Pitchfork

Looks like Win Butler's personal diary might differ a bit from the journal entry he dropped in "Win's Scrapbook" on the Arcade Fire website last month. After revealing to his audience that the band would record with a "huge fucking pipe organ" on two songs, Butler left out an important deal. This pipe organ, found in Montreal's Jean Baptiste church, produced a sound big enough to make Butler cry.

In a recent e-mail update, Scott Colburn, producer/engineer for the Arcade Fire's upcoming sophomore release, revealed a juicy peak into the recording process for the band's new album.

"The band went into the church ahead of me and my assistant James Ogilvie," Colburn wrote. "They recorded a sample of the organ playing a chord in different registers. Win called me and told me how excited he was about the organ. He said is [it] was super loud and so overwhelming that it brought a tear to his eye. I promptly called him a pussy.

"When I first walked into the church and saw the organ, I just stood dead in my tracks. 'Now THAT's a fucking pipe organ!' I thought... During the first take, I became overwhelmed by the grandeur of the whole thing. I heard that piece in it's finished state and it was magnificent! Tears rolled out of my eyes. I don't know what came over me, but it was a complete emotional release. The problem was that there were mics all around me, so I really couldn't sob. So I'm trying to hold back any kind of vocal component to this overwhelming joy I was experiencing.

"When the take was over, I took off my headphones and dryed my eyes on my shirt. James asked if i was OK and I said, 'yeah man, that was a great take!' I looked at Regine with my red eyes and said, 'awesome!' and then I thought...'whose [sic] the pussy now?'"

Other highlights from Colburn's update include a segment where the Arcade Fire try to achieve a "Come Together"-like drum sound. Read the full update after the jump.

Scott Colburn says:

The rest of the month plopped me back in Montreal for a third round with the ARCADE FIRE. This session, in particular had a few highlights I'd like to share with you now.

At the end of the previous session Win had stated that he'd like to do a song in which the drums sounded like the drums from "Come Together". I thought that maybe I already knew how to do that but I'd do the research on it anyway. I googled and searched pro audio forums to see if anyone had discussed this before. I even bought a book called "The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions" which gave me some insight but didn't address that specific song. The pictures I was looking at were cropped in a way as to not really reveal the whole setup.

In a twist of fate, I got an email from an old friend about a screening of Hard Days Night in LA with an appearance by Kevin Ryan and Brian Kehew, who wrote a booked called "Recording the Beatles" (http://www.recordingthebeatles.com). I bet THAT book has the info I need. So I looked it up online and noticed that the publishing date was August 2006 which wouldn't do me any good for June.

I persisted in my search online and found discussion about the forthcoming book with posts by Kevin Ryan! I wrote him directly and pleaded my case and he allowed a quick peek into the book for that specific drum setup.

Out of respect, I can not reveal this technique to you in this update, but I can tell you that it worked all too well and after we had it setup, we played "Come Together" through the headphone system and Jeremy played along and our jaws hit the floor as the sound was very similar.

And there was much rejoicing.

The second highlight was a cathedral organ recording at the Jean Baptiste Church in Montreal. In a previous session we needed a pipe organ for this particular song and we found one in small church in the outer province. It was cool and all, but not really what I had in mind for a pipe organ. We recorded anyway and in this new session we picked a performance from that session that was killer, but also found this pipe organ in the Jean Baptiste church that was more in line with what you think of when you think of a PIPE ORGAN.

The process of recording was precarious. The band went into the church ahead of me and my assistant James Ogilvie. They recorded a sample of the organ playing a chord in different registers. Win called me and told me how excited he was about the organ. He said is was super loud and so overwhelming that it brought a tear to his eye.

I promptly called him a pussy.

The recording came via email the next day. James and I ran that recording into a tuner to see how off of standard tuning the organ was. It turned out to be 20 cents sharp. we then connected the tuner to the tape machine and played the old pipe organ into it and sped up the tape machine until it was also 20 cents out. Then transferred the whole tape to the computer. During this process a huge storm hit the town where the studio is. I'm talking sideways rain and super high winds. Almost like a hurricane. The breaker blew on the air conditioning, the lights were flickering and I'm trying to make a tape transfer! Somehow it all worked out and James and I decompressed on the hour long drive in to Montreal.

When I first walked into the church and saw the organ, I just stood dead in my tracks. "Now THAT's a fucking pipe organ!", I thought. We set up for recording and I couldn't believe how cool this was going to be. We ended up using a stereo pair that was suspended from the ceiling. It was a permanent install in the church. I supplemented that with a stereo pair on the floor of the church but in the same plane as the suspended mics. We also set up a pair of mics close to the organ for alignment purposes AND a single omni mic all the way at the alter. This was a run of 150 feet! The reverb time in this church was at least 3 seconds.

In order to do the overdub, Regine and I both had headphone on so we could hear the music, but because of the delay time of room and the organ itself, she had to play by touch, hitting the right chords but hearing them a split second later. Very difficult.

During the first take, I became overwhelmed by the grandeur of the whole thing. I heard that piece in it's finished state and it was magnificent! Tears rolled out of my eyes. I don't know what came over me, but it was a complete emotional release. The problem was that there were mics all around me, so I really couldn't sob. So I'm trying to hold back any kind of vocal component to this overwhelming joy I was experiencing.

When the take was over, I took off my headphones and dryed my eyes on my shirt. James asked if i was OK and I said, "yeah man, that was a great take!". I looked at Regine with my red eyes and said, "awesome!" and then I thought..."whose the pussy now?"

What better way to celebrate the Solstice than recording a pipe organ in a catholic church! I can not wait for you to hear this song. Every time I listen to the rough mix and it hits that key change I get choked up. Prepare yourself world! This record is simply amazing!