John Frusciante Puts His Stamp on Stadium Arcadium
Last modified: 2:59:35 CET on 16 Jan, 2010 |
Take us through the album track by track.
"DANI CALIFORNIA" I used a straight Strat tone on the first section of the first verse, and on the second section the guitar signal is split and panned in stereo, with the original part on the left, and a part processed using my Doepfer modular synth on the right. Basically, the signal from the tape is used to trigger an envelope generator ADSR), which responds to playing dynamic and uses that information to dynamic control a low-pass filter. Unlike a typical envelope filter pedal, this setup allowed me to create many more sounds than the wah effects. Then, those two sections repeated, and as I'm hanging on sustained chord which transistions into chorus, a Mellotron string part slowly behing the guitar. You can hardly hear the Mellotron, but it's what makes it feel like something really big is about to happen. On the chorus, I doubled the guitar part which were played using a Boss DS-2T Distortion pedal.
The second verse begins with a couple of guitars playing in harmony. After they had been recorded, I ran them through a MF-105 MuRF pedal six times, and record results on individual tracks. The MuRF is very unpredictable, and sounded different on each pass. I kept going until I got a take that I really liked, though we actually wound up using all six takes in combination. Otherwise, the processing is the same as on the first verse.
For the bridge, the rhythm guitar is processed with the Doepfer's LFO (Low Frequency Oscillator) controlling its highpass filter, so that the filter opens and closes rhytmically. The drums are also filtered, so that they are small and panned to one side at the beginning, then gradually get bigger and pan out across the full spectrum, which lets you hear the guitar treatment more clearly.
On the third verse I overdubbed an additional rhytm guitar track. Hen, on the buildup to the chorus, I added some diminished chords along with several harmony parts. To get the highest harmonies, we slowed the tape down and recorded them at a slower speed, so that they would be pitched above the range of the guitar when the tape was sped back up.
There are lots of additional harmony guitar parts on the second half of the tir chorus, positioned in two groups panned to either side. Also, Eddie Kramer came in and showed our engineer how to do '60s-style tape phasing, which we used on an early mix, and we wound up splicing a section of that mix into the part transitioning out of the chorus.
I played the original solo when we recorded the basic tracks, and then doubled it later, excepts for the super-fast wah part at the end, which was too difficult to double perfectly, so I put that section through a Delta Labs Effectron II digital delay set to a quick delay with just a touch of slow modulation.
"SNOW (HEY OH)" During the outro section I used an Electro-Harmonix POG, which adds multiple octaves and makes the guitar soubd like an organ. Towards the very end of the song I created an articulated arpegio using three distorted guitar parts, each playing one note of the arpeggio recorded onto a separate track. Normally if you tried to play that sort of line with a distortion pedal, you'd get frequency beating and the notes would be indistinct. But this way each note is clear, while giving the impression of being a single guitar. I also played the same parts on a synthesizer, tucked so low in the mix that you can't really hear them, but you can hear them, and it sounds really different without them there.
"CHARLIE" The lead guitars are on the left with a slap-back delay on the right.
"STADIUM ARCADIUM" On the solo, we flipped the tape over and ran the sound through a vintage EMT 205 digital reverb, recording the reverb onto a separate track, so that when the tape was flipped back over the reverb would be reversed and begin just ahead of the guitar. Then, we ran the reverb sound through a low-pass filter - which lets you nail any sound down to the tiniest little sliver of a frequency - so that you not only hear the notes coming up ahead of the unprocessed guitar, they are swirling around, and the sound seemingly comes out of nothingness. Also, on the second verse, we slowed down the tape and I picked some triads really fast, then we ran that sound through the EMT 250, which made them sound like futuristic mandolins from outer space. "HUMP DE BUMP" There were no overdubs.
"SHE'S ONLY 18" The delay effect on the verses and solo were inspired by Hendrix's "If 6 Were 9."They were processed with the Effectron II, set to a quick delay with a little bit of modulation to provide movement. The engineer also created a really good backwards reverb for the vocals on the choruses.
"SLOW CHEETAH" On the instrumental bridge section, I created swells withe guitar's volume control, which we ran through the EMT 250 set on its largest and longest setting, creating a sound like stars shooting through space.
"TORTURE ME" A few harmony parts were overdubbed.
