I really love the older Productions of The Prodigy such as "Poison" or "Vodoo People". Does anyone know what kind of gear they used back then to create that very special sound ? Specially the Drums and distorted Synthlines are killing me everytime i listen to their tracks...
The Roland Jd990 was used for those sounds. I think the lead in 'Voodoo People' it is a preset sound even. He also used the Roland W30 to sequence everything.
One of the factory presets sound on my JP-8000 sound very similar to the lead in Voodoo people, but I guess you need some guy called Liam Howlett to take control of it
They used at least a JD-800 for a while. The classic synth melodi in Voodoo People is made with this one. Acctually that sound is a preset sound in that synth, i think it is called "distorted guitar". Sound good though
there was an article a while back on the main guy talking about how he re got re inspired by using reason after a long hiatus cause all the gear was bringing him down...
anywho... he mentions all thegear he used there. which was a lot.
Yeah..Poison definately blows my mind too everytime I hear it ;-)
I've read that they used a lots of AKAI Samplers,TR909, TR808,Jupiter 8 and Korg MS20..
I don't like the new album very much..especially sonically..I wish Liam kept the whole gear..but I guess he has to make his own progress..I respect that though..
Great to hear everybody likes the prodigy! They're fantastc live..and I am going to see them everytime they are in Switzerland!
the gear list for The Prodigy is obscene. I'm pretty sure future music did an article that lists pretty much everything he owns with pictures and such.
I think the new album is all Reason software--lame. . . .
@Dubreak thanks for posting this awesome intervie/studio report.
I think a lot of top class Electronic acts were using that Tascam 3500 back then (Jam and Spoon, Eternal Basement, etc). Must be something good about it....
Yeah, I've got a question: What the hell posessed Liam to switch to Reason? The last album was ruined because of that alone. There's only one memorable track on that whole train wreck, and the only reason I can even tolerate it is because it's got a good Michael Jackson sample.
@Dubreak thanks for posting this awesome intervie/studio report.
I think a lot of top class Electronic acts were using that Tascam 3500 back then (Jam and Spoon, Eternal Basement, etc). Must be something good about it....
there is. it's not a bad desk at all sonically. not much headroom though. (I'm a sucker for headroom)
Wow, I truly miss those days. The raw energy! The constant experimenting. Scraping together $2000 to buy an EPS or a W-30 and learning them inside and out. Everybody had a unique sound.
Maybe I old, everything sounds the same to me now.
Plus you had to get creative with what you had back then. 512k Ram and 16 midi channels and you could make a record!
Everything i've read here suggests old skool sounded a lot better than new n' improved.
I do like the sonics of analog better than straight digital..they're more pleasing to my ears and full of harmonics and... however I also like the sound of digital too and will not miss it..
it's just a matter of taste.. however it's easier to produce music today than it was some years ago because everybody has now a "music studio" in their laptops..thus more people with less spending time on the gear will make music and thus will sound more or less the same if they are not innovative..
back in the day you really had to bleed for buying an instrument or a sampler. i think i paid something ridiculos like 2000 euro for my first akai sampler with 2 megs. but with that, i did complete tracks. nowadays it seems impossible to make make complete songs with only 2 megs when people have gigabytes full of sound and only use presets. thats why i bought me an Emax1 and an Akai s950recently. I do like the oldschool sound...
there was an article a while back on the main guy talking about how he re got re inspired by using reason after a long hiatus cause all the gear was bringing him down...
anywho... he mentions all thegear he used there. which was a lot.
i read an article that said the exact opposite....that liam was trying to use things in the box (like reason) and that it was un-inspiring him...so he went back to doing it the way he was used to - hardware synths, samplers ect...this was talking about the always outnumbered/never out-gunned record...
As far as I know he got reinspired using Reason and then went back and replaced some parts with analog synths (Oberheim Four Voice and Korg Ms-20 preferably). You can hear some of Reasons trademark effects and you can hear the analog synths as well.
back in the day you really had to bleed for buying an instrument or a sampler. i think i paid something ridiculos like 2000 euro for my first akai sampler with 2 megs. but with that, i did complete tracks. nowadays it seems impossible to make make complete songs with only 2 megs when people have gigabytes full of sound and only use presets. thats why i bought me an Emax1 and an Akai s950recently. I do like the oldschool sound...
I'm glad I'm not the only one feeling like that. I use to do some of my best stuff on a EPS classic with 1 meg of ram and a Korg DDD-1.
I'm building an old school midi rig right now with the following:
a Dual G4 running logic
2 Emax HDSE
2 Kawai K1r
EPS-m (rack EPS)
D-50
Poly-800mk2
XV-5080
JP-8000
Kord DDD-1 w/cards
Kawai R-100 w/ Electronic Chip sound set
Effects:
Alesis Quadraverb
ART Multiverb 3
Yamaha SPX50d
ZOOM 9010
The electric guitar at the beginning of "Voodoo People" came from Liam's Roland U-220.
As someone else said, back then gear cost an arm and a leg. I had a Roland U-20 and a JV-2080 and learned them inside out. The U-20 is the keyboard version of the U-220 and it also had the electric guitar sound.
I also like the idea of an old school rig. I used to do complete songs with an Emu e6400 I saved up an entire year to get. I recently went to a friend's place and he still has his E4XT and I forgot how great the converters sounded.
@Dubreak thanks for posting this awesome intervie/studio report.
I think a lot of top class Electronic acts were using that Tascam 3500 back then (Jam and Spoon, Eternal Basement, etc). Must be something good about it....
I used an M3500 for years on loads of techno projects (R&S Records)
Great desk. At the time it was that or a mackie and I am glad I chose the Tascam.
Also helped CJ Bolland Remix a prodigy track. As far as I recall it was W30 samples mainly.