The classic "Moog Source" can be spotted in Calvin Harris' studio.

Used for bass on Eliminator, as stated by engineer Terry Manning in this February 15, 2005 ProSoundWeb forum reply.

[Tue, 15 February 2005 09:20]

tenaciousJay wrote on Mon, 14 February 2005 12:05

Terry I wonder if you could comment on the guitar sound in Eliminator. What I always heard it was all Rockman - but was there an amp mixed in as well? And thoughts on the direction of that album as a whole - it certainly was a huge change in sound, even if there were hints of it on earlier albums.

The full story of the making of Eliminator (the politics, the chicannery, the technical aberrations, the high social drama, the exodus, the payback) is one that I cannot tell. Even if I could, there certainly wouldn't be room for it here! It probably won't even make it into "the book" (or the movie). Just don't forget that truth is often stranger than fiction!

However, I will address certain specific musical or technical issues, and I'll begin with your guitar amp question.

THERE WAS ABSOLUTELY NO ROCKMAN USED ON THIS RECORDING!

Not a little bit, not a tiny bit; NOT ANY. I don't know how these stories get started. Billy may indeed have used Rockman at a later date, after I left the situation, but I did not allow it when I was working with him. He did bring one in to try, but I was not satisfied with the sound, compared to an amplifier.

The amp used, almost exclusively, on Eliminator was a Legend. This was about a 50 watt hybrid unit, employing a tube/valve preamp, and a transistor power amp. This is the amp which has a finished wood case, and a rattan-type cane grill. It has one 12" Celestion speaker. Legend were later bought by, or at least distributed by, Gibson, but they were independent when we started using them. I still have this amp; it is almost new. A couple of years ago I plugged one of the Eliminator guitars into it, just to see...there was the sound!

The guitars were custom built by Dean. Dean were out of Chicago, and were trying to break into the high end (a la Jackson, PRS) market. They were very nice, albeit different, instruments. Subsequently however, they got a contract with Sears to make guitars, so they opted for the big bucks, Korean manufactured, low end market instead. But the ones we used were very nicely made. There were two which we employed. One was somewhat like a cross between a Flying-V and a Moderne shape, very long "ears," and the other was a sort of a warped, pointy Stratocaster-y shape. Both guitars had a single DiMarzio Super Distortion high output pickup, and almost no controls. I don't think there is even a tone control...what would you need one for? They have big, heavy, brass bridge/tail pieces bolted into the body. These guitars were very live, very resonant, and would verge on resonant feedback at all times; they were also very hard to keep in tune because of this. But they were always alive. Billy has the first one mentioned, and he gave me the latter, which I still have.

The guitar was recorded with basically only one setup; one amp (Legend), one speaker (12"), one guitar (Deans, the two were almost exactly the same), one mic (AKG 414B-ULS, I still have it) in one position (about 5" from the cone, placed at a slight angle off axis), one mic pre (the SpectraSonics console). 98% of ALL guitar on this album, whether lead or rhythm was done this way. Any variations were from the player himself, who, remember, did not even have a tone control. That's how good Billy was back then. We did use very briefly a small amp by Ross, but we didn't like it much, and I think only a tiny part or two was kept from this, if any.

The rhythm guitars were done in a precursor-to-Protools style. Short phrases were played, and then double tracked, onto one set of tracks, and then the chord change/next phrase was played on a second set of tracks. This allowed a seamless transition between changes; since the Deans were so close to feedback at all times (acoustically, through the fairly loud JBL monitors), we couldn't even lift the fingers to change chords! Then I would trim the edges of each section by punching in and out to silence at the beginnings and ends of the phrases (somewhat analogous to "trimming the region" today). This method also "eliminated" to a degree the loud harmonic squeaks between chord changes. The punch in/out points, if done exactly perfectly, made for a primitive cross fade of probably 10-20 ms, and ended up sounding very different as rhythm guitar, sort of like a big train rolling down a track, almost out of control; without knowing how it was done, one wouldn't really realise why it was different.

For the leads, as always, there was a lot of punching done.

The bass was mostly played either by Billy or by me, and was either a bass instrument, or a Moog Source (the Source was a Mini Moog [rhymes with 'Vouge'] analogue synth with digitally controlled parameters...I still have this, too). Synth chords were played on a Memory Moog (polyphonic Mini).

Billy sang great, different vocals, as usual, and the harmonies were done either by Jimmy Jamison or by me.

There are a MILLION more things which could be told about this distinctive album, but as mentioned, most of it is probably better left unsaid. But one interesting thing, at least to me, was the recording of "Legs." We had tried it a couple of ways unsuccessfully at Ardent, so I decided to try a new approach. I had a 24 track studio in my attic at home, so I took Billy's lead guitar and vocal home on a 1/2" two track L/R ("samples"). I recut the entire track myself, and then hand flew in Billy's parts onto the track. This meant careful timing of the play button on my MCI 1/2", for each and every phrase, as after a few seconds, they would drift out of sync. I mixed it there through my Soundcraft 1200 console (these were also the mic pre's) onto the MCI 1/2". The multitrack was also the Soundcraft 2" machine, which I really loved. Then I did a totally different version, which became the long "dance mix" later released to clubs, and it is now included in the new box set. Later, I saw a review of this dance version credited, to Jellybean Benitez ...go figure!

Anyway, that's a lot about Eliminator for now. Thanks for your interest!

Terry

The Moog Source can be seen in Studio 13, and in the documentary Bananaz (Gorillaz). Damon Albarn plays the Moog Source here on Friends of P (The Rentals) on Taratata with Matt Sharp https://mytaratata.com/taratata/129/blur-matt-sharp-friends-of-p-1996 The Moog Source is on the song Movin'On ( Blur album) and All We Want (Blur- 13 B-Sides)

"In the '80s they got all smart and decided nobody needed tactile feedback and they just used membrane switches," Hansen said, talking sarcastically about the Moog Source. "It's so indicative of what [synthesizer makers] thought the future was going to be." – Wired Magazine

According to this article, Bernard used a Moog Source for the synth bass on "Blue Monday."

In a YouTube video titled "King Crimson – Three Of A Perfect Pair - Live In Japan 1984," Tony Levin is seen using a Moog Source synthesizer at the 16:30 mark during the backstage segment. The Moog Source was also used in tracks like "Model Man" and "Industry" from the 1984 album "Three of a Perfect Pair" by King Crimson. This video was recorded at Kani Hoken Hall, Tokyo on April 28, 1984

The Moog Source can be seen in the lower right rack of synths in this photo of Vince Clarke's studio.

the Moog can be seen 3:36 into this video. This video was shot inside Air's Atlas Studio in Paris. Courtesy of The Gardian Uk for the documentary.

Used on Lite Me Up, as specified in Herbie Hancock’s Electronic Instrument Glossary from September 14, 2016.

Moog Source – A monophonic analog synthesizer that was the first synthesizer to offer patch memory storage. Herbie used this instrument on his 1982 album Lite Me Up.

59:14 Mike is setting up the Source to trigger it with his bass pedals.

Key lists the Moog Source as one of the synths he has used in an interview with Reverb.com

In 1980, Key would join the new wave band Images in Vogue as a drummer, gaining access to a Sequential Circuits Pro One and Prophet 5, an ARP Pro Soloist, a Moog Source, the Syncussion, and all sorts of drum machines.

At 53:17 in the video he shows the synth to the camera and says "Here is a Moog Source . . .".