Mike Oldfield - underrated

CaseOfAce

The guy is absolutely phenomenal - and barely mentioned at home and abroad (other than that bloke who did Tubular Bells and Moonlight Shadow).

The xmas song he did (In Dulci Jubilo) came on in the pub yesterday - and yet again I was wondering how he gets that unique guitar solo sound - it's like a hollowed out / double tracked(?) tone - along with his note choices - it's instantly recognisable as being him.
Any ideas?

Funkfingers

That early Oldfield lead sound is frequently his vintage Gibson SG Junior, played fingerstyle and, sometimes with a thumb pick.

I do not know what amplification and/or pedals were involved. Could even be D.I. recording and outboard compression/limiting.

Neilybob

Totally in love with his album called Guitars. Can you guess which instruments are used on that album lol. Seriously great player. 

Check out for more details information on his gearehe used https://tubular.net/instruments/

ICBM

CaseOfAce said:

The guy is absolutely phenomenal - and barely mentioned at home and abroad (other than that bloke who did Tubular Bells and Moonlight Shadow).

The xmas song he did (In Dulci Jubilo) came on in the pub yesterday - and yet again I was wondering how he gets that unique guitar solo sound - it's like a hollowed out / double tracked(?) tone - along with his note choices - it's instantly recognisable as being him.
Any ideas?

Pretty sure it's almost always DI'd, even if he sometimes (rarely) uses an amp. As far as I know, in the 70s he ran a Vox Escort battery amp through a tape recorder preamp used as an extreme compressor, then into something else, then into the desk... basically, as far away from the traditional rock-guitar mic'ed-valve-amp sound as it's possible to imagine. In the late 80s/early 90s he was using a Roland GP-8 rack preamp as the main part of a large rack set-up, then a VG-8 for the later 90s/2000s albums. I actually like his sounds from this era better than the earlier ones, especially the very filtered wah-like ones.

His sound is totally unique, I've often tried to copy bits of it for various reasons, but it's just so distinctive it doesn't really work for anything else.

Bridgehouse

Amarok and The Songs of Distant Earth are, IMHO, the best two albums ever recorded. Period. 

ICBM

Bridgehouse said:

Amarok and The Songs of Distant Earth are, IMHO, the best two albums ever recorded. Period. 

I'm probably a heretic but I think Tubular Bells II is up there with them and better than the original TB.

Bridgehouse

ICBM said:

Bridgehouse said:

Amarok and The Songs of Distant Earth are, IMHO, the best two albums ever recorded. Period. 

I'm probably a heretic but I think Tubular Bells II is up there with them and better than the original TB.

No, I'm with you. Sentinel is a superb track and very much one of his best creations. TBIII is very good as well. 

ICBM

Bridgehouse said:

No, I'm with you. Sentinel is a superb track and very much one of his best creations. TBIII is very good as well. 

Just the *sound* of Sentinel is astounding. I'd fairly recently got myself a properly decent hi-fi when TBII came out, and that incredible high-frequency sparkle was something I'd never really heard before... and the super-compressed filtered solo guitar is one of my favourite recorded sounds ever.

I love TBIII, Voyager and Tr3s Lunas too.

(Goes away to play with Boss GT-1. )

Bridgehouse

ICBM said:

Bridgehouse said:

No, I'm with you. Sentinel is a superb track and very much one of his best creations. TBIII is very good as well. 

Just the *sound* of Sentinel is astounding. I'd fairly recently got myself a properly decent hi-fi when TBII came out, and that incredible high-frequency sparkle was something I'd never really heard before... and the super-compressed filtered solo guitar is one of my favourite recorded sounds ever.

I love TBIII, Voyager and Tr3s Lunas too.

(Goes away to play with Boss GT-1. )

Hah!

I'm enjoying some of the reissued deluxe editions where he's included demos and remixed versions. I also like the arrangements of TB1 and Moonlight Shadow on the Tubular Bells 50th Anniversary Celebration.

I was listening to Amarok a few days ago in the car, where I have a decent stereo with lots of speakers and subwoofers, and it's the first album I've listened to where I've felt a thump in my back - the range of frequencies in that album is astounding!

Bridgehouse

Just to answer the OP's original question - when he was young he spent a lot of time playing acoustic finger style, and moved it over to electric - so I suspect a lot of his sound is in his unique finger style

ICBM

Bridgehouse said:

I'm enjoying some of the reissued deluxe editions where he's included demos and remixed versions. I also like the arrangements of TB1 and Moonlight Shadow on the Tubular Bells 50th Anniversary Celebration.

I love Crises too - it was the first CD I ever bought. Not when it first came out - I had it on pre-recorded cassette originally!

Bridgehouse said:

I was listening to Amarok a few days ago in the car, where I have a decent stereo with lots of speakers and subwoofers, and it's the first album I've listened to where I've felt a thump in my back - the range of frequencies in that album is astounding!

A long time ago I had some antisocial neighbours who liked to come in drunk/high in the small hours and put techno on, despite being asked politely not to... one morning after they'd done it even later and longer than usual I set up my band's PA system with the bass bins wedged face-on against the adjoining wall, and played them Beethoven's 7th symphony at full Albert Hall volume, followed by The Songs Of Distant Earth as loud as it would go. The low frequencies on TSODE were hilarious, the entire building was vibrating - at one point I thought I could hear furniture falling over next door. Then I phoned them (I had the number from their landlord) and said quietly "it is annoying listening to the neighbours music, isn't it?" I never heard as much as a pin drop from them again - they moved out a couple of months later .

Bridgehouse

ICBM said:

Bridgehouse said:

I'm enjoying some of the reissued deluxe editions where he's included demos and remixed versions. I also like the arrangements of TB1 and Moonlight Shadow on the Tubular Bells 50th Anniversary Celebration.

I love Crises too - it was the first CD I ever bought. Not when it first came out - I had it on pre-recorded cassette originally!

Bridgehouse said:

I was listening to Amarok a few days ago in the car, where I have a decent stereo with lots of speakers and subwoofers, and it's the first album I've listened to where I've felt a thump in my back - the range of frequencies in that album is astounding!

A long time ago I had some antisocial neighbours who liked to come in drunk/high in the small hours and put techno on, despite being asked politely not to... one morning after they'd done it even later and longer than usual I set up my band's PA system with the bass bins wedged face-on against the adjoining wall, and played them Beethoven's 7th symphony at full Albert Hall volume, followed by The Songs Of Distant Earth as loud as it would go. The low frequencies on TSODE were hilarious, the entire building was vibrating - at one point I thought I could hear furniture falling over next door. Then I phoned them (I had the number from their landlord) and said quietly "it is annoying listening to the neighbours music, isn't it?" I never heard as much as a pin drop from them again - they moved out a couple of months later .

TSODE is an excellent album for testing out hifi equipment I have to say.. 

The Track "Ascension" has some wickedly low notes in it!

Funkfingers

A Fine Bromance, my friend, this is.

Meanwhile, back on topic, one of the instruments listed on the sleeve of Tubular Bells and outroduced by Vivian Stanshall is "double speed guitar". Essentially, recording with the multi-track tape (remember that?) running at half speed and playing the notes down one octave. When replayed at the correct speed, the performance is the correct speed and pitch but the formants have been shifted into an unfamiliar frequency range. Modern DAW recorders can now apply this signal process in real time as a plug-in.

CharlieShaw

I like the bit in The Exorcist 

Funkfingers

That's no way to speak of Ellen Burstyn.