Musical analysis of Firestarter by The Prodigy, describing tempo harmony rhythm, use of sounds, effects, dynamics to create an atmosphere and to trigger emotions and feeling in the listener.
Firestarter by The Prodigy
Rhythm :
this is a fairly fast song at roughly 140 bpm. It is in 4/4 timing.
Orchestration arrangement &Instrumentation :
The song starts off with a drum hit and a heavily effected guitar riff. It is a very sharp sudden start to a song giving it a dramatic and 'in your face' feel to it. The guitar is drenched in flange ,distortion, reverb and chorus effects to make it sound weird and a little disturbing to the ear that adds to the weird nature of the song. The drums are fast and stabbed to generate a violent rhythmic feel. In the background you can hear a swelled deep bass sound keeping a pulse on the first beat of every bar, because it has been put through an envelope filter and the attack setting has been set high ,it fades in quite slowly making it seem off beat and out of time which gives the effect of the song being very fast but also quite slow and sinister at the same time. In the background you can hear a faint guitar line that is also saturated in effects and there is a lot of reverb and a LFO filter on it to take out the high end of the effect so it sounds distant and as if it were being played in the next room. After 8 bars this starts to increase in volume and the LFO is opened up after 14 bars to make it come to the front of the mix., at the same time the druming kicks in, this and the distorted heavy guitars that play a stabbed part that starts in bar 7 all increase the creepy haunting feel this song has. In the 22nd bar there is a vocal sample of the word 'hey' that has a delay on it and pans across the stereo spectrum.
In bar 29 there is a reversed vocal line to lead up to the actual vocals that come in ,In bar 30. the voice is rough and gritty and dirty and has a heavy london accent, this just gives a dirty edge to the song and now adds a punk element to the song. And in the 32nd bar a new guitar part come in ,similar to the first guitar part in texture and effects that comes in every 2 bars under the vocal
Rhythm :
this is a fairly fast song at roughly 140 bpm. It is in 4/4 timing.
Orchestration arrangement &Instrumentation :
The song starts off with a drum hit and a heavily effected guitar riff. It is a very sharp sudden start to a song giving it a dramatic and 'in your face' feel to it. The guitar is drenched in flange ,distortion, reverb and chorus effects to make it sound weird and a little disturbing to the ear that adds to the weird nature of the song. The drums are fast and stabbed to generate a violent rhythmic feel. In the background you can hear a swelled deep bass sound keeping a pulse on the first beat of every bar, because it has been put through an envelope filter and the attack setting has been set high ,it fades in quite slowly making it seem off beat and out of time which gives the effect of the song being very fast but also quite slow and sinister at the same time. In the background you can hear a faint guitar line that is also saturated in effects and there is a lot of reverb and a LFO filter on it to take out the high end of the effect so it sounds distant and as if it were being played in the next room. After 8 bars this starts to increase in volume and the LFO is opened up after 14 bars to make it come to the front of the mix., at the same time the druming kicks in, this and the distorted heavy guitars that play a stabbed part that starts in bar 7 all increase the creepy haunting feel this song has. In the 22nd bar there is a vocal sample of the word 'hey' that has a delay on it and pans across the stereo spectrum.
In bar 29 there is a reversed vocal line to lead up to the actual vocals that come in ,In bar 30. the voice is rough and gritty and dirty and has a heavy london accent, this just gives a dirty edge to the song and now adds a punk element to the song. And in the 32nd bar a new guitar part come in ,similar to the first guitar part in texture and effects that comes in every 2 bars under the vocal