How to produce the sound at the beginning of this song?
I'm interested in using the wind-like sound heard during the first few seconds of "Seven Devil" by Florence + The Machine, but I have no idea how it's produced. How can I reproduce this sound?
(3)3 Comments
Sorted by latest first Latest Oldest Best
It doesn't sound like a "real" instrument, more like a synthetizer (flute sound ?) with some effects (reverb, echo, ...), maybe a sample...
Something like :
In this live version, we see that some of it is played by violin.
Other parts of it is on the synth, where you can get any sound you like by tweaking.
There are two distinctive sonorities on the beginning of "Seven Devil" by Florence + The Machine as found on this music video:
On the right and center fields is a very good imitation or possibly the real Aboriginal Musical Instrument, known as a "Bullroarer".
"The instrument itself consists of a simple wooden slat, 30 to 40cm in length and 5 to 7cm wide that is whirled around in a circle on the end of a length of cord."
quoted from this source: www.didjshop.com/austrAboriginalMusicInstruments.htm This site has broken down the acoustics pretty well.
On the left and center fields is some white noise shaped (filtered) like the breathy way Ian Anderson plays flute in the rock band Jethro Tull, very pan pipe like.
Think about the music from the Andes pan flute or zampoņa as a start. This element is later blended with a cymbal being played with repetitive mallets.
How can you produce this sound?
1) Acoustic means: you could easily try to make your own "bullroarer" and you could ask a flute playing friend and a percussionist to help with the other sounds.
2) Electronic means: Do you have synth? Try locating a patch that has the velocity set to trigger the overtone series, the faster you strike the note the higher the harmonics. Something like a one pipe, pipe organ with a Leslie effect. Maybe your synth has a 'bullroarer' patch, also look for a bottle or pan flute patch. I know Yamaha has those two last ones.
The key ingredients of the "bullroarer" is that it is an edge tone sound (like a flute) but since it is spinning it has natural doppler shifts in pitch as it turns. In practice the musician will spin it faster and slower to get some real colorful harmonics. This is why I recommend the "Leslie" effect. Think of the "bullroarer" as the Aboriginal version of a B3 with a Leslie speaker cabinet.
Terms of Use Privacy policy Contact About Cancellation policy © freshhoot.com2025 All Rights reserved.