Recording
Cyberpunk was created in Idol's home studio in Los Angeles, centered around his Macintosh computer and accompanying software. Programs used in the production included Studio Vision, by Opcode Systems, and Pro Tools, by Digidesign. Idol later recalled that the beginning of the recording secessions coincided with the onset of the 1992 Los Angeles riots. "We'd just installed the computer in my music room, and there was a window above it overlooking the whole city. And there was a fire raging. There was smoke just pouring across the whole of LA. It was LA burning. And so I just straight quickly wrote the lyrics and sang them three times. What you're hearing on the single 'Shock to the System' is my news reportage of what I'm seeing." Idol recalled for a German broadcast. "We started the album with a riot. So that's really rock and roll."
Excited by the DIY aspects of the production process, Idol took only ten months to record the album, which he often contrasted with the combined period of eight years it took to create his two previous albums. Working with his computer over time also gave him the sense that the computer was itself an instrument, and that the performer's style was also presented by the technology. Its versatility also allowed him to switch roles with Mark Younger-Smith and Robin Hancock, allowing each to experiment with their different talents and blurring the lines of their specialized roles, leading Idol to repeatedly compare the production process to that of being in a garage band. Keyboards were also used to drive much of the music through the album. Together, the trio comprised what Idol considered to be the "core" production group, although a number of artists contributed to a various tracks. In particular, he credited his drummer Tal Bergman and bassist Doug Wimbish for their contributions to numerous tracks. Wimbish had recorded his work from a studio in New York City, and sent it to Los Angeles for use in the production.
Read more about this topic: Cyberpunk (album)
Famous quotes containing the word recording:
“Write while the heat is in you.... The writer who postpones the recording of his thoughts uses an iron which has cooled to burn a hole with. He cannot inflame the minds of his audience.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“I didn’t have to think up so much as a comma or a semicolon; it was all given, straight from the celestial recording room. Weary, I would beg for a break, an intermission, time enough, let’s say, to go to the toilet or take a breath of fresh air on the balcony. Nothing doing!”
—Henry Miller (1891–1980)
“Self-expression is not enough; experiment is not enough; the recording of special moments or cases is not enough. All of the arts have broken faith or lost connection with their origin and function. They have ceased to be concerned with the legitimate and permanent material of art.”
—Jane Heap (c. 1880–1964)