Blondie's Heart of Glass shimmering cascade effect [closed]

Question

There's a ethereal shimmering cascading effect in the background of Blondie's song "Heart of Glass" at around 0:35 minutes in

(in E major) and also moments later at 0:43 (in C# minor) and 0:50 (in C# major) --- also appears again at 1:19 and 1:26. I'm wondering how this effect was made.

I also think it's a fun experiment to try to recreate this sound on other instruments. Restricting to acoustic instruments, perhaps one can imitate it using some sort of sliding whistle/flute (or quiet flute run, like in the opening of Ravel's Daphnis et Chloe Suite 2), and maybe a bowed vibraphone on the respective chord to emphasize the harmony, and maybe some string instrument glissando harmonics or cymbal tremelo if we're feeling extra shimmery. I would love to hear other people's ideas, and learn about new instruments and sounds!

Answer 1

To my ears, that's a synth filter sweep. It's a whole bunch of high harmonics of a midrange synth chord, with a resonant filter sweeping through them. You could approximate that sound with a large string section, with higher notes dropping out and lower ones dropping in for a downward sweep, and vice versa. Maybe add harp and keyboards (harpsichord, celeste, etc.) sweeping up and down.

Another approach, somewhat less practical, is to attach a large tubular resonator to the bridge of each stringed instrument, with an internal plunger for tuning, rather like a large bicycle pump with the working end removed. A bunch of brass instruments with plunger mutes could do something technically similar, but to vastly different emotional effect.

Answer 2

I agree that it's a filter sweep. (Briefly, you vary the cutoff frequency of a filter on the fly - which removes/restores the top or bottom part of the sound spectrum - and the filter resonance. Resonance boosts a range of frequencies around the cutoff point, as the cutoff frequency varies the resonance emphasises a different part of the overtone range. There are normally parameters to vary the amount of resonance and the width of the resonance peak. Effects like wah or phaser work along similar principles.)

I don't know of anything else that sounds like that, if you want that effect with acoustic instruments hook them up to a mic and use effects pedals or a DAW.

But more broadly, we can consider it a change in timbre while the note sounds. Some instruments like piano have few mechanisms to change the timbre, but e.g. wind instruments, bowed string, or vocals has plenty. Will probably need some experimentation and practice and it won't sound the same, but could yield some interesting results anyway.

For 'shimmery' I suppose try the upper part of the instrument range (or a harmonics) and modulate the tibmre by changing embouchure/tongue position/air, or bow pressure/speed/position/semi-muted strings/whatnot (I'm not a string expert). It's also worth exploring combinations we don't normally use since it's not considered a 'good' sound, but when we are looking for effects the idea of 'good' is a bit different.

Answer 3

As others have said, this is a filter sweep on a synthesizer. The fundamental pitch of the chord tones does not change, so a glissando is not a good facsimile.

There are a few natural acoustic instruments that can do something like this. Some initial ideas:

1. Human voice: The mouth is a resonant filter. Listen to some central Asian (Tuvan, Mongolian, etc.) overtone singers for ideas. It would take a chorus and would not be the usual way overtone singing is used.

2. Bowed strings: The timbre would have to be altered by changing the bow position between the bridge and fingerboard.

3. (Possibly) muted horns: The resonance isn't as sharp with mutes, and this would end up sounding more like a swing-era dance hall than a 1970s disco.

Answer 4

Sounds like a Solina string ensemble through a mono phaser.

There's a stem-by-stem breakdown of Heart of Glass here.

This video suggests that it's a polymoog rather than a string ensemble.

Answer 5

Could be made in several ways. A very slow use of a wah pedal, or a phaser set at a slow speed, or as KFW says, made using a filter with a synth. Any of those would work. Failing that, try a coiled telephone wire or guitar cable in your teeth...