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Poison Noises The Spill

Aug 11, 2022
Read next The Complete Guide to Bedroom Pop & Dream Pop Guitar Pedals

The Spill by Poison Noises is a chorus and vibrato modulation box of wonder.

This low-key looking pedal is a smorgasbord of 8 different chorus/vibrato modulation types.

The Grade control is a rotary switch that lets you choose between these choruses, going from light and lush to crazy creative:

  1. Light Chorus
  2. Medium Chorus
  3. Large Chorus
  4. XL Chorus
  5. Double Chorus
  6. Chorus + Tremolo
  7. Pitch (octave up/down) Chorus
  8. Aliaser Chorus

My favorites are the double chorus (which can be tuned to sound almost like a phaser), the pitch chorus (which can produce those spooky but adorable sounds) and the aliaser chorus that can do that bit-crush thing.

All knobs do mostly the same job that you expect on chorus pedals (mix, depth, speed). Personally I could do without the Slick (volume) control, which seems to be unity when maxed out.

Refine controls a low-pass filter for the simpler chorus types (1-4). Turning it counter-clockwise filters out highs on the modulated part of the signal, which makes for a smoother, more lush chorus sound. It controls different parameters for the more wacky choruses (see demo above).

The Spill is an excellent sound exploration tool and will keep you finding new sounds for a long time.

Recording Notes

Main Guitar

Arpeggio Overdubs

  • Fidelity Guitars Stellarosa Lite II (Lollar Firebirds, both pickups)
  • The Spill (left side: aliaser chorus, right side: XL chorus with high mix and depth)
  • Calamity Drive on a low gain, chimey setting
  • Strymon Iridium (Chime)

Strummed chord overdubs in the second half of the loop

These parts are mixed down so you can still hear mostly what the main guitar is doing. They just fill out the backing track a little more.

  • Fidelity Guitars Stellarosa Lite II (Lollar Firebirds, both pickups)
  • The Spill on a lush chorus setting
  • Calamity Drive on a low gain, chimey setting
  • 2 takes, hard panned left and right

Melody in the second half

  • Fidelity Guitars Stellarosa Lite II (Lollar Firebirds, both pickups in parallel mode)
  • The Spill in the pitch chorus mode with upper octave
  • Calamity Drive on a higher gain goosed setting
  • 2 takes, hard panned left and right

Bass

Drums

  • GarageBand Drummer Graham (experimental songwriter) on the Liverpool kit
  • Kick and snare treated with the stock GarageBand RAT-style pedal plugin

The whole mix was “mastered” with exciter, limiter and mild compression in the DAW.

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Get detailed specs on Poison Noises' website

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