Cool effect....what is it?

jmusser · March 02, 2005, 05:29:03 PM

I'll try to be as vague as I can...... I heard this song on the radio, that has the words in it "She says..... I like the night life baby", and ends the chorus with "let's go". I think it was around in the 80s. Neither one of these phrases came up as a title on the Lyrics search. Anyway, it has the coolest talking wah type sound on it. I have heard a sound similar to this, while using a 2" plastic tube hand pump, to pull liquid out of a drum. It's a really vocal sound, and is extra cool. Was that vague enough? :roll:

Dragonfly · March 02, 2005, 05:31:35 PM

Quote from: jmusserI'll try to be as vague as I can...... I heard this song on the radio, that has the words in it "She says..... I like the night life baby", and ends the chorus with "let's go". I think it was around in the 80s. Neither one of these phrases came up as a title on the Lyrics search. Anyway, it has the coolest talking wah type sound on it. I have heard a sound similar to this, while using a 2" plastic tube hand pump, to pull liquid out of a drum. It's a really vocal sound, and is extra cool. Was that vague enough? :roll:

It's by The Cars.

"Lets Go"

vanhansen · March 02, 2005, 05:33:00 PM

Yeppers, 'tis The Cars. From 1979. Isn't that effect a talkbox?

puretube · March 02, 2005, 05:34:26 PM

we had that topic here before...
http://diystompboxes.com/sboxforum/viewtopic.php?t=22057
btw: "google", 1st entry:
http://www.seeklyrics.com/lyrics/Cars/Let-s-Go.html

Dragonfly · March 02, 2005, 05:35:01 PM

Quote from: vanhansenIsn't that effect a talkbox?

possibly...

IIRC, Roy Thomas Baker produced the track...you might be able to find more info by researching him as well....

jmusser · March 02, 2005, 08:45:46 PM

Thanks gentlemen. I have a direction to head in now. I thought that was the name of that song, but for some reason I wasn't getting a hit for it on the Lyrics sites. So, we're talking a keyboard effect. Is this along the same lines as the Mutron III that Stevie played? I can hear a little of that tone in there.

Ed G. · March 02, 2005, 08:55:03 PM

I always loved the Cars. As bubblegum poppy as they were, they were also cool and smart. Elliot Easton played the coolest guitar parts, just perfect for the song. He does some cool chicken-pickin stuff on "Best Friend's Girl"

Dragonfly · March 02, 2005, 09:01:07 PM

Quote from: Ed G.I always loved the Cars. As bubblegum poppy as they were, they were also cool and smart. Elliot Easton played the coolest guitar parts, just perfect for the song. He does some cool chicken-pickin stuff on "Best Friend's Girl"
I think the effect you hear is a keyboard through an envelope filter.

yep...Elliot is a great player...and youre right about the chicken' picken/rockabilly part on "My Best Friends Girl"...not sure how he snuck that in there, but im glad he did

youre probably right about the effect as well...Greg Hawkes (keys) used filters occasionally....

Johnny Guitar · March 02, 2005, 09:15:39 PM

Quote from: jmusserSo, we're talking a keyboard effect. Is this along the same lines as the Mutron III that Stevie played? I can hear a little of that tone in there.

In thinking back to the song (it's been a while since I've heard it) I wanted to say it was oscillator hard sync on a synth. When I read the top link that Puretube posted above, a number of others seemed to think that it is as well. (oscillator hard sync was not that common on synths until about 78 or so; it became the "flavor of the month")

The bad news is that I can't imagine a simple way to make a guitar box have this rather unique sound (unique, though somewhat similar to the sound of sweeping a lopass filter). It might be possible to square up a signal from the guitar and run that through a VC divider (a somewhat uncommon piece of synth gear) and get a similar sound. I don't think it would be that easy to get though.

The sound that you hear as being similar to the Mutron III is probably the lopass filter (VCF) which was common on synths since they were first built (over use of the VCF was the flavor of the month in the early 70s -- the keyboard descendant of the wa wa pedal).

John

pi22seven · March 02, 2005, 10:20:17 PM

I think it was a Memorymoog.

I remember that sound was so sought after that some other synth released a synth with a patch simply called "CARS".

NaBo · March 03, 2005, 04:10:41 AM

Good ol' cars... they have some really great sounds. And I'm forever indebted to Ric Ocasek for producing weezer's blue album.

MartyMart · March 03, 2005, 04:16:54 AM

I think the Cars were a fantastic band, the perfect combination of guitars and keyboards, OK very "Pop Rock" but just COOL !!
Loved 'em when I was 15 years old ( showing my age ! )

EDIT: Oh yeah and when "Drive" was used at the "Band Aid" concert --- wow I just had to bawl my eyes out at that footage . . . . . :cry:

VERY MOVING...

Marty.

petemoore · March 03, 2005, 04:56:09 AM

Best Words I have for the CARS.
The explosive popularity of the band upon first 'airspin' was amazing.
Buy the album and get a GREAT Deal on Cars. Same price as a Tyffany album.
The album would deliver the greatest punch lines front to back, side to side...one of those Perfect Gems that has no flaws, amazing character and color.
The later albums were Gems also.
The albums taught alot of cool stuff about guitar, lyrics, keyboards, mixing...etc.
Looks Kool / Sounds Great.

inverseroom · March 03, 2005, 08:23:26 AM

I posted on the other thread, too--the sound on "Let's Go" is definitely a sync'ed synth lead. I can get a similar sound on my SCI Pro One without much effort...and there is actually a preset on the Alesis Micron (my favorite new synth) called "Cars Sync" that is that exact sound, if you want it really badly!

Getting guitars to sound like synths is a recurring dream of mine. Is this anathema to this board? Anyway, that is a great sound...it's time for a sync renaissance in fact.

Rodgre · March 03, 2005, 08:30:04 AM

It's a hard sync effect on an analog synth, created by adding two oscillators together, in sync, but changing the pitch of one of them.

Try Tim's Uglyface. That's very very similar.

Roger

LP Hovercraft · March 03, 2005, 02:15:39 PM

Doesn't the Crash Synch cover that sound?

Quackzed · May 27, 2006, 07:01:20 PM

Theres another cool cars synth riff that always stuck in my head from "Just what I needed", the synth melody slides smoothly in pitch from note to note like a lap steel or slide guitar... very "futuristic" sounding

SCIENCE!!!

markm · May 27, 2006, 08:28:24 PM

Oh my lord...................I'm OLD!!!!
I'm really.....OLD!!!
I have a friend that went to college in the Boston area.....used to see the Cars live in bars up there.
It was an incredible scene in Boston in those days,
The Cars
Boston
J. Geils Band
Aerosmith
all played at the same clubs and could be seen live for a buck.

This is trivial too but, I have a friend of mine that was Rick Ocasek's Nanny for a few years......
Rumor has it from her that he has a "Beatle-Room" that no one is allowed to enter but him.
Supposed to be filled with all sorts of Beatles memorabilia.

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Cool effect....what is it?