tom_the_LD Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 Hi dudes, Right, for my A-level music tech recording I have chosen One War Or Another by Blondie but I was wondering how to best replicate the guitar sound? I'm sure they would have used a valve amp in the original and whilst I may be able to get one, I may not. Currently I have recorded the guitar cleanly and I am adding the effects on in Cubase afterwards with various plug-ins. Just wondering what you guys would suggest to get it sounding as real as possible really! Also, the opening lick seems to sound different to the rest of the song - especially the solo. Any help is much appreciated! Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie Jeal Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 well to start off record the correct sound and don't try and "fix it in the mix" try using a line 6 pod or amp and checking their online tonebanks for the sound you need. The best way to get real guitar sounds is to record real amps and effects. Charlie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david.elsbury Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 Wow, what a helpful reply... Tom, you can get various amp simulators as VST plug in effects, which you should be able to use in Cubase. Have a google for them, see how you go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbuckley Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 Blondie had two guitarists, Chris Stein used a Fender twin reverb and a stratocaster, and the other guy (how terrible is that - a lifelong Blondie fan and I've forgotten the guy's name!) a Marshall 100 with 4x12 from a Les Paul. Chris did most of the lead work, but the other chap (Wikipedia - Frank Infante) played some lead too. Any reasonable guitar amp modeller tool (Line6, Roland COSM) will have enough variation to get something like the right tones, one thinn, the other fat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shez Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 Don't forget that it's not all about the equipment - playing technique makes a big difference too. No amount of plugins will help if the player isn't playing the parts appropriately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billy jim Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 To do this in Cubase, you're gonna need a lot of processing and RAM. Right- for the intro guitar, that's got a bit of wah messing around there, so you could probably make use of the Cubase auto-wah, with DaTube giving a bit of valvey goodness to the sound... Then automate the wah out for the verse etc. When it comes to the solo, give the level a bit of a boost and possibly the distortion as well. Use your ears and see what you can do, but you'll never quite get it the same as the original. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gareth Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 One of the guitarists on our panto used one of these - seemed like a pretty decent piece of kit. If you're after recreating a 'classic' amp sound, it might help ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DangerMouse Posted February 13, 2009 Share Posted February 13, 2009 Pods are great. I got mine off ebay for £40 - worth every penny and more. Definitely better than the amp simulation plugins I've used. if you do go down this route, make sure you play around with the cabs as well as the amp settings - may help you fine tune the sound you need. But recording a clean signal and routing it out to a pod will really enable you to concentrate on finding the sound your after. In terms of making it sound like the original I'd have a good think about the 'space' that the guitar is recorded in. I mean the reverb and early reflections of the room. I use the Sonnox Oxford Reverb Plugin to do stuff like this as it allows you to dial in the room size you want. Check out this video...the application is different but the principles definitely apply. You might wanna also take a fair bit of the digital gloss that you will inevitably get but running the guitar track out to a tape and re-recording it back. But depends how true to the original your trying to get in terms of your sound. Best of luck and be sure to post the finished work on the thread, I'm sure we'd all like to hear it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob_Beech Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 Don't forget that it's not all about the equipment - playing technique makes a big difference too. No amount of plugins will help if the player isn't playing the parts appropriately. Just incase you missed it the first time around. Nothing else to add. Well other than a couple of random words. Silk PurseSow's Ear. That sort of thing. HTH. Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbuckley Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 Having the CD on in the background now, the guitar parts sound fairly straightforward, and it sounds like Frank playing the solos on this track, so no electronica would be used. He was an "old school" guitarist, just guitar, amp, and technique. There is, as is typical with Blondie, a lot of clever and intricate keyboard work going on. One thing to remember is that guitarist technology was, by todays standards, quite cr*p back and/or missing back then. I'm on record as saying that I would have killed several someones to have my GX-700 guitar processor and the MidiMate pedal controller time travelled back to when I was a gigging guitarist. All that junk I could have replaced. Of course, if I'd have kept all that junk, it now has retro status and would be worth a fortune. The random play CD system has now decided that the Chemical Brothers Hey Girl Hey Boy is what I should be listening to... Oops.... drifting :(... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tolley1466 Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 You could try and personalise your sound a bit! Have a bit of "you" in the guitar mix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gareth Owen Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 Bit of a longshot but Bobby Aitken designed the sound for the recent west end musical "Desperstly Seeking Susan" - a remake of the Madonna movie featuring the music of Blondie. The show featured a most authentic rendition of "One Way or Another" complete with authentic guitar sounds. Maybe one of the blue room regulars knows someone who knows someone involved with that show? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tom_the_LD Posted February 14, 2009 Author Share Posted February 14, 2009 You could try and personalise your sound a bit! Have a bit of "you" in the guitar mix.Not when it has to sound as like the original as possible. Cheers for the replies to far guys. I am looking into those Line 6 pods to see if anyone has one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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