Guitars
Release Date: May 24, 1999
Location: Roughwood Croft
1. Muse 2:19
2. Cochise 5:25
3. Embers 3:56
4. Summit Day 3:50
5. Out of Sight 3:51
6. B. Blues 4:35
7. Four Winds 9:29
8. Enigmatism 3:31
9. Out of Mind 3:46
10. From the Ashes 2:29
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Written by Mike Oldfield
Produced & engineered by Mike Oldfield
Assistant engineer: Ben Darlow
Recorded at Roughwood Studio
All sounds on this recording, including drum sounds, were generated from live guitars, midi guitar or individual guitar samples
Cover by Bill Smith Studio |
Notes
Mike sees himself mainly as a guitarist, so the concept of this album was perhaps not particularly unusual. Similar things have been attempted by other guitarists in the past - Adrian Belew, for example (who guested as guitarist and vocalist on the album 'Earth Moving') created a suite of music played on guitar and guitar synthesiser.
Mike attempted to create many of the sound using guitars as the source. Many of the drum sounds, for example, were created from samples of Mike slapping a bass (that is, hitting the strings with the side of the thumb - not the same type of slap as when you might slap a person...). A good example of the types of sounds possible are the tablas in 'Four Winds' (3:48). Mike then triggered the samples from a guitar fitted with a Roland GK2 pickup and guitar-MIDI convertor. The guitar used was his PRS Custom 24, which had the Roland pickup fitted by Richard Barrie, the guitar's body having been routed by Chandler Guitars. The pickup itself is visible just by the bridge of the guitar - a small thin black bar. The controls for the pickup are fitted to the bottom edge of the guitar.
For some information on Roughwood studio, (including some images which as far as I'm aware are available nowehere else on the net), highlighting some of his equipment and other things, click here.
Personnel
Instruments
| Electric guitars |
| Danelectro/Coral Sitar |
An electric guitar with a special bridge to produce a buzzy sitar-like sound.
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Also used in Islands, Amarok
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| 1963 Fender Stratocaster, fiesta red |
s/n L08044. Mike once said in an interview (The Raft) that this was his favourite guitar and that he'd never sell it. However, he finally decided to part company with it in December 2007 and sold it through Chandler guitars, fetching £30,000.
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Also used in Discovery, Amarok, Tubular Bells II, The Songs of Distant Earth, Voyager, Tubular Bells III, Tubular Bells 2003, Light + Shade
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| 1959 Fender Stratocaster, sunburst |
This was the first of the Strats that Mike bought. The scratchplate of this guitar was modified, probably in the 1990s, to make space for a Roland GK-2 synth pickup.
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Also used in Crises, Discovery, Tubular Bells II
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| PRS Custom 24, Dark Cherry Sunburst – with Roland GK-2AH pickup |
Modified by Chandler Guitars and Richard Barrie to include a built-in Roland synth pickup. Sold by Chandler Guitars to an English fan in February 2006.
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Also used in Voyager, Tubular Bells III, Tubular Bells 2003
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| 1988 or 1989 PRS McCarty Hollowbody II, McCarty Sunburst |
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Also used in Tubular Bells 2003
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| 1989 PRS Signature, Vintage Yellow |
A particularly high grade, limited edition, version of the Custom 24. In Vintage Yellow.
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Also used in Earth Moving, Amarok, Tubular Bells II, The Songs of Distant Earth, Voyager, Tubular Bells III, Tubular Bells 2003, Light + Shade, Return To Ommadawn
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| Nylon-string guitars |
| 1974 Jose Ramirez 1A Traditional |
s/n 7987
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Also used in Hergest Ridge, The Orchestral Tubular Bells, Ommadawn, Amarok, Voyager, Tubular Bells 2003, Light + Shade
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| 1975 Jose Ramirez 1A Flamenco |
s/n 8666. Sold through Chandler to a French Fan and later resold to a German fan.
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Also used in Ommadawn, QE2, Amarok, Tubular Bells II, Tubular Bells 2003
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| Steel-string acoustic guitars |
| 1960 Martin 00-21NY |
Sold via Chandler Guitars to a Scottish fan in December 2007.
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Also used in Amarok, Voyager, Tubular Bells 2003
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| Bass guitars |
| 1991 Wal Custom bass |
s/n W3557. Sold to a German fan via Chandler Guitars in February 2006.
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Also used in Tubular Bells II, Tubular Bells III, Tubular Bells 2003
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| Guitar effects |
| Roland VG-8 |
Guitar modelling processor, able to model the sounds of different guitars and other instruments. It uses a GK-series synth pickup to provide the unit with an uncoloured signal, but the VG-8 is not technically a synthesiser as it purely remodels the signal from the pickup. One was sold via ebay in December 2007, but he lists one as having been used on Tubular Bells 2003, so presumably he had a spare!
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Also used in Voyager, Tubular Bells III, The Millennium Bell, Tres Lunas, Tubular Bells 2003
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| Synthesisers |
| Roland GI-10 |
Guitar-MIDI interface, sold via eBay in December 2007.
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Also used in Tres Lunas
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| Loudspeakers |
| Coastal Acoustics Boxer T4 |
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Also used in Tubular Bells II, The Songs of Distant Earth, Voyager, Tubular Bells III, The Millennium Bell, Tres Lunas, Tubular Bells 2003
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| Mixing desks |
| AMS Neve Capricorn 33238 |
Digital mixing desk. |
Also used in The Songs of Distant Earth, Voyager, Tubular Bells III, The Millennium Bell, Tubular Bells 2003
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