Blah Blah Cafe, the Jean-Michel Jarre forum

[RetroDan16]

Hello,
I'm working on a simple cover version of Equinoxe V and wondered if the experts here could possibly give me some advice! There's a couple of pieces that I'm stuck getting the right sound with; mostly the 'glissando' parts during the verses - I used the notation from one of the old sheet music books and it just doesn't sound right and I'm not sure if it's the sounds I'm using or the actual notation - is there a better laid out piece of notation out there?
The other part is the sound effects that roll around just before the 'jazz organ' sections. I can't seem to get a sound anything like this at all!
My last question (for now!) is about the bass. I have a bass sound that I'm quite happy with, but I wanted to catch the modulation right that opens it up as the song progresses, if anyone could give me any tips with that I'd be very thankful!

[thhe.dk]

Hello,
I'm working on a simple cover version of Equinoxe V and wondered if the experts here could possibly give me some advice! There's a couple of pieces that I'm stuck getting the right sound with; mostly the 'glissando' parts during the verses - I used the notation from one of the old sheet music books and it just doesn't sound right and I'm not sure if it's the sounds I'm using or the actual notation - is there a better laid out piece of notation out there?
The other part is the sound effects that roll around just before the 'jazz organ' sections. I can't seem to get a sound anything like this at all!
My last question (for now!) is about the bass. I have a bass sound that I'm quite happy with, but I wanted to catch the modulation right that opens it up as the song progresses, if anyone could give me any tips with that I'd be very thankful!

I tried some things with this song, and must admit that I can't find the right "spirit" and sounds.
The main brass sound I can't figure out, even though it sounds simple.

The organ sound from Eminent is easy, exept I can't figure out how this brightens when it goes into F.

I couldn't find a pattern in the HighHat that pans in left and right.

The sound that plays the "Roll" (from high to low notes) is crazy, with fast modulation sometimes, VCF modulation so some notes almost disapeers, and so on.
I also listened to this in slow and think I found the notes, the second one in C, its the same one played an octave lower in the last part (just before the Organ part)

I can't replicate the Vocoder part in the start and many of the effects, so I think I will leave this song to others

[RetroDan16]

Hello,
I'm working on a simple cover version of Equinoxe V and wondered if the experts here could possibly give me some advice! There's a couple of pieces that I'm stuck getting the right sound with; mostly the 'glissando' parts during the verses - I used the notation from one of the old sheet music books and it just doesn't sound right and I'm not sure if it's the sounds I'm using or the actual notation - is there a better laid out piece of notation out there?
The other part is the sound effects that roll around just before the 'jazz organ' sections. I can't seem to get a sound anything like this at all!
My last question (for now!) is about the bass. I have a bass sound that I'm quite happy with, but I wanted to catch the modulation right that opens it up as the song progresses, if anyone could give me any tips with that I'd be very thankful!

I tried some things with this song, and must admit that I can't find the right "spirit" and sounds.
The main brass sound I can't figure out, even though it sounds simple.

The organ sound from Eminent is easy, exept I can't figure out how this brightens when it goes into F.

I couldn't find a pattern in the HighHat that pans in left and right.

The sound that plays the "Roll" (from high to low notes) is crazy, with fast modulation sometimes, VCF modulation so some notes almost disapeers, and so on.
I also listened to this in slow and think I found the notes, the second one in C, its the same one played an octave lower in the last part (just before the Organ part)

I can't replicate the Vocoder part in the start and many of the effects, so I think I will leave this song to others

Some conclusions I've come to about some of the points you mention (may well be wrong, but seem to help give a reasonable sound-a-like)...

The main brass sound sounds like a CS-60 simple brass sound heavily EQ'd and delayed. I've got that sound somewhere near to my liking now, certainly closer than I've got in the years I've been trying to get that lead! With the underlying Eminent, it is a gorgeous sound to play.

When the organ sound 'brightens' it's the Korg PE kicking in I'm almost certain, or vice-versa; the Korg picks up the start and then is joined by the Eminent for the higher string part. The Korg is definitely an integral part of that passage.

The hi-hat is a mystery, so I just keep it simple with a panned pair each time.

The modulation and the bass is one of the greatest mysteries for me; it's still my favourite bass sound ever, and is so hard to replicate. I agree there's all sorts of things going on there. I often wonder how much of the sound is the result of 'happy accidents' which makes them so hard to recreate.

The vocoder, I haven't even tried to reproduce yet. I have no idea of the keys or the general vocoder settings lol. I'm not really an expert at any of it, I just wanted to make a backing track at first!

[thhe.dk]

The main brass sound sounds like a CS-60 simple brass sound heavily EQ'd and delayed. I've got that sound somewhere near to my liking now, certainly closer than I've got in the years I've been trying to get that lead! With the underlying Eminent, it is a gorgeous sound to play.

When the organ sound 'brightens' it's the Korg PE kicking in I'm almost certain, or vice-versa; the Korg picks up the start and then is joined by the Eminent for the higher string part. The Korg is definitely an integral part of that passage.

The hi-hat is a mystery, so I just keep it simple with a panned pair each time.

The modulation and the bass is one of the greatest mysteries for me; it's still my favourite bass sound ever, and is so hard to replicate. I agree there's all sorts of things going on there. I often wonder how much of the sound is the result of 'happy accidents' which makes them so hard to recreate.

The vocoder, I haven't even tried to reproduce yet. I have no idea of the keys or the general vocoder settings lol. I'm not really an expert at any of it, I just wanted to make a backing track at first!

I think you are right about EQ on that lead brass.

I have no idea about Korg PE, how dos it sound?


The bass is quite simple, it's a monophonic sound and portamento is played when two notes are played at once.
I made an example of the EQ7 bass:
Equinoxe 7 bass

I can't get Reason4 to do the portamento this way, but this is the way it is done, I am still 100 percent sure

[RetroDan16]

The main brass sound sounds like a CS-60 simple brass sound heavily EQ'd and delayed. I've got that sound somewhere near to my liking now, certainly closer than I've got in the years I've been trying to get that lead! With the underlying Eminent, it is a gorgeous sound to play.

When the organ sound 'brightens' it's the Korg PE kicking in I'm almost certain, or vice-versa; the Korg picks up the start and then is joined by the Eminent for the higher string part. The Korg is definitely an integral part of that passage.

The hi-hat is a mystery, so I just keep it simple with a panned pair each time.

The modulation and the bass is one of the greatest mysteries for me; it's still my favourite bass sound ever, and is so hard to replicate. I agree there's all sorts of things going on there. I often wonder how much of the sound is the result of 'happy accidents' which makes them so hard to recreate.

The vocoder, I haven't even tried to reproduce yet. I have no idea of the keys or the general vocoder settings lol. I'm not really an expert at any of it, I just wanted to make a backing track at first!

I think you are right about EQ on that lead brass.

I have no idea about Korg PE, how dos it sound?


The bass is quite simple, it's a monophonic sound and portamento is played when two notes are played at once.
I made an example of the EQ7 bass:
Equinoxe 7 bass

I can't get Reason4 to do the portamento this way, but this is the way it is done, I am still 100 percent sure

I'm sure it's a Korg PE 2000(?) combi, possibly pipe organ/string combination.
The bass I'm working on is as you say quite simple, it's based on a single sawtooth and pulse waves with very slight LFO. Rightly or wrongly, it sounds ok I think!

That EQ7 bass sounds pretty much spot on to me, I don't use reason, but that pretty much nails it, awesome!!

[thhe.dk]

I'm sure it's a Korg PE 2000(?) combi, possibly pipe organ/string combination.
The bass I'm working on is as you say quite simple, it's based on a single sawtooth and pulse waves with very slight LFO. Rightly or wrongly, it sounds ok I think!

That EQ7 bass sounds pretty much spot on to me, I don't use reason, but that pretty much nails it, awesome!!

But what type of sound does the PE 2000 add to the Eminent?
couldn'te The Eminent also add some brightnes with some dragbars?

The bass sound is only a simple test, but the pattern seems right, and because the Matrise sequences has two fields, they could swith between them this way.

[RetroDan16]

I'm sure it's a Korg PE 2000(?) combi, possibly pipe organ/string combination.
The bass I'm working on is as you say quite simple, it's based on a single sawtooth and pulse waves with very slight LFO. Rightly or wrongly, it sounds ok I think!

That EQ7 bass sounds pretty much spot on to me, I don't use reason, but that pretty much nails it, awesome!!

But what type of sound does the PE 2000 add to the Eminent?
couldn'te The Eminent also add some brightnes with some dragbars?

The bass sound is only a simple test, but the pattern seems right, and because the Matrise sequences has two fields, they could swith between them this way.

I think the PE 2000 may well contribute to that brightness; I don't know a great deal about the way the Eminent works, so it may well be a bit of both.

The pattern on your sequence is really good, way ahead of any that sequence I've ever tried. One thing I've found from playing with cover versions is the huge amount of cleverness that went into making the originals.

This is a good discussion too, thanks!

[thhe.dk]

The pattern on your sequence is really good, way ahead of any that sequence I've ever tried. One thing I've found from playing with cover versions is the huge amount of cleverness that went into making the originals.

This is a good discussion too, thanks!

Agree, I can't believe we sit here in 2011 and still wonders how the heck he did this stuff in 1978.

I still can't believe how the recorded all this in bits and made it sound like one great piece of music - gotta repect that guy!

[RetroDan16]

The "spinning" sounds are very difficult for me to recreate also, it could be VCS3 or AKS, and they can do some stuff i can't i Reason4

Ok I wasn't aware of the PE2000 made that sound, but I still can't figure out what happens when the refring goes into F

What do you meen by additive??


Even if my EQ7 bass theori is right, I am still impressed about that hole Equinoxe 5-6-7, where everything is in one piece, with bass changing patterns, melodi and VCF. I know Geiss helped him, but they still had to have a good plan making all this in one piece. Especially the long ending of Equinoxe7 sound rather random, but still that sequencer part follows the bass.
What about the speed, did they have SMPTE code on the tape or how did they keep all this in sync? There are bass, sequence and drums

[thhe.dk]

Part

This was my first attemp, I haven't worked on it since.

[RetroDan16]

Part

This was my first attemp, I haven't worked on it since.

Nice! I'd be happy to get something like that on mine.

With regards to the spinning sound, I'm going to have another try at making the sound from scratch, last time I attempted it was a good while ago and I just improvised the sounds to add some depth. What it was done with I have no idea!

[matt222]

Hi

I know the exact notation of the equinoxe 5 glissandos. I have thrown away my broken computer otherwise i would post them in isolation - you can hear them in my equinoxe 5 cover here or at www.mattsynth.co.uk. I made mine on the nordlead from a square wave. I am on my sisters computer so when i get the chance i shall write the exact notation and post it. I unpicked mine by listening to the track without mono and slowing it down.

[RetroDan16]

Hi

I know the exact notation of the equinoxe 5 glissandos. I have thrown away my broken computer otherwise i would post them in isolation - you can hear them in my equinoxe 5 cover here or at www.mattsynth.co.uk. I made mine on the nordlead from a square wave. I am on my sisters computer so when i get the chance i shall write the exact notation and post it. I unpicked mine by listening to the track without mono and slowing it down.

Hi Matt, got your message and thanks; I've made the sound on my MicroKorg with a square wave with the filter keytracked, it sounds ok I guess.

Bringing different elements of the track back up, how about the end of the song - those big chords are hard to emulate aren't they?