WHY DOES MY HEART FEEL SO BAD? MOBY – FROM THE ALBUM ‘PLAY’

HISTORY OF THE TECHNIQUES OF DANCE MUSIC Dub Scratching Chicago House Garage

DUB Short for Overdubbing Involves taking existing material, and changing layering your own ideas with it Heavy use of samples from all genres Trace roots back to Bob Marley’s producer King Tubby and Lee Perry (1970’s) who developed the style as a marketing ploy; A side was the original, B side was their Dub version… showed off their own artistic talent, and saved on recording studio time

What differences are there between dub and reggae ?

DELAY EFFECT An effect where a signal is repeated, often at decaying levels. Like ‘Echo’ Time between repetitions can be varied, to match pulse of music, quicker for effect of doubling Or multi repeats

REVERB EFFECT An effect that makes a sound appear to come from a different space to the one it was recorded in. Reverb types can vary from room,cathedrals, vocal plates (specifically used to ‘soften’ vocals when recorded)

SCRATCHING Discovered in 1975 by DJ Grand Wizard Theodore Involves manipulating vinyl record by hand to create a scratching sound Earliest examples of Rap music took place outside where DJ’s would play their beats, demonstrate scratching skills and ‘Toast’ over the top. Sugarhill Gang released the first recognised Rap single ‘Rappers delight’ in 1979, a sanitised version of the street music of the time. But was more like a disco tune with rap vocals. The first Rap single to have the sound of rap music with socially aware lyrics was Grandmaster flash and the furious five – The message

CHICAGO HOUSE Mid 1980s, Djs such as Frankie Knuckles and Farley ‘Jackmaster’ Funk pioneered sound known as House, named after the club where it was first played – The Warehouse They would take existing tracks and mix them together, cut them up and remix them because they didn’t have enough new material to play. Frankie Knuckles sometimes known as the Godfather of House because he was the first to bring this style to the Chicago clubs Saw the birth of ‘four-to-the-floor’ bass drum beat which emphasises the driving beat of House music As Chicago House was dying out, a new scene was starting up in New York in a club called the Paradise Garage. DJ Larry Levan pioneered a style that was more melodic than House, with more influences from soul and R’n’B. In London, Ministry of Sound was heavily influenced by the Garage sound. By this stage Moby was based in New York and was gradually becoming more and more involved with the Hip Hop/Dance music scene.

Moby Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad? was a single from which Moby's dance music album ? Play What year was it released (1999). Play has sold over 9 million copies.

MOBY Born Richard Melville Hall in 1965 in new York, but soon moved to Connecticut Took Classical guitar lessons from the age of 9 Played guitar in a number of punk-style bands including The Vatican Commandoes, and AWOL. Attended the University of Connecticut but dropped out to pursue music career which consisted of Djing at the Beat Club in New York and gigging with AWOL Got first recording contract in 1989 with Instinct Records At this time was still quite poor, living in a loft apartment with no heating or running water

MOBY First successful release was ‘Go’, which used a well known theme from the TV Series Twin peaks, very popular at the time. Using a sample didn’t work very well, so he had to re-record it before he could start re-mixing it, but it was instantly recognisable, so people loved it. In the early 1990s he released a number of other singles, and began to get recognition from established artists such as The Prodigy, Orbital and Red Hot Chilli Peppers On his Album sleeves, Moby often talks about issues he feels strongly about, such as Human and animal rights.

We are going to listen to the song now in segments, you are to write down what changes in each segment. Key terms Instrumentation Chord patterns Loops Samples Effects Key change Sus chords Vocal effects Tempo

EQ Short for Equalisation Used to adjust the tone of a sound across various frequencies (high/low pitch) Can also be used to create effects, such as telephone effect in section. To create the telephone effect you would take away all bottom end bass frequencies, this is known as a low cut filter

How do you think this song was recorded, computers, instruments, a mixer of both?

HARDWARE SOFTWARE Why do you think Moby used hardware over software?

SONG STRUCTURE Label Structure chart with Chords and Layers Section A Chords are : Am x 2 Em x 2 G x 2 D x 2 Section Bx Chords are : C x 2 Am x 2 C x 2 Am x 2 Section By Chords are: F x 2 C x 2 F x 2 C x 2

SONG STRUCTURE

Questions Question 1 Is the opening piano acoustic or sampled. How could you tell?

SONG STRUCTURE Question 2 What reasons does Moby give for using a ‘dirty’ sample for the vocals?

SONG STRUCTURE Question 3 Why do you think the string countermelody in the first verse is doubled by a piano sound?

SONG STRUCTURE Question 4 How many different chords are used before the first Chorus?

SONG STRUCTURE Question 5 What effect does the Major Tonality of the Chorus have on the mood of the song?

SONG STRUCTURE Question 6 Name two studio effects used in this track, with an example of each.

SONG STRUCTURE Question 7 What studio effect(s) can be heard during the breakdown?

SONG STRUCTURE Question 8 How does the Outro differ from the Intro?

SONG STRUCTURE Question 1 Is the opening piano acoustic or sampled. How could you tell? No ambient noise, clean and precise timing

SONG STRUCTURE Question 2 What reasons does Moby give for using a ‘dirty’ sample for the vocals? Gives a Human feel, simple, un-treated, adds texture

SONG STRUCTURE Question 3 Why do you think the string countermelody in the first verse is doubled by a piano sound? Piano gives ‘attack’ to sound, sharper, clearer

SONG STRUCTURE Question 4 How many different chords are used before the first Chorus? 4

SONG STRUCTURE Question 5 What effect does the Major Tonality of the Chorus have on the mood of the song? Uplifting, refreshing

SONG STRUCTURE Question 6 Name two studio effects used in this track, with an example of each. Delay Reverb

SONG STRUCTURE Question 7 What studio effect can be heard during the breakdown? Reverb

SONG STRUCTURE Question 8 How does the Outro differ from the Intro? Static String Chords instead of Piano

VOCAL MELODIES

Note, this sample is also in Am in the original 1953 Gospel recording, but Moby uses Major Chords to accompany it to change it’s TONALITY