Musical scaffolder Mat Mitchell details how ā80s tech (Fairlight CMI) and design (headless guitars) have influenced the bandās sound and what modern gear he uses to approximate it.
Rut busting and reconstructing has probably been happening since the discovery of fire and advent of the wheel. Guitarists confront it each time they pick up a new instrument to avoid predictable patterns and tones. Premier Guitar contributor (and recent Rig Rundown subject) Pete Thorn has addressed this by suggesting several practices to approach our beloved 6 strings in a fresh perspective. And recently John Bohlinger recommended playing a different instrument to fertilize musical crops. But what does a guitar-playing producer and multi-instrumentalist do to shake things up for his bandās fourth album? Well, for Pusciferās Mat Mitchell and the bandās 2020 release, Existential Reckoning, you go back in time 40 years to 8-bit synth sounds and the archaic sampling lurking inside the proto-digital Fairlight CMI.
āPart of [the appeal],ā Mitchell told PG in a 2021 interview, āis the flowāthe way that you work when youāre using these tools. It forces you to do things differently. They are very limited, and being creative within very set boundaries is really good.ā And being the creative force he is, Mitchell found gold in the antiquated sounds and tech.
āThey sound very unique,ā he explains. āOf course, you can sample one and put it in a laptop, but itās different. All the voices are separate hardware. When you hit a note, it is bouncing around between [processor] cards, so you can hit a note five times and it may sound different all five times. There are all these little things that affect the way it sounds when youāre performing, which is a very different sound from what you get when you sample.ā
But he would never tour with this digital dino, so how does Mitchell recreate 8-bit tones in a performance setting? Thankfully, moments ahead of the audience filling the pews of Nashvilleās iconic Ryman Auditorium, Pusciferās aural architect welcomed PGās Chris Kies for a chat about how Existential Reckoningās inspiration took him back to the future, and how his live rig has metamorphized and been miniaturized with contemporary gear to realistically represent those superannuated sounds.
Brought to you byDāAddario XPND Pedalboard.
Xcellent Axe
While recording Existential Reckoning, Mitchell relied heavily on a Steinberger GL2T. Not wanting to tour with it, he tapped Kiesel Guitars to build him a few custom Type-X models for the road. This bodacious beauty has a swamp ash body, a 3-piece walnut/maple neck with thru construction, an early version of Seymour Duncanās first AlNiCo 2 Stack Tele pickup, and a fixed bridge. All his guitars take DāAddario EPN115 XL Pure Nickel strings (.011ā.048). Itās worth noting the usual curvy contours and bevels found on a standard Kiesel Type-X were removed by request from Mitchell, who prefers hard-edged instruments like his prized Esquire. Another mentionable mod is the seemingly straight-ahead 3-way pickup selector (bridge, right?) that rolls the tone all the way off (middle) for when Mitchell grabs an EBow and a slight Q-notch filter (neck) for lead or chordal stuff that he wants tucked under. When itās in the standard bridge position it bypasses the tone circuit. This wiring and tonewood collection are found on all three Type-Xs weāll see.
X Marks the Spot
Hereās another Kiesel Type-X, but this one has a Seymour Duncan Antiquity Tele single-coil. Besides the radical visuals these instruments add to the bandās stage production, part of the choice was pragmatic because the lightweight, headless design allows Mat to swing the guitar off his shoulder in a split second and control the Waldorf Iridium synth engine for Existential Reckoning jams.
The X-Man
Above is Mitchellās third Type-X Kiesel. He mentions in the Rundown that āonce you give me a guitar, I donāt like to give it back,ā so if he has it his way, heāll start and finish the show with the same X.
Tidy Tones
āThereās a few reasons we shifted to the Axe-Fx III,ā admits Mitchell. āFirst, we have enough songs that our rig was getting bigger, more complex, and it had more failure points. We also wanted a clean stage, so thereās no amps, no cabs, no pedalboards onstage, and thatās why on this run weāre now using wireless, too.ā Most of his patches are based around either a Mesa/Boogie Mark II C+ (dirty) or Vibro-King (clean). The band enjoys free-range stage access with Shure Axient AD4Q units.
Lone Wolf
His only guitar-specific hardware outside the Axe-Fx III is this DigiTech FreqOut, to help Mitchell stir up a funnel of feedback.
Fear the Gear
Hereās the bulk of the gear used during the recording of Existential Reckoning and the corresponding Live at Arcosanti album, performed in the depths of the Arizona desert. Starting on the left is the Steinberger GL2T, then a pair of shots of the Fairlight CMI digital synthesizer, sampler and digital audio workstation. Below that is his Fender Custom Shop Esquire reissue and Mesa/Boogie Mark II C+, and the bottom row shows Mitchellās choice stomps: ZVEX Fuzz Factory, Fulltone OCD, Electro-Harmonix Micro POG, Boss VB-2 Vibrato, Boss FZ-2 Hyper Fuzz, and Radial SGI. The lower-right shows a pair of Oto Machines (BOUM Warming Unit and BIM 12-Bit Delay).
A feature-filled pitch-shifting delay meant for maximum weirding.
Wide-ranging and unique functionality. Envelope settings and momentary switches lend extreme interactivity.
Steep learning curve. Stereo input/output is only via TRS stereo cable.
$299
Red Panda Raster 2
redpandalab.com
You could call the Raster 2 a delay pedal with a pitch shifter and modulation, but that would set up inaccurate expectations about the pedalās sound and function. Instead, like many modern algorithm-driven glitch pedals, the Raster provides a way of interacting with sound. In that way, the Raster 2 is as much synth as tone augmenter.
The Raster 2 offers an intimidating set of controls: six knobs, six switches, two buttons, and two footswitches which have multiple functions. I started simple, only employing the delay, which offers 1600 ms of delay time. At its fastest settings, I added micro-pitch shifting to produce flanger and chorus sounds. Bigger pitch shifts (the control ranges up to an octave in each direction) revealed my favorite soundāa full wet blend and a momentary setting on the pitch shifter footswitch that added percussive, noisy, arpeggiated explosions.
Red Panda Raster 2 Review by premierguitar
All clips recorded using Creston T-Style and Fender Champ, with an SM57 into an SSL 2+.
- moderate delay time, moderate descending pitch shifting, ramp up and down.
- long, moderate, and short delay times, infinite feedback with low blend setting, moderate ascending pitch shifting, square ramp.
- short delay settings with ascending pitch shift set to momentary switch, reverse envelope modulation.
- moderate delay time, slight ascending pitch shifting, envelope-controlled modulation.
The modulation function has seven waveforms plus envelope and reverse envelope settings, the latter two of which are very interactive. At long delay settings and high feedback settings, each of these waveforms can take on a life of its own, oscillating into controllable infinity.
There are nice conventional delay and modulation sounds in the Raster 2, but its most exciting and unique settings are the craziest. Thereās cool stereo functionality, but it requires a less-convenient TRS stereo breakout cable instead of simpler separate left/right outputs. And, as with any advanced-level digital pedal, thereās a lot to learn to get the most out of the Raster 2ās capabilities. Even so, the Raster 2 offers quick rewards, too, and is more user-friendly in that respect than it first appears. Most important, itās so much fun, youāll want to keep digging in.
Itās ok for a guitar to not sound like a guitar.
As much as we all love juicy, organic guitar tones, it can be just as inspiring to go the opposite way. Combining various modulation effects, envelope filters, oscillators, and more can result in sounds that owe more to Kraftwerk than Led Zeppelin.
Boss SY-1
A compact version of the companyās well-known polyphonic synths offers 11 types of sounds each with 11 different variations. It also includes a parallel loop, guitar/bass mode, and expression pedal support.
$212 street
Source Audio C4
An incredibly deep collection of Eurorack-style tones are available via a rather straight-forward 4-knob setup and the companion Neuro editor (available for Mac, PC, and mobile devices). It offers four independent voices, 11 envelope followers, and two programmable 16-step sequencers.
$239 street
Meris Enzo
This multi-voice synth is a digital unit with an analog signal path for maximum clarity and response. It has stereo outputs, MIDI, switchable buffered bypass, and more. On the effects side, it houses two tap-modulated delays, mono, poly, and arpeggiated synth modes, and an extremely shapeable envelope.
$299 street
Electro-Harmonix Synth9
Containing nine different synth voices including emulations of some of the most recognizable synth sounds, this pedal offers independent volume control of both your dry signal and synth signal plus two CTRL knobs that change function depending on the preset.
$247 street
EarthQuaker Devices Bit Commander
This monophonic analog synth offers a three-octave (one up, one down, and two down) range to blend the glitchy with the pedestrian. Depending on what fret youāre on, the results can be either destructive or spacey.
$189 street
Pigtronix Space Rip
This is tiny pedal that includes an onboard VCO that produces square and sawtooth waveforms that are controlled via rate and tune knobs. It also has an octave button that drops the entire signal down 12 frets.
$179 street
Mooer E7
Dig polyphonic synth sounds but donāt have a lot of space? The E7 offers seven different types of synth tones, seven slots for presets, and controls for attack, speed, high and low cut, and mix.
$97 street
mooeraudio.com
Empress Effects ZOIA
Think of this as a DIY approach to creating your own modular synth. It has a library of more than 80 different modules that cover a host of effects such as delay, reverb, compression, bit crusher, and more. Plus, you can save up to 64 different patches.
$499 street
Red Witch Synthortron II
Packed with two synth oscillators, along with dedicated controls for amplitude modulation and envelope filter, this analog machine offers a wealth of different options that range from wickedly weird trem to sample hold, and more.
$279 street
KeeleyĀ Synth-1
This single-note wave generator offers quite a few different sounds via a relatively simple control set. It has attack, level, and blend knobs along with a powerful filter section that shapes the EQ of the fuzz. You can also hook up a TRS expression pedal to alter the filter in real time.
$179 street