Heroes by Bowie on reason

[gritz]

Looking to try to replicate bodies heroes on reason - has anyone tried this using synths or guitar synth sounds and amps on reason if so what recommendations do you have with presets etc

[gribbly]

The Kuassa Amp REs are really good.

https://www.reasonstudios.com/shop/browse/?q=kuassa

[AnotherMathias]

If you're aiming to sound as close to the original as possible, you're in for quite a challenge!
It's hard to pick out individual sounds clearly, with the Eno/Visconti production being such a mushy wall of sound.

I hear essentially no synths on the song, with the exception of a whoosh noise/VCF sound helicopter FX, the LFO not in sync with the beat. Probably an EMS VCS3, Brian Eno was known to use those a lot.
The drums are pretty basic dry acoustic ones. A separately recorded ride cymbal comes in halfway through, and reverby tambourine a bit after that.
The bass, I think, is a regular woofy electric bass, with maybe some phaser on it.
The rhythmic chords are possibly an acoustic piano. An organ (Farfisa?) joins in with a single related chord towards the end.
The rest are just 5-10 layers of guitar, many of them long echo-y feedback guitars from Robert Fripp. Initially I thought it could be some Ebow guitar, but apparently that wasn't sold until a year later.

So unless you can play guitar well, and can crank an amp up to feedback indefinitely, it's unlikely that you can get all that close, sound-wise!

[gribbly]

Oh are you mainly talking about recreating the Robert Fripp guitar feedback line?

Details on how it was done here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%22Heroes ... king_track

It's all feedback.

I honestly think you could do a decent recreation using a synth. E.g., here's a crappy five-minute attempt using a Subtractor, a Scream, and some verb:

mp3:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/71rtjru10j4oy ... m.mp3?dl=0

Reason file:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/zg30i724ai0w8 ... eason?dl=0

Basic idea being: A feedbacking electric guitar is basically a square wave, so starting from there should get you in the ballpark. Then it's gonna be all about adding details and nuances (vibrato, simulating whatever fret noises, etc.). Depending on how faithful you want to be, I bet you get something usable with a synth.

[gritz]

Thanks for the input guys

This is my effort

[Re8et]

Thanks for the input guys

This is my effort

Bloody Hell Gritz, it's insane!

Have you been recording it live with Reason live mastering on different channels?
The farfisa seems a little behind and the voice a little too bright, try to run the voice through
some transistor emulation RE or vactrol RE. Jst a thought. Amazing execution.
I would love to be able to work on the song file If I'd be there.

[gritz]

Be my guest to produce it ! Personally getting the wrong vibe has proven a nightmare !!!

[gritz]

It’s all using synths samples and Jorge soft synths!!

[gritz]

Jorge Jesus I mean korg!!

[selig]

Thanks for the input guys

This is my effort

Sounding pretty great!
So interesting this was the first post I saw after finishing my livestream today on reverse engineering your favorite songs, some sort of musical synchronicity going on here…

[AnotherMathias]

Very cool!
But I'm severely missing the bass guitar (with a flanger or phaser) enforcing the root throughout the chord changes. Here the bass plays the riff the riff the whole way through, rather than shifting underneath, so it sounds like the chords never change. And the bass disappears completely for the second part of the verse.
I'm also missing the driving 8th note piano chords, and the helicopter space noise.

Now I feel a bit inspired to make a song replica of my own...

[gritz]

I will need to revisit the original to get the the bass line right

[gritz]

Seems all the sites show the bass line as a riff not sure how to improve

[selig]

Seems all the sites show the bass line as a riff not sure how to improve

I just checked, there appears to be the solid root bass part and the riff (also on bass?). That's one thing missing in your version.
Also just talking about the intro, something in your version is too short/choppy on each chord change compared to the more continuous sound of the all the parts on the original.
And as great as the drums sound on yours, they should probably sit back a little.

The process for me is circular, I get the big things as good as possible, the go back to the start and revisit everything, and repeat. Maybe it's time to go back around the instruments starting at the bass and make sure nothing is missing.

If you're not already doing this, make sure to have a copy of the original synced up in your timeline so you can QUICKLY go back and forth to compare. Sometimes you even need to loop a section or even a bar or too and listen back and forth until you can figure out what exactly is different. I've learned SO much about arrangement/production/mixing doing this over the years, the only other thing I did that helped as much was playing in cover bands early on - reverse engineering that much material reveals trends and stylistic/genre cues, tricks and tips, and all the little things that go into production.
And by using songs YOU love, you learn more about how to make the listener feel like you feel when you listen to music. Plus it helps with the tedium of the task at hand…

[AnotherMathias]

I haven't checked any sites, just going by ear here.
Listening to it again, I don't think the bass actually plays the riff (DBAD) at all, those are other instruments. The bass stays nearly set on the root, with some walking bass here and there.

Quick and dirty (and possibly incorrect) chord transcript:
D, G, D, G, C, D, Am, Em, D, C, G, D

That's it actually! I thought it would be more complicated that that, but it repeats a few times, and that's the song, Not a lot in the way of 7ths, diminished chords, any of that.

So essentially you can have the bass play 8th notes at those roots, with some minimal embellishments, and have a murky piano play 8th notes using basic

[EnochLight]

It’s all using synths samples and [Korg] soft synths!!

What did you use for the drums? Nice effort, BTW!

[gritz]

Toontrack ez drummer for the drums