Yesterday we had a look at valves or vacuum tubes and today I`m going to take that thinking to echo. What kind of echo do you like? Crisp clear and digital? I`ve got a Line 6 echo park under my desk but that`s just because I use it for fun at work – it`s not really got the flavour and the behaviour I really dig. It`s just not tasty enough. If you really want to get fat rounded sounds then these are the echo units you should consider having a look into.
The absolute beauty of tape based echo units lies in the fact that tape itself is analogue – moving the tape across a tape head polarizes the magnetic domains in the tape in proportion to the fluctuations in the audio signal. The granular nature of the magnetic material adds noise to the signal and because the magnetic characteristics of tape are not linear tape exhibits a characteristic hysteresis curve, which causes unwanted distortion of the signal. Any analog signal must theoretically have noise and a finite slew rate. It`s the imperfection in tape that makes the sound so delicious.
Whilst having a jam outside in the hot sun one year the copycat tape began to melt, decay and whither and this lead to some pretty crazy sounds coming through the p.a. and across the Surrey Hills. If you want to hear some Space Echo then maybe have a look at Adam Ants Table Talk from his unbelievably mind blowing 1979 release Dirk Wears White Sox. If you haven`t heard it buy it. It`s incredible IMHO.
Back in the late seventies, prior to the arrival of PUNK ROCK, with its garland of spit, safety pins, anarchy, rebellion and anti-authoritarian posturing, Steve Hillage took the psychedelia of the late 60`s and infused it with the kind of prodcution techniques it really deserved.
Towards the end of the 70′s Hillage’s progressive guitar-rock and psychedelic fusion leanings helped build a reputation that became synonymous with spacey, ambient soundscapes and “excursions”.
1978′s Green, co-produced by Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason is an exemplary and landmark recording in this respect that, with both power and sensitivity focuses upon a pantheistic ecological message
HIllages “hippie” music was eclipsed by the D.I.Y. madness of anarchy, punk rock and “dissent” at the end of the decade.
The Hillage sound remained immortalised in the consciousness of a whole new generation by the UK “Festival” band The Ozric Tentacles. Ten years after Hillage released “Green” the Ozrics pioneered a new wave of trippy, techno space rock into the 90`s acid scene updated with hard pounding beats, shifting time signatures, the use of eastern and exotic modes and instruments.
After the collapse of Thatcherite ethics in the 80`s the British music underground, fuelled by political unrest and drug fuelled madness exploded across the media and across the country in revolutionary fervour.
Pedals never replace playing ability, groove, talent, technique, vision and expression but can really help having the brain of Hendrix sitting in a little box on the floor. At the end of the day its all in your hands and head.
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