The chord progression ends with an Ab chord, which implies C natural minor , followed by an F Major chord, from C dorian. The 09 Ghosts I melody uses an A natural note in bar 4, but Reznor is careful to not use it over the Ab chord, to avoid a clashing note.
Reznor is aware of music theory, so is likely conscious of this harmonic trick. The notes in the melody alternates between an A in bar 1 and an Ab at the end of bar 3. The A natural is a 4 interval away from the Eb bass and so has a restless sound whereas the Ab in bar 3 has a more stable sound. Alternating between the tonalities gives a nice contrasting shift in moods. The progression is unusual because the first two chords, Dm and Ab, are a tritone away from each other, giving it that quasi-evil tone that bands like Black Sabbath love.
One of the coolest melodic parts in Closer is an ascending line that plays after the first chorus, at the mark. The first note E is from C major, and with the Bb in the bass gives a C mixolydian sound.
The final Ab melodic note in bar 4 is not from C major or mixolydian, and has been borrowed from the C minor scale. The lower harmony is quieter in the mix, and is a subtle touch. This is very different approach to the usual western technique of harmonising in diatonic thirds. The F in bar 4 implies a D major chord over an F root. Then, in bar 5 the bass note is F, which implies an F major chord that would come from a D minor key.
Shit Mirror , from this years Nine Inch Nails release Bad Witch , throws all the harmonic rules out the window, opting for a largely chromatic chord progression. The songs progression starts in A major , implying that the song will be in the key of A major , but the next chord is F major. This could be from the A minor key , implying a switch from major to minor, just as in Right Where It Belongs. The next chord is Eb, which has nothing to do with either A major or A minor.
Here the harmonic tricks have been ignored, thrown out the window, instead Reznor has used a completely unrelated chord. It may not adhere to any music theory rules, but it simply sounds good, so it works. Thanks for reading, comment below with any songs you think I missed! If you want to download the MIDI files from the examples, simply click the button below, and be sure to subscribe to my newsletter to stay updated on new articles!
But subconsciously, I know I do. This is really cool! Could you take another look at the March of the Pigs sentence "The part because the second chord is a tritone away from the first chord, giving it that quasi-evil tone that bands like Black Sabbath love.
This is amazing. Been a NIN fan forever.. More importantly, you made it very understandable! Love it! Very interesting, very clear! Great quality! Thank your for this. His ability to create such a wealth across of distinct, deeply and lastingly interesting music from such simple elements across multiple genres is damn near unparalleled.
The lack of attention his songwriting receives is unfortunate because it could be very informative to anyone wanting to gain a greater explicit understanding of the applied mechanics of theory as well as a subconscious influence on their own songwriting.
Good job casting a little light on the subject. Anyway, great job and the work you put in is genuinely appreciated! He also had a minimoog. Guitars used were generally gibsons. He said he edited the guitars a lot by playing them lower and very slow, but then speeding them up and adding effects. Stuff like that.
Anyway, there is a really good article about everything he uses on Downward Spiral. I cant search for it right now because I have to get ready for work but, maybe I could find it later, if its still out there anywhere. He explains how he obtained pretty much every single sound. The Pretty Hate Machine stuff is really easy. I mean he basically just used a studio that he used to work at late nights, using mostly old analog synths and some crappy samples.
I'm sure we all can agree there isn't much sonically going on in that album that couldn't be done in a bedroom these days. As far as his new stuff. Good luck. Funny enough I thought he was a much better songwriter and producer when he had less money and less options. Last edited by subby33; 17th May at PM..
Reason: Typos. I was in a hurry. Well The drums on Downard Spiral were all fake except for the "drum solo" on the song Piggy. He explained the drums were simply sampeled from a kit in different rooms. He is pretty freakin awesome though. Lot's of analog synths in his sound also.
Analog synths, vocals, some guitars Lots of sampled drums, virtual instruments, etc. Are there any pics of video that show a tour of Trent's new LA home studio? I know there were a few of the New Orlean's studio but I've never seen any of his new place. Here you will find some articles with Trent, related to recording, and some other I read that he got the bass drum sample for Closer from an Iggy Pop record. The Downward Spiral is probably in the top 3 of "albums I've listened to more than any other" personally.
Along with Niandra Lades and the Pixies discography. Please try to find this article. I heard about it years ago, but haven't been able to find it as of yet.
During the years of the Fragile sessions, at some point Trent was sampling drums in the live room and tuned all the acoustics hanging on a side wall to the same chord, sent the close-mic on the drum to a PA and sampled individual rooms hits at different notes.
Or something like that. Then he could play them back on top of each other or cut between them. Reznor's wife, Mariqueen Maandig —former lead singer of West Indian Girl —came up with a title for the track "The Believers" and a snippet of lyric. Reznor and Ross wove it into an ominous, bass-heavy loop.
Building on top of this substructure, Reznor and Ross spent two days recording ancillary melodies on a Moog Minimoog Voyager , an out-of-tune African marimba, a ukulele , and other instruments. They extracted and mixed in the best parts.
Maandig recorded three verses into a mic connected to sound-processing software called Speakerphone.
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