Cocteau Twins created some of the most remarkable sounds and melodies of the 80s. And I can't count how often you guys asked me to make a video about the recreation of their guitar sound. Well, I also focussed a bit more on the sounds of their drum machine rhythms as I think these are essential in their music. I love to keep thing as simple as possible and hope that my videos help you guys to better understand the music of the 80s and 90s. But more importantly I hope to inspire you finding new ways to create similar sounds or even new ones. This video was sponsored by Skillshare. The first 1000 people to use the link will get a free trial of Skillshare Premium Membership: skl.sh/shoegazer04211
The Bonham samples are one of the things that keep me from getting too far into Treasure because I have heard all of that Zeppelin stuff a billion times when growing up, and I would wager a lot of it is from "When The Levee Breaks".
I have all the early Cocteau albums and I used to do my Yoga to them everyday, one album in the morning and one in the evening, ahhh those were the days, and I was young as well, this was the 90's, still doing my Yoga! Thanks for this, a great insight! ;D
Robin is on record talking about how he loved to run drum machines through guitar amps to dirty them up and give them some punch, something that left engineers that they worked with shaking their heads and saying “you can’t do that.. 🤣”. This pushed Robin to begin producing the bands music himself because he wasn’t worried about convention or limiting himself to doing things the supposed “right way”. Many of his guitars are multi-tracked layered and recorded direct right into the board as he has spoken about doing in various interviews. Cocteau Twins aren’t just “a dreampop band”, they are THE dreampop band that literally wrote the blueprint that every dreampop, shoegaze and post rock band has borrowed from directly or indirectly since. Heck the “ambient guitarist” thing that is huge on UA-cam as well as the whole “worship guitar” thing can be traced back to Guthrie as well though many of them don’t even realize it.
Someone needs to do a documentary on ambient dreamy style guitarists using delay, chorus, effects, before and during Robin Guthrie "blueprint" era... Guitarists that influenced him. I don't think any "ambient guitarist" doesn't realize what Robin Guthrie did, but are they aware of other ambient style guitarists, his peers and even going back to the 1970s...
The drums sounds in Lorelei comes originally from When the Levee Breaks by Led Zeppelin (via the drum machine). The Art of Noise used them a lot too. Countless other artists used an entire sampled bar of it.
The bells from Lorelie are actually the preset bells from the DX7, you can easily get them with the dexed vst or from the Arturial V collection! Great video :)
Yes! Garlands has got to be my favorite Cocteau Twins record! I much prefer the 808 era drums and love the noisiness of this release. Thanks for digging in to this great band.
Absolutely, Garlands is the epitome of the Cocteau Twins. For me ‘Heaven or Las Vegas’ is a load of trash, sadly. Second favourite would be Bluebell Knoll.
Early Cocteau Twins records are very inspiring to me and some of my favorite records ever. Thanks for sharing. Blind dumb deaf is probably my favorite Cocteau Twins song along with The Spangle Maker, Millimillenary, Sugar Hiccup so many good ones hard to narrow down. Will Heggie and Simon’s bass and Robin’s guitar and Elizabeth’s unique vocals went together perfectly. Their recording process, song writing, the atmosphere created, beautiful soundscapes very unique.
@@berlinshoegazer For sure. I was super stoked to see you did a video about their sound and how to get there with what you already have, great point and great video.
Thank you so much! I discovered Cocteau Twins in a very special moment of my life and have tried to capture that unique sound ever since. You definitely nailed it
Thank you Kenneth!! Very helpful video as im getting into drum machines and the Cocteau Twins were a band i grew up listening to the most as my parents are huge fans. Keep up the great videos!!!
Hey Marin, thanks a lot. The drum machines of Cocteau Twins and Polykroma convinced me to produce much more music with that warm analoge drum machine sound.
Clutch! You really dialed in the sound of those songs. I loved hearing that Jon Bonham drum sample sound; it really takes me back. I used to have a TR-505 and I would use it to recreate their beats. Superb.
Robin's tried and true Swiss Army knife in the studio was always the Roland SDD-320, which is why a Boss DC-2, or especially a DC-2W which HAS an SDD-320 mode on it, is very helpful for the tone. I have a DC-3 Digital Dimension that was supposed to be an improvement, but is more of a high-band chorus but it makes it nice and floaty when mixed in with an analogue chorus. But the Roland Rack mount was his trick, big time, but you probably already see that from the website! I also have a couple of old Guitar Player magazines that talk about his playing, where he mentions them using MIDI to ensure that all of the guitars have their effects change at the right time for the right songs, etc, but that he would always have some pedals that he would plug in every night so he could just have some fun with his tone every night and make it different nightly live.
For my favorite era of coctea twins (four-calendar cafe) I’ve found Roland r8 or boss dr660 drum machines have the tight kit I more so associate with cocteau twins. Alesis sr16 has some good sounds too for snare and kick for anyone wondering
Not 100% sure but I think the piano sound on Lorelei (and other CT songs like Pearly-Dewdrops’ Drops) is the classic bell sound preset from the Yamaha dx7 FM synth, also used on This Mortal Coil and a lot of 80's pop hits singles
@@berlinshoegazer Ok, found it. The correct yamaha dx7 preset, called "tub bells", take a listen on this video at min. 13:03. ua-cam.com/video/F3rrjQtQe5A/v-deo.html This is the preset sound on some of the best CT songs and a lot of other '80s classics
Love this channel. Love the Cocteau Twins. Best approximation of some of their sounds with a clear explanation that I’ve ever seen. Thank you thank you thank you for doing this video. I’m becoming a supporter because of this video. Excellent work!
Hey there, thank you so much for the nice words. I really appreciate it and hope you'll find some great tools on my Patreon. Freshly addes the Cocteau Twins Samples and Templates today. Have fun and thanks again!!
@@berlinshoegazer ha! Thanks. Where do I begin?! How about Shallow Then Halo, those outrageous guitar sweeps, especially from 3.45 onwards? Is that an ebow? Or again on Musette and Drums, from 3.10, that soaring wailing guitar which goes on till the record fades, it sounds so sad. It is a very cocteau sound. Please show how it is done? Or how about the huge reverb in When Mama was Moth? So many more..
Hello... What a class! Thanks for the video... And sorry for the wrong words eventually. I am from Brazil. Could you please explain A Kissed Out Red Floatboat, also by Cocteau Twins? I'm in love with those sounds, and would love to know how it was made. Congratulations for the channel, and for the great taste in music.
Cocteau Twins were so much more than a dream pop band. Their first LP and 3 EPs were dark, scratchy and angular post punk/goth owing a lot to Second Edition (Metalbox) era PiL, The Scream/Join Hands Siouxsie and Pornography era The Cure. Head Over Heels retained many of these elements (songs like Musette and Drums, In Our Angelhood definitely aren’t dream pop). They would start releasing dream pop songs beginning with Treasure (which didn’t totally shed their goth edge... see Persephone). One thing that is undeniable is that Cocteau Twins were fantastic.
Great work, really appreciate the uploads you are creating. For those who may not know. Behringer has created a Roland 'CLONE' the Behringer RD-8 Rhythm Designer Analog Drum Machine' . A fantastic remake with a few modern extras thrown in...all for under $350 US...crazy cheap.....
The 80's especially the early half when bands like Joy division, The cure and Simple minds(before Don't you forget about me, ruined them!)The Smiths ,plus many more, but it was so great, as they were all so experimental in the early days and pushing themselves ,and then came the Cocteau Twins with their very unique style, I had bought a Ep Tiny dynamite of theirs and was hooked! Still listening today.
This is so perfect! I automatically started singing along with the lyrics, even though I have no idea what they are! "Bells and blues and booze and begs and boo bell bennn....". I love doing it!
Thsnk you, Zali. I felt the same when recordibg the video. It was hard not to do more as it would have been so much work and be very long for such a video.
Thank you for making such a detail video. The drums sound Excellent !! I always was curious on how the Cocteau Twins made their music since their sound is so unique.
Thanks youuu, I just tried to find a simple way how to come close to their sound. A way that is possible for many musicians to realise. Was a lot of fun. :)
"Cocteau Twins" sound is impossible to recreate, especially the sound of "Pink Orange Red" or "Plain Tiger" (my favourite tracks), because the band has very strong ethereal Scottish feeling. Faye Wong tried all this recreation stuff (not drugs, but the sound, of course!) back in mid 90s, but failed even with the help of "Cocteau Twins", because they were far from their best shape then. The same stuff with other Scottish bands - "Falloch", for example, and their "This Island Our Funeral" album - they have this ethereal/folky vibe, which is impossible to repeat. The only band, successful in the recreation of famous ethereal/swirling sound up to now, is "Ashrae Fax" with their 2nd album (their track "Fits and Starts", for example). "Lost Horizons" (a side project by Simon Raymonde, the bassist of Cocteau Twins) also had very nice moments on their 2021 album with 2 very, very "CocteauTwinnish" tracks: "Flutter" with Rosie Blair and "Every Beat" with Kavi Kwai. By the way, funny thing, but sometimes some old guitar processors can be helpful in recreating all these dreamy sounds. I have very old GNX1 guitar processor with built-in "Volume Swell" chorused preset, which is very close to the sound of "Treasure" album by Cocteau Twins. "Volume Swell" pedals (also known as "volume attack") are very simple, but can be very useful in the recreation of ethereal sounds! So, technically the sound is quite easy to recreate - reverb tails here + vintage chorus here + some swells and etc., but the ethereal vibe is very hard to catch. P.S. In spite of my geeky rants above, I liked your video very much and especially your recreation of "Pink Orange Red" in the end. So, thanks a lot for the content. All I have written above is just general musings about "Cocteau Twins" and Scottish sound - I had no purpose to underestimate the great content you are producing!
Thank you so much for that in depht comment. So much valuable info. I'll check out the music and gear as soon as I can. Thanks for the nice words as well. :)
I remember hearing the first cocteau twins record when first played on the uk radio 1 John Peel channel and been a fan ever since. You have done an amazing job here. Its just like the original. Incredible.
Thank you very much, Felipe. :) I got that James Nelinger on EBAY some months ago as I thought it would be a nylong guitar. Wanted to check it with pedals. But it's a steel stringed guitar that sounds absolutely fabulous.
@@berlinshoegazer Robin Guthrie used the Jazzmaster for this track. It was his main axe from Treasure to Heaven Or Las Vegas (he sometimes used during this era a stratocaster, a PRS, a 12 strings electric fender, and an acoustic mostly on Victoria Land. But the typical Guthrie s sound from 84 to 92 came from the Jazzmaster ^^)
You have an unbelievable ear and talent. BTW, do you know if there is the standard snare sound for the drumulator that I can download? I really like that huge sound on Sugar Hiccups
hello 🤗 thx you for this video, you did a real great job 👍 Im myself from the generation who listened these bands during the middle of the 80's and made some revival during the early 90's playing music directly inspired by darkwave n gothic 🤗 Im also guitarist and I usually played Persephone without distortion, just clean chorus reverb etc... I think it sound better but, off course, it's just a matter of taste 👍 Also im always astonished and pleased that young people recreat and reinvent this kind of music 🤗 there are so many underated band 🤗 My daughter who is 14 listen also that kind of music as well, she discovered that from herself: one day she was listened a things and I told her "oh it sound like Christian Death Drowning" and she replied "yes it is dad, i like it" 😅 Also im French German guy so plz be aware that my English could sound strange, Im fluent but maybe my words arent the best choice 😂
9:15 That's what I was trying to find! I was wondering if it was possible to put a stereo tremolo/pan pedal into an audio interface directly using two inputs and I couldn't find anything, and yet here it is!
Great video, irs amazing how well the individual parts sound ehen you bring them together. They were truly genius. The scratchy sound at the end is possibly the Zoom clipping in that unusable way cheaper digital pedals sometimes do, when driven hot by a drive pedal or feedback loop. I know the Zoom isn't cheap compared to some, but the amount of algorithms it contains suggests that none of them are that sophisticated due to memory constraints
Hey Adam, thank you so much. I haven't listen to them so much. But if the drive is there and something really catches me I always tend to do a video about it. :)
Hey Kenneth. Loving these videos. I was born in the early 70’s and have journeyed through many many musical genres to get to today. However, shoegaze remains my favourite and remember listening to all the Cocteau Twins stuff when it was released. Also love bands like Swervedriver (Raise still sounds amazing) and still discovering bands each day (like Ringo Deathstar, Drop Nineteens and Diiv). I’ve played drums most of my adult life but started playing bass about 2 years ago and guitar about 6 months ago. Now starting to record stuff and your vids are really helpful with getting sound and technique tuned in. I have a question for you about home recording. I currently use a Helix HX Effects plugged into an audio interface and then into a DAW. Sometime I just play through the HX into the audio interface when I’m short for time but the sound is lacking at times and so presume it’s because I’m not running it through an amp in that setup (other than the pre-amp in the audio interface). I’ve seen pedals such as the Strymon Iridium and the Joyo American pedals which I think allow you to get that boosted sound without using an amp / amp vst. Do you have any experience of those or am I just as well firing up the DAW and dropping an amp vst into the mix? Thanks in advance.
Hey Donald. I know that problem. I really recommend these KUASSA amps that I used many times in my videos. There are many VST amps on the market and all of them have a really unique way to imitate real amps. KUASSA vst pedals and amps are extremely flexible and stilö very easy to handle. But as I'm also a bass player and used to switch between guitar and bass sounds live really often - I also have a MRX Bass D.I. box with an amp simulation on my board. That one I use for guitar as well as it has a realistic amp sound in my opinion. But playing without an amp at all works also great if you like that scratchy sound. I like it eapecially for cassette recordings as it's getting warmer on tape. I recently found that some DAWs have a amp and cabinet simulation on board. At least Ableton Live does and I played around with these and I was surprised how good it sounded. It's all about tweeking in your own preset I guess. Hooe that helped. Thank you for your comment and the nice words. :)
@@berlinshoegazer thanks Kenneth that’s really helpful. I have GuitarRig 6 on my Daw and has some good options on it. Sometimes I’m a little lazy and just play straight from the audio interface rather than turning on the laptop and opening the Daw. I’ll definitely give the Kuassa free option a try first and see where that takes me. I know what you mean about the recording to tape sound, I have an original from new Tascam Porta Two which I really like and the sound is really nice when you get it right. Keep up the good work on the videos. Great job my man.
Actually....the Propellerhead Reason software,recreated the famous "Cocteau Twins" guitar sound 21 years ago. :~} One of my favorite patches in that program....something of which I still use to this day.
@@berlinshoegazer Well....of course, you could run your guitar through the effects of Reason....but I was referring to a virtual instrument patch,within the factory presets.
IIRC, the many of the 'synth' sounds were actually just very processed, DI'd guitars, but the sound in Lorelei and Ivo from Treasure was almost certainly DX7 bell sound.
Hey Kenneth love the video. I do think that the open hihat on Lorelei has a different placing on the original track. You play it in accordance with the kick drum (4/4) . Maybe it's already been discussed in other comments. Still great video, really enjoyed it
In this program, I like the most part is you're saying that on the Cocteau Twins Official Website they have telling which equipment they had using, and you're sharing some plugins in your song. Thanks about that. But I have some issue now that I'm a newbie in DAW, Could you please make some videos introduce Ableton or teach us how to use that step by step ?thank you so much and love your video.
@@berlinshoegazer And I have some idea, would u like to go to www.acapellas4u.co.uk/ and download some acapellas vocal track (some popular or classical songs) then remix it to be a shoesgaze version ? Or you can ask some small artist on Instagram who you like to ask them to send you an acapellas vocal track to remix a shoesgaze version, hope you like that, thanks.
i remember on the website him saying he used chorus > reverb > delay > reverb, and also using micro pitch shifts as a stereo spread. I’m not even sure he used amps in the studio, just rack effects and preamps
Hey Liam. I know what you mean. I searched so long until I asked a friend if she could sample these for me. I also payed her for these. Haha. I offer them now on Patreon with Ableton templates and loops. My sample packs will grow there monthly.
I recently bought that same guitar, Mexican Jaguar, same orange. (And fingers turning black) Do you have any tips on setting up this particular guitar?
Great! I actually try to figure out that myself at the moment. That guitar needs some finetunig. But it plays and feels great as it is right now. I think it needs a better bridge though. Mine is falling apart. Haha
Super nitpicky but the drum groove in Lorelei is actually closed hats then open, not open then closed, the open is on the offbeats. Only mentioning because the drums were otherwise super accurate. Sounds amazing though great work! Would love to see from stuff from Head Over Heels.
If goth was still alive today Im sure youd fit in great with the wave public. Infact it was the goth subculture that got me introduced to shoegaze to begin with.
The synth sounds on “Treasure” are mostly Yamaha DX-7, I believe. I personally hate this synth because its presets got so overused and it became a cliche. That’s one reason I rarely listen to that album, compared to “Garlands” and “Head Over Heels”. There are lots of DX7 emulations, and any FM synth can produce similar sounds.
That's true. It's a matter of taste but I think these sounds can be annoying when hearing these in too much songs. It's all about inspiration and working on new ones starting from there.
I bought them from a guy I found using Google. But I can't find the page anymore. The samples are also included in my Cocteau Twins template on Patreon, in case you are interested.
In the song ribbed and veined, What's the name of the beat that they use, what's the style called?im trying to find similar songs, also robin guthrie uses similar beating technic in the song turn on the moon any idea 😅
Unfortunately it's an unfinished song of mine. As it was hard to find the right verses and lyrics I decided to make it the outro of the channel. Thanks for the nice words about it :)
@@heron9580 all the links to my music are in the video description. :) If you look for Unkenny Valleys you can find my stuff almost everywhere (SoundCloud, Spotify, Bandcamp, iTunes, Amazon ect. ) 🙏
Cocteau Twins created some of the most remarkable sounds and melodies of the 80s. And I can't count how often you guys asked me to make a video about the recreation of their guitar sound. Well, I also focussed a bit more on the sounds of their drum machine rhythms as I think these are essential in their music. I love to keep thing as simple as possible and hope that my videos help you guys to better understand the music of the 80s and 90s. But more importantly I hope to inspire you finding new ways to create similar sounds or even new ones.
This video was sponsored by Skillshare. The first 1000 people to use the link will get a free trial of Skillshare Premium Membership: skl.sh/shoegazer04211
The Bonham samples are one of the things that keep me from getting too far into Treasure because I have heard all of that Zeppelin stuff a billion times when growing up, and I would wager a lot of it is from "When The Levee Breaks".
I have all the early Cocteau albums and I used to do my Yoga to them everyday, one album in the morning and one in the evening, ahhh those were the days, and I was young as well, this was the 90's, still doing my Yoga! Thanks for this, a great insight! ;D
A band often copied but unsurpassed im terms of melodic style and harmony.
Robin is on record talking about how he loved to run drum machines through guitar amps to dirty them up and give them some punch, something that left engineers that they worked with shaking their heads and saying “you can’t do that.. 🤣”. This pushed Robin to begin producing the bands music himself because he wasn’t worried about convention or limiting himself to doing things the supposed “right way”. Many of his guitars are multi-tracked layered and recorded direct right into the board as he has spoken about doing in various interviews.
Cocteau Twins aren’t just “a dreampop band”, they are THE dreampop band that literally wrote the blueprint that every dreampop, shoegaze and post rock band has borrowed from directly or indirectly since. Heck the “ambient guitarist” thing that is huge on UA-cam as well as the whole “worship guitar” thing can be traced back to Guthrie as well though many of them don’t even realize it.
Thank you for this great comment. I always loved the spirit of trying out new things against what other producers are telling us.
Someone needs to do a documentary on ambient dreamy style guitarists using delay, chorus, effects, before and during Robin Guthrie "blueprint" era... Guitarists that influenced him. I don't think any "ambient guitarist" doesn't realize what Robin Guthrie did, but are they aware of other ambient style guitarists, his peers and even going back to the 1970s...
I really hope this inspires a whole bunch of cocteau twins fans to start bands!!
been listening to Cocteau Twins since ~1985 so this was an absolute pleasure to watch and to listen to.
It really was
how beautiful is the sound of cocteau twins, it is definitely my favorite band
The drums sounds in Lorelei comes originally from When the Levee Breaks by Led Zeppelin (via the drum machine). The Art of Noise used them a lot too. Countless other artists used an entire sampled bar of it.
The bells from Lorelie are actually the preset bells from the DX7, you can easily get them with the dexed vst or from the Arturial V collection! Great video :)
Kenneth Shields
Haha😄
😂😂😂😂
Yes! Garlands has got to be my favorite Cocteau Twins record! I much prefer the 808 era drums and love the noisiness of this release. Thanks for digging in to this great band.
Thank you. Yeah, Garlands really got me. Love the whole songwriting and the dark mood and melodies.
Absolutely, Garlands is the epitome of the Cocteau Twins. For me ‘Heaven or Las Vegas’ is a load of trash, sadly. Second favourite would be Bluebell Knoll.
@@JohnM... uh
I love Garlands too. Underrated dark classic.
@@JohnM...agreed. Garlands and Blue Bell knoll are my favorites.
Early Cocteau Twins records are very inspiring to me and some of my favorite records ever. Thanks for sharing. Blind dumb deaf is probably my favorite Cocteau Twins song along with The Spangle Maker, Millimillenary, Sugar Hiccup so many good ones hard to narrow down. Will Heggie and Simon’s bass and Robin’s guitar and Elizabeth’s unique vocals went together perfectly. Their recording process, song writing, the atmosphere created, beautiful soundscapes very unique.
I feel exactly the same way about these songs. They have so many tresures. :)
@@berlinshoegazer For sure. I was super stoked to see you did a video about their sound and how to get there with what you already have, great point and great video.
Thank you so much! I discovered Cocteau Twins in a very special moment of my life and have tried to capture that unique sound ever since. You definitely nailed it
Glad you enjoyed it!
my ears ascended whenever you started playing the persephone drum beat- that is my favorite song!
Mine too. It is so unique.
The amount of work this video has is insane!! Congrats bro, you got no idea of how many new things someone can learn here
Thank you Kenneth!! Very helpful video as im getting into drum machines and the Cocteau Twins were a band i grew up listening to the most as my parents are huge fans. Keep up the great videos!!!
Hey Marin, thanks a lot. The drum machines of Cocteau Twins and Polykroma convinced me to produce much more music with that warm analoge drum machine sound.
Ok wow, this is exactly what I've been looking for on UA-cam. Perfectly captured and explained. Thank you!!!
Clutch! You really dialed in the sound of those songs. I loved hearing that Jon Bonham drum sample sound; it really takes me back. I used to have a TR-505 and I would use it to recreate their beats. Superb.
Robin's tried and true Swiss Army knife in the studio was always the Roland SDD-320, which is why a Boss DC-2, or especially a DC-2W which HAS an SDD-320 mode on it, is very helpful for the tone. I have a DC-3 Digital Dimension that was supposed to be an improvement, but is more of a high-band chorus but it makes it nice and floaty when mixed in with an analogue chorus. But the Roland Rack mount was his trick, big time, but you probably already see that from the website! I also have a couple of old Guitar Player magazines that talk about his playing, where he mentions them using MIDI to ensure that all of the guitars have their effects change at the right time for the right songs, etc, but that he would always have some pedals that he would plug in every night so he could just have some fun with his tone every night and make it different nightly live.
For my favorite era of coctea twins (four-calendar cafe) I’ve found Roland r8 or boss dr660 drum machines have the tight kit I more so associate with cocteau twins. Alesis sr16 has some good sounds too for snare and kick for anyone wondering
Thanks, Maxton. Super helpful. Will check these out.
Wow - your knowledge in figuring out and replicating classic shoegaze sounds is so inspiring. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you so much. All I do is just listen and trying to come close to the sounds with whatever is available in my room. :)
You nailed the sound so perfectly, nice job
Not 100% sure but I think the piano sound on Lorelei (and other CT songs like Pearly-Dewdrops’ Drops) is the classic bell sound preset from the Yamaha dx7 FM synth, also used on This Mortal Coil and a lot of 80's pop hits singles
Just foukd the DEXED free vst plugin, a software version of the Yamaha DX7, and will look for the sound Thank you so much.
@@berlinshoegazer Ok, found it. The correct yamaha dx7 preset, called "tub bells", take a listen on this video at min. 13:03. ua-cam.com/video/F3rrjQtQe5A/v-deo.html This is the preset sound on some of the best CT songs and a lot of other '80s classics
Love this channel. Love the Cocteau Twins. Best approximation of some of their sounds with a clear explanation that I’ve ever seen. Thank you thank you thank you for doing this video. I’m becoming a supporter because of this video. Excellent work!
Hey there, thank you so much for the nice words. I really appreciate it and hope you'll find some great tools on my Patreon. Freshly addes the Cocteau Twins Samples and Templates today. Have fun and thanks again!!
A huge fan of the Cocteaus here. Very well done! Good job. Bravo! Thanx for this ;)
Thanks for taking the time to do that. You picked good tracks too. Would like to see more Cocteau tunes.
Hey Andrew, thank you so much. Yeah, these are some of my favourite Cocteau songs. What song would you like to see analysed?
@@berlinshoegazer ha! Thanks. Where do I begin?! How about Shallow Then Halo, those outrageous guitar sweeps, especially from 3.45 onwards? Is that an ebow? Or again on Musette and Drums, from 3.10, that soaring wailing guitar which goes on till the record fades, it sounds so sad. It is a very cocteau sound. Please show how it is done? Or how about the huge reverb in When Mama was Moth? So many more..
@@berlinshoegazer oh and I'd like to know what the guitar treatment is at the first part of the track Garlands. It's like splinters. Thanks. 🙂
Hello... What a class! Thanks for the video... And sorry for the wrong words eventually. I am from Brazil.
Could you please explain A Kissed Out Red Floatboat, also by Cocteau Twins? I'm in love with those sounds, and would love to know how it was made.
Congratulations for the channel, and for the great taste in music.
This just made my day. Thanks a lot!
Cocteau Twins were so much more than a dream pop band. Their first LP and 3 EPs were dark, scratchy and angular post punk/goth owing a lot to Second Edition (Metalbox) era PiL, The Scream/Join Hands Siouxsie and Pornography era The Cure. Head Over Heels retained many of these elements (songs like Musette and Drums, In Our Angelhood definitely aren’t dream pop). They would start releasing dream pop songs beginning with Treasure (which didn’t totally shed their goth edge... see Persephone). One thing that is undeniable is that Cocteau Twins were fantastic.
I'd argue "dream pop" was introduced on Head Over Heels.
Great work, really appreciate the uploads you are creating.
For those who may not know. Behringer has created a Roland 'CLONE' the Behringer RD-8 Rhythm Designer Analog Drum Machine' .
A fantastic remake with a few modern extras thrown in...all for under $350 US...crazy cheap.....
The 80's especially the early half when bands like Joy division, The cure and Simple minds(before Don't you forget about me, ruined them!)The Smiths ,plus many more, but it was so great, as they were all so experimental in the early days and pushing themselves ,and then came the Cocteau Twins with their very unique style, I had bought a Ep Tiny dynamite of theirs and was hooked! Still listening today.
Hell yeah , those beats from Treasure are so good, that album touches me on a deep level . Thanks for this great video
This is so perfect! I automatically started singing along with the lyrics, even though I have no idea what they are!
"Bells and blues and booze and begs and boo bell bennn....". I love doing it!
Thsnk you, Zali. I felt the same when recordibg the video. It was hard not to do more as it would have been so much work and be very long for such a video.
Thank you for making such a detail video. The drums sound Excellent !! I always was curious on how the Cocteau Twins made their music since their sound is so unique.
Thank you so much. I just try to get close to several sound ideas but I could never fake it and don't want to. CT are brilliant.
Awesome vid, definitely a lot of tips and ideas I can make use of. Thanks, Kenneth!!
Hi Matt, thank you so much. I'm super happy to hear this. :)
LOL I had a previous video on at 25% and I was like DAMN he is really going for some bit-crushing tones I have never heard Guthrie go for, haha!
u really nailed their unique sound
thank u for sharing ❤
Thanks youuu, I just tried to find a simple way how to come close to their sound. A way that is possible for many musicians to realise. Was a lot of fun. :)
"Were a dream pop band" is a bit of an understatement, since they literally invented the genre - awesome recreations though, really awsome.
"Cocteau Twins" sound is impossible to recreate, especially the sound of "Pink Orange Red" or "Plain Tiger" (my favourite tracks), because the band has very strong ethereal Scottish feeling.
Faye Wong tried all this recreation stuff (not drugs, but the sound, of course!) back in mid 90s, but failed even with the help of "Cocteau Twins", because they were far from their best shape then.
The same stuff with other Scottish bands - "Falloch", for example, and their "This Island Our Funeral" album - they have this ethereal/folky vibe, which is impossible to repeat.
The only band, successful in the recreation of famous ethereal/swirling sound up to now, is "Ashrae Fax" with their 2nd album (their track "Fits and Starts", for example).
"Lost Horizons" (a side project by Simon Raymonde, the bassist of Cocteau Twins) also had very nice moments on their 2021 album with 2 very, very "CocteauTwinnish" tracks: "Flutter" with Rosie Blair and "Every Beat" with Kavi Kwai.
By the way, funny thing, but sometimes some old guitar processors can be helpful in recreating all these dreamy sounds. I have very old GNX1 guitar processor with built-in "Volume Swell" chorused preset, which is very close to the sound of "Treasure" album by Cocteau Twins. "Volume Swell" pedals (also known as "volume attack") are very simple, but can be very useful in the recreation of ethereal sounds!
So, technically the sound is quite easy to recreate - reverb tails here + vintage chorus here + some swells and etc., but the ethereal vibe is very hard to catch.
P.S. In spite of my geeky rants above, I liked your video very much and especially your recreation of "Pink Orange Red" in the end. So, thanks a lot for the content. All I have written above is just general musings about "Cocteau Twins" and Scottish sound - I had no purpose to underestimate the great content you are producing!
Thank you so much for that in depht comment. So much valuable info. I'll check out the music and gear as soon as I can. Thanks for the nice words as well. :)
I remember hearing the first cocteau twins record when first played on the uk radio 1 John Peel channel and been a fan ever since. You have done an amazing job here. Its just like the original. Incredible.
you are too cool dude...thanks as always for your video...they always cheer me up!!!
Uh so satisfying to hear someone playing Cocteau! Superrr! :)))))))))
:))))) My pleasurrrrre.
... And I'm suddenly subbed. Brilliant! Do you have something about Victorialand/Moon and the melodies?
The Cocteau Twins, Belle and Sebastian, and the Proclaimers = best of the scots
Throw The Jesus and Mary Chain or Teenage Fanclub in there as well!
One thing about being Scottish I'm proud of is our indie scenes old and current!
@@orbitron20 mogwai as well !!
@@dannys6027 How could I forget! I'll add Orange Juice and Primal Scream to redeem myself haha
don't forget Arab Strap
And the Associates/Billy Mackenzie
Great time warp!!
Amazing! great job. I love the sound of that guitar in pink orange red
Thank you very much, Felipe. :) I got that James Nelinger on EBAY some months ago as I thought it would be a nylong guitar. Wanted to check it with pedals. But it's a steel stringed guitar that sounds absolutely fabulous.
@@berlinshoegazer Robin Guthrie used the Jazzmaster for this track. It was his main axe from Treasure to Heaven Or Las Vegas (he sometimes used during this era a stratocaster, a PRS, a 12 strings electric fender, and an acoustic mostly on Victoria Land. But the typical Guthrie s sound from 84 to 92 came from the Jazzmaster ^^)
Thank you, Kenneth
You have an unbelievable ear and talent.
BTW, do you know if there is the standard snare sound for the drumulator that I can download?
I really like that huge sound on Sugar Hiccups
Man I wish I could play keyboard drums as easy as you do
I can't play the piano really well though.
Great video Kenneth, I’ll make sure to sign up to your Patreon
Thank you so much, Gerry!
Theyre my all time favorite band!!
This is awesome
Thank you so much, Kira.
the bell synth on lorelei im pretty sure is the tubular bells preset from the yamaha dx7!!
You're right. Thank you.
You're really awesome !
I am so jealous of that Jaguar! (and the shirt..)
hello 🤗 thx you for this video, you did a real great job 👍
Im myself from the generation who listened these bands during the middle of the 80's and made some revival during the early 90's playing music directly inspired by darkwave n gothic 🤗
Im also guitarist and I usually played Persephone without distortion, just clean chorus reverb etc... I think it sound better but, off course, it's just a matter of taste 👍
Also im always astonished and pleased that young people recreat and reinvent this kind of music 🤗 there are so many underated band 🤗 My daughter who is 14 listen also that kind of music as well, she discovered that from herself: one day she was listened a things and I told her "oh it sound like Christian Death Drowning" and she replied "yes it is dad, i like it" 😅
Also im French German guy so plz be aware that my English could sound strange, Im fluent but maybe my words arent the best choice 😂
9:15 That's what I was trying to find! I was wondering if it was possible to put a stereo tremolo/pan pedal into an audio interface directly using two inputs and I couldn't find anything, and yet here it is!
Yeah, it works just fine. Love to try out different connection setups.
Niiiice! Thank you! ^^
You are welcoooome. :)
This music was often the accompaniment of my late teens, especially Treasure.
4:02 those were cut from the intro of When The Levee Breaks.
Great video, irs amazing how well the individual parts sound ehen you bring them together. They were truly genius. The scratchy sound at the end is possibly the Zoom clipping in that unusable way cheaper digital pedals sometimes do, when driven hot by a drive pedal or feedback loop. I know the Zoom isn't cheap compared to some, but the amount of algorithms it contains suggests that none of them are that sophisticated due to memory constraints
You have chosen my favourite Cocteau Twins from Treasure and HOLV.
Amazing video, love this band
Is certainly put CT records in a time capsule for future generations to discover.
Thank You!! ❤
Great job and very helpful/informative! Think you'll ever do a video on Soft Kill?
Hey Adam, thank you so much. I haven't listen to them so much. But if the drive is there and something really catches me I always tend to do a video about it. :)
@@berlinshoegazer Understandable, thank you so much! Can't wait to hear/see more!
Hey Kenneth. Loving these videos. I was born in the early 70’s and have journeyed through many many musical genres to get to today. However, shoegaze remains my favourite and remember listening to all the Cocteau Twins stuff when it was released. Also love bands like Swervedriver (Raise still sounds amazing) and still discovering bands each day (like Ringo Deathstar, Drop Nineteens and Diiv). I’ve played drums most of my adult life but started playing bass about 2 years ago and guitar about 6 months ago. Now starting to record stuff and your vids are really helpful with getting sound and technique tuned in. I have a question for you about home recording. I currently use a Helix HX Effects plugged into an audio interface and then into a DAW. Sometime I just play through the HX into the audio interface when I’m short for time but the sound is lacking at times and so presume it’s because I’m not running it through an amp in that setup (other than the pre-amp in the audio interface). I’ve seen pedals such as the Strymon Iridium and the Joyo American pedals which I think allow you to get that boosted sound without using an amp / amp vst. Do you have any experience of those or am I just as well firing up the DAW and dropping an amp vst into the mix? Thanks in advance.
Hey Donald. I know that problem. I really recommend these KUASSA amps that I used many times in my videos. There are many VST amps on the market and all of them have a really unique way to imitate real amps. KUASSA vst pedals and amps are extremely flexible and stilö very easy to handle. But as I'm also a bass player and used to switch between guitar and bass sounds live really often - I also have a MRX Bass D.I. box with an amp simulation on my board. That one I use for guitar as well as it has a realistic amp sound in my opinion. But playing without an amp at all works also great if you like that scratchy sound. I like it eapecially for cassette recordings as it's getting warmer on tape. I recently found that some DAWs have a amp and cabinet simulation on board. At least Ableton Live does and I played around with these and I was surprised how good it sounded. It's all about tweeking in your own preset I guess. Hooe that helped. Thank you for your comment and the nice words. :)
@@berlinshoegazer thanks Kenneth that’s really helpful. I have GuitarRig 6 on my Daw and has some good options on it. Sometimes I’m a little lazy and just play straight from the audio interface rather than turning on the laptop and opening the Daw. I’ll definitely give the Kuassa free option a try first and see where that takes me. I know what you mean about the recording to tape sound, I have an original from new Tascam Porta Two which I really like and the sound is really nice when you get it right. Keep up the good work on the videos. Great job my man.
Actually....the Propellerhead Reason software,recreated the famous "Cocteau Twins" guitar sound 21 years ago. :~} One of my favorite patches in that program....something of which I still use to this day.
Really? Didn't know you can play guitar with Reason. Sounds interesting. Started producing music with that software.
@@berlinshoegazer is just the bass and chorus kind of effect
@@berlinshoegazer Well....of course, you could run your guitar through the effects of Reason....but I was referring to a virtual instrument patch,within the factory presets.
IIRC, the many of the 'synth' sounds were actually just very processed, DI'd guitars, but the sound in Lorelei and Ivo from Treasure was almost certainly DX7 bell sound.
Hey Kenneth love the video. I do think that the open hihat on Lorelei has a different placing on the original track. You play it in accordance with the kick drum (4/4) . Maybe it's already been discussed in other comments. Still great video, really enjoyed it
In this program, I like the most part is you're saying that on the Cocteau Twins Official Website they have telling which equipment they had using, and you're sharing some plugins in your song. Thanks about that. But I have some issue now that
I'm a newbie in DAW, Could you please make some videos introduce Ableton or teach us how to use that step by step ?thank you so much and love your video.
Thank you so much for your comment. That' a great idea. I think I'm gonna do that in an upcomming video. :)
@@berlinshoegazer And I have some idea, would u like to go to www.acapellas4u.co.uk/ and download some acapellas vocal track (some popular or classical songs) then remix it to be a shoesgaze version ? Or you can ask some small artist on Instagram who you like to ask them to send you an acapellas vocal track to remix a shoesgaze version, hope you like that, thanks.
kudos!!!
i remember on the website him saying he used chorus > reverb > delay > reverb, and also using micro pitch shifts as a stereo spread. I’m not even sure he used amps in the studio, just rack effects and preamps
What pedal board gives you the best bang for your Buck that allows you to add the most pedals? What power supply would I need?
Prob one of your best vids yet kiddo
Thanks, dad. :)
I cant’t find that acoustic preset . I could just mimic what you have here, but just want you make sure I’m not missing anything. Thanks!
where can you find the drumulator rock kit samples? I remember searching for them online but could never find them!
Hey Liam. I know what you mean. I searched so long until I asked a friend if she could sample these for me. I also payed her for these. Haha. I offer them now on Patreon with Ableton templates and loops. My sample packs will grow there monthly.
Aly James has the EPROMS for those in .bin format. I loaded the WAV converted files on my Korg electribe sampler.
I recently bought that same guitar, Mexican Jaguar, same orange. (And fingers turning black) Do you have any tips on setting up this particular guitar?
Great! I actually try to figure out that myself at the moment. That guitar needs some finetunig. But it plays and feels great as it is right now. I think it needs a better bridge though. Mine is falling apart. Haha
One of the bands that sound close minus the female vocals is Dathomirror Doors, they kinda sound more like Clan Of Xymox
Thank you fot your work to clear methods of CTwins, but they are stil misterious at all.
That's true. They are real artists using their own specific methods. Love their sound.
I hope he explains that one effect on the piano in crushed
Nice!
Thank you, Robert.
Super nitpicky but the drum groove in Lorelei is actually closed hats then open, not open then closed, the open is on the offbeats. Only mentioning because the drums were otherwise super accurate. Sounds amazing though great work!
Would love to see from stuff from Head Over Heels.
Excellent. Can you tell me the zoom settings you used for blind dumb deaf?
Nice enough content 👍 Are you sequencing your samples in Ableton or in other DAW?
Thank you, Karl. I only use Ableton Live to keep it simple for my workflow.
If goth was still alive today Im sure youd fit in great with the wave public.
Infact it was the goth subculture that got me introduced to shoegaze to begin with.
goth is very much still alive! i promise!
The synth sounds on “Treasure” are mostly Yamaha DX-7, I believe. I personally hate this synth because its presets got so overused and it became a cliche. That’s one reason I rarely listen to that album, compared to “Garlands” and “Head Over Heels”. There are lots of DX7 emulations, and any FM synth can produce similar sounds.
That's true. It's a matter of taste but I think these sounds can be annoying when hearing these in too much songs. It's all about inspiration and working on new ones starting from there.
@@berlinshoegazer From what I’ve heard, the DX7 was very difficult to program, so everyone (except Brian Eno) just stuck to the presets!
This is important
Very nice.
How do you find the Jaguar Player? I have read mixed reviews. A Wide Range Humbucker in the bridge could be nice!
can you explain how you configured the three stacked delays? i’m just a bit confused as to how to use them to get the right effect
Yaaaz
Could you please recreate the sound and chords of Christine song from the band House of Love. Greetings from Brazil.
where did u get the EMU drumulator samples??
I bought them from a guy I found on the internet. But I can't remember exactly.
In their late years they had a live drummer, though.
Really? How could I miss that? But I actually love their drum machine sound. Although it would be interesting to hear them with a real drummer. :)
@@berlinshoegazer But I prefer the drum machine, they always had a great sound.
Do you recall where you got the Drumulator rock samples from?
I bought them from a guy I found using Google. But I can't find the page anymore. The samples are also included in my Cocteau Twins template on Patreon, in case you are interested.
In the song ribbed and veined, What's the name of the beat that they use, what's the style called?im trying to find similar songs, also robin guthrie uses similar beating technic in the song turn on the moon any idea 😅
How did you get that guitar sound? Is it a effect or just form the amps?
It's everything combined I guess.
How did you quantize your fingers?
Haha. I have two robotic hands after loosing the original ones shredding two hard playing "Cherrybomb" by Astrobrite.
Hey man, whats the name of your outro? Or is it yours? Sounds awesome
Unfortunately it's an unfinished song of mine. As it was hard to find the right verses and lyrics I decided to make it the outro of the channel. Thanks for the nice words about it :)
@@berlinshoegazer well ill be waiting for the day you decide to finish it aha, would love to know how to play that, good work man!
Is there anywhere i can listen to your music? Like soundcloud?
@@heron9580 all the links to my music are in the video description. :) If you look for Unkenny Valleys you can find my stuff almost everywhere (SoundCloud, Spotify, Bandcamp, iTunes, Amazon ect. ) 🙏
@@berlinshoegazer yeah found it now cheers
Awsome. 😀😃😄😁
Flexing with the keytar I see
😅 I don't know why I bought one in the first place. I just can't sit all the time. That's why I love guitars, basses and instruments that are mobile.