Hi all,

I'm literally "gearing up" for recording the first batch of songs for The Prefab Sprout Project, and I thought I would ask for some technical help in the way of instruments and sounds related to Prefab Sprout.
I'm looking to create "the sound" of PS as accurately as I possibly can.
Of course, I don't have access to a Fairlight keyboard -so if any of you out there do -please contact me. Still, I'm wondering what other instruments (brands, models) were used by the band during various recordings. I'm not so interested in drums/percussion, more so guitars and keyboards.

For instance, I have no idea what guitar make/model Paddy used on any given recordings, or keyboards other than Dolby's Fairlight and PPG.
Are there any sprout fans out there who possess such factoids?

If any of you might have some inside info in this area - I would greatly appreciate any help.

If you search for the Cardiff 1985 recording online, you'l find Bob Edwards, Paddy's guitar roadie. I should imagine that'll help a lot.

Hia,It all depends on what era you are trying to capture,the early Swoon songs had Paddy playing a Gretsch Country Gentleman Guitar,the piano on 'Swoon' is probably something like a YAMAHA CP70 and I think I remember something about the 'strings' being a Juno 106...On 'Steve McWeels' Paddy was playing a Strat through a marshall amp with chorus/delay,a bog standard 'rock' guitar set up really.One thing about some of the early stuff was the presence of steel guitar,pretty unusual for a English band.. ;)

And there is ALWAYS, WITHOUT EXCEPTION a harmonica on a Prefab Sprout album.

Thanks Bisonrav and rock smith, that was exactly the kind of help I was looking for.
And fortunately ... I have access to all the gear mentioned, minus the Juno -which shouldn't be too hard to copy with the variety of soft synth wares out there.

I recall reading that Paddy use to demo with a Jupiter 8 keyboard and some of those sounds would find their way on the studio versions of whichever song it served best.

I'll look into the Bob Edwards idea.


Thanks again!

I think Paddy also used a roland JX3P,he mentioned in one interview he writes on a JX3P and has a few of them,whether that is true i dunno but the intro to 'Doo wop in Harlem' is deffo a patch off there,it's basically a 'organ' preset. So I would imagine what happened early on was PM would write on a cheaper keyboard like the JX3P and use the big un's of TD's like the Jupiter 8 in the studio.And there was also the DX7 Electric Piano on 'When Love Breaks Down' & 'The Sound Of Crying' another idea is to sample female vocals singing a note and create a pad by spanning it across the keys,Wendy was one of the band's secret weapons in getting their unique sound in the studio.

Absolutely Tim,one of the big kicks i had out of TCTWWM was the harmonica playing.On Lions it seems pretty 'busking',although that's also part of the charm of the record, but it became very expressive later on.The intro to 'When The Cows Come Home' for example

There is a preset list used by Michael Graves in 1985 at the Manchester International gig, find it at

http://psgigs.wikispaces.com/Manchester1985

Oh, wow ... this is fantastic!
Between everything here and the info Peter offered on Martin's bass history - I think I'm fairly set.

Thanks very much for the assistance!
Scott

Hello,
Just saw this, thinking aloud, LCTWWM's 'I Love Music' Jazz Organ sound sounds exactly like a Roland JV organ sound, found on Roland Keyboards such as the JV30 or the Boss Dr Synth module.

Don't forget that outboard effects and the recording equipment used would also contribute to the overall sound of the demos / records. reverbs, delays, etc

I think we established that Paddy was using analogue tape to record demos in the '90s
specifically a Fostex B16 and a Seck mixer. He mentioned in an interview promoting LCTWWM that tape compression played a part in shaping the character of the sound.
If you're recording to a computer, there are plug-ins available that can simulate this effect very convincingly.

While I'm on this subject, during the tour of 2000 Paddy was using a Fender combo amp on stage (probably a Fender twin) and (in marked contrast to a Strat) a large bodied single cutaway electric guitar, which looked a bit like a 'Hagstrom' but not sure, you could check out some of the live gear from various pics and videos.

It's a fascinating subject. I love the whole process of songwriting, making records.. it's where art, science and creativity all meet each other.

The semi acoustic on the 2000 tour was I think a Guild Manhattan,really nice guitar.I think it's also more the chords that PM uses that gives the unique sprout sound rather than any special gear,and also the mix of Paddy and Wendy's vocals,very folky really.

Really great info guys, thanks very much!

I probably won't record with exact gear across the board, but I will get as close as I can. I also agree that playing style and chords helped define the sound, though having the same guitar set up does help tremendously when you already have a template by which to write for.

[QUOTE]It's a fascinating subject. I love the whole process of songwriting, making records.. it's where art, science and creativity all meet each other.

I agree 100%, and this mesh of science and creativity plays deeper with this project than any other I have been apart of. I find it deeply fascinating on many levels - as for my own experience thus far.

Multiman - I've been scanning my soft synth collection looking for various sounds that apply to this project, if you have any suggestions on which soft synth/plugs/reverbs to look at -please let me know.

Thanks again!