Audio Astronaut Ep. 17 - Reentry (Shoegaze/dreampop with Catalinbread Soft Focus, FX500, and FX500B)

In episode 11, I introduced some shoegazey sounds combining fuzz, reverb, and bitcrushing via the Polarbear Drowner, but in this episode, we’re going to re-enter the ethereal atmosphere of classic shoegaze using the Catalinbread Soft Focus pedal, alongside the rack effect unit that inspired it, the Yamaha FX500.

I’ll explore various preset sounds of the FX500 – because it can do far more than just patch 40! – and I’ll also introduce the FX500B, which is marketed bass but is actually capable of the same sorts of sounds as the FX500… including the Soft Focus settings!

Then I’ll demo the Catalinbread Soft Focus, which ventures into the same type of terrain but is actually quite different in its sound and capabilities.

Finally, we’ll go through the song recording process, using both the Catalinbread pedal and the FX500 – along with TC Helicon VoicePlay, EZDrummer, and and Izotope plugins – to create a washy, dreampop-infused shoegaze version of Man on the Moon by R.E.M.

If you're interested in buying one of these incredible effects units, keep an eye on my Reverb shop, where at least one of them will likely go up for sale soon: https://reverb.com/shop/blue-sky-bending

For blog posts, occasional pedal giveaway raffles, and more, go to https://www.audioastronaut.us/

Affiliate links to purchase instruments in this video:

Squier Affinity Stratocaster guitar: https://amzn.to/3tBKyyB
Squier Bullet Telecaster guitar: https://amzn.to/3xP1O5Z
Catalinbread Soft Focus pedal: https://amzn.to/3M0U5to
Ozone Elements: https://amzn.to/3G0sWmg
Amplitube 5: https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products...

----------------------------------------------------
0:00 Introduction
0:32 Yamaha FX500
3:19 FX500 Preset Demos
6:59 Reverse Reverb into JCM800
7:53 FX500B
9:09 Creating Soft Focus in FX500B
10:31 Catalinbread Soft Focus pedal
14:02 Comparison: Catalinbread vs FX500
14:43 Recording a shoegaze song
17:40 Man on the Moon
20:07 Conclusion

#guitar #dreampop #shoegaze #guitarpedal #guitarpedals #catalinbread #musicproduction #yamaha