Walking In The Rain won a Grammy for its sound effects, which tells you how it was made: the thunder is on the tape, the reverb is a real room, and the guitars are doing very little on purpose. It is a production, not a performance.
What makes the sound. Soft, dark and enormous. Clean guitars playing sustained chords well back in the mix, drenched in chamber reverb, with castanets and strings carrying the detail. There is almost no attack anywhere in the record.
The analogue recipe. Clean electric with the tone rolled well back, played with the fingers or a soft pick so nothing clicks, into a big plate or chamber reverb with a long pre-delay. Sit the guitar under the strings rather than in front of them.
On a Boss GT-100 / GT-1000 / GX-100. A clean model with the treble down, a compressor with a slow attack to soften the picking, and a hall or plate reverb with a long decay and high mix. This is one of the few tones where too much reverb is the correct amount.
On a Kemper. A dark clean profile with a long plate reverb. Pull the presence right back. If you can hear individual pick attacks, you are still short of the record.
Done for you. The Soulster Tonebook for fans of Motown Classics → has the chords, capo positions, tempos and dialled-in settings for this one.
See all 110 Motown & Girl Groups prints →
Frame the song. The "Walking In The Rain" Paperback print → is the same song, printed. Also on the Practice print → and the Studio print →.
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