Feb 2022 reverb reverberatingfawm morereverb ethereal ambient guitar
For the Reverb as an Instrument challenge from @mosley, I explored a lot of different reverbs. I used reverse reverb on the drums (100% wet) and finished them off with the SurfyBear Spring.
For the atmospheric guitar, I had an EHX Canyon Delay to lengthen the signal, added chorus and vibrato, an EHX Oceans 11 set to Shimmer Reverb, into a Mojo Hand Park Theatre (delay/reverb at 9), into a SurfyBear spring reverb (set to 10) and ending at my 1970 Traynor YGM-3 with its spring reverb set to 9. I used an Ernie Ball Jr volume pedal to control the input sounds.
Finally, I added a melody guitar track with my EBow to give it (kind of) a melody. I let the reverb do the heavy lifting with all the overtones hanging around.
EHX Canyon delay->Ultra Vibrato->MXR Analog Chorus->EHX Oceans 11 Reverb (shimmer)->Mojo Hand Park Theatre (delay/reverb)->SurfyBear Spring Reverb->Traynor YGM-3 amp with spring reverb.
We have a winter storm outside, so it is very serene looking outside. We have at least 10 inches of snow so far. It's good to be inside with FAWM. :)
The drums were the "Rock" setting on my 1970's GEM combo-organ. I played my Agile AL-3100 Les Paul for all the guitars.
Relax....
Breathe.......
@owl Feb 2022
This is so beautiful! It reminds me of Brian Eno’s Music For Airports. Soothing and silvery… I just love the textures you’ve created here.
@dragondreams Feb 2022
Ooh.
this is so wonderfully atmospheric. The slow build caught me out a little (I was cranking the volume on my monitors for a few seconds). I love the way the layers seem to slide over each other to create the harmonies. And the reverse drums add a depth of texture to anchor the piece without being intrusive. I love it!
@mosley Feb 2022
This totally sounds like snow, I absolutely love this piece, such a beautiful picture in sound
@susyblue Feb 2022
Dreamy atmospheric vibes here…. I’m sitting here listening in the car whilst the toddler sleeps sweating in the summer… heheh different scenes but still suitable!
@splittybooms Feb 2022
Reverb as an instrument...that's a pretty cool concept. I did see the topic title in the forums, but I'll leave that people like you who can do awesome things with it.
The reverse reverb as a great idea for the drums; there's still rhythm coming through but its all wishywashy and fits the atmosphere of the rest of the track. It sounds like shoveling snow, honestly, thanks to your liner notes and pics.
There's just a tad bit of anxiety at points in the sustained paddy goodness and it takes me back to those morning back east where yes, it was beautiful to see the morning snow untouched in all its blankety whiteness...but I also knew I had to go out there and shovel it and then drive in it to a job I didn't like.
Overall though, this was very chill (ha pun?) to experience early this morning with my warm tea.
Great use of equipment which all flies over my head, I always think its cool when people do creative stuff with all these bits of kit that I have no idea what they do. I used to basically live in Guitar Center on the weekends but I always camped out in the keyboard/synth room and the drum room - but i would just look at all the guitar stuff and those little boxes and pedals made me feel like I wanted to learn, just cause of how cool they all looked. These little boxes capable of so much.
You put all that stuff to great use here and really knocked the reverb challenge out the park.
@standup Feb 2022
Hah, love the reverse stuff. This really does feature the reverb, nice job on that. Very mysterious sound. Big and beautiful.
@karlsburg25 Feb 2022
Man alive this is huge in a gorgeous spacious fly me to another world way. After all these years is it fair to say you've never created anything quite like this before. And you've made it so beautiul and atmospheric guess where i'd really love to be rtight now listening to this??? yes in my hammock looking at the beautiful thai sea. Congrats on a really emotional piece of music matey
@katestantonsings Feb 2022
This is beautiful. I am looking out at the snow as I listen. Relaxing. Breathing. So lovely...I want to fall asleep to this peaceful song!
@tangle Feb 2022
This is beautiful and something I'd love to dream to if it was looped for a few hours! I can hear the Sigur Ros shades in there too.
@slawbleu Feb 2022
"This reverb goes to 11"
Seriously, this is incredibly lovely. Glad you picked up a Park Theatre....I love that pedal! Those unexpected changes starting at 2:53 are amazing, and that E-bow guitar riding over top of everything is just perfect. Very, very cool.
@bachelorb Feb 2022
This turned out really well. When I close my eyes, the music feels like looking around at the landscape after a fresh snow.
The detailed liner notes were great. I’m almost using em as a textbook :)
@radiobenedetto Feb 2022
Really digging this. The drums sound like they’re reversed but instead they’re just trudging through 10 inches of snow. All the harmony works no matter how long any of the notes “hang around.” It’s very cinematic too. Like if Terrence Malick ever sets a film in Alaska you need an agent to get this placed:^) very cool.
@timfatchen Feb 2022
needs More Reveb. oops, sorry, just came here from the Ambient thread! :D Wide open feel to this, can't quite work out how the right misc conjures up that soft soundlessness of a snowscape, especially with the snow bucketing down so hard that you can't hear the fierce wind. The swish rhythm keeps it rolling, and I think that super long fadeout was a brilliant idea.
@gilhari Feb 2022
Well crafted sound shapes. I love your evocative minor note thing going on in the middle. Snow… I’ve walked in it further than I ever cared to walk. I felt it deeper than I feel any one should. It’s been in my eyes and ears, it been tangled into my hair and frozen onto my socks and maybe even my soul… and now it in my ears and in my head…
@oddaustin Feb 2022
Eno would be proud.
@unkept Feb 2022
I feel like I'm floating on a wave of sound, really beautiful tones and atmosphere to this. Really impressed and love the way you shaped everything here.
@chroes Feb 2022
What a wonderful dreamy piece! I did a skirmish last year to the prompt snow, and I was very curious about how you approached this. It's so light and airy but still very much grounded in the floating harmonics and the wonderful beat you created with reverb.
At first, I didn't really hear the guitar, it has such an otherworldly, synth-like sound.
What a cool track this is! Thank you for sharing it with us!
@estebanlartigue Feb 2022
Great flow on the 3 chords picked. I also liked the rythmic pattern in the back!
@fuzzy Feb 2022
Yeah, that looks like the rooftop patio this morning at the Fuzzy Sound Labs secret underground bunker here in Southern Ontario.
I'm liking the ominous serenity of this piece for sure, like looking out the window at the beautiful snow falling, knowing full well that it's all gonna have to be shoveled at some point.
So much space here filled with the wash of reverb.
This is a really great headphone track.
I enjoyed this very much!
@atam94 Feb 2022
Sounds are soothing and the ebow is always a nice addition to a song! Very nicely done
@emkaydeebee Feb 2022
Love how much you have going on in here, and as someone else said, you've managed to keep the distinction between sounds. The mid section creates a good crunch point to make sure we're not all getting too relaxed! Very atmospheric overall.
@adforperu Feb 2022
This is really rather beautiful. Something you just wouldn't be able to recreate with plug-ins and amp sims I'd imagine. A lovely slice of Sigur Ros-adjacent post-rock - I still remember that big post-rock tune you did with the glockenspiels, I may even have the MP3 saved somewhere...
@popmythology Feb 2022
That's beautiful. Made me think of the opening instrumental track on Sigur Ros's second album. Snow storm outside. Warmth and FAWM inside... aaaah. Hey, didn't you used to have a tradition of kicking off FAWM with a surf song?
@yam655 Feb 2022
This is lovely. My own reverb track ended up in a reverby morass while you still have clearly distinct instruments.
@phlex Feb 2022
Such a great idea using different reverb units. Sounds cinematic, big spaces, and lots of different sized spaces too (with the different units). The interaction of them is bliss, eternal and hovering. Not really icey, but now that I've seen just outside the door, glistening in the light. The ebow stuff is amazing - wish i had one! such a slow attack. Really inspiring! Thanks!
@guatecoop Feb 2022
So many things going on here!!! Truly reverb as an instrument. This one has such a wall of sound, but then again somehow you managed to be delicate with it...? Great sounds and you are almost making the melody hover. So cool and I have no idea how to do this....Well done!
@b3nut Feb 2022
Damn one can get lost in this...
@srcoops Feb 2022
Very nice. Your mom and I both liked it very much.
@jacobeverettwallace Feb 2022
Stunning! This is my favorite kind of music. Long sweeping melodies. I just kinda sat in serene beauty through the whole track. Lovely work.
@smileymn Feb 2022
Super into it, beautiful ambient sounds
@sheslin Feb 2022
Wowza! That was a magical musical journey! Those overtones! I like how you eased into the new sounds as the song progressed, and how you took it all back down at the end. It was mesmerizing just like snow us. I loved it!
@vomvorton Feb 2022
Really dreamy ambient goodness! The backwards-reverb-drums have a bit of a crunchy-footprints-in-the-snow vibe which is extremely appropriate!
@heuristicsinc Feb 2022
that's beautiful. i love it.
@sph Feb 2022
Beautiful how you give all these sounds the space they need.
@seemanski Feb 2022
I just want close my ears and let this calm my mind. I can imagine the spoken voice over the top attempting to control my breathing. Nicely done.
@beat Feb 2022
Breathe is the perfect description for this beauty here.
Big Room.
@shortdan Feb 2022
What an interesting experiment - with a beautifully pleasing result. You've created a really rich and dreamy soundscape here. It's got a bit of a cinematic quality to it actually. Great listen :)
@beyondthelimes Feb 2022
Nice soundscape. Haunting. It kind of has an early Sigur Ros vibe. Love seeing how you went about creating it.
@n1742 Feb 2022
love the heartbeat of the reverse reverb drums and all those overlapping chords. some really great beating effects as the sounds merge together. I liked someone's comment below a reverb hot tub, just the thing when the snow is so bad. and thanks for the pictures.
@kissinginpublic Feb 2022
This is beautiful. That Ocean’s 11 and Surfy Bear combo sounds fantastic. Gotta love an elbow, too. Great job!
@mikeb Feb 2022
The reverse-reverb drums give an underlying 'hearbeat' and the rest of the reverbs and FX combine in a totally unique way.
Awesome job on what I consider a tough challenge!
@the3queens Feb 2022
Whoa, 10 inches of snow? Extra points for pictures! Very relaxing synth bed which I find mesmerizing. The drum effect almost sounds like a war snare breaking up the calm.
@dzdandcunfsd Feb 2022
This is really lush and beautiful, and the perfect piece for the weather indeed. I'm watching it come down pretty hard out the window myself.
I started this challenge myself last night. This motivates me to go finish it, but not enough to make the walk through the snow to where I play at :) I'll just listen to this again instead. Great track!
@headfirstonly Feb 2022
Downloaded! This is *so* much my sort of thing. Woozy, ethereal, and anthemic. Just using the reverb of the drums without the drums themselves (100% wet signal) is inspired; what an interesting result it gets.
I'm just sitting here enjoying the thunderous washes of sound coming out of the speakers in the HFO studio. The guitars sound positively Eno-ish. I may have cranked the volume levels up a fair bit to do this justice. :-D
@notenkraker Feb 2022
Ahh yes, the reverb hot-tub, I have arrived.
@halfwayhome Feb 2022
Had the headphones in, and this is fine piece of music to feed directly into the ear. Perpetually teetering on the edge of feedback is my happy place.
@elesimo Feb 2022
Oh wow, this is gorgeous! I love how the drums turned out (I think those are drums — the repeating pattern that's rhythmic). This is probably how heaven sounds like!
@thedutchwidows Feb 2022
Wow, this is lovely. I mean just totally beautiful. I would happily listen to hours of this stuff if you wanted to make it. Snow looks lovely too.