MGMT – Congratulations
The music gear and equipment used by the artists, producers, engineers, and more involved in the making of the 2010 album Congratulations.
Music from Congratulations
Artists on Congratulations
Gear Used On Congratulations
Explore the instruments, equipment, software, and production tools used in the making of MGMT – Congratulations (2010). Click more on each item to see exactly how it was used.
Keyboards and Synthesizers used by Andrew VanWyngarden on Congratulations
In this article it states Andre VanWyngarden from MGMT used an Elka Panther when recording the band's album Congratulations
Microphones used by Andrew VanWyngarden on Congratulations
Avg price: $10,419.13
In this article by Sound on Sound it says MGMT used this mic when recording their album Congratulations - "The whole signal chain was nice — an old Neumann U47 microphone going into nice preamps — so everything we did there, we could take with us somewhere else,”
Avg price: $112.52
In this article by Sound on Sound it says MGMT used an SM57 saying : "We had to mic the drums with this Radio Shack mic on the kick and an SM57 on the snare. Then, in the end, on parts of 'Weekend Wars' and 'The Youth' on the record, some of the drum tracks were actually just that, run through preamps.”
Guitars used by Andrew VanWyngarden on Congratulations
Avg price: $255.00
In this article it says Andrew VanWyngarden and MGMT used this digital guitar when recording their album Congratulations
Amplifiers used by Andrew VanWyngarden on Congratulations
Avg price: $2,141.99
MGMT used this amp when recording their album Congratulations as stated in this article published by Sound on Sound. "James bought that late in the process,” says VanWyngarden. "We were playing it through a [Fender] Super Reverb amp, and it's a unique sound that people haven't really used that much. We used the 'Clav' sound and it was really thick through a guitar amp. It's pretty responsive. The strings are plastic and pretty loose. It's kind of hard to figure out how to play but it's pretty cool.”
Music Accessories used by Andrew VanWyngarden on Congratulations
Oblique Strategies: Over One Hundred Worthwhile Dilemmas
Avg price: $99.99
Used during the making of Congratulations, as stated in this March 2, 2010 Brain Magazine interview.
English transcript of the video
Andrew: Originally, we wanted him [Brian Eno] to produce that track called "Brian Eno". [laughs] That didn't happen. The song is just... I think he's heard it by now, I think Brian Eno has heard it. It wasn't supposed to be offensive, you know.
The whole time we were in the studio, we had a deck, one of the series of the Oblique Strategies and we were comin' up—Pete Kember, Sonic Boom, had a notebook that he was taking notes in—we came up with "Obtuse Strategies" of our own, kind of like a take on his, but they were pretty silly.
Alister [Interviewer]: Do you have an example of your own strategy?
Andrew: The first one we wrote down was "Go fuck yourself." Yeah. [laughs]
French transcript provided from the article
ALISTER : Il y a un autre musicien anglais qui vous intéresse c'est Brian Eno. Il y a une chanson sur l'album qui porte son nom Est-ce que vous avez essayé de travailler avec lui ? Les paroles sont un peu ambiguës à son sujet (nda le texte est tout au plus ironique, brossant le portrait dun Eno excessivement gourouesque « Je vois bien quil est souriant/Mais quest-ce quil sait ?» etc...)
ANDREW : Au début on voulait qu'il produise cette chanson Mais finalement ça ne s'est pas fait Je pense qu'il est blessé maintenant Mais ce n'était pas censé être offensant.
ALISTER : Elle est un peu maligne quand même
ANDREW : Oui un peu On voulait juste que ça soit un moment un peu léger sur l'album. C'est une chanson marrante pour danser.
ALISTER : Est-ce que vous utilisez les « stratégies obliques » (nda jeu de cartes inventé par Brian Eno pour débloquer les crises d'inspiration artistique) ?
ANDREW : Oui. On avait ça en studio avec Sonic Boom. On a même nos propres stratégies qui s'appellent les « stratégies obtuses » qui sont assez ridicules (rires)
ALISTER : Vous avez un exemple ?
ANDREW : La première qu'on a écrite dit Go Fuck Yourself (rires) Mais on en a des meilleures
Ils cherchent
BEN : Je m'en rappelle plus
ANDREW : C'est des blagues en fait
Effects Pedals used by James Richardson on Congratulations
Avg price: $99.49
James Richardson of MGMT has been seen playing a MORLEY Classic Wah as part of his live pedalboard rig. This was a pedal he used live during the tour in support of there 2009 studio album “congratulations”. They were touring in support of the album in 2010 when a picture of James pedalboard was revealed to the public.
Guitars used by James Richardson on Congratulations
Guild Starfire XII 12-String Hollowbody
Avg price: $3,500.00
James uses a Starfire XII during the live performance of MGMT's "Congratulations"
Benjamin Goldwasser
Roles:
Music Accessories used by Benjamin Goldwasser on Congratulations
Oblique Strategies: Over One Hundred Worthwhile Dilemmas
Avg price: $99.99
Used during the making of Congratulations, as stated in this March 2, 2010 Brain Magazine interview.
English transcript of the video
Andrew: Originally, we wanted him [Brian Eno] to produce that track called "Brian Eno". [laughs] That didn't happen. The song is just... I think he's heard it by now, I think Brian Eno has heard it. It wasn't supposed to be offensive, you know.
The whole time we were in the studio, we had a deck, one of the series of the Oblique Strategies and we were comin' up—Pete Kember, Sonic Boom, had a notebook that he was taking notes in—we came up with "Obtuse Strategies" of our own, kind of like a take on his, but they were pretty silly.
Alister [Interviewer]: Do you have an example of your own strategy?
Andrew: The first one we wrote down was "Go fuck yourself." Yeah. [laughs]
French transcript provided from the article
ALISTER : Il y a un autre musicien anglais qui vous intéresse c'est Brian Eno. Il y a une chanson sur l'album qui porte son nom Est-ce que vous avez essayé de travailler avec lui ? Les paroles sont un peu ambiguës à son sujet (nda le texte est tout au plus ironique, brossant le portrait dun Eno excessivement gourouesque « Je vois bien quil est souriant/Mais quest-ce quil sait ?» etc...)
ANDREW : Au début on voulait qu'il produise cette chanson Mais finalement ça ne s'est pas fait Je pense qu'il est blessé maintenant Mais ce n'était pas censé être offensant.
ALISTER : Elle est un peu maligne quand même
ANDREW : Oui un peu On voulait juste que ça soit un moment un peu léger sur l'album. C'est une chanson marrante pour danser.
ALISTER : Est-ce que vous utilisez les « stratégies obliques » (nda jeu de cartes inventé par Brian Eno pour débloquer les crises d'inspiration artistique) ?
ANDREW : Oui. On avait ça en studio avec Sonic Boom. On a même nos propres stratégies qui s'appellent les « stratégies obtuses » qui sont assez ridicules (rires)
ALISTER : Vous avez un exemple ?
ANDREW : La première qu'on a écrite dit Go Fuck Yourself (rires) Mais on en a des meilleures
Ils cherchent
BEN : Je m'en rappelle plus
ANDREW : C'est des blagues en fait
Keyboards and Synthesizers used by Benjamin Goldwasser on Congratulations
Goldwasser used an Elka Panther 300 heavily on the MGMT album Congratulations. In this photo from an MGMT practice session, Ben's red Elka Panther can be seen on the far left.
Sound on Sound's article about Congratulations discusses Ben's use of the organ:
Meanwhile, the highly idiosyncratic sound of 'Congratulations' was being created using an array of new musical toys discovered by the band. Chief amongst these was the Elka Panther organ that features throughout. "We found it on Craigslist in LA and got it for about $400,” says Goldwasser. "It needed a little work on it. The vibrato knob's broken but everything else works great. I got really obsessed with transistor organ sounds early on in the recording process. For me it was the most psychedelic sound of the moment. I just love how jarring it is and how cartoony it is. It's this weird reddish orange colour and it's set up differently from some of the other organs. For each register, there's different stops that have a different tone. But then it has a volume knob for the whole stop, so you can set up a tone on one and then you can mix it. It's really musical and you can get so many tones from it really easily.”