Cocteau Twins – Garlands album cover

Cocteau Twins – Garlands

Album 1982

The music gear and equipment used by the artists, producers, engineers, and more involved in the making of the 1982 album Garlands.

Music from Garlands

Gear Used On Garlands

Explore the instruments, equipment, software, and production tools used in the making of Cocteau Twins – Garlands (1982). Click more on each item to see exactly how it was used.

Studio Equipment used by Robin Guthrie on Garlands

Drum Machines

Roland TR-808 Rhythm Composer

Avg price: $4,699.00

Used in the Cocteau Twins album Garlands.

Effects Pedals used by Robin Guthrie on Garlands

Fuzz Effects Pedals

Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi

Avg price: $92.97

Used on Garlands, as specified in the Equipment Notes section of Guthrie's official website (now hosted on the Cocteau Twins website). It is also mentioned in this September 3, 2010 Harmony Central forum post by user OrangeLazarus.

Equipment Notes

“The recording of ‘Blind Dumb Deaf’ was a little different to most of the later Cocteau Twins songs as it was our first album, we were studio newbies and didn't have the time or experience to experiment at all during the recording process. I wasn't really the producer (I didn't even know what a producer was at that point) so all the work on guitar sounds as such was done before the band entered the studio from playing gigs and gathering what equipment we could. Garlands, the album, was essentially recorded live in the studio with myself and Will playing together and Elizabeth over-dubbing a few vocals later, very much the way most bands record. My guitar setup was this: a Kawai KS-11-XL electric guitar followed by an Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi, a Watkins Copicat tape echo (3 button model), an Electro-Harmonix Clone Theory and then into another Watkins Copicat tape echo (4 button model) - this went into my amp, a Maine combo (60w 2x10 never seen one since). The bass was a Rickenbacker 4001 played through a Ibanez UE-400 Multi-Effects unit into a Carlsbro Stingray bass combo. There was one disappointment at the time which was the drum machines that we used, a Boss Dr Rhythm and a Soundmaster SR88 played through the distortion channel of a HH IC100 combo were deemed unsuitable by the engineers and Ivo (the grown-ups) and were replaced with the ‘more professional’ (at the time as it had just been invented) Roland TR808. This made the drums sound very clean but weak, lacking the power that we were used to in concert. I mean the stuff we used sounded way more like (what became) hip-hop than electronic. But in spite of the lack of distortion on the drums the ‘Garlands’ sessions were a pretty accurate recording of how we sounded at the time when we played live.”

Harmony Central, "Chorus pedal for cocteau twins sound", OrangeLazarus, September 3, 2010

i have nothing to contribute to this thread other than the fact that I played with a guitarist yesterday that used Robin Guthrie's Big Muff.

Chorus Effects Pedals

Electro-Harmonix The Clone Theory

Avg price: $142.06

Used on Garlands, as specified in the Equipment Notes section of Guthrie's official website (now hosted on the Cocteau Twins website).

“The recording of ‘Blind Dumb Deaf’ was a little different to most of the later Cocteau Twins songs as it was our first album, we were studio newbies and didn't have the time or experience to experiment at all during the recording process. I wasn't really the producer (I didn't even know what a producer was at that point) so all the work on guitar sounds as such was done before the band entered the studio from playing gigs and gathering what equipment we could. Garlands, the album, was essentially recorded live in the studio with myself and Will playing together and Elizabeth over-dubbing a few vocals later, very much the way most bands record. My guitar setup was this: a Kawai KS-11-XL electric guitar followed by an Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi, a Watkins Copicat tape echo (3 button model), an Electro-Harmonix Clone Theory and then into another Watkins Copicat tape echo (4 button model) - this went into my amp, a Maine combo (60w 2x10 never seen one since). The bass was a Rickenbacker 4001 played through a Ibanez UE-400 Multi-Effects unit into a Carlsbro Stingray bass combo. There was one disappointment at the time which was the drum machines that we used, a Boss Dr Rhythm and a Soundmaster SR88 played through the distortion channel of a HH IC100 combo were deemed unsuitable by the engineers and Ivo (the grown-ups) and were replaced with the ‘more professional’ (at the time as it had just been invented) Roland TR808. This made the drums sound very clean but weak, lacking the power that we were used to in concert. I mean the stuff we used sounded way more like (what became) hip-hop than electronic. But in spite of the lack of distortion on the drums the ‘Garlands’ sessions were a pretty accurate recording of how we sounded at the time when we played live.”

Guitars used by Robin Guthrie on Garlands

Solid Body Electric Guitars

Kawai KS-11-XL

"Garlands, the album, was essentially recorded live in the studio with myself and Will playing together and Elizabeth over-dubbing a few vocals later, very much the way most bands record. My guitar setup was this: a Kawai KS-11-XL electric guitar..."

Bass Guitars used by Will Heggie on Garlands

Electric Basses

Rickenbacker 4001 (1973 duplicate)

Avg price: $2,300.00

unfortunately, but this bass was used on the Garlands album by The Cocteau Twins.