Andy McCluskey

Andy McCluskey (voice, bass, keyboards, writing) has seen his beloved jazz Basses get more and more knackered as his five years' touring have made their noticeable mark on the instruments. "I'm not the gentlest of players, I play them like percussion instruments, and sweat all over them," Andy tells us. So he's just got an Aria RSB Deluxe bass which he reckons sounds brighter than the Jazzes and is an ideal weight for him — not so light that it bounces around on stage, but not so heavy that his shoulders give out mid-set.

And he's back to his favoured Rotosound strings — on the Jazzes he'd used Dean Markleys because they (along with Picatos) were the only ones with an E-string that would reach Andy's G machine head in his left-handed upside-down mode. "I'm not a bass player's bass player," insists Lefty. "I don't sit around talking about pickup changes and junk like that. I've been playing bass in a successful band for ten years and I only own four basses, so I thought I'd get a bass that sounded nice and was the right colour — black. The best bass I have is one I'd never take out on the road, a '53 Precision, serial number 101, worth a few bob that. And with roundwound strings on it, it's brighter than some actives I've heard. But I wouldn't dare take it on stage."

Andy is credited with "Roland JP8" in the liner notes for the album Junk Culture.

Andy has played a Fender Jazz bass guitar, according to this article.

"I used two drum machines. For a lot of the percussion and hi-hats and things I used an RX5 - if you solo any of the cymbals you can hear the loops on them. The other thing I used was the little Alesis HR16 - again because it's a piece of cake to use. I love things which are easy to program. It's also a very real-sounding machine. The only trouble with it is that you really have to work at the hi-hats and the tambourine with the EQ to get any sort of top out of them. It's funny but I was talking to somebody who uses an Alesis and he asked me what it was I'd used for the hi-hats and tambourine. I told him and he said 'Bloody hell, I thought it was, you can hear it a mile off.'"

Andy is credited with "Emulator" in the liner notes for the album Junk Culture.

English Electric’ uses the following instrumentation… Paul Humphreys: Synth-Werk, ARP 2600, M Tron Pro, Trillion, Omnisphere, Oberheim SEM V, Morphoder, Jupiter 8V2, Minimoog V, Prophet Pro 53, Massive, Vacuum, Boom Andy McCluskey: Vacuum, Indigo Virus, M Tron Pro, Jupiter 8, Vox Machina

“I just took my G5 out of my programming room, stuck it underneath a cheap office table in a corner of my bedroom overlooking the garden, took a Neumann [U87] from the studio, and stuck it through an Avalon [VT-737SP channel strip], then wondered why I had never done this before.”

"The S1000 and the Korg M1 were the two main instruments. I used two drum machines. For a lot of the percussion and hi-hats and things I used an RX5 - if you solo any of the cymbals you can hear the loops on them."

"I've got a Roland D110 which I never use because it's such a pain to operate. It's a multi-function button nightmare, that machine, so it just sits there dormant in the rack."

“I just took my G5 out of my programming room, stuck it underneath a cheap office table in a corner of my bedroom overlooking the garden, took a Neumann [U87] from the studio, and stuck it through an Avalon [VT-737SP channel strip], then wondered why I had never done this before.”

From a 1993 interview with Sound on Sound: "My setup is quite limited and pretty much the same as I had for Sugar Tax, except that complimenting the small Casio, D50 and M1 I'm using a lot more of the Jupiter 6, Jupiter 8, Moog and JD800. The JD's great but I can't be bothered to learn how to edit properly on it."

Included in Andy McCluskey's equipment list, published in a 1993 issue of Sound on Sound.

Included in Andy McCluskey's equipment list, published in a 1993 issue of Sound on Sound.

"Atari 1040ST running Cubase" is included in a list of Andy's instruments, published in a 1993 issue of Future Music.

List of equipment used on the album Universal:

SYNTHS • Emu Proteus 1 (x2) • Emu Proteus 2 (x2) • Emu Proteus World • Emu Classic Keys • Korg M1R • Korg O3R/W • Oberheim Matrix 6R • Oberheim Matrix 1000 • Quasimidi Quasar • Roland Alpha Juno 2 • Roland D550 • Roland JD800 • Roland JV1080 (with Orchestral, Vintage Synth, Piano, and World expansion boards) • Roland JX8P • Roland MKS30 • Yamaha DX7S • Yamaha TX81Z (x2)

SAMPLERS • Akai S1100 • Akai S1100EX

RECORDING • Alesis Quadraverb • Digitech Vocalist (hired) • Fairchild compressors • Focusrite EQ • Opcode Studio 4 MIDI interface • Pultec EQP1A EQ • Urei 1176 compressors

COMPUTERS & SOFTWARE • Apple Macintosh Quadra 650 • Digidesign Pro Tools II & 442 interface • Digidesign Sound Tools II • Emagic Logic Audio v2.5.3

Andy McCluskey (voice, bass, keyboards, writing) has seen his beloved jazz Basses get more and more knackered as his five years' touring have made their noticeable mark on the instruments. "I'm not the gentlest of players, I play them like percussion instruments, and sweat all over them," Andy tells us. So he's just got an Aria RSB Deluxe bass which he reckons sounds brighter than the Jazzes and is an ideal weight for him — not so light that it bounces around on stage, but not so heavy that his shoulders give out mid-set.

And he's back to his favoured Rotosound strings — on the Jazzes he'd used Dean Markleys because they (along with Picatos) were the only ones with an E-string that would reach Andy's G machine head in his left-handed upside-down mode. "I'm not a bass player's bass player," insists Lefty. "I don't sit around talking about pickup changes and junk like that. I've been playing bass in a successful band for ten years and I only own four basses, so I thought I'd get a bass that sounded nice and was the right colour — black. The best bass I have is one I'd never take out on the road, a '53 Precision, serial number 101, worth a few bob that. And with roundwound strings on it, it's brighter than some actives I've heard. But I wouldn't dare take it on stage."

Andy is credited with "Fairlight CMI" in the liner notes for the album Junk Culture.

English Electric’ uses the following instrumentation… Paul Humphreys: Synth-Werk, ARP 2600, M Tron Pro, Trillion, Omnisphere, Oberheim SEM V, Morphoder, Jupiter 8V2, Minimoog V, Prophet Pro 53, Massive, Vacuum, Boom Andy McCluskey: Vacuum, Indigo Virus, M Tron Pro, Jupiter 8, Vox Machina

"The rest of the system is quite limited really. There's an S1000, M1 - the Sugar Tax album is the M1. Every single pad, I think is M1. Not just M1, but program 07, 'Symphonic' and program 27 which is one of the choral patches. Those two dominate the album."

EQUIPMENT LIST

RECORDING Akai S1000 Sampler + Hard Drive Alesis HR16 Drum Machine Atari 1040ST Computer Casio CZ230S Synth E-mu Systems Proteus Sample Reader Korg M1 Workstation Oberheim Matrix 1000 Synth Module Roland D110 Synth Module Roland Super JX Synth Module Steinberg Pro24 v3 Sequencing Software Yamaha RX5 Drum Machine Yamaha TX81Z Synth Module

"The rest of the stuff I've used is bits and pieces. There's a little Casio CZ230S - it's a lovely little machine but you can't edit on it unless you hook up a computer to it. I wish you could edit on it, actually, because it's got some lovely sounds. The cheesy organ solo in the middle of 'Sailing on the Seven Seas' was done on that. It's also got one of those features where, if you don't send a MIDI signal through it for five minutes or something, it switches itself off. If you've got it in a chain you can find yourself thinking 'something's missing...' And you find the Casio's gone off and taken everything that was in the chain out with it."

"I also used a Matrix 1000, Super JX, TX81Z and a Proteus which I love."

"I also used a Matrix 1000, Super JX, TX81Z and a Proteus which I love."

EQUIPMENT LIST

RECORDING Akai S1000 Sampler + Hard Drive Alesis HR16 Drum Machine Atari 1040ST Computer Casio CZ230S Synth E-mu Systems Proteus Sample Reader Korg M1 Workstation Oberheim Matrix 1000 Synth Module Roland D110 Synth Module Roland Super JX Synth Module Steinberg Pro24 v3 Sequencing Software Yamaha RX5 Drum Machine Yamaha TX81Z Synth Module

EQUIPMENT LIST

RECORDING Akai S1000 Sampler + Hard Drive Alesis HR16 Drum Machine Atari 1040ST Computer Casio CZ230S Synth E-mu Systems Proteus Sample Reader Korg M1 Workstation Oberheim Matrix 1000 Synth Module Roland D110 Synth Module Roland Super JX Synth Module Steinberg Pro24 v3 Sequencing Software Yamaha RX5 Drum Machine Yamaha TX81Z Synth Module

EQUIPMENT LIST

RECORDING Akai S1000 Sampler + Hard Drive Alesis HR16 Drum Machine Atari 1040ST Computer Casio CZ230S Synth E-mu Systems Proteus Sample Reader Korg M1 Workstation Oberheim Matrix 1000 Synth Module Roland D110 Synth Module Roland Super JX Synth Module Steinberg Pro24 v3 Sequencing Software Yamaha RX5 Drum Machine Yamaha TX81Z Synth Module

“I just took my G5 out of my programming room, stuck it underneath a cheap office table in a corner of my bedroom overlooking the garden, took a Neumann [U87] from the studio, and stuck it through an Avalon [VT-737SP channel strip], then wondered why I had never done this before.”

"The Mitsubishi 32-track recorder was a Godsend too - we actually managed to get everything on one machine. We didn't want to have to slave up two 24-track tapes because it's such a tedious process, and when you come to mixing you're always having to wait for them to lock up. It takes twice the time to mix when you're running two machines in sync."

"The SP12 is like a pile of AMSs, but with a built-in sequencer as well. We got fed up with the sounds in the LinnDrum years ago - even the new chips we got for it. In the end we never had access to the AMS in the demo studio because we were running bloody drum samples triggered off the LinnDrum. We don't have that problem now."

From a 1993 interview with Sound on Sound: "My setup is quite limited and pretty much the same as I had for Sugar Tax, except that complimenting the small Casio, D50 and M1 I'm using a lot more of the Jupiter 6, Jupiter 6, Moog and JD800. The JD's great but I can't be bothered to learn how to edit properly on it."