Effects - Pedals, Multi-Effects, and Floor Boxes

[Lou Speed's Alt]

So we had the fuzz thread, the trem thread (not sure if that one got moved to the new site) so now let's talk about drums.

Anyone know about the drum machines they were using?

[seifukusha]

on automatic? or honeys dead?

 honey dead sounds like a good sampler, or monti being sampled...

[imbuedblue]

I'm not sure what they used. I don't think it really matters because they processed the drum machines in an attempt to make them sound more real. I think the Alesis SR-16 comes close to some of those sounds though.

[Texas Noise Fa…]

Maybe a Roland R8 due to the timeframe of technology. It's not really worth the time to try to process a drum machine to make it sound "more real"... Likely, it was just good programming if it sounds legit.

[imbuedblue]

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Texas Noise Factory wrote:
It's not really worth the time to try to process a drum machine to make it sound "more real"

Indeed. It's a drum machine, so let it be a drum machine.

I forget where I read it, but I remember a Jim Reid interview about that era of JAMC where he states that they made the mistake of processing the drum machine to try and make it sound like a live drummer. I'm assuming he meant doing stuff like putting reverb on the snare, etc. It still sounds like a drum machine though. That said, they probably used some random drum machine bought on the cheap.

[cassettophone]

Anyone know of an old school cheap drum machine available as free VST? I'd love to work with these kind of beats for reasons.

[cassettophone]

(Oh my God, that's weird! I now appear as "cassettophone", a new contributor! I'm Small Stone, hi folks!)

[Lou Speed's Alt · Accepted solution]

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seifukusha wrote:

on automatic? or honeys dead?

 honey dead sounds like a good sampler, or monti being sampled...

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Everything really.  You forgot Darklands.  I've been listening to Darklands a lot lately and have been digging that industrial esque sound on the drums.  I'm not crazy about the drums on Automatic but they finally got it right on Honey's Dead.  Love the drums on there.

[Rob Dobbs]

Originally if memory serves they used a basic Boss Dr Rhythm and variations of it up to the end. They had always been sampling other tracks, even on Psychocandy where they lifted a drum beat or two from Leader of the Pack among others. Honeys Dead is full of so many loops and samples not even they seem to recall all of them but many were rap and hip hop beats. If memory serves a Roxanne Shante beat was one of them on Reverence.

At one point Jim was really into hip hop and rap beats. Have a listen to "Soul in a Jar" as well as his remix of "Ja Sha Taan".

For a treat, if you didnt know they quietly released an album fronted by their little sister under the name "Sister Vanilla" some years ago. Its got some epic tracks on it with Jamcolas being that one song that seems to tie in every JAMC record in one. The drum machine, fuzz, experimental, looping...

Jamcolas should have been the JAMC reunion track.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_Zk7RUUH-0

What Goes Around was a Freeheat track (Jims solo band with Ben) that never got a proper studio recording bit as with Jamcolas its ace:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_Zk7RUUH-0

TOTP is what JAMC would have sounded like in 1984 had they been able to afford a synthesizer as well as Jim not wanting to be the singer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70fec378Rh0