{"id":365699,"date":"2019-05-10T11:05:29","date_gmt":"2019-05-10T09:05:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/?p=365699"},"modified":"2020-05-11T15:38:19","modified_gmt":"2020-05-11T13:38:19","slug":"hit-the-tone-mac-demarco-synths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thomann.de\/blog\/en\/gear\/hit-the-tone-mac-demarco-synths\/","title":{"rendered":"Hit The Tone! Mac Demarco & his gadgets"},"content":{"rendered":"

INGENUITY, SIMPLICITY & STYLE<\/p>\n

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You mean that goof with the gap between his teeth?<\/h3>\n

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Among other things, but yes, that’s him. Throughout the history of popular music<\/strong> there has been a constant tug-of-war between solemnity<\/strong> (in terms of sound and lyrics) and a sense of humour<\/strong>. Some of the greatest music ever made balances magically between saving the world and making fun of its absurdity. Progressive rock<\/strong> and punk, grunge<\/strong> and brit-pop<\/strong> all contain examples of this throughout history and there’s no doubt that Mac DeMarco<\/strong> is succeeding in this magical balancing act. His music could be understood as the ironic<\/strong> -and brilliant-<\/strong> response to the messianism of history’s pop and rock icons. DeMarco embodies the opposite of over-the-top commercial pop: lightness, simplicity, low fidelity, vintage integrity, slacker attitude, a wacky, almost vulgar, sense of humour (especially on stage) and undeniably catchy melodies. Through his three LPs<\/strong> and two<\/strong> EPs<\/strong><\/a>, this\u00a0Canadian<\/strong> has developed a sort of marriage between jangle pop and low-fi psychedelia<\/strong>. The result, we’ll tell you in case you haven’t tasted it yet, is irresistible.<\/p>\n

Mac releases his new album<\/strong> today, May 10th<\/strong>, called “Here Comes The Cowboy<\/strong><\/a>“!<\/p>\n

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Tell me your secrets, please!<\/h3>\n
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Since Mac himself won’t (fully) reveal them, it’s up to us to listen<\/strong>, and watch, for the details. In addition to using vintage guitars<\/strong>, one of the great secrets of DeMarco’s sound is the application of effects<\/strong> to those guitars. One of the permanent effect pedals<\/strong><\/a> in his arsenal is the Boss CE-2w<\/a><\/strong>, a combo of chorus<\/strong> and vibrato<\/strong> that recovers the sound of the mythical CE-1<\/strong> and CE-2<\/strong>, key figures in the sound that we associate with jangle pop<\/strong> and the C-86<\/strong><\/a> schools, from which our Canadian hero seemingly takes inspiration. Two of the secrets of DeMarco’s guitars are his tasteful use of reverb<\/strong> and delay.<\/strong> Regarding the first one, he usually uses the vintage-tinged\u00a0Electro Harmonix Holy Grail<\/strong><\/a>, and for\u00a0delay<\/strong>\u00a0his favourite is an ’80s<\/strong> classic: the Boss DM-2W Delay<\/strong><\/a>, which is also characterised by its analog<\/strong> aroma. To finish off about pedals, it’s necessary to talk about one of the jewels of his crown, the Electro Harmonix POG2<\/strong><\/a>, a generator of polyphonic octaves<\/strong> of which DeMarco himself spoke thus: “It just kind of makes your guitar sound like a weird church organ or something strange. It’s a cool thing. It’s a weird, weird sound.” No further questions, Your Honour.<\/p>\n\n\t\t