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Unregistered Posted: June 24 2002, 17:35 Now that the comma is put in let's get back on topic, LOL.I hope Mike enjoys working on Tubular bells and Im confident he will choose the correct sounds for this latest incarnation. Back to top

TOBY Group: Members Posts: 1562 Joined: May 2002 Posted: June 24 2002, 17:51 Does anybody 'in the know' know if he is going to work with Simon Heyworth and Tom Newman again? Back to top

DavidB Group: Members Posts: 16 Joined: Feb. 2002 Posted: June 27 2002, 15:14 Yeah, Toby, that is a good question to be known... I think he won´t do that. Let´s see. Sould be interesting to gather them again, even although all that idea of a new TB sucks, IMHO... D. Back to top

Unregistered Posted: June 28 2002, 18:58 I’m sure I must be Mike Oldfield`s number 1 fan. I’ve followed his music from when I was at school as a thirteen year old in 1973. At the age of fourteen I started to play guitar which was heavily inspired by Mikes superb, even though slightly out of tune album TUBULAR BELLS. I learned every note from “grand piano” to “Spanish guitar” and eventually recorded it myself. I’ve visited the Beacon and his house in Denham where I met Sally Cooper (she told me Mike was in Paris with Richard Branson at that time).                             Over the years I have waited anxiously for Mikes new albums knowing that his trademark sound will always be there no matter what instrument he plays, after all that’s what makes Mike Oldfield,   Mike Oldfield.       I will never understand why so many people have to be so openly critical about Mike and his music, even though some claim to be fans. When I look around at so many so called musicians and pop stars who have had lifetime achievement awards for their contribution to their art, what about Mike? If anybody deserves it surely he does. Mike was once asked, “why do you make your music so intricate and complicated? Why not keep it simple like The Police (Sting and co) do” to which Mike replied, “ask them to play Tubular Bells”. Mikes music has always been outstanding from the start, from The Sallyangie up to the new Tres Lunas. As for those who are judging what guitars should or shouldn`t  be used on Mikes new venture TB the remake, does it really matter ? THE BEAUTY OF THE MUSIC IS HOW IT IS PLAYED NOT WHAT IT IS PLAYED ON. (Listen to the live version of Broad sunlit uplands from The Art In Heaven concert and that’s a piano, Beautiful).  Anybody who plays guitar can play a Gibson sg, fender strat`,PRS or whatever, but can they play it with the feel and conviction that Mike does. Mike is doing TB again because he wants to perfect the overall sound of an album full of perfect melodies. At the time it was recorded studio time was sparse and so was recording technology and it must be said, “talent does what it can, genius does what it must”.         “Go for it Mike, keep it complicated and intricate, sod The Police” Back to top

Tom Jones Unregistered Posted: July 04 2002, 20:02 Can Mike recreate that unique melancholic atmosphere so filled with beauty and such strong emotion.Evident on the original Tubular Bells? Back to top

Allan_N Group: Musicians Posts: 29 Joined: Oct. 2000 Posted: July 06 2002, 04:54 I'm sorry but it does matter what you play on. If the actual music sucks then nothing helps, but you do need adequate tools to make the music sound convincing. This is very true when it comes to guitar sounds. You can't just go out and buy a Strat and expect it to sound like the lead guitar in Let There Be Light when you plug it into a Zoom 505. It won't. The same goes for synths. TSODE couldn't have been made with a cheesy Yamaha XG module. That's a simple fact. If you're a bad musician then you can't make anything sound good and if you're a good one you can make cheesy gear sound..well, not quite so cheesy. It's very easy to sound like a bad garage band, but if you want to make music with the sound and emotion that e.g. TSODE has it requires both great gear and great musicianship. Back to top

Guest Unregistered Posted: July 07 2002, 18:18 I’m also sorry Allan ,it seems as though we are going from one extreme to another. When I said it didn’t matter what the music was played on I was generalizing. Of course a really good instrument will sound better than a not so good instrument but if you can play with the intended emotion then the not so good instrument will still sound good.      If Mike had played the part you mentioned from TSODE on his Gibson sg, then would it have sounded ok? The answer is, of course it would, we wouldn’t have heard it any different from the way Mike had intended us to hear it. (incidentally, I hope you don`t mean the opening lead lead guitar on Let There Be Light when you refer to the Fender strat, it is in fact a PRS.) I’ve seen Mike in concert many times over the years and on many occasions he plays parts with different guitars from the ones he used to record the album with. (Mike doesn’t use his SG anymore when playing live but he still plays Tubular Bells, on which the SG was very predominant) I wasn’t talking about cheesy guitars when I made my comment. Timber and tonality and what sounds good are in the ear of the beholder. Lets face it, if you asked Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler  or even David Gilmoure to play an Oldfield piece using Mikes guitar, I can guarantee it would not sound like Mike, the THE FEEL AND CONVICTION  would be different. You can play notes on a synth with one finger and still get a nice tune, not so easy with a guitar. By the way, another quote from MO. “Talking about music is like singing about football”.   LET THE MUSIC DO THE TALKING. Regards   . Graham M Back to top

Allan_N Group: Musicians Posts: 29 Joined: Oct. 2000 Posted: July 08 2002, 14:16 And how do you _know_ that's a PRS on LTBL? Sure, Mike played it live on a PRS, but I still think the Strat was used on the album. Sounds like it to my ears anyway. What's your opinion, Korgmeister? Please realize that there is more to Mike's guitar sounds than just his playing technique. You can't go out and buy a Zoom 505 and expect to get that screaming 'PRS lead' sound out of it just because you can play like a god. It won't happen. My first setup was a Les Paul with a Zoom 505, and that crappy gear (the Zoom 505, not the guitar...that's pretty nice for chord playing and I don't intend to ever get rid of it) just wouldn't play ball. Mike's 'singing' guitars are the most amazing solo instruments I've ever heard so I made it my goal to nail those sounds. I bought a Zoom GFX-8 (you don't get those screams without a wah pedal) and a cheap PRS copy that just sounds right, although it's pretty badly built compared to the real thing. But it has the same fat tone and responds well to my playing. It has a better ability to sing, to really speak, than my Les Paul. It was a real "ah!" kind of experience. Anyway, different guitars for different tasks. The old 80's sound on TSODE? No thank you. By the way, care to share that recording of TB with the rest of us? Did you record _all_ of it? Is it a straight copy or a different version? Back to top

Korgscrew Group: Super Admins Posts: 3511 Joined: Dec. 1999 Posted: July 08 2002, 19:33 What did you go and drag me into this for? It's quite a stratty sound there - it has that light quality to it. But it's not got that hollow edge to it - it seems fatter and warmer and less sparkly. It actually sounds rather like one of the single coil selections on a PRS to me... As for Tubular Bells (while we're talking about what was recorded with what...), to the best of my knowledge, Mike bought his first SG after recording Tubular Bells, using it on Hergest Ridge. The electric guitar parts on Tubular Bells were all the blond Telecaster. On the subject of gear...I think it's really not the gear itself but the way it's used that's important. I've heard people get the most horrid sounds out of great equipment... That said, some things just don't deliver the goods no matter how hard you try. The emotion of the playing is of course important, but the sound has its role as well. A player could deliver a performance with as much feel and conviction as he/she wants, but I'd not be able to enjoy it if it was played out of tune with a guitar sound so harsh and fizzy that it makes a bluebottle in a jam jar sound like a full symphony orchestra... Not to say I think that of Tubular Bells - I think the guitar sounds fit in with the whole feel of the album and that the biting tones help deliver the anger of the playing. I doubt I'd be trying to reproduce them for a second time though, were I Mike, seeing as the whole idea of re-recording Tubular Bells is to produce something a little more refined sounding. I'd still be looking to capture that fire in the playing, though and would want a suitably biting sound to accompany it. Back to top

Graham M Unregistered Posted: July 08 2002, 20:03 Allan, thanks for the response. Its great to hear so many people taking so much interest in who I think is the best and probably most original musician to ever walk the earth. I’m 42 years old now and have tried for years to convince many so called music lovers of how outstanding MO is, the man is unstoppable. I agree with you wholeheartedly that you need different guitars for different tasks, that’s what makes an arrangement. When you make reference to “the old 80s sound”,it`s only old because time has moved on. Recording quality is much better now than it was then and it is a standard we are used to, anything old may seem to be inferior but at that time it was the best. If you listen closely to Mikes more resent pieces most have been written with playing live in mind. The bridging sections give him time to change guitars if necessary. The live version of LTBL has mike playing his PRS custom on the opening lead (obviously compressed ect..) He has a golden opportunity to change guitars before the second distorted section. In theory if he started playing the Strat then there is no reason why he couldn’t have changed guitars for the required distorted sound of the second section. As we all know Mike is a perfectionist, hence the reason for T.Bells the remake. I’ve owned a Gibson SG for 24 years and can assure you I have played many guitars and have a guitar for every occasion. The SG is still my favourite. I have for years tried to emulate Mikes sound even to the extent of playing lead guitar claw hammer with long finger nails. I think I am close to it but I’m not Mike. When I recorded T.Bells I did it on a now, OLD Fostex 4 track witch I no longer have, (well I do but it doesn’t work anymore). The tape is kicking about somewhere and if found I will share it with you. I have recorded various MO pieces over the years Ommadawn and Platinum included. In 1993 I did a midi version of T.Bells 11 for a major midi company.   As long as you enjoy what you hear and it stirs the parts that other music doesn’t stir then that’s what counts. Back to top

Allan_N Group: Musicians Posts: 29 Joined: Oct. 2000 Posted: July 09 2002, 05:08 Mike's Strat sound is a bit different from the usual thing, it's a bit fatter. That's why I like it (I don't normally like Strats at all). I think that's the Strat on LTBL, fattened up to max. He uses a module from the original Manor desk to get that sound (as well as the usual stuff like gating and compression). I've owned three different Strats (weird, eh?) in the 4½ years I've been playing (guitar), and they sounded crap on the Zoom 505 (like everything else ;-). I should try one with my new gear... I'd love to have an SG as well. If the PRS:s are the most beautiful electric guitars around then the SG:s have to be the coolest. They're rock but at the same time folk, if you know what I mean. (Hey, has anyone seen the movie Rock Star with Mark Wahlberg? I'm starting to feel like one of those geeks who even knows what underwear a certain artist used on a certain concert ) I'd like to hear your recordings. Are they online somewhere? I recently recorded an Amarok medley: http://kebawe.com/an/mp3/amarokmedley.mp3 There are no clean electrics in it, but you can hear a lot of that distorted screaming thing. That's my Cort PRS copy + Zoom GFX-8 + Behringer Modulizer Pro (for compression and stuff). Back to top

christopher Group: Members Posts: 270 Joined: Nov. 1999 Posted: July 09 2002, 13:29 Hey Allan... I just finished listening to your Amarok Medley... WOW!!!!  Kicks Ass!!!!  oops... can we say that in here... hehe   Thanks for sharing it with us.  I wouldn't have known that that wasn't Mike on guitar unless someone told me... awesome playing bud!!!!   Christopher Back to top

Allan_N Group: Musicians Posts: 29 Joined: Oct. 2000 Posted: July 09 2002, 15:56 Thanks a lot, I'm glad you liked it Back to top

James Unregistered Posted: July 17 2002, 21:01 Great mix and playing in your Amarok medley really cool. Alan Well done!! Nice original music youve penned also.May I share a little # with you its an extract of my own? Back to top

Allan_N Group: Musicians Posts: 29 Joined: Oct. 2000 Posted: July 18 2002, 04:00 Thanks! Sure, do you have it online somewhere? Back to top

Korgscrew Group: Super Admins Posts: 3511 Joined: Dec. 1999 Posted: July 18 2002, 05:22 You might want to share it by posting a link in the new fan music forums, where there's also a topic for comments on Allan's Amarok Medley. Back to top

James Unregistered Posted: July 18 2002, 18:17 Its not on line as its an extract/demo I wrote when I got a new piece of gear.Its called Afterglow.Played in real time ,real instruments including the usual array, synths,Bass ,drums,lead and rhythm guitar and the sound of chips frying away is a rain stick.I think thats it.its a Mp3 about 4 mb.If any one can send me an address where it can be shared as Im not a member here or there is a way for me to post it here (pending anyone wants to hear it of course)I will send it . BTW I really liked the Moonlight Mando superb playing lots of energy and nicely recorded- cool.A novel arrangement very creative.Perhaps you could do another mix/version with lite drums synthetic ie drum machine wot not and some acoustic percussion shakers tambourine etc. Back to top

James Unregistered Posted: July 18 2002, 20:12 Excuse my previous post for being off topic.Apologies. Back to top

Korgscrew Group: Super Admins Posts: 3511 Joined: Dec. 1999 Posted: July 19 2002, 14:42 It'll only take a minute or so to become a registered user here, and I think it's worthwhile if you're going to post regularly. Any registered user can post tracks to the fan music section, though there's no hosting available - you'll have to find some free webspace or something like that, if you don't have somewhere to host the file already. I think there are some services online that let you share files, Yahoo used to have something (called briefcase or something like that) and probably still do. It sounds like your track could be interesting, it'll be great if you can find somewhere to share it. I thought about doing bits of extra percussion for Moonlight Mando, stuff like bongo type fills by hitting the top and that sort of thing, but didn't get round to it in the end and decided it would be alright as it was. You're right as well...this is really off topic Back to top

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