Recording
For the recording of this album, guitarist Tony Iommi, who had injured his fingers in a factory accident years earlier, decided to downtune his guitar down three semi-tones (or one and a half steps to C-sharp). This reduced string tension, thus making the guitar easier for him to play. Geezer Butler also downtuned his bass guitar to match Iommi. The result was a noticeably "darker" or "sludgier" sound that almost two decades later would prove hugely influential on at least three of the biggest alternative rock acts, namely Smashing Pumpkins, Soundgarden, and Nirvana.
Master of Reality was recorded at Island Studios in London between February and April 1971. The album was produced by Rodger Bain, who had also produced their previous two albums. However, this would be his final collaboration with the band.
Read more about this topic: Master Of Reality
Famous quotes containing the word recording:
“Too many photographers try too hard. They try to lift photography into the realm of Art, because they have an inferiority complex about their Craft. You and I would see more interesting photography if they would stop worrying, and instead, apply horse-sense to the problem of recording the look and feel of their own era.”
—Jessie Tarbox Beals (1870–1942)
“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)