Hi John!

BIG thanks for taking the time out to speak with your fans--your work has been an ever present part of my life!

Q1: Am I right in thinking that the guitar sounds, including fx etc, are entirely down to Squire's amp/pedal setup, to which you simply blended the sounds of a couple different mics in front of the amp--or was there much processing or fx added during the mix?

Q2: What are the sources of the sounds on the 'spooky' backing track that opens and closes the album? I think I hear some reverse reverb loop and obviously a bit of guitar scratch, but what's the source of all the whistling and shuffling going on? It sounds like the aural equivalent of communism to me--dark and industrial--and it's definitely effective at setting the stage! Who's idea was it to add that?

For the guitar sounds... yes. All those things. You got to start off with a good amp sound and if the FX are intended and an important part of the part then thats what you record. Blending the sound of a couple of mics in front of the amp is what I do and yes some tracks are heavily processed and some left flat as recorded. Double tracking is also happening.
Sounds at start of album are what we created at time... guitar feedback, noise at start of overdub tracks, Reni fidgeting and whispering on his drum stool, Ian clearing his throat. I also used sound fx from Emulator keyboard which came with floppy disks and took ages to load up to audition sounds.
Cheers
JL

Wow--can't believe what you were able to create that with only those sounds!

If you could provide one example, was the opening guitar on 'She Bangs The Drums' heavily processed, and if so, how? The sound on that opening chord (and the production overall) is simply extraordinary. It was impossible for them to match that live. In my opinion, the best recorded guitar sounds of all time are on that album (and I really wish they had let you do a 5.1 mix)!