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SoaringTortoise wrote:Do shoegazers use wah?

Swirlies, Ride and Medicine are all about the wahs.

ramonovski wrote:
I disagree.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ggv7p3sA8pM[/youtube]

I'll admit, those would definitely be better for playing wah on the moon...or shoegaze.

I really like the Malekko 616 Dark for 'gazin':



You also can't go wrong with the SMMw/H. The reverse setting on the looper is fantastic for making them ambient washes and such.

Nothing better than the Strymon DIG for Slowdive tones.
That's amazing even with fuzz.
I agree that quite every delay with tap tempo should work for that, but if you need something "specific" I'd say the DIG.

If you particularly want to replicate Slowdive's signature synthetic pad sounds you will probably want to approximate the Soft Focus patch of the Yamaha FX500. The settings of the individual effects are apparently:

>Compressor Thr. ~40db, RAT 1/2, ATK 1.1ms, LVL +15DB
>Delay 300ms, 72% feedback
>Reverb 3.4s 100% wet
>Symphonic (Yamaha's equivalent of a Boss dimension effect, I believe)

I believe this effect was employed on songs like Shine and numerous songs on their early EPs and first couple of albums. Delay is important with that kind of effect but probably not as crucial as the 100% wet reverb. The significance of compression in Shoegaze music is sometimes underestimated, I think. It's heavily used in songs like Vapour Trail too.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbgWjujwvwo[/youtube]

penelope tree wrote:The significance of compression in Shoegaze music is sometimes underestimated, I think.

THIS, A THOUSAND TIMES. Extending the decay on what you pla yreally cements the wall of sound, also having your upper notes sound clearer. This is mostly for the cleaner side of shoegaze though. Kevin Shields hated compression, despite the fact that his fuzz choices had a lot of it.

penelope tree wrote:The significance of compression in Shoegaze music is sometimes underestimated, I think. It's heavily used in songs like Vapour Trail too.

Absolutely—it's so rooted in jangly 60s pop that it's a must. And yep, the guitar on Vapour Trail=compressed as balls.

literally anything

TC electronic stuff

That's weird about Kevin Shields hating compression, I always thought a key to THAT sound was using a compressor post distortion and reverb to kind of mush it all together.

Robin Guthrie hates reverb.

chutneyfarmer wrote:That's weird about Kevin Shields hating compression, I always thought a key to THAT sound was using a compressor post distortion and reverb to kind of mush it all together.

Naw, reason he sounds like that in loveless is because he would use a lot if different amps and fuzzes in parallel, which does the trick. Sometimes he would put a mic sandwiched between two amps feedbacking on each other. Also mono, Loveless was infamously mixed mostly in mono, with some slight panning when the engineer could get away with it without Shields finding out.

Inconuucl wrote:

chutneyfarmer wrote:That's weird about Kevin Shields hating compression, I always thought a key to THAT sound was using a compressor post distortion and reverb to kind of mush it all together.

Naw, reason he sounds like that in loveless is because he would use a lot if different amps and fuzzes in parallel, which does the trick. Sometimes he would put a mic sandwiched between two amps feedbacking on each other. Also mono, Loveless was infamously mixed mostly in mono, with some slight panning when the engineer could get away with it without Shields finding out.

Iiiiiinteresting! Thanks for the insight. Noticed the mono trick alright.

Minor Hijack: What pedal-form compressor(s) are best for shoegaze?

I think the Walrus Deep 6 compressor is popular with ambient/shoegazy type dudes. Looks nice, gives a lot of control.