For the sound-alike project in AUD 210 our group has decided to, try to sound like the Arctic Monkeys 2013 song “Do I Wanna Know”. The band wrote and recorded this track Los Angeles, CA, with parts of it being done at the world famous Rancho-De-La-Luna in Palo Alto, CA and other parts of the track recorded at the band's rehearsal space at Sage and Sound recording.
The structure of the song is as follows:
Intro - 10 bars
Verse 1 - 16 bars
Pre-Chorus 1 - 8 bars
Chorus 1 - 8 bars
Verse 2 - 16 bars
Pre-Chorus 2 - 8 bars
Chorus 2 - 8 bars
Double Pre-Chorus/Bridge/Outro - 14 bars
Outro - 8 bars
The song consists of standard rock instruments: Drums (only kick, snare, crash and ride), Bass (with a synth bass to fill out the bottom end), 2 guitars, 1 lead vocal and 4 harmony parts that come in at different sections of the arrangement, there are also some synth string and ‘whoosh’ parts in the final section of the arrangement.
Drums:
Samples are prominent throughout this whole record as the band fell in love with the idea of having a machine like a drummer. The bass drum has been run through a fuzz box at some point in the production, most likely during the mixing phase as this is one of Tchad Blake’s signature techniques. The snare also has had some layering done to achieve the sample in the end. To achieve this sound the band has hyper-compressed the snare drum to get the snap sound then layered claps and used a gated reverb to get the ‘pow’ type of sound.
Bass:
The original recording was made with a Fender P-Bass which is known for getting that lower octave. But when run through so much fuzz the low end gets lost in the process, hence the need for a synth bass (most likely a Moog) to fill in the lost low end.
Guitars:
In each of the verses, there are two different electric guitar tones. On the left is a more fizzy distorted tone done with a 12 string VOX starstream, an Ibanez Tube Screamer running into Alex Turner’s Selma zodiac and magnatone amps. The right side of the mix is a more clean tone with a 16th note tremolo on it. This was done with Jamie Cooks SG running into his Hi-Watt amplifier, the tremolo they used was an EHX Pulsar. In the second pre-chorus, there is an acoustic guitar which is playing the exact same part as the electric guitars, this continues to the end of the song. Although there is no hard evidence on what exact equipment was used for the acoustic guitar, it is likely to be the Epiphone Texan that Turner frequently uses, miked up with a small diaphragm condenser. In each of the pre-choruses, the tremolo on the right side guitar intensifies to add suspense and build up into the chorus, along with this tremolo is an ebow which simulates a feedback type of sound. The end of the song concludes with a distorted sliding lead line, which acts as a hypnotic element.
Vocals:
Arguably the part of the song which makes it so great is the arrangement of the harmonies and the melody and rhythm of the lead vocal. In this song there are 4 different types of harmonies, there are 2 sets of falsetto harmonies which are sung an octave above the lead vocal, a baritone vocal which is sung an octave below the lead vocal in the outro and there are some ad-libs which come in at certain parts in the final chorus which are just filtered differently.
Snapshot of the arrangement:
In terms of rhythm in the track, the drums provide most of the rhythmic components. In the verses and pre-choruses, the drums are playing a standard 4/4 beat where the kick and snare fall on 1 & 3 and the 2&4 respectively. In the choruses, the ride is playing ¼ notes and the crash is hit on the one of every bar. The kick pattern varies in the chorus, to be 1 bar of 2&3 then ⅛ notes on the following 2 hits.
In the intro, the melody comes from the guitars, other than that the lead vocal provides all the melody.
The song was written in G minor, the chord progression remains the same through out, only varying riffs to assert the transition between Verse to PC then PC to chorus. The chords in the song are I for 1 bar, V for 2 beats then IV for 2 beats.
In terms of dynamics, the song varies quite vastly. The first part of the song (Intro, Verse 1, PC1) is fairly quiet, leading up to the chorus where it explodes. To help this rise in volume is the introduction of cymbals, harmonies and extra guitar. After the first chorus, the volume detains below what it was in the first sections. This is to draw the attention back to the lyrics and lead vocal. The volume then picks up again in the second PC, then ignites going into the second chorus with the reintroduction of cymbals and harmonies. The outro/PC bridge remains at around the same volume as the chorus as now there is a swelling effect introduced by the sliding guitar part. The outro of the song concludes with a ‘kamikaze’ dive where the song ends abruptly.
The production and mixing on this song significantly adds to how the listener perceives it in the end. The use of reverb and delay to blend the elements together really adds character and allows for nothing to be standing out in the mix. Tchad Blake is known for using distortion to his advantage when mixing, as this adds a lot of warmth to the track that otherwise would not be there. James Ford the producer of the track comes from an electronic music background so he adds the dancey aspect to the song making it come alive.
The main thing to be taken away from the performance is Alex Turner’s articulation in his lyricism and vocal delivery. His vocal style is unique in the way that he slurs certain words to add effect, the rhythm of his voice and his quirky melody writing. Although this is not ‘human’ performance-based, the band aimed to get the perfect take in every aspect of this album. Even going as far as to chop each syllable up to compile the perfect take.
Another aspect of this song that is very performance based is the drums. The rhythm of the beat is very marching like, this is created through the layering of sticks hitting drums and blending them with the beater.
The overall vibe of the song is very ‘slick’. The image in my head when listening to the song is driving through the desert in Arizona or Texas with the roaring engine of a 70s Chevelle, with your hair slicked back and a leather jacket on. This influence comes from where the song originated at Rancho De La Luna. Alex Turner was able to interpret his surroundings and put them into a piece of music, something very few artists have the ability to do.
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