| Technical Recording Details |
On wolftones and "false" resultant pitches
--by producer / arranger / lead guitarist Joshua Murrell
Some sonic phenomenon can produce physiological responses in people, and I wanted to convey, and somehow communicate on a musical level the horror and frightening experience of a hurricane. I knew about "false" tones used by pipe organ manufactures to create an apparent lower pipe pitch on their ‘too small' organs. They also used odd harmonic collages by using multiple tuned groups of pipes that would sound on one key.
They called the ‘false' pitch a "resultant". It was a combination of at least three pipes--a root pitch, a fifth above, and an octave above the root pitch. Sometimes they would add another softer octave pipe. These three pipes, when sounded together, would give an apparent octave below the root pitch, due to the slower beating of the harmonics. Accurate tuning was essential for the trick to work on pitch.
This trick can be duplicated, not as dramatically (pipes have positive pressure wavefronts, and speakers are positive and negative) using speakers cranked up enough to disturb and recombine enough air to create the trick. It's done by playing the root pitch on on side, octave on other side, and fifth in the center. You can add an upper octave on either side for a greater effect. The obvious positive aspect of the ‘trick' is that the ‘false' lower pitch doesn't actually come OUT of the speakers....but is generated IN THE AIR IN FRONT OF THE SPEAKERS. So....actually reproducing a 20hz signal out of a small speaker is very difficult, if not impossible. However, generating one using a 40hz root pitch resultant is entirely possible.
So... I created a few tricks with guitars....using sound pressure fronts created by subharmonic wolftones on the guitar with various special tunings--a lot of 'perfect intonation' tunings and strong thirds.
Wolftones come in two flavors....stable desirable ones like pipe organ pitches, and the
obnoxious unstable screaming ones...like the ones that guitars make.
I used a higher pitched wolftone for FX in a solo....in the song ‘Delete Me', the beginning of the solo at 2:10 into the song. It sounds very odd...a "brbrbrbrbrbrbrbr" coming out of the guitar. It was accomplished by playing overhand, pulling all 6 strings at once, and tuning them/bending the pitches. Its easy to do live, if you have time to pull the strings/tune them. It's a weird thing to do on stage, (I did it by tuning first, then starting the solo) but once you get it tuned, it makes the strangest rackets.
I also played a few notes of the solo overhand after the FX, then swapped back to a regular underhand solo. You can hear the notes drop out for a second while I make the switchover. It was done live/one pass, one punch-in/overdub for the entire solo.
Now, as for how we did "Wall of Water"...that's a trade secret, haha! To best experience the song, listen to the full fidelity CD cut on a good system. Stand back several feet, between the speakers, especially towards the end of the song.
Welcome to the storm.
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Instrument Recording Details
–Recorded at Dockside Studios (Milton, LA) on circa 1978 48-input Neve board (originally at A & R Studios, New York).
--Input preamps were 31102; compressor limiters were 32264
--Recording "deck" and mixdown: Pro Tools 882, Mac G5
--Mixdown was ProTools recorded onto Alesis Masterlink CD recorder at 88.2k 24 bit
--Audio Monitors: Genelec 1031A
--Premastering was done on a 1.2GHZ Celeron with 728MB of RAM; the program used was Adobe Audition (versions 1 and 2). Mastering completed by Roger Nichols / Digital Atomics.
VOCALS
L47MP & 251 tube
AKG D-12
Vintech Audio 473 Preamp
BASS
Electric: ALTEC 1556 Preamp
Acoustic: AKG D-12 and TCL 200 direct box
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| At Dockside |
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DRUMS
Kick: EV RE-20
Snare: Neumann TLM170(topside), Beyer M500C ribbon (underside) (snare is a 1957 Ludwig mahogony piccolo)
Toms: Sennheiser e602
High Hat: Audio Technica 4050
Overhead/Room: Earthworks TC-30K
Focusrite ISA 428 preamp
GUITARS
Electric: Royer 121 and Neumann U-87 room mic
Acoustic: B&K 4012 high voltage
PIANO
Electric: Proco Quad B4 direct box
Acoustic: B&K 4012 high voltage
ORGAN
AKG 414EB
NEUMAN KM861
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