LeChuck

I wonder if this is the only song to feature someone singing in binary

Marathon! I don't listen to Power Windows too terribly often, but what a great song (and so many interesting parts coming in as the song builds up)

Back to P/G today .. currently listening to Afterimage .. *sigh*

I think of Neil every single time I hear this song now .. My songs for today were mostly all of Moving Pictures. Every time I hear YYZ I can't believe it didn't get best instrumental of the year award .. what a crock!

I thought those were played on a bell tree by NP. The opening chime tones are a glockenspiel. In fact, when played live in later years, Neil would emulate the opening chimes using a glockenspiel sample on his MalletKat unit. However, on the album version, at about the 17 second mark, a horse of a different color rides onto the scene. This could be a chromatic bell tree. But it has an almost detuned effect to it, so I have assumed it was the OB-X using a similar sounding patch. I may be wrong. If so, I shall have to don the horsehair shirt for a prescribed period. It sounds like you all are talking about the intro. I'm actually talking about the little shimmery stab that happens right after the line I mentioned ("They say there is strangeness, too dangerous .."). I tried to mimic this on my OB-X and got fairly close, so I always assumed it was from that. When I get a chance I'll fire it up and try to match this sound again. I personally never even considered those intro noises to be anything but real percussion.

This is actually something I wonder all the time and would love to ask. Once they come up with a synth patch for a sound they like, how do they go about archiving it and recreating it later? Like you said, I would expect for the old analog synths they would write down all the patch settings somewhere and keep it in a vault (later digital stuff could exported to floppy/computers). But I wonder in reality if they take it that far. Maybe just knowing what synth made the sound, they just shoot for 'close enough' later if needed. Seems hard to believe though, especially since some of the digital stuff (like PPG Wave programs) can be so tough to make again from scratch. I'm obviously a big nerd about getting the historical record down for synthy stuff, I'd love to know more details on this process. Maybe we should start a petition to get a synth chapter in his memoir? ;) PS - One thing this reminds me of is when I was emailing the guy who played the synths on the Twin Peaks TV show soundtrack. I was surprised that he didn't still have the original Emulator II file for the guitar sample he used to make that great bass guitar sound in the intro (he only had it in a newer format, with the pitch shift and tremolo already applied). I get that he probably never uses his Emulator II anymore. But I would still think once you made a hit with something like that, you would immediately back it up in multiple places and keep it safe forever.

Good choice! I could listen to Jacob's Ladder every day and never get tired of it (sometimes I do). I particularly love the middle section with the percussion and synth pads - what a soundscape! For me today it's back to Subdivisions. Not too original of a choice, but what a song! There is something about the mood that song puts out that really resonates with me. I absolutely love the chords and that slightly detuned sad-sounding Oberheim synth.

Wow! Can't wait for this. I finally watched the Dan Rather interview recently, loved hearing him talk through stories and other personal/band history. I hope the memoir is about six inches thick and covers everything (especially all those synth details I'm always wondering about ;))

I can get a reasonable approximation of this on my OB-X synth, so I always guessed that's what it was. But it does almost sound like something else with how distinct and percussive it is. Watching some P/G footage, he appears to turn to his PPG Wave to make this sound when playing it live on that tour (although his OB-Xa is tied up with playing the choir patch). The sound is also a lot more drawn out and synthy compared to the original recording.

Yep, agreed. When listening to the full mix I always thought this sounded like a choir sound (and assumed it was the same one he used on 'Analog Kid'). But when you hear it isolated you can hear that it's something else - more like another synth track drenched in some effect. Here's a good clip where you can hear it pretty clearly in the intro - I asked Terry Brown over email, and he actually replied. I can't find the mail now, but I think the gist of it was that it was a long time ago and he wasn't sure. So close!

Yep, that sounds like what you hear in the isolated track too. It's sort some of thick effect on something (probably another synth track). In the full mix it sounds like a choir, but isolated it sounds totally different. I wish I could figure out what the effect is, this one has been driving me crazy for years! For sure he never does anything like this live either. Agreed. I actually own a lot of the same equipment (incl. Wave 2.3/Waveterm) and don't see any way to make a sound like that. It does sort of sound synthetic when it first starts, but the wild modulation and especially the explosion/booming after the instruments come in doesn't seem possible for any of that gear. You're probably right. I think I was always thrown off by him saying in the interviewed that it "overlapped the main part". But he must mean the part you mention (or maybe it's in the "main part" but not distinct enough to pick out).

I have been listening to 'Between the Wheels' a lot lately. It is interesting how many mood changes that song has. It starts out very dark and creepy, then switches to a rock-out jam (when Geddy moves to his bass guitar), then the happier synths come in and it has a few moments of being positive and upbeat .. until it goes back into minor chord creepyville again.

I agree completely! This is the kind of thing that makes me wish I was an interviewer for a paper or website .. so I would have some shot at getting to ask him all these questions. I guess I consider it part of the 'historical record' so to speak. Feels like a shame to leave things unanswered, especially when the people that could answer them are still around. He has certainly been asked a thousand times what basses he played on what songs, what strings he uses, etc. I think it would be awesome to have an interview slot and ask him about his synth usage and sound effects. Maybe it's weird enough that he would actually agree to it too? Here are some of mine, feel free to reply with more: - Intro sound to 'Distant Early Warning' (Synth effect with heavy modulation? Or stock tape recording of an exploding horsefly?) - Choir sound on 'Subdivisions' (mystery effect, not possible directly with his synths at the time) - Choir sound on 'Analog Kid' (which is different than the above - played live on the OB-Xa - I can get a very close approximation on my OB-X) - Laser blasts in the Cygnus X-1 (Pt 1) intro (I always figured this was noodling around on the Minimoog with tape echo) - 'Afterimage' vocal sound effect he mentions in the Keyboard 1984 interview (I can never hear what he is talking about, no matter how hard I listen for this) - That little fill he does during the "1001001" bit in 'The Body Electric' (I'm guessing from his PPG Wave) - What is layered on the chords at the very end of 'Between the Wheels'? (Sounds like a piano, or maybe just a percussive patch from the PPG Wave) - That chimey sound on 'Witch Hunt' ("They say there is strangeness, too dangerous ..") - Vocal effect on the middle part of Jacob's Ladder (I meant to ask him this at the book signing but got star struck and it was over before I could blink - doh) - What synths are doing what on 'Losing It' (the synth bass and pads on this song are great but somehow sound different than other tracks) - How did he come up with some of those sounds on the PPG Wave for P/G (e.g. Distant Early Warning and Afterimage - kind of an organ-like sound) - What synth/effect is that in the background of 'New World Man' ("Learning to match the beat of the old-world man ..") - ...

Indeed, I don't even bother with trying to figure out anything after Grace Under Pressure since the technology and synths/samplers usage went bonkers. P/G feels like the last one where he might just be doing things one could figure out. Although with his PPG Wave he got a Waveterm, and I know he mentions in the Keyboard 1984 interview how he combined samples to make some sounds (e.g. the little percussive lead thing in the middle of 'Red Lenses'). I have a feeling this intro sound is indeed just some sound recording they manipulated and not coming from a synth. I wish I could be one of those interviewers who has access to him, I'd love to fill up an interview with a bunch of these 'how did you do that?' questions ;)

Thanks for posting the complete set videos above! I was going to go see this after it got announced, but lost track of it after the pandemic hit. I know almost nothing about Primus, but was sort of hoping they would do their own interpretations of all these songs. It sounds to me like listening to most Rush cover bands, where the playing is great but the vocals are the weak spot. I see some people saying he is just making the vocals his own. Maybe that's true and I just don't know what his style is. But it just sounds like someone talking through the songs an octave lower (or having a pitch floating somewhere between the original and an octave lower). Some of the synth / bass pedal parts are flubbed too, but I see this is the first show in the tour .. so probably stuff that got polished up along the way. Anyway, interesting to hear and I would probably still go see it if I could. But I also think YYNOT is pretty darn hard to beat ..

Same thoughts here. I like a lot of these songs, but for just sheer opening explosion (each in their own unique way) I had to go with Spirit of Radio, Tom Sawyer, Subdivisions.

Quoting myself here, but I will admit this particular sound is driving me crazy lately. Anyone have any idea how they might have made this sound? The PPG Wave was his new synth for this album, so I always wondered if he could have made it on that. But it doesn't really sound at all like what you get out of a Wave (I own a Wave 2.3 and am pretty familiar with its capabilities) .. so I'm guessing it's a more traditionally made sound effect - e.g. speeding up some sound effect on tape to get that whirling effect. Anyone ever read anything about the making of this sound? Once again this drives me crazy since Geddy could probably tell me in 5 seconds what this was

I've been playing my PPG Wave synth a lot lately, so have been listening to P/G repeatedly (since that became his new front and center synth). 'The Enemy Within' is probably my favorite lately, I never get tired of hearing those PPG harmonic sweeps glistening out into the air .. PS - I'd love to own a Roland Jupiter-8 synth to play stuff like 'Red Sector A' or 'The Weapon'. Alas, their prices are completely in the stratosphere lately - they get posted for literally $35K - $40K :(

Oops, I see I already responded to this thread in May with Rivendell. Oh well, atleast I'm consistent in my answer ;)

Rivendell. Next question?

Someone already said - the value nowadays is in its history. If that isn't your thing, that's fine. But plenty of people (myself included) appreciate the history of Le Studio and all the magic that happened there.

Sad to see it go. I haven't checked in on the 'Save Le Studio' saga in awhile - so is this permanent and nothing will replace it? I seem to remember someone wanting to build a school or museum or something (although I thought they were going to restore what was left instead of tearing it down).

I had never heard 'Pleasure Dome' either until the other day. I wasn't expecting there to be any obvious connection beyond the name .. but the chord changes in the beginning do sound too similar to Xanadu to be a coincidence. Neat!

When you show up to meet Geddy and you're wearing his outfit and jewelry from the infamous 2112 kimono photo ;) (Guilty as charged - he seemed to take it well)

And moth balls I wonder if it could be that. I've always assumed it's just wear and tear from wearing them out. I have no idea how people have shirts last them decades. My favorite shirts always wear out with holes until I have to abandon them. I assumed that was normal, maybe not ;)