How would you go about ripping off...

[Jitters]

Some off the drum and bass sounds from David Bowie's Low album? Like 'Breaking Glass' for instance, or 'Sound and Vision'? Is that snare triggering some kind of gated flanger or phaser?

[Nick Sevilla]

"Ripping Off".... May be the wrong term.

Lemme listen and see if I can't come up with how it was done.
BTW, who was the producer and / or engineer?
You might be able to ask them.

Cheers

[Gregg Juke]

I thought about that too. It was Tony Visconti, and the album was a collaboration with Brian Eno.

Tony used to be very active on-line (like, going on 20 years ago? I remember conversing with him on AOL). I went to his website to check it out, but all contact now goes through his management...

Not sure about Eno, but there was a recent interview with him in TapeOp. Maybe you can dig it out and see if there's any contact info?

I'll also listen and see what I can hear...


GJ

[A.David.MacKinnon]

Eventide Harmonizer on the drums.

There's an interview with Tony about the Low, Heros and Lodger albums here - http://www.bowiewonderworld.com/features/tvuncut.htm

[Gregg Juke]

OK, didn't even get a chance to (or had to) listen. Some sources are claiming simple gated reverb, but more authoritative sources seem to be indicating _Eventide Harmonizer_.

You may find these links helpful:

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=133674

http://emusician.com/em_spotlight/tony_ ... ndex2.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gated_reverb

http://www.stylusmagazine.com/articles/ ... ie-low.htm

http://www.thegearpage.net/board/archiv ... 36600.html

http://valhalladsp.wordpress.com/2010/0 ... armonizer/

http://www.superseventies.com/bowie6.html

If you don't have an EH , you can probably find a software emualtion, or use a couple of old stacked hardware units to simulate the effect.

GJ

[Nick Sevilla]

"Breaking Glass" :

Gated snare.
Through Some kind of white noise trigger.
Some reverb, and a tiny amount of slap delay in there too.
The basic tone is from the snare.
The slight pitch variation could be done with a modulated pitch algorithm. You could use an Eventide phaser, or any number of other brands.

The live version does not have this, from the "Stage" CD.

"Sound And Vision"

The initial fill is hi tom / low tom / hi tom. So that explains the pitch variation.
Again, I hear gating.
Sometimes the snare is doubled by a lower pitched tom, probably going through a slight phasing effect.
And the hi-hat is either triggering a white noise synth, or is extremely distorted and compressed.
The kick is pretty straight forward.
Once the song verse starts the snare gets pretty standard. It seems the pitch variation is only on the toms.
I also am hearing slight slap echo, and a short reverb "room" sound across the snare and toms. Whether the reverb is artificial or the actual room, is anyone's guess.

Cheers

[Beat Poet]

The kit and tuning will play a big part in the sound as well.

[Jitters]

Thanks, you guys are the mother lode!

[Dr Rubberfunk]

More on the recording of Heroes than Low, but it talks (a bit) about the drum set up Dennis Davis used, and about the use of Event Harmoniser and room sound for reverb.

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/Oct04/a ... tracks.htm

[cgarges]

That Eventide story is very well-documented.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC