How It Was Recorded

Billy Idol · Album, 1984

Rebel Yell

This is an album-level record: the sources describe how the album as a whole was recorded, not one song. Where a detail belongs to a single song, the row says so.

Songs this record stands for: Eyes Without a Face, Flesh for Fantasy, Rebel Yell. We found nothing specific to these songs, so this album record is the closest account we have.

Steve Stevens guitarDrums / drum machineTape machineVerified4Reported4

What the sources do and do not say

One Mix Classic Tracks article, read in full, with Keith Forsey and Steve Stevens quoted. Most of the gear statements describe the album sessions or Stevens's general guitar rig rather than this song, so they are marked album-level; the vocal microphone, ray-gun effect and Linn drum are tied to the song. The Studio B Neve console is named but no function is given, so it is left out; the mix engineer was Dave Wittman and the tracking engineer Michael Frondelli, but no mix gear is listed.

Steve Stevens guitar

Steve Stevens

Instrument

Kramer Kramer guitar (Pacer model possibly, Floyd Rose tremolo)

Reported

Stevens recalls playing a Kramer, possibly a Pacer, fitted with a Floyd Rose tremolo, on the album.

Source: Mix, accessed 15 Nov 2026

No plugin suggested. A guitar is the source of the sound, not a process applied to it. No plugin stands in for it.

Amplifier

Marshall Plexi head (late 1960s, non-master volume)

Verified

Unmodified late-1960s plexi head with no master volume, turned up as loud as possible for the guitar sound.

Source: Mix, accessed 15 Nov 2026

Covers this kind of unit

IK Multimedia AmpliTube 5

amp and cabinet simulator

An amp and cabinet simulator that covers a wide range of amplifiers and speaker cabinets of this kind. It is not a model of this unit, so pick the nearest one in it by ear.

Get the plugin ↗What else it stands in for

Also worth a look: Native Instruments Guitar Rig 7 Pro (An amp and cabinet simulator that covers a wide range of amplifiers and speaker cabinets of this kind. It is not a model of this unit, so pick the nearest one in it by ear).

Microphone

Neumann U 87

Reported

The other half of the two-microphone combination used to record Stevens's guitar amp.

Source: Mix, accessed 15 Nov 2026

No plugin suggested. Microphone-modelling plugins only work with their own matched hardware microphone, so there is no plugin to link. Placement and the room matter more than the model.

Mix effects

Publison Harmonizer-style unit (model not stated)

Verified

Thickened the guitars without sounding fake, a more subtle alternative to a standard Harmonizer; Wittman introduced Stevens to it.

Source: Mix, accessed 15 Nov 2026

No plugin suggested. The source does not name the model, so no specific plugin can be suggested.

Unidentified Plate/spring reverb tank (model not stated)

Verified

Stevens insisted on the studio's own reverb tank for his guitars rather than any digital reverb.

Source: Mix, accessed 15 Nov 2026

Approximate

Waves Magma Springs

reverb

A general spring reverb, not a model of this unit.

Get the plugin ↗What else it stands in for

Lexicon PCM41

ReportedOne song

Provided the extreme modulation that made the "ray gun" effect at the climax of the guitar solo.

Source: Mix, accessed 15 Nov 2026

Close match

Soundtoys PrimalTap

delay

Based on the Lexicon Prime Time, the first of this family of delays.

Get the plugin ↗What else it stands in for

Drums / drum machine

Instrument

Linn Linn drum machine (model not stated)

ReportedOne song

Drum part of the original, later scrapped, version of the song; the re-cut was built on live drums instead.

Source: Mix, accessed 15 Nov 2026

Covers this kind of unit

Aly James Lab VProm

drum instrument

Models Linn's LM-1 and LinnDrum, sample-based drum machines with the same converters and tuning controls. The source does not name the model, so this stands for the maker's family of units: it is not a model of the one on the record.

Get the plugin ↗What else it stands in for

Tape machine

Input chain

Studer 24-track 2-inch tape machine (model not stated)

Verified

Forsey says the tracks were multed and split up, with tambourines placed on the gaps, and that it was all hand-mixed with no automation.

Source: Mix, accessed 15 Nov 2026

Approximate

Slate Digital Virtual Tape Machines

tape

Models two Studer machines, not this recorder. It gives the general behaviour of analogue multitrack tape.

Get the plugin ↗What else it stands in for

Also worth a look: Universal Audio Studer A800 Tape Recorder (Models a Studer A800, not this recorder. It gives the general behaviour of analogue multitrack tape).

Sources

  1. Classic Tracks: Billy Idol's "Rebel Yell", Mix, 2006-06-01. Accessed 15 Nov 2026.
Verified

Stated by the engineer, producer or artist, or by the manufacturer.

Reported

Stated by a reputable secondary source.

Inferred

An educated suggestion, not a documented fact.

Disclosure: plugin links currently go straight to the maker and earn us nothing. If that changes, affiliate links will be marked here. Suggestions are chosen on fit, never on commission, and are kept separate from the recording facts. More.