Korgscrew
Group: Super Admins
Posts: 3511
Joined: Dec. 1999 |
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Posted: May 11 2001, 00:24 |
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To save typing, I'll just say: a lot of things. If you really want to know, you can take a look at www.appleonline.net/richardc/oldfield/incantations.html (it applies to Ommadawn as well) - there's a note on Mike's sound about half way down the page there.
Some of the things Mike used there were expensive and may even be impossible to find now...
I'll say before I carry on that you'll probably never sound exactly like Mike (I heard a story of one Hank marvin fan, who went to great lengths to get Hank's sound, buying exactly the same equipment and everything. It still didn't sound right, so he managed to arrange to actually play Hank's guitar through his amps, etc before a soundcheck. It still didn;t sound the same, proving that the sound is at least partly in the player). You can try and get close, however, and it will certainly be possible to come up with some sounds that remind you of that Ommadawn solo, even if they're not quite the same.
I've managed to find sounds which I feel react in the same way (but don't necessarily sound exactly the same) by using a combination of a multi-effects unit and amp settings. A popular multi-effects unit for guitar is the Zoom 505 (which I guess is capable of making the right type of noises...), which also has the advantage of being cheap (I think it's actually been replaced by a newer model, though I don't remember what that is). I would use a unit such as that (though you could buy some pedals, like some of those from boss - the 'turbo overdrive' has quite a smooth sound) and program it to give a nice smooth overdrive, with a compressor on as well, then feed it into an amplifier with the gain turned up a bit (exactly how much depends on the amp). Make sure you turn off the reverb on the effects unit when you do this - distorted reverb doesn't usually sound too good, and isn't something Mike has ever used (though you could probably create a unique sound using distorted reverb if you wanted...). Use the equalisers in the effects unit and the tone controls on the amp to boost the mid-range a bit, and to turn down the treble to stop it sounding too fizzy.
Even just playing around with an amplifier's own overdrive and tone controls can get something close - I got a sound that I felt was a little bit like Mike's using a friend's cheap strat copy and small 10 watt practise amplifier...
If you're recording it, I would prefer to use a microphone and mic up the guitar amplifier (if you have access to a reasonable quality microphone that is) rather than plugging into the mixer/tape recorder/computer direct, as it tends to make the sounds more 'real' sounding (and with heavy distortion, playing through the amp will give a much less buzzy sound, unless you plug into a 'speaker simulator'...and even then...). There are some interesting digital amplifier simulators available now - like the Line 6 Pod...They can be very useful for getting the sounds made famous by different players, although I personally wouldn't give up my amp and replace it with one of those to record through.
The key is, use your imagination and experiment a little bit...if you experiment enough, you will find something interesting.
Good luck 
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). See what they have, what you can afford, and what produces a sound closest to what you want.