Portishead Dummy Rar Blogspot Plus Generous Portamento

Various CV and gate IO adds additional expandability for patching the SH-101 into other gear such as modular synthesizers.

And it all began 25 years ago, when the trio of DJ and sampling guru Geoff Barrow, guitarist Adrian Utley, and vocalist Beth Gibbons released their debut album, Dummy, bringing their uniquely dark, melodic take on hip-hop to the masses.

The opening bars of Mysterons give you a taste of the albums sonic palette: minimalist, tremolo-laden guitar parts, expert turntablism, crackly sampled rhythms, booming 808 bass, entrancing synthesizers, and of course, Gibbons unparalleled vocals.

In this article, well highlight some of the secret ingredients that made Dummy a classic.

During sessions that would horrify most pop producers and record execs, the band routinely warped and distorted their tracks with heavy-handed processing, gritty tape saturation, exaggerated effects, and heaps of vinyl noise.

First, he had session drummer and unofficial fourth Portishead member Clive Deamer play assorted grooves, which were recorded to half-inch, 16-track tape (already a somewhat limited format).

Wed record a drum break and Geoff would get it on vinyl, then hed chuck it on the floor and kick it around, so it was a bit crackly, get it on his deck and just scratch on the snare drum bit to make it go dull, Utley said in an interview with Guitar Player.

Other instrumental parts on the record received this treatment too, including the guitar on Mysterons.

A lot of bouncing to cassette, McDonald says in Portisheads Dummy by R.J.

Wheaton. This explains the thin, Mellotron-like strings on Glory Box: instead of putting them to DAT Digital Audio Tape we put them to cassette, which I remember raised a few odd looks from people, McDonald recalls.

From the sound of it, the same was likely done to the vocals as well.

Other creative techniques used on Dummy include re-amping drums through a Marshall practice amp, sending vocals through an FM transmitter to a 1960s Bush radio, and pushing a Drawmer LX20 compressor to its limits to produce an exaggerated pumping effect.

Heres a rundown of some of Portisheads notable pieces and the sounds they contributed.

In the early 90s, Geoff Barrow was working as an assistant at Coach House studio while Massive Attack was recording its own debut album, Blue Lines.

Seeing a strong aptitude in the young assistant, the group gifted Barrow with an Akai S1000 and an Atari 1040 computer to start him off on his sampling journey.

According to McDonald, this is a large part of why Dummy is a mostly mono album.

But if you were to do it in mono, you could probably get your 30 seconds of whatever it was.

They used the machine sparingly, creatively, and extremely tastefully.

In most cases, the 808 lends just one or two elementsa kick here, a snare therebecoming an integral part of the sound, but never defining it.

The units famous trunk-rattling bass drum sound is used to great effect on Pedestal, mingling with the bass to give the track an absolutely massive low-end thump that contrasts perfectly with the brighter edge of the real drums and vocals.

And Portishead has undoubtedly contributed to that legacy, utilizing the SH-101 to great effect on Dummy.

In fact, one of the first sounds you hear on the recordthat ethereal, Theremin-like lead on Mysteronswas actually conjured out of the SH-101.

Portishead Dummy Rar Blogspot Plus Generous Portamento

How Portishead cooked up that particular tone is known only to them, but it likely involved heavy filtering to roll off most of the overtones, plus generous portamento settings and a bit of vibrato to create a convincing faux-Theremin.