely the case when I saw them live on the Mutter tour, though by that point, I think he had custom ESP M series models. Some of them doubled as flame throwers, so I expect they weren’t off-the-shelf guitars!
Since then, Kruspe has stuck with ESP, playing Eclipse models, his signature Mosrite and Eclipse-shaped RZK guitars and latterly, a very cool Phoenix/Firebird-inspired RZK-III Signature model. These routinely have active pickups: EMG units previously, but nowadays his own Fishman Fluence Richard Z Kruspe signature pickups.
For Richard, it’s 9-50 and 10-46 gauge SIT strings and 1.0mm Dunlop Nylon Max Grip picks.
Paul Landers used to be a big Music Man fan, playing a series of Axis and Van Halen models. Then he moved onto Gibson Les Paul Studios, and finally was awarded his own signature Gibson Paul Landers Les Paul.
His earlier guitars used what seems to be stock passive pickups, but latter period instruments are armed with active EMG pickups.
Landers also uses 10-46 gauge SIT strings. His plectrum choice is less easy to discern: photos of picks online look like celluloid to me, and fairly heavy.
Here’s an interesting observation. Kruspe likes to use traditional amps, but modern active pickups. Landers likes to use more modern solid state amp technology, but a mix of more traditional passive pickups along with active units. They both definitely play up the opposites factor to get the best results!
Playing Tips for Nailing the Rammstein Sound
When looking to get the Rammstein sound, there are a few very simple things that you can do to nail not only the performances of Kruspe and Landers, but their approach to writing, performing and recording. None of it is particularly complicated in itself, but we guitarists are a complicated bunch, and applying some of these disciplines may prove tougher than you expect!
No Guitar Solos
I don’t think anyone believes that the Rammstein guys can’t play solos. It’s just that they are gentlemen and so choose not to! I’m kidding, but the fact is that you almost never hear guitar solos in Rammstein’s music. The first two records have a small smattering of lead parts in certain songs (Rammstein itself is a good example), but it’s overwhelmingly the job of keyboardist Flake Lorenz to supply the extra musicality in instrumental sections. The guitarists almost always hold down the rhythms whilst these sections occur, even though as a two-guitar lineup, they could take solos without the guitar sound dropping away like it does in solo guitar bands.
It’s just not the sound they want, and to be brutally honest, it’s REALLY refreshing to hear!
Play the EXACT Same Thing
Kruspe and Landers almost always play exactly the same guitar parts. Almost always! There is the very odd occasion when one will play a higher register voicing of a riff, while the other plays the lower (look at Rammstein again for this). It’s still almost exactly the same thing though!
We’ve established that there is no ‘solo over guitar chords’ happening in this band, but there’s also nearly never any ‘weaving’ either, or complementary parts, or counterpoint. It’s the same dang part played loud on two guitars. In you complicate it, you will not get the Rammstein sound!
Learn Not to Play
Rammstein songs very often feature big blocks of riffs, followed by big blocks of nothing. Get used to the idea of waiting out an entire verse before coming in again to crush the chorus with your wall of sound. Listen to Reise, Reise for an example of this. Or Benzin. Or Wo Bist Du. There are lots: it’s a big part of their sound!
Some Rammstein tunes do have guitars more or less all the way through them (Rein Raus springs to mind), but these are few and far between, particularly after the first records.
It can be an uncomfortable thing for guitarists to just stand there not doing anything, but just look at how confident Kruspe and Landers appear when they do this live! That confidence speaks volumes to how the band are perceived. Can you imagine them playing loads of self-conscious guitar parts all over the songs? It wouldn’t work, would it?
Dynamics are Enormous
This is perhaps an extension of the previous point, but Rammstein control their dynamics like a bunch of circus ringmasters. The guitars are gigantic sounding and then completely gone, with no background hiss, no handling noise, no ‘little licks’. It’s all very deliberate and executed to perfection. This makes so much more out of every guitar part when it does happen.
Again, this may well be a question of confidence on the part of the musicians, but thanks to the musical canvas painted by the rest of the band, the huge dynamics of the guitars become their most powerful calling card, outside of Till Lindemann’s voice.
Overdo the Overdubs
Are you getting the picture that Rammstein keep things simple, guitar-wise? Well, in terms of the actual notes, maybe so, but definitely not in the recording. One thing they are well-known for is the dense levels of tracking they do. On the Mutter record, I’ve read reports that each guitarist recorded and mixed up to 14 separate tracks of guitar per song! Emphasis on the word ‘each’ there! That’s 28 rhythm guitar tracks on one song! No wonder the riff from Sonne hits like a crushing laser blast from some sort of evil planet!
The only way this type of overdubbing style has a hope in hell of working is if the players themselves are unbelievably tight with their timing. They have to be so on it that it just sounds like one gigantic guitar, which in Rammstein’s case, is exactly what happens.
Good work, chaps!
On the subject of overdubs, I think it’s worth noting that they don’t layer up tapestries of background texture or anything like that. Since they have a keys player, he tends to deal with those textures. The guitars are very ‘visible’, for want of a more appropriate term. They are very direct, and nothing seems buried in a mix. Riffs or nuthin’!
Space for Vocals (+Call and Response)
Till Lindemann’s voice is arguably as heavy as anything the guitarists can summon. It’s such a striking and unique vocal to hear in the context of the music, or at least it was until they became so massive that the sound became familiar. Because of this, Rammstein write their riffs around the vocals, and by that I mean they very often don’t play at all when there’s vocals. Look at the verses of Rammlied, for example: Till sings a line, with a synthesizer and bassline under him, and a choir sound responding. The guitars keep away until the bridge/pre-chorus.
Talking about responding, call and response is a big thing in Rammstein’s music. In case you aren’t familiar, call and response is when one member/part of a band sings or plays a part, and a different member/section finishes it as a sort of back and forth. You can hear it here with the choir responding to the lead vocal; you can hear it in Herzelied, when the guitars ‘answer’ each of Till’s syllables; and you can hear it in Sonne from earlier on, when Till sings a line and then the guitarists respond each time with that piledriver riff.
In songwriting terms, it’s a great idea because it subconsciously sets up listener expectations: the band can them fulfill those expectations or undermine them by doing something unpredictable.
The Three T’s of Rammstein: Tone, Taste and Timing
To sum up Rammstein’s approach to guitar playing, I’ve created an alliterative acronym for you. The three T’s: Tone, Taste and Timing. Here’s what I mean:
Tone: Rammstein spare no expense in delivering an extremely thick, rich and dense guitar sound. They use the best gear available, and when they don’t, it’s very much on purpose.
Taste: Their riffs are Grade A, they employ them to perfection and they have the sense to know what other sounds will fit into the context of their playing. Their guitars are very ‘there’, yet they never overplay. Solos are eschewed almost entirely for the benefit of a greater ensemble sound.
Timing: Rammstein’s two guitarists sound like one huge performance. That’s the case live, and in the studio when they overdub dozens of parts. Their timing is absolutely spot on, as is their control of their sound. Moreover, their sense of timing dictates when to play and when not to, which also comes into the ‘taste’ side of things.
That’s how I see it, anyway. I feel like Rammstain actually have lots of elements to their sound that other rock and metal bands could learn from. I’ve highlighted the parts that seem obvious to me from a guitar player’s point of view, but as I said earlier: it’s all about whether you can take it onboard and use it. How do you feel about playing live for even 90 minutes without diving into a little solo now and then? Abstention is never as easy as it seems, but there are real gains to be had in terms of cohesion, impact and professionalism.
Despite having some very uncompromising videos and subject matter, and a vocal sound that is…hostile, to say the least, Rammstein have made their way to the summit of Mt. Rock. They are a very odd band, and yet a very accessible band; and they have a sound that is both enormously effective and very hard. In another universe they might’ve been the most obscure act out there, but I also think there’s no real mystery as to why they are so huge: they know exactly what they are doing, and they are very good at it. What they are doing is loads of fun and very satisfying. Why not see what their approach has to offer you?
