Hollow Sun – INIL Choir (KONTAKT, WAV)

In 1974, UK band 10cc started work on an album called ‘The Original Soundtrack’ which spawned a single released in 1975. And what a single! “I’m not in love” was arguably one of the most adventurous records of the time in terms of production value as well as being a damned good song with a damned good tune and clever, whimsical lyrics.

Written by Eric Stewart and Graham Gouldman, the signature sound in ‘INIL’ is, of course, that massive wash of vocal texture and, as is probably well known now, in 1974, in pre-sampler days, it was a monstrous task. ..

The band spent three weeks building up stacks of vocal ‘aaaahs’ for each note required on a 16 track. This would then be mixed down to a stereo reel-to-reel and then the next note would be built on the 16-track, mixed down, etc .. The stereo ‘stems’ were then looped (using a razor blade and splicing tape ) and bounced back to the 16th track. Some of these were further bounced down within the 16-track to leave some tracks free for the Rhodes piano, lead vocal, bass, a (synthesised) kick drum (done on a MiniMoog), some acoustic guitar and grand piano and, of course , the “Big boys do not cry” performed by the studio’s receptionist.

The tracks were brought up on individual tracks on the ‘wrap around’ Helios desk at Strawberry Studios (owned by the band) …

The band then (literally) ‘played’ the desk, riding the faders to bring in and out the various notes and chords of the vocal wash. It must have been a Herculaean task but they succeeded and in doing so, created one of the most unique records of all time.

It was also a very influential record. Following its release, Steve Hackett (guitarist with the original Genesis lineup) used tape loops on his solo albums and the same technique was used on Billy Joel’s ‘I love you just the way you are’ released two years after INIL. Of course, it must have also been very influential on Enya who made extensive use of vocal washes some 15 years later (although she had samplers and more modern technology to assist her!).

In an exclusive collaboration with 10cc’s Eric Stewart and Sampletekk, for the first time in history, what we have here are the raw vocal recordings taken from the original tapes, each one mapped out across the keyboard range and presented in an intuitive, easy to use GUI that allows a great deal of flexibility …

With an ADSR envelope, 3-band EQ, echo and convolution reverb featuring a wide range of impulses, it’s is child’s play to create ethereal washes of sound suitable for many genres. It’s also possible to set the controls to give a rougher, rawer sound more akin to a Mellotron. Because of the nature of the way they were recorded (onto tape let’s remember) and bounced back and forth between machines a few times then looped (with a splicing block and razor blade) and bounced back again, the samples have a very ‘earthy’ and ‘organic’ quality often not found in other breathy vocal samples.

This is a great opportunity to own a slice (or should that be ‘splice’!) Of pop music history. And I’ll be honest – it’s been unsettlingly thrilling to actually have the raw material here at HS Towers. The nearest analogy I can think of is a fanatical supporter of the England team holding in his hands the very football that won the World Cup for them in 1966 … while wearing Bobby Moore’s football shirt! Or maybe an archeologist being handed the original Dead Sea Scrolls to examine !! Not copies, not facsimiles or imitations but ‘the real thing’! THAT sound!