More Stevie

Another couple of Stevie bombs.

Here and here

Right back to work !-)

Get back to work!

Okay, okay we should be working (UK grime and tings for Computer Music), but stumbled across this

Future-retro-groovalious baby!

Couple of youtube gems

Okay it's been a lazy Sunday (helped along with a few pints and a pub lunch) so we plop in front of the computer and for the first time in ages have a peek at youtube (as you do) and found these couple of gems;

First up is Stevie Wonder rippin' it up on the kit - bloody fantastic.

Second is a really well put together little piece on the Amen break - this has done the rounds a bit (and not much to look at!) but worth sitting through if you've not seen it.

Goodbye…..Hello

We’ve had a bit of a clear out here at GCHQ. We’re real gear hoarders so sometimes we have to be firm with ourselves and let some stuff go we don’t really use or want any more. As well as a stack of guitar pedals (we just luv ‘em) we also said goodbye to our Powertrain T2000 analogue mono synth.

Originally supplied in kit form this synth was a bit of an impulse buy and never really worked (found out since 2 of the chips had gone) – we used it as a synth FX generator for a while but never really got much use out of it. Anyway it’s gone to a good home and is well on the way to being restored back into full working order.

Of course us being us, when something goes another bit of gear is sure to replace it ……so hello our V1 Sherman Filterbank!

Haven’t had time to get into it yet as we’ve been pretty busy poppin’ and lockin’ (see last post), but we’ll post a report when we give it a good run out. Apparently it’s a bit of a beast – sounds good to us!

Desperately seeking Linn

Apologies for the lull in posting but we’ve been at full tilt finishing the latest commission for next months FM. The theme is 80’s b-boy electro (think “Planet Rock”, “King of the beats” etc), and we wanted to hire a Linn LM1 or Linndrum to get some totally authentic samples from this groundbreaking drum machine that really helped shape the sound of early 80’s dance and pop music.

Anyway could we find one? Three of the big hire companies either had sold their advertised unit (try updating your websites/stock sheets whydon’tya!) or it wasn’t working after being left under a blanket of dust for years! Anyway after a chance meeting with a great bloke called James, it transpires he had an LM-1 we could borrow. Not only was it in really good nick it was also one of the 30 or so that the great Rodger Linn made himself in his garage before the units were produced in a factory. A really rare bit of drum machine history that still sounds great! Huge thanks to James for lending it to us.

New Toys!

Got hold of a couple of new bits of gear for GCHQ and thought we'd share some thoughts about 'em.

First up this the MoogerFooger ring modulator, we've been after a moogerfooger for a while, this one came up secondhand at a reasonable cost (for once!) so we jumped at it. The black moog expression pedal was off Ebay and really adds a great live tweaking element.

As well as the mad ring mod stuff this also does the best, creamy sounding tremello we've heard - good news for us, bad news for all the other trem pedals that have served us so well over the years.




Last but no means least is a fuzz pedal by Devi Ever USA. Quite brutal sounding, osculating fuzz that sounds as good on guitar as it does on synths, especially our Roland SH101. Devi's a really nice bloke too who makes small batches of hand built pedals and sells them via his Ebay shop .

Glyn Johns method

We were lucky enough to do a recent drum session with one of our resident stickmen Simon Edgoose, for a forthcoming Future Music commission. The brief was ‘country crunk’ a kinda cross between country and hip-hop, so we wanted some straight country grooves and some more swung laidback beats using brushes and hot rods.

To mix things up a bit more we also decided (on Simons suggestion) to try out the Glyn Johns four mic method of recording a kit. We were very pleased with the results, a nice wide, open sound, so I thought I’d drop the basics here (taken from the Mike Dolbear forum):

Overhead 1: in front of the drummer, 36-40” above the snare, pointing directly
downwards at the bass drum pedal between the bass drum-mounted toms. Pan right
(3 o’clock). Use your tape measure to measure the distance from the centre of
the snare to the mic diaphragm.

Overhead 2: to the right of the drummer,
4-6” above the top of the floor tom pointing across the top of the snare towards
the hi-hats. Pan left (9 o’clock). Measure the distance from the centre of the
snare to the mic diaphragm: it must be exactly the same as the distance used for
positioning Overhead 1, or you’ll encounter phase problems.

Snare:
pointing at the centre of the top of the snare, 2-3” from the head, positioned
between the hi-hat stand and the crash cymbal stand. Pan centre (12 o’clock).
Don’t position the mic too close to the snare head or you’ll encounter proximity
effect.

Bass drum: depending on the mic and your required sound, either
inside the bass drum and close to the head (more attack) or outside the bass
drum. Pan centre (12 o’clock). Again, don’t get the mic too close to the head.

And that’s about it – we used a Shure 57 on the snare, SE1 pencil condensors as overheads and another '57 on the kick as well alongside a Yamaha subkick mic (basically a repackaged speaker cone) for some crack and boom.

I’ll post a photo or two (the session was photographed for the mag) when I get hold of ‘em.