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Desert Island DiscsInterviewBy Danielle Bonner

Many people usually have

hundreds of their favorite songs

stored away on their iPods or on

their phones. However when you

get asked If you were on a

desert island and you could only

take three songs with you, what

would they be?, most people

would suddenly struggle with the

songs they would pick. I got

asked this question and here are

the answers to the questions that

have been asked to me on this

subject...

What is your first song

that you would take with

you?

My first song would be

Sinnerman by Nina Simmone. It

is a Jazz/Gospel song that was

one of Simmones biggest hits

when it was released on her 1965

album Pastel Blues. Although it

was originally an American

spiritual song, it has been

recorded by many artists

including Simmone.

What instruments can

be heard in this recording?

In the beginning of this

song it starts off with just piano

playing for two bars. Then it

comes in with an hi-hat rhythm

with a double bass playing just

one note at the start of every bar

for four bars until the vocals

come in on the seventh bar. On

the twelfth bar the bass line

changes to a walking bass line

around the bass notes that the

two pianos are playing. When it

gets to the chorus all off the

instruments play a syncopated

rhythm with the jazz syncopated

drum beat. In the chorus the

backing vocals also come in with

the second guitar doing a

syncopated strumming pattern.

It then just cuts out to the hi-hat

pattern, piano, double bass and

the two guitars alternating

between each other playing

either jazz chords of little solos.

What sonic components

can be heard in this

recording?

One of the sonic

components that can be heard is

the reverb on the main vocal

mic. You can also hear that there

have been reverb/echo added to

the piano in this recording. In

this recording you can hear

clearly that both the guitars have

MISKIN MUSIC TECH

Queens of the StoneAge live at a concertin Dublin, Ireland.

2MAY2013

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breaks into the chorus again and fadesout into just vocals, guitar and clapping.

What sonic components can

be heard in this recording?

The main sonic component I can

hear in this recording is echo delay and

reverb. This is on most instruments and

vocals but it is first heard on the drums

at the beginning of the song. The drum

is hit once at the start of each bar and

there is delay and echo on it so it

repeats 6 times throughout the rest ofthe bar. You can hear echo and reverb

on the main vocals throughout the

whole song. On the backing vocals there

is a lot off delay and reverb which youcan hear through the verses and

choruses of the song. The drums have a

little bit of reverb on them throughout

the song but you cant hear it as well

through all off the other instruments in

the song. The guitar in the guitar solos

have distortion and a bit of reverb on it.

It also has a lot off treble on it which

helps the staccato sound throughout the

whole song.

In the production of this songthey have used panning for each

of the track, describe the panning

had extra effects added to them. One of

the effects I can hear in the recording is

a little bit of distortion or crunch on the

guitar. I can also hear a bit of delay,

reverb and a type of flanger effect on

the guitars.

In the production of this

song they have used panning

for each of the track, describe

the panning for the different

instruments used in the song.

Well, what clearly stands out to

me when listening to this song either

through the studio monitor speakers

or my headphones, is the panning of

each instrument. For example, the

first piano on this recording is

panned slightly to the left but still

mainly centered as it is one of the

main instruments in the song. The

drums and the vocals are panned tothe center as they are key in this

song. The double bass is panned to

the right which you can well when it

starts to do the walking bass line a

few bars into the song. The first

electric guitar is panned to the left

and then second is panned to the

right as this allows you to hear the

different guitar riffs and chord

progressions more clearer

throughout the song.

The backing vocals in this song arealso panned slightly to the left as this

lets the main vocals shine through more

amongst the song. The clapping at the

end of the song is also panned to the

center but then goes from the left to the

right nearer the end and this gives the

listener the impression that there are

two people clapping in different ears

when listening to it through

headphones.

From what you can hear in the

recording, what other production

techniques have they used?

Personally, the main productiontechnique that stands out to me is the

mixing that has been done on this song.

When listening to the song you can

clearly hear that the drums and the

vocals are the two main instruments to

be heard in the mix. I think the vocals

have to be loud in the mix as they are

the main part of the song. The piano is

also quite loud in the mix and I think

that is because it carries the main tune

or rhythm to the whole song. The bass

comes through in the mix very well as. I

think this is because it needs to be heard

to add the lower bass end into the mix

of the song so it doesnt sound empty or

flat.

What is the second song you

have chosen to take away with

you?

I have chosen Falling by HAIM. It

falls into the category of soft rock

and new wave music. Not much has

been said on where, why or how this

song was wrote but it was released

on the 12th February 2013 on

Polydor records. The band HAIM

consists of three sisters called

Danielle (lead singer guitarist),

Alana (vocalist/guitarist) and Este(vocalist/bassist).

What instruments can be

heard in this recording?

In the first four bars of this song

you can hear a drum that has had

echo and delay put on it for effect.

You can also hear a synth that is

slowly crescendoing till the bass,

guitar and vocals come in on the

fifth bar. The guitar all the way

through this song is very staccato whichis the same with most of the bass line

throughout the song. The bass plays a

picked bass line through the first verse

and then when it gets to the chorus it

goes into a slap bass line and carries on

like that throughout the majority of the

song. When it gets to the pre-verse after

the second chorus, there is a small

guitar solo with backing vocals. It then

Sisters Danielle, Alana and Este Haimfrom the band HAIM performing live in an

acoustic session.

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come back in with four hits on the crashcymbals and then it builds up with the

snare and floor tom for two bars before

going into a drum solo with crash

cymbals, toms and the snare.

Meanwhile the guitar and bass are also

doing their own instrumental solos with

the bass doing some runs around the

bass notes of A, G and F and the guitar

using the same bass notes to form its

own solo. It then all fades out and then

back in again till it then gets to the pre-

verse where all the instruments are back

in.

What sonic components canbe heard in this recording?

Starting with the first guitar that

comes in, you can hear the heavy

distortion and fuzz that has been put on

the guitar. These two effects have made

the guitar sound muddy and unclear

which I think was the intended effect as

these types of guitar effects are usually

used in alternative metals songs. The

vocals also heavily effected with flanger

and a bit of reverb and delay. This gives

the song a unique tone as not manyvocals have those sort of effects on

them. The bass guitar has also had

effects been put on it. You can hear that

for the different instruments used

in the song.

Throughout the whole song the

panning has stayed the same. The

drums have been panned so they are in

the middle which is the usual panning

place for drums as they need to be

center of the mix to fill out the

sound and they are one of the main

instruments in the whole mix. The

guitar has been panned slight to the

right in the mix and you can clearly

hear this in the first verse and in the

solo in the pre-verse. The bass has

been panned to be in the center of

the mix as the bass is really

important in the song as it gives the

low end of the song so it doesnt

sound tinny and trebly. The vocals

(backing and main) and the synth

have all been panned to be in the

center of the mix. This is becausethe vocals are the one of the most

important parts in the song so

therefore it needs to be heard

through all off the other instruments

in the mix. At the end of the chorus

the vocals are panned from left to

center to right and so on. This gives

the listener the effect of it going

from one ear to the other when they

are listening through headphones.

From what you can hear in therecording, what other production

techniques have they used?

Throughout the whole song and

over all off the instruments in the song

there is reverb, delay and echo added

on. It is first noticeable in the beginning

when the drum is hit and it rings out

with a heavy amount of delay and echo

on it for four bars. It is then really

noticeable when the vocals come in for

the first verse. The echo and reverb on

the voices have made the vocals sound

softer and warmer than if they didnt

have the effect on them. The backing

vocals have heavy amounts of effects

like delay, reverb and echo which isreally recognizable all the way

throughout the song.

What is your third song that

you would take with you to a

desert island?

My third song is Better living

through chemistry by Queens of the

Stone Age. This song falls into the

category of alternative rock and metal

as it was first released on the bands

second studio album named Rated R.

The album Rated R was released on

the 6th June 2000 on the label

Interscope.

What instruments can be

heard in this recording?

In the beginning of this song it

starts of with the congas being

played by the drummer. This goes

on with an organ synth being played

once in the background very quietly

for four bars. When it gets to the

fifth bar the first distorted guitar

comes in with the main riff which

lasts for eight bars with the congas.

Then the bass comes in with a

punchy constant bass line with the

bells being played on a synth in the

background quietly for eight bars.Then the vocals which are very

heavily effected come in on the last

beat of the ninth bar still with the

same bass line, synth, conga pattern

and guitar riff going on in the

background.

Then when it gets to the chorus the

congas cut out with the synth. The

drums are then added in the chorus

as well as a second distorted guitar.

The guitar riff changes to a series of

chord progressions going up and downthe fret board starting on an A5 on the

seventh fret. The bass line also changes

to copy that guitar progression. The

chorus goes on for eight bars and then

cuts out into the guitar ringing out with

a bit of feed back coming from the

distorted guitar. It then builds up for

eight bars before the guitar coming

back in with the drums and bass on the

last beat of the 19th bar. The drums

Queens of the Stone Age bandphotograph.

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very hard to keep focus on what you areplaying if that happens.

What are the sonic faults that

you can hear in this cover?

One of the sonic faults I can hear

in this cover is the distortion on the

guitar. As previously explained, a twelve

string guitar should never be played

through a heavily distorted channel on

an amp as they arent meant for that

sort of music and that sort of harsh

tone. Therefore, when the guitarist ofthis band put distortion on his twelve

stringed guitar, it sounds awful as it is

not meant for that sort of tone.

You can also hear that the guitar isa lot louder than the other instruments

and the vocals. This is a result of bad

mixing and the guitar shouldnt be

louder than the other instruments.

What were the effects of the

surrounding on the sound of the

cover?

From the video recording of this

cover, you can see it was played in a

spacious hall. Therefore there will be

bad acoustics for the sound to travelaround in. The hall has wooden

flooring, wooden staging and most

probably will have brick walls and a

there is distortion on the bass as it

doesnt sound as clear as a normal bass

does.

In the production of this song

they have used panning for each

of the track, describe the

panning for the different

instruments used in the song.The panning on this track

doesnt change throughout the song

and this is common in these types of

songs in the metal and rock genre.

The first instrument heard is the

congas and they are panned to the

center as they are the main part of

the introduction to the song. The

first guitar that is heard is the

distorted guitar which is panned off-

center to the right slightly. This is

because there is another guitar that

comes in later in the chorus which ispanned off-center to the left. The

bass that runs all the way through

the song is panned to the center as

bass is always panned in the center

with the drums in most songs or

pieces. The synthesizers that can be

heard in this song are panned also to

the center along with the vocals. I

think the vocals are panned to the

center as they cant be lost in the

mix, so having them central will

keep them loud enough in the mix.

Now we have established what

songs you would take to a desert

island, what song would you

definitely never take?

There are many different songs

that I would never take with me but one

of them is a cover of Eye of the Tiger

by Survivor that I heard on YouTube a

while ago.

Musically, why did you chose

this cover in particular?

Well, one of the reasons why Ichose this cover is because it has been

named one of the worst covers of Eye

of the Tiger ever. This is fairly named

as most of it is not in time, the guitar

sounds awful, the vocals are not in tune

and the drumming is out of time as

well.

What are the musical faults of

this cover that you can pick out?

The first fault that I can find in this

cover is the tone of the guitar. The

guitar has been distorted but it sounds

horrible in the cover as it is a twelve

stringed guitar and most guitarists

know that distortion should never be

put on a twelve stringed guitar. This

is the main reason why the guitar

sound muddy and too distorted.

When the guitar goes to the clean

channel you are then able to hear

that his guitar is out of tune. This is

a big fault because if one instrument

is out of tune, the whole song can

sound off (which is shown clearly in

this cover).

Another fault of this cover is the

vocals. When the vocals come in for

the first verse you can clearly hear

that it is out of tune not only withthe instruments, but out of tune

with the original song. As the song

cover goes on you can hear that the

singer cant sing or stay in tune with

the instruments or the original song

what so ever. This is very noticeable

and is probably the biggest fault in

this cover. The singer also goes out

of time with the rest of the band

during the song. This is also very

noticeable and it makes the cover

sound completely different to theoriginal which is not what band wants

when doing a cover like this. When the

singer goes out of time with the rest of

the band coming into the chorus, you

can see that it has thrown the other

band members off. This is because it is

very of putting to have the singer

singing at a different time to what the

rest of the band are playing and it is

The band that covered Eye of the Tiger andwas later named the worst cover of the songever.

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high ceiling/roof. All of this together

will make a bad environment for the

sound waves to travel around in as it has

a lot off reflective surfaces for the sound

to bounce off of. This will create a hall/

reverb effect on the sound that is

created by the band.

If the band were playing in an

insulated room with acoustic foam walls

and ceilings then the sound would have

sounded warmer, fuller and would have

had more bass in the mix.

First song choice:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbIG_b2IMO0

Second song choice:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_acBVglVBcY

Third song choice:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKrDXLHkEUk

Fourth song choice/cover:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giRb50JKook

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giRb50JKookhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giRb50JKookhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKrDXLHkEUkhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giRb50JKookhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giRb50JKookhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKrDXLHkEUkhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKrDXLHkEUkhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_acBVglVBcYhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_acBVglVBcYhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbIG_b2IMO0http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbIG_b2IMO0