Swooshing sounds

[razze06]

So i've got this gig on Friday, and we've been asked to do Silver Machine by Hawkwind. We kindly accepted and think that we might actuslly keep it in the set list.
My question is, what would be the best way to CHEAPLY emulate the swooshing-spacey sound that pervades the whole song?

We don't have a keys player, so no synth. I was thinking of putting some fuzz on my bass, and then put it through a really slow flanger, anyone has any other recommendations? I have a fuzz pedal already, and could go as far as spending another £20-£30 max on another pedal

Cheers,
Marco

[lemmywinks]

Try and pick up a Small Stone phaser, nice big, low sweeps that sound great with fuzz. I got the Nano one and it works really well with bass although the big-box one is meant to be good too

Going rate is £30-£40 2nd hand but i've seen them for as little as £25

I bought it to emulate Billy Gould's sound on the Faith No More live CD, does it really well

[razze06]

I've tried the small stone at a shop, together with my fuzz pedal (big muff pi), and soculdn't get near what I wanted. The sound i'm after is a bit like someone modulating a wah pedal real slow, but I can't do that as i havent got a wah pedal, and I'm not going to control it with my foot if i did...

[cheddatom]

try one of the behringer flangers in a shop, they're cheap enough!

[Stewart]

What you really need is filtered noise - best bet would be a detuned AM or FM radio feeding a wah or flanger!

[razze06]

[quote name='Stewart' post='671258' date='Dec 1 2009, 04:35 PM']What you really need is filtered noise - best bet would be a detuned AM or FM radio feeding a wah or flanger![/quote]


Mmh nice idea...i still need a flanger though. I'll check out the cheapo behringer and arion ones i've seen in some of my local shops.

Cheers for the ideas

[cheddatom]

some cheapo pedals can be really good. I've got an arion auto wah that's really funky, and not noisy at all.

[lemmywinks]

Have a look at the Electric Mistress. Might be a bit out of budget but the flanger is really good, plus it's got sweet bass chorus on tap too

[razze06]

I've got my eyes on an Arion stereo flanger for £30 in a local shop. I agreed to pick it up tomorrow at lunchtime, just in time for the evening practice. Nobody dare go in and buy it tomorrow morning!

edit: I found a sample on youtube, sounds about right...

Edited December 1, 2009 by razze06

[teej]

[quote name='Stewart' post='671258' date='Dec 1 2009, 04:35 PM']What you really need is filtered noise - best bet would be a detuned AM or FM radio feeding a wah or flanger![/quote]
I'm no expert, but that sounds closer to the kind of thing Hawkwind would have used back in the day.

[markl]

[quote name='Stewart' post='671258' date='Dec 1 2009, 04:35 PM']What you really need is filtered noise - best bet would be a detuned AM or FM radio feeding a wah or flanger![/quote]

I play keyboards/noise generator in a Hawkwind covers band and I have used the noise section of a Juno 106 playing around with the filters on the synth and delay, also used soft synths in cubase with phaser and delay, so I would say the radio with flanger could be a good way to do it, and as previously mentioned on the thread very much in the spirit of Hawkwind of the time.

[razze06]

I got almost everything: mobile phone radio suitably tuned away from a station, fuzz pedal for more noise, flanger pedal. All I need is a minijack lead to connect the phone to the fuzzbox.
I'm at work, so I won't know how it all works together until tonight, can't wait, and thanks for all the advice

[Born 2B Mild]

Sorry, I couldn't resist..."Swooshing" made me think of the Douglas Adams quote...
[size=3][i]
I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.[/i][/size]

[razze06]

Result!
I plugged a lead into my mobile phone, set it to "line out", turned the radio on, tuned it between stations, put the output through a big muff pi at full tilt, then through a flanger set at a very low rate, all through the PA. Swooshtatic!

Thanks for all the suggestions, helped me a lot!