15/10/2024
LOVE AN ADVENTURE - The Sound Effects ! 💥
The 80s were famous for many technological breakthroughs especially in music, most notably the advent of the sampling keyboard, which enabled artists to record a small segment of audio into it’s memory, and then enable the operator to trigger the sampled audio from a keyboard. Basically, any isolated sound was fair game for those in the know.
The first thing we hear on the title track from the “Love An Adventure” album is an epic orchestral fanfare. As well as this, we can hear all sorts of unusual sound effects, and even some lifted from famous films throughout the song.
The intro orchestral effects were in fact the result of Brian Canham playing around on a brand new state of the art “PPG Wavterm” sampling keyboard, with each note triggering a different sample of an orchestra. Apparently there were many hands on deck, with Brian instructing which keys to press and when, culminating with everybody landing on the same note relating to the first chord of the song, which was recorded on a multi-track, and later repositioned to fit musically within the beat.
The jungle animal and Pterodactyl calls were in fact created by Brian, vocally mimicking the sounds. In the extended version, there are several sound effects lifted from the soundtrack of “Indiana Jones and Raiders of the Lost Ark” including the famous fight scene, and the quote “Life goes on Indy ...”, voiced by actor John Rhys-Davies. There is even a “punch” sound effect layered behind each snare drum hit, since Brian thought the punches in screen fights always had plenty of umphh.
Also, in the extended mix, a “Tarzan” call from the original classic b&w film, voiced by actor Johnny Weissmuller, can be heard.
Throughout the song’s verses, a kind of plucked vocal effect was played from another Behemoth of the early 80s, the “Fairlight CMI” sampling computer keyboard. Brian says it was one of the most complicated pieces of equipment to use, often resulting in hours of programming, just to make the slightest change.
There is a sqwauking, stabby brass-esque sound effect heard in the intro, the middle, and finally the closing of the song too. This sample is quite famous, and appears on many songs from that period. The origin is hazy, although it’s rumoured to have come from acclaimed producer Trevor Horne’s collection, which featured on “Owner of a Lonely Heart” by Yes.
Interestingly, some things that have been mistaken for samples on “Love An Adventure” were in fact real “live” musicians, such as the MSO (Melbourne Symphony Orchestra), who performed the epic string arrangement, conducted by Peter Sullivan, with a then 23 year old Brian carefully watching over the notation.
The orchestra took a few takes to nail the disco-esque “string jabs” exactly as Brian wanted them. Fortunately, one of the senior MSO violinists caught onto it first saying “you mean just like on those old disco records ?”... directing the rest of the orchestra to follow her.
Several of the violins used by the orchestra were in fact original “Stradivarius”, and were hundreds of years old, and worth a small fortune. Brian occasionally joked with the orchestra members that some of their instruments could do with a new coat of paint ... lol.
Other musicians that appeared on “Love An Adventure” were acclaimed jazz musician Bob Venier, who performed the trumpet solo mid-way through the song, as well as TV presenter James Valentine (The Models), who played the alto sax solo in the outro.
Brian says recording the “Love An Adventure” album was one of the highlights of his career to this day, and in particular the title track ...
*”Love An Adventure” 2024 M A C H I N E Remix is available on all music streaming.
