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John Frusciante Puts His Stamp on Stadium Arcadium


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"STRIP MY MIND" The melodies in the second verse are two guitars playing in harmony, processed through an Analoque Systems Phase Shifter, which unlike a typical phase shifter has a really wide range, as well as a Resonance control. When you run two or more harmony lines through it, and adjust the resonance really slowly by hand, at one frequency it will favor one note and its harmonics, and at another frequency it will favor another, with the whole thing moving in a circular fashion. And, sometimes when three notes are playing together, a fourth "note" is created out of the combined frequencies and harmonics. I did the same thing on "She Looks to Me," but there it was with chords rather than single notes. On the solo I used Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi fuzz and Holy Grail reverb pedals. Rick Rubin really cranked the first note of the solo to give it a thunderous quality when it comes in.

"ESPECIALLY IN MICHIGAN" For the harmony guitars that come in halfway through the second chorus, I used an Electro-Harmonix English Muff'n distortion pedal, I really love. It has an incredible amount of upper midrange and highs, and it xan be obnoxiously bright, so I turned my tone knob all the way down and used the middle pickup to have th deadest and blandest sound possible coming out of the guitar, which produced a sweet, Cream-era Clapton-like sound. It's one of my favorite tones that I've ever gotten. Omar Rodriguez from the Mars Volta played the solo. [Frusciante appears on the new album by the Mars Volta as well.

"WARLOCKS" There's a cycle of two bars at the top of the second verse where I used a technique inspired by David Byrne and Brian Eno. You put notes in little spaces where you think, rhytmically, that there's a hole for a note, on four or five separate tracks. And though there is no conscious intent, all the notes taken together create a pattern. Then, I ran those parts though the MuRF, which randomly emphasized certain notes, making them sound as if they are just breathing out, and not being picked. I really love that moment.

"C'MON GIRL" I used basically the same English Muff'n sound as on "Especially in Michigan," and the same reverse reverb/filter effect as on "Stadium Arcadium." The solo at the end was cut live.

"WET SAND" I played through a Leslie in the A section. The engineer also used a technique, having to do with putting the signal slightly out of phase with itself, to make the guitars seem to project out in front of the speakers. At the end of the song there's an arpeggiated guitar part created by sloing the tape down and playing harmonies a third up, on the treble pickup, which made it sound exactly like a harpsichord. I'm convinced that's what Hendrix did on "Burning of the Mignight Lamp."

"HEY" No overdubs. I probably had the Holy Grail reverb pedal on throughout the song.

"DESECRATION SMILE" The harmony guitars are treates with the same phasing effect used on "Strip My Mind."

"TELL ME BABY" Although there's only a single rhytm guitar part, the processing varies continually throughout the song, which changes the over-all atmosphere and provides development. For example, on the first verse there's a super-fast, light filter thing going on that makes the guitar sound kind of outer-spacey. Later, there's a slap-back echo, then a reverb where there wasn't one before, etc. The solo was run through the MuRF.

"HARD TO CONCENTRATE" The basic guitar part uses simple volume swells, but there are high harmony parts outside the range of the guitar created by slowing the tape down when recording, and then speeding it back up. I used an Electro-Harmonix Electric Mistress Flanger on the bridge.

"21ST CENTURY" The solos were overdubbed, with a main solo and two harmony parts on the outro.

"SHE LOOKS TO ME" The three harmony guitars at the end were done using the English Muff'n, and then run through the Analogue Systems phaser and mixed to two tracks panned hard right and left. Normally when sounds are moving from speaker to speaker you hear exactly where they are at any given moment, but with this process certain notes come out on the left that might or might not come out on the right. Because the frequency of the phasing is moving so slowly, it creates a calming effect. Also, the two-note phrases on the verses were done by recording each note on its own track, then flipping the tape and adding reversed reverb to just the first note of each phrase. There's also an organ-like sound on the second chorus that's done with the POG.

"READYMADE" The harmony guitar parts were overdubbed, with layered feedback at some points. I also treated Chad's drums with a comb filter during the bridge, and placed reverb on certain snare hits, which made them sound like gunshots.

"IF" Flea's bass line was sufficient and really didn't need a guitar, so I just added a simple slide part.

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Last modified: 2:59:35 CET on 16 Jan, 2010