300 Takes !!!

[ThePuttKing]

The Edge mentioned it took 300 takes to get Vertigo right.

Explains why it's took over 2 years to record the new LP.

Wasn't : The House of The Rising Sun done in 1 take ?

How times have changed !

 

[elfyx]

yeah, i remember that. He also mentioned how the recording process can go from frustration (taking 10 hours and getting nowhere) to revelation (completing a song in 10 minutes).

I LOVE hearing about the creative process, especially from U2. I wouldn't mind at all if Edge reveals a little more!

 

[ShellBeThere]

House of The Rising Sun is exactly the kind of bit that needs one take, and Vertigo is exactly the kind of song that needs 300 takes..
...what I think is stunning is how those 300 takes made a song that sounds so immediate and spontaneous, but precisely targeted at once!
Not to knock House of the Rising Sun, hubby loves it...
but it's anything but precise! (it's sprawl-y-ness is part of its charm I think...)

cheerio!

 

[TheBrazilianFly]

I LOVE hearing about the creative process, especially from U2. I wouldn't mind at all if Edge reveals a little more!

Me too.


Maybe Edge was just exaggerating. Vertigo sounds very spontaneous I guess that's why it took them so many takes, sometimes, I guess, when you know something is being recorded you tend to overanalyze what you're playing at the moment and end up playing it with a slight difference to it's feel.

 

[grbounds]

i heard that Radiohead's "Creep" was done in one take. if so, thats incredible.....

 

[miss-U2]

in 1 take or 300, that's a good song and if it has been made in 300 takes, i just have one thing to say

 

[TheBrazilianFly]

Edge is in the house maybe he can tell us something about this.

 

[elfyx]

The more I listen to Vertigo the more I actually 'hear' it- meaning it just seems to me like there are layers of sounds going on in it. I don't know exactly what Edge is doing during and after the last chorus, but it is amazing. If the rest of the song made you spiritually hydroplane, Edge's guitar at the end doesn't let you gain back that traction- kind of a floating, swirling feeling. Perhaps all of that made the song take so many takes.

 

[The Edge]

Edge is in the house maybe he can tell us something about this.

No...not quite 300

 

[LarryMullen's POPAngel]

Is 300 (or so) takes the longest you've ever had to do for one song?

 

[Mullen-Girl]

LOL 300..I can't imagine

 

[ramblin rose]

In honor of the 300 takes I've listened to it about 400 times.

 

[TheBrazilianFly]

No...not quite 300

299 maybe?

The recording of Vertigo do sound very spontaneous though, Edge, specially Bono. Did you guys recorded individually or were parts of the song recorded with the band going thorugh the entire song?

 

[digsy]

No...not quite 300

you mean... you... you lied to us?!?!? *sob sniffle sob*

thats it! i'm going to go support britney!

just kidding

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

i must've played it at least 300 times in my car sitting in Long Island rush hour traffic... and my hearing is now about 300 times worse than it was before vertigo was upon us.

 

[Mullen-Girl]

I keep catching the tail end of it when they're singing the Yeahs... LOL but I still blast it

 

[dandy]

i must've played it at least 300 times in my car sitting in Long Island rush hour traffic... and my hearing is now about 300 times worse than it was before vertigo was upon us.

you're in good company, headache.

 

[Chile]

What I like is that the enhancements to Vertigo do not, in any way, substitute for what is a great hard rocking song. The rythmn sounds tight, but not overly polished, and your guitar riff sure adds some very sweet dynamic tension.

Awesome Stuff! *bows*
Highway Chile

 

[U2_Guy]

Are you still here Edge? Can you say something about that Amazon.com HTDAAB "cover"?

 

[starsgoblue]

The whole creative process to me is amazing....sometimes you just spit it out like it's nothing and other times you can't do it if your life depended on it. I think it depends how long it takes whatever it is inside you to germinate and then blossom....sometimes I just feel like an empty vessel to my muse

 

[ThePuttKing]

I love to hear about the creative process too !

And it's something that the band don't usually talk about much.

 

[Chile]

I wonder if the music process is like visual art?

You know, the best ideas come when you're out for a walk, about to fall asleep, reading a book, etc. And yet you still need to sit down with blank paper and choose the medium, consider application, envision the whole, etc.

 

[ShellBeThere]

The more I listen to Vertigo the more I actually 'hear' it- meaning it just seems to me like there are layers of sounds going on in it. I don't know exactly what Edge is doing during and after the last chorus, but it is amazing. If the rest of the song made you spiritually hydroplane, Edge's guitar at the end doesn't let you gain back that traction- kind of a floating, swirling feeling. Perhaps all of that made the song take so many takes.

ooh i like that...spiritually hydroplane...
maybe that's why i like it in the car so much, but it makes me feel scared to drive!!
you nailed that one!

I touch the power-on button on little honda civic stereo like it's fucking radioactive and wince before putting it on, bracing myself.

And i can't even play it very loud because I've got two kids in the back whose ears I don't want to blow to hell..

cheers all!

 

[ShellBeThere]

I wonder if the music process is like visual art?

You know, the best ideas come when you're out for a walk, about to fall asleep, reading a book, etc. And yet you still need to sit down with blank paper and choose the medium, consider application, envision the whole, etc.

Am I post-whoring again (please will someone tell me if that's the term for posting one after another? or is there nothing but the boring old double-post to describe that sort of thing?!)?

I wonder that too..
actually I don't,
but I wanted to use that question as an opportunity to say
that I just can't stop seeing Munsch's Scream in Vertigo and it's surely adding to the trip for me!

cheers...

 

[starsgoblue]

I wonder if the music process is like visual art?

You know, the best ideas come when you're out for a walk, about to fall asleep, reading a book, etc. And yet you still need to sit down with blank paper and choose the medium, consider application, envision the whole, etc.

Any song or poem I have ever written has been like that. Out of nowhere something as taken for granted and commonplace as seeing a sunset can cause you to realize something about life or remind you of some idea you've played around with and left in the back of your mind to fully develop....and then you just have to find a pen and paper as fast as you can. While the sunset may be the immediate subject you somehow have to plan how your going to show everyone else the same revelation you got from looking casually at the sun....

 

[Chile]

Edvard Munch (pronounced Moonk) was a really odd fellow. There is a story, often told, of an art dealer traveled through a snowstorm to collect some artwork from Edvard. The art dealer arrived at Edvard's isolated homestead to find Edvard outside whipping his canvases. When the agent inquired to Edvard about his actions, Edvard said that the paintings weren't behaving.

I imagine it's pretty much the same for musicians and their instruments.

Anyway, I think it would be great to hear a little about the creative process from musicians. *grins*

 

[SmileyGladhands]

I "whip" my "instrument" every chance I get!!!


Sorry for taking that to the gutter...but the opportunity was there, so I took it.

 

[chocky]

Wouldn't it be great to hear the first take.....just to hear the difference.

Bono's vocals on one of my alltime favourite songs "Elvis Presley and America" were allegedly recorded in one take.

 

[ShellBeThere]

Edvard Munch (pronounced Moonk) was a really odd fellow. There is a story, often told, of an art dealer traveled through a snowstorm to collect some artwork from Edvard. The art dealer arrived at Edvard's isolated homestead to find Edvard outside whipping his canvases. When the agent inquired to Edvard about his actions, Edvard said that the paintings weren't behaving.

I imagine it's pretty much the same for musicians and their instruments.

Thank you so much for that!
That is, for the spelling correction and the pronunciation guide and the fab story!
So, Munch was whipping his Scream like TheWho whipped their guitars, I love it.

 

[paulrg]

I recall Bono did refer to the creative process as being comparable to viewing the manufacturing of sausages. i.e. something better left unseen/unexplored. You do see something of this in the documentary on the Slane DVD about the recording of thee Unforgettable Fire where the whole band and Lanois/Eno work with the song at the mixing desk.