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isshogai7 Group: Members Posts: 2 Joined: Jan. 2003 Posted: Jan. 18 2003, 11:36 sorry for asking that,i'm new.I would like to know what mike was using on solos on ommadawn and song of distant earth.It seems to me that there's a fuzz and delay and maybe a wah.Not for reproducing the solo note for note,but really curious;the article on total guitar was helpful,but i would like more information.Can you please help me on this one?Thank you! Back to top

Korgscrew Group: Super Admins Posts: 3511 Joined: Dec. 1999 Posted: Jan. 19 2003, 12:12 There's some information on how Mike was getting his guitar sound at the time of Ommadawn on the Incantations page in the discography (it applies to Ommadawn as well). The setup for The Songs of Distant Earth, the setup was quite different - the clean sounds were got by plugging the guitar, via a DI box, through an input module from The Manor's Audio Developments mixing desk, which Mike has several of in a rack. He then has a selection of Vintage compressors (such as UREIs) which he uses to achieve his sound. Distorted sounds are provided by a Roland GP-8 multieffects processor. For wah sounds, he uses the EQ section of his Neve Capricorn mixing console, I believe by sweeping the mid-range bands using a foot controller. The main guitar for Ommadawn was a Gibson SG Junior. The main one for TSODE was a PRS Custom (which I believe is what's used on Let There Be Light, played with the pickups on one of the parallel wired splt coil positions), together with his Red Fender Stratocaster. Back to top

isshogai7 Group: Members Posts: 2 Joined: Jan. 2003 Posted: Jan. 19 2003, 13:19 korgscrew,thank you very much for your kindness and very helpful answer.Some tips about his delay and reverb settings? Thanks again for your patience and knowledge. Back to top

Korgscrew Group: Super Admins Posts: 3511 Joined: Dec. 1999 Posted: Jan. 20 2003, 10:16 In keeping with the 'hi fi' sound of his recordings, Mike uses a high quality digital reverb (I believe he's used digital reverb since the mid 70s). The exact settings always depend on the track, but he often uses quite dense reverb sounds - I'd start off with something like a hall setting and play around with it until it starts sounding right. He does use delay sometimes, and a trick he sometimes used in the 70s was turning up the level of the repeats so they're at the same level as the original signal, creating a more complex rhythmic sound (there's an interview where he demonstrates that somewhere). With both, I'd say that they're more things he uses to help the guitar part fit into the mix (and in the case of the delay, maybe to add a bit of interest) rather than things which his sound relies on (though I suppose the sound of the guitar on a lot of his tracks wouldn't have the same feel without the reverb, so maybe that point could be argued...). Back to top

weemac Unregistered Posted: Jan. 24 2003, 06:18 I know this is not the way Mike did it, but one way of achieving that earlier sound is by using the guitar into a compressor pedal into a classic overdrive style pedal (like a tube screamer) and then into a Digital delay and then finaly into the amp. Clicking off the overdrive will then get a simulation of the cleaner Tsode sound. This is the setup that I used for years to get that M.O sound. Strangely enough it is the same setup I still use today to sound just like me! So forget what I said earlier, It is all in the fingers and there is only one Mike. Back to top

Korgscrew Group: Super Admins Posts: 3511 Joined: Dec. 1999 Posted: Jan. 24 2003, 11:39 Quote (Guest @ Jan. 24 2003, 11:18) It is all in the fingers and there is only one Mike. I'd agree with that... A little while ago, someone challenged me to replicate Mike's clean strat sound. I had a fiddle around, and it came fairly close with the right playing approach...but what interested me far more was that with a slightly different approach, the same settings gave a great twangy country lead sound. Like you say; all in the fingers. Back to top

emac Group: Members Posts: 66 Joined: May 2002 Posted: Jan. 25 2003, 05:50 I've logged in properly now!            I've found that the centre pickup on a strat does a fairly good rendition of the tsode sound, again with a touch of compression and delay and a clean amp helps! I've always played using my fingers (cause I kept droping the pick) and was heavily infulenced by Mike in my younger years (not to mention Steve Howe and Mark Knofler) And tried to immitate them. The end result is you try to sound like your hero for 10 years and then spend another 15 years trying not to. No one can wring a tone out of a guitar as Mike does though! Back to top

isshogai7 Unregistered Posted: Jan. 29 2003, 12:33 thanks for all the suggestions,you've all been very kind;my intention is not to sound exactly like mike,but more use sounds i like to create my own,and those were some that i liked very much during the years.Thanks again. Back to top

David Mar Group: Members Posts: 457 Joined: Oct. 2001 Posted: Feb. 07 2003, 05:36 Mike demonstrated delay effects in the interview on the tv documentary  'All You Need Is Love' in the mid-70's. Back to top

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