Husker Du Harmonizer Sound

[KingCharles]

Bob Mould from Husker Du used an Eventide 3910 in this song (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJSKExpsuQo). Can anyone tell roughly what the settings might have been? I love that sound and one of the reasons I got the H9 was to try to recreate it. Any help appreciated!

[Bodde]

It is hard to tell exactly. I hear some heavy chorusing. You might want to try the harmonizer detune instead of chorus. Maybe with the Micropitch algo but I think it can be done with the H910 algo also. Set mix to 50% and then detune pitch A with 9ms or so. Or set pitch A to -9ms and pitch B to +10ms.

It’s a nice example because you usually don’t hear that kind of sound in punk music.

[brock]

[eanhernandez]

I just picked up an eventide pitchfactor pedal yesterday.  I am going to try these settings at band practice tonight!

 

brock wrote:

[KingCharles]

Sweet. Thanks for the feedback (no pun intended). Looking forward to try out these settings. H9 should be here tomorrow or Wed!

[eanhernandez]

Hi I found this post recently because I am trying to get the classic Bob Mould Husker Du tone.  The video you linked to has been taken down.  Was it an audio track?  Or a live video?  What song was is?

 

Thanks!

 

Ean

[KingCharles]

Hey Ean,

 

 It was a link to the song “Real World” from Metal Circus. You probably know it already but, in case not, it’s also at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Id89gwBwZLE

[eanhernandez]

Thanks for this.  Real World is one of the great ones, and I love that over the top sound.  

I am also trying to recreate Bob’s sound, but with amps, pedals, and rack effects.  I know that he used a harmonizer, but can’t seem to find out which (until he got into Sugar, then it was the Eventide H-3000).

Did you have any success with this plug in and settings?

KingCharles wrote:

Hey Ean,

 

 It was a link to the song “Real World” from Metal Circus. You probably know it already but, in case not, it’s also at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Id89gwBwZLE

[KingCharles]

Hi Ean, He says in a couple of interviews (and his book as well, I beleive) that it was the Eventide H910. A lot of articles and this interview say that he ran it straight into the board: 

GC: Are you still using your basic distortion box/chorus setup? 

BM: Yeah, although I did use a harmonizer on this record (Metal Circus), which is basically a chorus hooked up to the board. It’s warmer and sounds cleaner than a foot pedal. 

 

[eanhernandez]

Hey guys, I’m having lots of fun with the powerful, beautiful, and at-times awkward, Eventide Pitchfactor.  I am circling in on Bob’s Husker tone, and loving the sounds.  One point I don’t really understand is how to work best with Harmonizers in the general context of subtly changing guitar tone.  For example, in the recommendations for settings above, why are the two ms set to uneven intervals?  -9 and +10?  Also, why are the delays set to different times 15ms/30ms?  Is there some conceptual approach that this stems from?  I just don’t know enough about Harmonizers.

Thanks in advance!!!

 

Ean

[brock]

eanhernandez wrote:

… For example, in the recommendations for settings above, why are the two ms set to uneven intervals?  -9 and +10?

  It’s actually a frequency ratio; relative to Unison at 1.000:

  As mentioned above, this creates a nice stereo spread, or wide animation in mono.  It’s the equivalent of around a 14 cent detuning; both above & below unison pitch.  That gives you a little more than a quarter-tone spread over the three voices.

eanhernandez wrote:

 Also, why are the delays set to different times 15ms/30ms?  Is there some conceptual approach that this stems from?

  I was going for a classic Eventide rack emulation.  Actually, two 1st-edition H910’s in parallel (feedback is synchronized between them).  These were massive analog + barely digital processors, with fixed delay times, and characteristic pitch glitching.

  Delay times are selectable with combinations of four switches; up to 112.5 ms. with all 4 engaged.  Again, 15 ms. and 30 ms. were chosen for authenticity.  They are just under the limit of being perceived as distinct ‘echoes’.  Those delay times provide subtle doubling, and allowed the original rack devices some ‘breathing room’ for processing pitch shifts.

eanhernandez wrote:

I just don’t know enough about Harmonizers.

  There are whole books written on modern DSP processes involved, with the history, and some alternative approaches.  But if you’re interested in the classic Eventide / Clockworks devices, search for the Clockworks Legacy manual (eventidelegacy.pdf?).  I can no longer find it on this Eventide website, but it’s out there on the ‘net.  That document is a software manual, but it’s helped me to understand many of the H9 algorithm derivations.  Another useful source involves going back into the H9 / PitchFactor ancestry (Eclipse manual and preset guide, etc.).

[Bodde]

The uneven settings are just to create more stereo effect. It is not necessary and you can just as well set pitch to -10 and +10 or whatever. Or have no delay at all. Or use just one pitch for a mono sound. Just play with the setting and use your ears. There are no rules. Setting the pitch to small intervals create a chorus like effect. If you want a more extreme chorus like sound with more wobble set the pitch to +20 or higher.

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