Anarchy in the UK guitar sound...

[MisterMark]

Can't remember where I heard it, but years ago I remember reading something about how they recorded Steve Jone's guitar on Anarchy in the UK... Something about putting two fender twins face to face with a mic in the middle.

If you listen to the track, it has this swirly, phasey character to it that none of the other tracks on that album have. After doing a bit of research, I found an interview with Steve Jones admitting that they only used one fender twin and he played through a phaser pedal.

Regardless, I'm still curious about how putting two amps fact to face might sound with a mic in the middle (figure 8 possibly?). Maybe have one amp out of phase, or not... Anyone ever try this? Thoughts?

Thanks,

Mark

[litepipe]

I've done this. It was a while ago but I remember liking the sound. I put a fig 8 between them. The amps were a about 4 feet apart from each other and the mic in the middle.

[MisterMark]

Litepipe,

Did it the sound have any kind of swirly phase character to it? Were the speakers in phase or out of phase?

Thanks,

Mark

[Gentleman Jim]

I remember reading about the production of Never Mind The Bollocks and there was a rant from Johnny Rotten, (surprise, surprise...), about how many guitar tracks there were, he was complaining there were over 20, and joked that Steve Jones and Chris Thomas were still recording even more tracks years later at the time of the interview.

Here's a quote lifted from the Wikipedia page on the album:

Producer Chris Thomas took a different approach to recording Never Mind The Bollocks that was to become the norm on most later punk rock albums. Instead of capturing a "raw" or "live" sound, Thomas achieved a very clear, broad, and layered sonic palette via multiple guitar overdubs, and extremely tight musicianship.[citation needed] He said: "Anarchy has something like a dozen guitars on it; I sort of orchestrated it, double-tracking some bits and separating the parts and adding them, et cetera ... It was quite laboured. The vocals were laboured, as well."

I've always thought of that guitar sound as pretty much the epitome of a Les Paul Custom through a Fender amp with everything on 10. That's the sound of power tubes opened up all the way. I have a 70's Bassman 100 head which does that really well.

And the phase sound on the verses of 'Anarchy In the UK' is textbook MXR phaser. Either a Phase 90 or a Phase 100 I suppose.

[agauchede]

"extremely tight musicianship.[citation needed]"

Hah!! Good luck citing that source!

Seriously, I love that record.

[kayagum]

Kevin Shields (My Bloody Valentine) did this too.... I believe his interview in TapeOp covered that.

[litepipe]

Mark, the sound wasn't that swirly at all. I had them spaced apart pretty well. I didn't do anything special except have two amps playing I liked (they colored each other well) and wanted to capture, but as a whole. Kind of like putting vocalists around a fig 8 mic for harmonies.. I moved the mic and amps to taste.. They were both open back cabs and the floors were wood with no carpet.

[litepipe]

Mark, the sound wasn't that swirly at all. I had them spaced apart pretty well. I didn't do anything special except have two amps playing I liked (they colored each other well) and wanted to capture, but as a whole. Kind of like putting vocalists around a fig 8 mic for harmonies.. I moved the mic and amps to taste.. They were both open back cabs and the floors were wood with no carpet.

[Fletcher]

I have done this many times, usually using a Royer R-121.

If you do this, it works best if you wire one amp [the one facing the "logo side" of the mic] in "positive polarity" [speakers moving out] and the second amp in "negative polarity [speakers moving in] so that all of the speakers are moving in the same direction as the ribbon.

It often works amazingly well!!

[Fletcher]

I have done this many times, usually using a Royer R-121.

If you do this, it works best if you wire one amp [the one facing the "logo side" of the mic] in "positive polarity" [speakers moving out] and the second amp in "negative polarity [speakers moving in] so that all of the speakers are moving in the same direction as the ribbon.

It often works amazingly well!!

[MisterMark]

Yeah, I heard something about Kevin Shields facing two amps together too. But somehow involving aluminum foil.... Sounds like another studio urban legend to me.

Confirmed Jim... Steve was actually using a MXR Phase 45. Article here:

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/intervie ... stols.html

Anyway, thanks for the info guys. I will have to try it myself sometime soon.


Mark