Members petejt Posted August 18, 2008 Members Share Posted August 18, 2008 Man I love that sound What is it? Is it actually Steve Stevens on his guitar? Or a keyboardist playing a synthesiser like I've always thought? It's such a smooth, saturated sound. I can't hear any plectrum noise (like the upper mid spike "chk-chk" characteristic of great Marshall amps, of which Steve used), which makes me think more towards the keyboard than guitar. I'm talking about the original recording, not live. I guess live Steve might sometimes do it on his guitar? (if so, with what?) Anyone know? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members katillac Posted August 18, 2008 Members Share Posted August 18, 2008 Which version of the song (I have at least three that aren't live) and at what time in the song is the sound you're asking about? For version of the song, just say what the overall song length is and I'll see what I have in that neighbourhood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members petejt Posted August 18, 2008 Author Members Share Posted August 18, 2008 Which version of the song (I have at least three that aren't live) and at what time in the song is the sound you're asking about?For version of the song, just say what the overall song length is and I'll see what I have in that neighbourhood. Just the original album version of the song (4:47), from 3:05 to 3:51. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Hapless Posted August 18, 2008 Members Share Posted August 18, 2008 I believe he used a toy raygun, pulling the trigger and letting the sound play through his pickup. No {censored}. It was in Guitar Player two or three months ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Hapless Posted August 18, 2008 Members Share Posted August 18, 2008 That is, if you're talking about the two weird sounds in the solo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members katillac Posted August 18, 2008 Members Share Posted August 18, 2008 I apologise. I was thinking "White Wedding," not "Rebel Yell," which I only have on vinyl and I can't play it right now so I have it loaded on YouTube. Ah! I see which sound you're referring to. The main sound is from the synth and at a few points, it's combined with muted licks by Steve, like a "chik-a-chik-a-chick" sound. During the lead solo of the video, right at 2:39, if that's the sound you're talking about then, yeah, it's the synth. A little further along, you can hear the same sound, but it's not as loud and partially covered up by the muted licks I mentioned earlier. ToeY7MkCm0c Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members katillac Posted August 18, 2008 Members Share Posted August 18, 2008 Oops! I see that Hapless was responding at the same time and I was re-listening to the video. I forgot about the "ray gun" thing! Damn, that takes me way back! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Hapless Posted August 18, 2008 Members Share Posted August 18, 2008 I'm telling you, that sound is a toy ray gun. I gotta dig up that GP. edit: Ok, saw your follow-up, agreeing with me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members petejt Posted August 18, 2008 Author Members Share Posted August 18, 2008 No, noooooooooooooooooooooooo! I'm not talking about the ray-gun effect during the guitar solo! I'm talking about the SYNTH solo that follows AFTER the guitar solo! Where everything goes quiet and ambient, and there's a crecendo or whatever it's called where it goes from all quiet and ramps up to very loud, into the chorus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Hapless Posted August 18, 2008 Members Share Posted August 18, 2008 Oh yeah...that's synth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members petejt Posted August 18, 2008 Author Members Share Posted August 18, 2008 Ah! I see which sound you're referring to. The main sound is from the synth and at a few points, it's combined with muted licks by Steve, like a "chik-a-chik-a-chick" sound. Nah, the "chik-chik" bit I'm talking about is characteristic of the amp, Steve's Marshall. It's the articulation in the guitar tone, lots of clarity due to the upper mid spike. You can hear it also in Sails of Charon by Scorpions, when they mute the strings and grate them, like a palm mute. Hearing THAT sound, is evident to me that the guitar & amp wasn't used for the ambient synthy solo, unless a whole bunch of different gear was used. The muted licks in the beginning and very end of the song, underneath the climbing guitar riff, that does sound like a synth, is done on guitar- I know that one. I can play it myself, well, I used to be able to. Listen to the bit at 3:46- you'll hear the synth sound there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Nevandal Posted August 18, 2008 Members Share Posted August 18, 2008 No, noooooooooooooooooooooooo! I'm not talking about the ray-gun effect during the guitar solo!I'm talking about the SYNTH solo that follows AFTER the guitar solo! Where everything goes quiet and ambient, and there's a crecendo or whatever it's called where it goes from all quiet and ramps up to very loud, into the chorus. Yeah you can pretty much get that sound with any synth, set to a squarish wave type preset. I made this on a Minimonsta (minimoog emulation) but pretty much any analog style synth will be able to get this sound. It's a single oscillator square wave, with a subtle modulation of pitch (vibrato) and a bit of long delay, and a subtle chorus. Glide is turned on which makes it sound smooth between the notes. This took about 2 seconds to program the sound in, but the notes in the solo took about 15 minutes because it's so low in the mix and hard to hear, so I hope it's what you were looking for. http://media.putfile.com/Nevandal_Rebel_Yell_Synth The pitch bend at the end is way too fast and the timing is off (making the end sound really cheesy) but you get the idea. Let me know what you think. EDIT: holy {censored}, did anyone notice my name rhymes with Rebel Yell? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members facefirst Posted August 18, 2008 Members Share Posted August 18, 2008 No, noooooooooooooooooooooooo! I'm not talking about the ray-gun effect during the guitar solo!I'm talking about the SYNTH solo that follows AFTER the guitar solo! Where everything goes quiet and ambient, and there's a crecendo or whatever it's called where it goes from all quiet and ramps up to very loud, into the chorus. That's totally a synth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members petejt Posted August 18, 2008 Author Members Share Posted August 18, 2008 Yeah you can pretty much get that sound with any synth, set to a squarish wave type preset. I made this on a Minimonsta (minimoog emulation) but pretty much any analog style synth will be able to get this sound. It's a single oscillator square wave, with a subtle modulation of pitch (vibrato) and a bit of long delay, and a subtle chorus. Glide is turned on which makes it sound smooth between the notes. This took about 2 seconds to program the sound in, but the notes in the solo took about 15 minutes because it's so low in the mix and hard to hear, so I hope it's what you were looking for. http://media.putfile.com/Nevandal_Rebel_Yell_Synth The pitch bend at the end is way too fast and the timing is off (making the end sound really cheesy) but you get the idea. Let me know what you think. Damn that sounds close! With a bit more distortion on it, a slightly thinner tone (selective mid-scooping with a graphic EQ) and more vibrato to wobble it a bit during particular notes (like a whammy bar), it would have been perfect! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members petejt Posted August 18, 2008 Author Members Share Posted August 18, 2008 That's totally a synth. I'm starting to get ideas now to try that on a guitar synth pedal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jaytee123 Posted August 18, 2008 Members Share Posted August 18, 2008 Its not a toy raygun. I believe, if my memory serves me correctly, an arion delay pedal, where if you turn up the knobs a certain way, you get that sound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members petejt Posted August 18, 2008 Author Members Share Posted August 18, 2008 Its not a toy raygun. I believe, if my memory serves me correctly, an arion delay pedal, where if you turn up the knobs a certain way, you get that sound. We're not discussing that part of the song. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Nevandal Posted August 18, 2008 Members Share Posted August 18, 2008 Damn that sounds close! With a bit more distortion on it, a slightly thinner tone (selective mid-scooping with a graphic EQ) and more vibrato to wobble it a bit during particular notes (like a whammy bar), it would have been perfect! Hard to tell with that stuff till you put it in a mix Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members B Money Posted August 18, 2008 Members Share Posted August 18, 2008 it's a synth, but when my band plays "Rebel Yell" is use the 'synthguitar' preset on my G Major to approximate that sound. Works pretty good, and really adds to the creepy feel of that breakdown Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members petejt Posted August 18, 2008 Author Members Share Posted August 18, 2008 it's a synth, but when my band plays "Rebel Yell" is use the 'synthguitar' preset on my G Major to approximate that sound. Works pretty good, and really adds to the creepy feel of that breakdown Sweet. I wonder if I could approximate it with my ElectroHarmonix POG, some creative EQ'ing, a lot of thinned distortion, and a bit of modulation & reverb? (reverb- note the distance in that synth tone? that really makes to spooky, cool spooky) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ew_ Posted August 18, 2008 Members Share Posted August 18, 2008 Its not a toy raygun. I believe, if my memory serves me correctly, an arion delay pedal, where if you turn up the knobs a certain way, you get that sound. It's a delay, but not an Arion. It's a Lexicon, as Steve says in a Guitar Player interview from that era... ew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members petejt Posted August 19, 2008 Author Members Share Posted August 19, 2008 It's a delay, but not an Arion. It's a Lexicon, as Steve says in a Guitar Player interview from that era...ew If wanted to do the fast throbbing pulsating raygun effect with a delay, you can pretty much do it with any delay pedal. I've done it. Just quickly turn the knobs on any delay pedal or flanger pedal, and it will create that effect, just like Jean-Michel Jarre did on Oxygene: Part II. You can hear it in the film Gallipoli. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members glenecho Posted August 19, 2008 Members Share Posted August 19, 2008 Its not a toy raygun. I believe, if my memory serves me correctly, an arion delay pedal, where if you turn up the knobs a certain way, you get that sound. Lexicon PCM 41. Old 80's issue of Guitar For the Practicing musician went into great detail with Steve on how he got the sound. I've gotten into this argument a million times on boards. Believe me...the original ray gun sound on rebel yell IS a Lexicon PCM 41. And yeah to the other guy about the synth sound...textbook chorused square wave sound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Hapless Posted August 19, 2008 Members Share Posted August 19, 2008 Lexicon PCM 41. Old 80's issue of Guitar For the Practicing musician went into great detail with Steve on how he got the sound.I've gotten into this argument a million times on boards. Believe me...the original ray gun sound on rebel yell IS a Lexicon PCM 41.And yeah to the other guy about the synth sound...textbook chorused square wave sound. Then why does the July 2008 Guitar player interview say, and I quote: What was the real deal with how you got your raygun sound back in the day? It's a toy ray gun that I would pick up and hold close to my pickups. I modified mine. I opened one up, and I saw there was a little resistor in there. I figured if I hooked up a potentiometer to that, it would vary something. Back in the day, Hamer built me a guitar with a ray gun built into it, but it didn't sound the same. There's something intrinsic about playing the toy through your pickups. It also creates a natural crossfade, because as you hold the note and the ray gun gets closer to the guitar, that sound takes over from the note. Those ray guns are getting rarer and rarer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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