It would do an extremely good job. Thom never uses all eight voices of the Prophet ‘08 at once, and the Mopho uses a very similar voice architecture (it has bonus sub-oscillators) and the same filters, so if you set the knobs right the two synths would probably be indistinguishable.

The strings on the new recording of I Promise are undoubtedly Mellotron. Each tape loop on a Mellotron is a recording of actual musicians playing the note, which is why it sounds a lot more real than any sort of synthesizer. However, the attack on each note is very unnatural in a way that telegraphs Mellotron (particularly at 2:04). The strings also have the Mellotron’s characteristically stable vibrato, although that can be found on vintage String Synths as well. Nigel’s production here leaves the strings quite clear, so we can get a very good assessment of them.

Jonny at the 1996 Pinkpop Festival, using his Fatar Keys Sl-161 to trigger his E-mu Classic Keys module (visible on the right, on top of the Roland Space Echo).

I Promise was only ever performed in 1996. On that tour, Jonny got all of his polyphonic keyboard sounds (including strings) from his E-mu Classic Keys sound module. The module’s samples include a Mellotron as well as vintage String Synthesizers. Its string sounds can also be heard on performances of Lift from that year, as well as Fake Plastic Trees, Street Spirit, and Nobody Does It Better.

Jonny used the E-mu unit for strings on every performance of I Promise. The the strings are a little buried on most bootlegs, but when they’re clear they do sound similar to those on the album – both the playing of the part and the sound of the strings.

That said, the band certainly had their Mellotron M400 by the time the recording of I Promise was attempted. On OK Computer, Radiohead predominantly used their Mellotron for its choir sounds, but its strings do make some appearances (they’re layered softly with Thom and the Mellotron choirs on the “rain down” section of Paranoid Android, for example).

Given sound quality of the strings, as well as the the strong Mellotron “attack” combined with the more organic sustain (but with stable vibrato), I think we can safely assume that Jonny used the real Mellotron (rather than the Classic Keys) for the recording of I Promise.

Jonny playing the Mellotron M400 during the recording of In Rainbows.

Note that it was not until touring in 1997, after OK Computer had been recorded, that Jonny added an Akai S3000XL, with samples of the band’s own Mellotron, to his setup.

I Promise was recorded during the sessions for OK Computer, and can be found as a part of OKNOTOK, the new remastered edition of the album. On June 1st, a download of I Promise was emailed to fans who purchased any version of the new edition. It’s also available on major streaming services, and will be included (along with Man of War and Lift) in the digital download of OKNOTOK.

Ill Wind was recorded during the sessions for A Moon Shaped Pool, and was released on the bonus CD contained in the album’s Special Edition. Unlike I Promise, it is not officially available elsewhere, but you should be able to find fan uploads on google.

Originally written in response to the following question, this should serve to answer any synthesizer recommendation inquiries. 

Hello man, amazing work here! I was wondering What synth I could buy to pin down some of their most characteristic synth sounds (Let Down, Everything In It’s Right Place, Identikit, Staircase, Myxomatosis, Airbag’s “Martenot” [Korg prophecy]). I guess it would be the Prophet 08 but is there some other DSI cheaper ooption. Thanks :D

Thom and Jonny with a Sequential Circuits Prophet 5, Roland Juno-60, and Moog MiniMoog Voyager PE druing the recording of A Moon Shaped Pool. They also used their Dave Smith Instruments Prophet 08 and a Sequential Circuits Prophet 10 during the same sessions.

The synth on Let Down is a ZX Spectrum Computer. Everything in its Right Place is a Sequential Circuits Prophet 5. Staircase was a DSI Prophet 08. The bass on Climbing Up The Walls is an original Novation Bass Station, the bass on All I Need is Nigel’s Prophet 5, and the bass on Lotus Flower is a vintage MiniMoog Model D. The bass sound on Myxomatosis is a resonant monosynth layered with Colin’s fuzzy (Lovetone Big Cheese) bass guitar. The pads on Myxomatosis are a web of polysynths and chorus’d string-synthesizers (best heard 2:07-2:25, and in the last few seconds). Identikit’s “Broken hearts” section features synths panned left and right, probably a mixture of Prophets. The synthy choir on Motion Picture Soundtrack is a combination of Mellotron and ondes Martenot. Idioteque’s “synth” is a sample of a piece (Mild und Leise by Paul Lansky) created a room-sized IBM super-computer. The “synth” near the end of 15 Step is Ed’s Autoharp run through his pedalboard. As you note, the Martenot-like synth on Airbag (and Climbing Up The Walls) is a Korg Prophecy.

Thom and Jonny with an ARP 2600, a Roland SH101, and a Clavia Nord Lead 3 during the recording of In Rainbows.

It should be clear that no single synth can come close to replicating all of Radiohead’s synth sounds, or even their most distinctive.

First, there’s the fact that Radiohead have used a wide range of instruments over the years. Many synths (monophonic ones) are used only for bass sounds, while others (polyphonic) are used only for chordal textures. Others (string synthesizers, vintage samplers) are in different classes altogether. While most are subtractive synthesizers and have similar architecture, most have very distinctive filters. For example, the Bass Station, Roland SH-101 (used during the In Rainbows sessions), and MiniMoog Model D are all similar mono synths, but their filters sound radically different. By far the most significant factor in a subtractive synthesizer’s tone is the tone of its filter: regardless of how many oscillators, waveforms, envelopes, and extra features a synth offers, it will always sound like its filter. (This is part of why eurorack is so appealing: you can build a single synth with multiple filters cloned from vintage synths).

But even a digital synth with multiple filter emulations will have trouble replicating many of Radiohead’s “synth” sounds, because they often consist of other instruments layered with synthesizers, such as on Myxomatosis. And that doesn’t even cover the synthy sounds which they’ve sampled or created with other means.

Ed and Phil at Nigel’s old “The Hospital” studio during the recording of In Rainbows. On the right is an ARP 2600, while the stand on the right holds (from top to bottom) an Analogue Systems The Spawn and RS-15 Cabinet, a Korg MS-10, a Sequential Circuits Prophet 5, a PPG Wave 2.2/2.3, and an E-MU Emulator II. The RS15 Cabinet contains an RS200 Sequencer, an RS150 Seq/Switch, an RS340 Gate Delay, and an RS370 Polyphonic Harmonic Generator with RS375 Expander.

That said, Radiohead have used synths by one designer far more than any others: Dave Smith. Between the Prophet 5 and Prophet 08 (plus the Tetras which Thom and Jonny used 2012-2013), his synths have been on more tracks than those from any other brand or designer. While the filter on the Prophet 5 differs somewhat from the Prophet 08 and Tetra, the designs are similar and all use Curtis chips. As such, any one of these synths can do a pretty decent job of replicating the others.

The Actual Recommendations:

You’ll never pin down most of their most characteristic sounds with a single synthesizer, but you will be able to pin down the largest number of their sounds using a Dave Smith Instruments or Sequential Circuits synthesizer. The DSI Mopho X4 is a Prophet ‘08 with half the voices, but added sub-oscillators. The DSI Tetra (discontinued, but readily available on the used market) is the keyboard-less equivalent.

Jonny playing the old Sequential Circuits Prophet 5 during the recording of Man of War in 1998.

The one catch is that Radiohead almost exclusively use DSI and Sequential Circuits synths for polyphonic sounds (All I Need being an exception). The members of Radiohead generally use other synths for bass. For the past six or so years, Thom and Jonny have mainly used a MiniMoog when working with Radiohead. With Atoms for Peace, Thom and Nigel almost exclusively used an old Korg MS20 (best heard on Ingenue). Radiohead also had a Korg MS10 in studio during the recording of In Rainbows. And of course, Jonny has his modular synthesizers for monophonic (as well as polyphonic and rhythmic) sounds.

A good monophonic partner for a DSI polysynth would be the Korg MS20 mini. The MS20 mini is a relatively inexpensive monosynth capably of both traditional synth bass and lead sounds as well as experimental effects. Its pair of filters (high and lowpass) have a lot of character and are capable of smooth bass and intense modulation, and its pathway opens you up to modular synthesis. In fact, if you’re not too concerned with chordal textures, the MS20 would probably be a better starter synthesizer.

Nigel’s synth setup for the 2013 Atoms for Peace tour reflects the keyboards played by Thom and him during the recording of AMOK: DSI Prophet ‘08 for pads, Korg MS20 for bass and leads. The Roland A500 PRO MIDI controller above the Prophet is primarily used to trigger sampled string synthesizers for songs from The Eraser.

On the past two performances of The Daily Mail, Jonny has played his Fender Telecaster No. 2. Jonny used the guitar both in Olso and in Stockholm. The photo above was taken by ygrrrrr at the second Oslo show.

The guitar itself is a 90′s “American Standard” Tele, purchased in late 1995 or early 1996 and converted to Telecaster Plus specs. In 2006, it was fitted with a Korg Kaoss Pad touchpad. The sticker on the pickguard depicts the character “Ace” from Uchuu Ace, while “WEDNESDAY ‘TIL I DIE” is a catchphrase in support of the Sheffield Wednesday Football Club.

The arrangement of The Daily Mail has undergone a couple of changes as well: Jonny added a new keyboard part on the Rhodes piano during the third verse, and starting at the second verse Thom added some octave doubling in the bass on the piano. Both changes serve to build tension and to better differentiate the sections of the song – in past live performances, the band did not join Thom until the final section.

As at the song’s single 2016 performance (in Amsterdam), Ed played his Gretsch Panther.

He has never used it live. According to the band’s guitar tech, Plank: “I did fit a Kaoss pad screen to Jonnys spare tele a while back and we configured it to change trigger points and shift x-y co ordinates in a couple of weird computer programs but it all got a bit mental……….then something more urgent came along so it joined the list of good ideas to be continued one day ??……..DC power run up two cores of four core screen along with signal into 6 pin XLR…..”

thekingofgear:

On the past two performances of The Daily Mail, Jonny has played his Fender Telecaster No. 2. Jonny used the guitar both in Olso and in Stockholm. The photo above was taken by ygrrrrr at the second Oslo show.

The guitar itself is a 90′s “American Standard” Tele, purchased in late 1995 or early 1996 and converted to Telecaster Plus specs. In 2006, it was fitted with a Korg Kaoss Pad touchpad. The sticker on the pickguard depicts the character “Ace” from Uchuu Ace, while “WEDNESDAY ‘TIL I DIE” is a catchphrase in support of the Sheffield Wednesday Football Club.

The arrangement of The Daily Mail has undergone a couple of changes as well: Jonny added a new keyboard part on the Rhodes piano during the third verse, and starting at the second verse Thom added some octave doubling in the bass on the piano. Both changes serve to build tension and to better differentiate the sections of the song – in past live performances, the band did not join Thom until the final section.

As at the song’s single 2016 performance (in Amsterdam), Ed played his Gretsch Panther.

Jonny played his Telecaster No.2 on the song Lucky last night in Aarhus, and Twitter user @SandraTello snapped this excellent photo of Jonny with the instrument. The picture clearly shows the XLR-jack (it’s next to the bottom strap pin), which was added to transmit MIDI data and power the Kaoss Pad touchpad.

Hello! Jonny did not bring any drum machines with him for the recording of Junun – all of his percussions sounds were made on his MacBook. The best view of Jonny’s computer that we get in the film is at exactly 24:53 (also during the official trailer at 1:05), during the recording of the album single Roked (on which Jonny’s percussion features the most heavily). The view that we get clearly shows a Max 7 patcher window, and illuminates some features of the patch. Most prominent is the 18-step sequencer built with a “matrixctrl” object. It’s a distinct patch from that used for percussion on 15 Step and Videotape, but it’s built using many of the same ideas (such as using a thin matrixctrl object above the main sequencer matrixctrl in order to show the current step).

A screenshot of Jonny adjusting parameters on his Max drum machine during the recording of Roked.

It’s also worth noting that Jonny has delay on the beat during the initial clip audible in the trailer and film. The BOSS RE-20 to Jonny’s right is blinking in time with the beat, indicating its use. Jonny used the RE-20 most heavily on Kalandar. On that song, he uses a Max patch to generate jittering sounds which are passed through the RE-20. You can watch him adjust his RE-20 and (the rather complex) Max patch simultaneously in this video of the song’s Omeara performance.

A last detail to note is that Jonny is using a simple 1/8″ to 1/4″ adapter to output audio from his computer. For Junun live shows, he uses a Focusrite 2i4 for reliable and good quality audio output, but he likely forwent an interface to make packing easier.

With the release of a studio version of Lift around the corner, it seemed appropriate to give a detailed discussion of Jonny’s use of the Korg Prophecy. Not only is Lift is the song on which the Prophecy saw by far the most use, it is a song whose relieved affect is heightened by the counterpoint played by Jonny on the keyboard – particularly during the chorus hook. It is very much an early sign of the melodies which Jonny would play on his ondes Martenot for songs like How To Disappear Completely, Pyramid Song, and The National Anthem. The entry for the Korg Prophecy on Jonny’s page has also been updated with the following information.

Jonny playing his Prophecy and Fatar CMS-161 simultaneous during the Tibetan Freedom Concert performance of Talk Show Host, 1998.06.14 (source).

Live and in studio, Jonny’s Korg Prophecy was as a key component of his keyboard setup from 1996-1998. Jonny acquired his the instrument in early 1996, during the break after the band’s November/December 1995 European tour. The first use of the keyboard was in March, 1996, when Jonny played it on Liftand the second verse of Planet Telex. It was used later in 1996 for the first performance of Climbing Up The Walls. On OK Computer, the Prophecy can be heard on Airbag and Climbing Up The Walls. Jonny used the keyboard live on both songs during the Against Demons tour in support of OK Computer. That tour also saw the first performances of Talk Show Host, and the new lead line which Jonny wrote on the Prophecy was a key to its live arrangement. The Prophecy does not seem to have been used during the 1999 sessions for Kid A and Amnesiac and was ultimately replaced in Jonny’s live keyboard setup by his Student Model ondes Martenot in 2000, and subsequently his Analogue Systems French Connection in 2001.

Jonny’s keyboard setup from 1997-1998 consisted of a Korg Prophecy, a Fatar CMS-161, and two nearly identical racks. Each rack contains a sampler (Akai S3000XL) and sound module (E-mu Classic Keys) which were controlled by the Fatar keyboard.

For Airbagand Climbing Up The Walls, Jonny took advantage of the Korg Prophecy’s unique “log controller,” which allows the instrument to achieve a sound relatively close to that of an Ondes Martenot (an attribute used by Jonny to full effect in these cases). The synth can be heard on the recording of Airbag from 0:44-0:58, and on Climbing Up The Walls from 3:07-3:31.

Jonny playing the Prophecy during the climax of Climbing Up The Walls at the 1997 Glastonbury Festival, 1997.06.28 (source). The middle and ring fingers of his left hand rest on the keyboard’s “log controller”, used to bend the notes played with his right hand in order to create glissandos. Using his left hand’s middle finger to control the Prophecy may by why he chose to use that finger for the touche d’expression when he taught himself the ondes Martenot (the “correct” finger for the touche is the left index, with the left middle resting on the drawer to stabilize the hand).

‘Lift’

But while those are the most famous uses of the Korg Prophecy by Radiohead, it’s most prominent role is on Lift. Jonny uses the Prophecy throughout all three choruses, and for the final verse. He initially mirrors Thom’s vocal melody, but each time breaks on the word "time” to play a descending line as Thom sings “to come home” (that’s some good lyric painting!). Jonny would also triggering string samples on his Fatar MIDI keyboard with his left hand while mirroring Thom’s vocals, but plays the “log controller” with his left hand after breaking in order to add some glissando. After the final chorus, Jonny continues playing single notes on the Prophecy through to the end of the song. It’ll be interesting to see how much of the Prophecy remains on the studio version, since it’s doubling role may be replaced by overdub’d Thoms.

Jonny playing the Prophecy and his Fatar CMS-161 during the second chorus of the Pinkpop Festival performance of Lift, 1996.05.27 (source).

Jonny’s first use of the Korg Prophecy was during Radiohead’s March/April 1996 North American tour. The earliest footage of that tour, from the Metro in Chicago  on April 4, 1996, shows Jonny playing the keyboard on Lift and Planet Telex. Since both songs were played on the first gig of the tour, and Jonny used the Prophecy heavily on every known 1996 recording of Lift, it’s safe to assume that he used the keyboard for the full tour, starting on March 15. Jonny ceased using the Prophecy for Planet Telex by the band’s May performance at the Pinkpop festival, switching back to guitar. The first performance of Climbing Up The Walls, on May 05, 1996, features Jonny playing a part on the Prophecy identical to the one on the album.

jeevanrai:

So lighten up, squirt.

Recent footage of the Junun performance at the Best Kept Secret Festival revealed some new details of Jonny’s setup. His use of a pair of RE20 Space Echo’s – one for his guitar and one for his laptop – is unsurprising, since he’s used two at nearly every Junun performance since 2015. A much bigger surprise is Jonny’s use of a BOSS OD2(r?) overdrive pedal (from images so far, it’s impossible to tell whether the pedal is an OD2 or an OD2r).

Jonny and the Rajasthan Express on stage at the Jerusalem Sacred Music Festival, 2015.09.01.

 Jonny predominantly played bass on the album Junun, but when he did play guitar it was generally with mild overdrive supplied by his BOSS OD3. The OD3 has been Jonny’s primary dirt pedal since circa-2008. Not only was it used for nearly all performances in support of Junun, it has also been used for every Radiohead gig since 2008, and also in performance with the London Contemporary Orchestra (see: this post). It can be heard most prominently on the recording of Identikit during the outro solo. Given all of this, it is quite a surprise for Jonny to use another overdrive pedal.

Jonny adjusting the ‘drive’ knob on his OD2 during the performance of Eloah at the Best Kept Secret. For performances of that song, Jonny creates an ominous drone by setting the OD2 for a crunchy distortion, strumming a low E power chord (gasp!), then repeatedly hitting the body of the guitar to make the strings vibrate more. Shoes are Adidas Y-3 Boxing in Sun/White.

Last week’s show was not the first time that Jonny used an OD2. He had previously used the pedal for the Junun performance at the Jerusalem Sacred Music Festival on September 1, 2015 (discussed here). Much of Jonny’s gear at that performance was surprising, and Jonny rented much of his gear for 2016′s Junun performances, so it initially seemed that the OD2 was either borrowed or rented specifically for the gig.

It is now clear that the pedal belongs to Jonny after all. We can know this for certain thanks to the thin piece of red tape on the front of the pedal. Jonny frequently marks his settings by writing them on pieces of tape – the yellow tape on his Demeter ‘The Tremulator’ showed that he gigged heavily with the exact same pedal for nearly two decades. It also seems safe to assume that Jonny is using the OD2 for all Junun gigs this tour.

Jonny’s pedal setup at the Jerusalem Sacred Music Festival. The position of the OD3′s “mode” knob indicates that it is not in “turbo” mode, which makes sense given that Jonny uses it for mild overdrive. The settings of the other knobs are unclear, but the volume knob is definitely past noon and therefore set for a boost. Note the thin red piece of tape.

Jonny’s guitar pedal setup at the Best Kept Secret Festival. Note the thin red piece of tape on the OD2.

Hello! Ed started using that amp setup at the beginning of this year’s tour. The primary amps and cabs are by Audio Kitchen, which they pointed out on Flickr. The two amps are called ‘Emcee’ and ‘Burly Chassis’, and each is running into one of Audio Kitchen’s standard 1x12″ cabinets (they are large cabs for a single speaker). Steve from Audio Kitchen informed us that Ed’s amps use the Big Chopper as their basis, but have a special reverb modification which uses amp’s second channel as a reverb return. This allows Ed to change the tone of the reverb using the second channel’s Baxandall EQ. The cabinets are fitted with Celestion Alnico Blues.

Ed’s Audio Kitchen amps on stage in Santa Barbara, 2017.04.11 (@andreagrubermatthies).

In addition to the Audio Kitchen amps, Ed also has a Fender amp head and a Vox AC30, seemingly used as backups. This may suggest that each Audio Kitchen is voiced a little differently: one with more of a Fender voicing, and the other with more of a Vox sound.

An image of Ed’s setup at the Best Kept Secret Festival, 2017.06.18.

Ed also started using an Eric Clapton Signature Fender Stratocaster at the start of this year’s tour, and it is the only guitar added to his setup this year. It is probably the Eric Clapton Strat which he first used on the 2012 tour, dubbed “ST3″ on his page. He seems to have switched out its original white pickguard for a Tortoise Shell Brown 4-ply guard, as you note.

So far this tour, the guitar has been used exclusively for performances of Lucky. The guitar is fitted with three Lace Sensor Gold pickups, allowing him to play Lucky using a Lace Sensor neck pickup as he did in the 90′s. Ed used his custom white sustainer Strat to play Lucky on the 2016 tour, but that guitar lacks a neck pickup (replaced by a Fernandes Sustainer Driver).

Ed with Clapton Strat during the performance of Lucky at Glastonbury, 2017.06.23.

The headstock actually features Eric Clapton’s signature: “Blackie” is Clapton’s nickname for his favorite guitar.

As you note, the headstock does feature an “Ed O’Brien” signature, as well as the name “Blackie”. Ed’s custom white sustainer Strat seems the most likely contender for a Fender “Artist Series” model, so “Blackie” is more likely a custom build just for Ed.

A closeup of the guitar’s headstock from the Glastonbury live stream.

Hello! Ed started using that amp setup at the beginning of this year’s tour. The primary amps and cabs are by Audio Kitchen, which they pointed out on Flickr. The two amps are called ‘Emcee’ and ‘Burly Chassis’, and each is running into one of Audio Kitchen’s standard 1x12″ cabinets (they are large cabs for a single speaker). Steve from Audio Kitchen informed us that Ed’s amps use the Big Chopper as their basis, but have a special reverb modification which uses amp’s second channel as a reverb return. This allows Ed to change the tone of the reverb using the second channel’s Baxandall EQ. The cabinets are fitted with Celestion Alnico Blues.

Ed’s Audio Kitchen amps on stage in Santa Barbara, 2017.04.11 (@andreagrubermatthies).

In addition to the Audio Kitchen amps, Ed also has a Fender amp head and a Vox AC30, seemingly used as backups. This may suggest that each Audio Kitchen is voiced a little differently: one with more of a Fender voicing, and the other with more of a Vox sound.

An image of Ed’s setup at the Best Kept Secret Festival, 2017.06.18.

Ed also started using an Eric Clapton Signature Fender Stratocaster at the start of this year’s tour, and it is the only guitar added to his setup this year. It is probably the Eric Clapton Strat which he first used on the 2012 tour, dubbed “ST3″ on his page. He seems to have switched out its original white pickguard for a Tortoise Shell Brown 4-ply guard, as you note.

So far this tour, the guitar has been used exclusively for performances of Lucky. The guitar is fitted with three Lace Sensor Gold pickups, allowing him to play Lucky using a Lace Sensor neck pickup as he did in the 90′s. Ed used his custom white sustainer Strat to play Lucky on the 2016 tour, but that guitar lacks a neck pickup (replaced by a Fernandes Sustainer Driver).

Ed with Clapton Strat during the performance of Lucky at Glastonbury, 2017.06.23.

The headstock actually features Eric Clapton’s signature: “Blackie” is Clapton’s nickname for his favorite guitar.

As you note, the headstock does feature an “Ed O’Brien” signature, as well as the name “Blackie”. Ed’s custom white sustainer Strat seems the most likely contender for a Fender “Artist Series” model, so “Blackie” is more likely a custom build just for Ed.

A closeup of the guitar’s headstock from the Glastonbury live stream.

Hello! Jonny used his 12" Apple PowerBook G4 from around 2003 to 2008. The 12" model was offered with a maximum of 100GB, assuming that Jonny didn’t swap in an alternative. The only application that we have any evidence of Jonny using on the 12" PowerBook was Max 4, specifically versions 4.1-4.6. Those applications were only about 20-40MB in size, including documentation (which is deep in Max’s case).

Jonny’s 12″ PowerBook G4 during the 2008 tour. His “drum machine” Max patch is visible on its screen.

Jonny has repeatedly spoken about his preference to use Max for sound processing. All of the Max patches which he used on Hail To The Thief - the reverse guitar on Backdrifts, the stutter on Go To Sleep, and the full-band processing on The Gloaming - were live processing effects, meaning that they required no stored audio files. Even complex Max patches can take up less than a megabyte, so there’s little worry of filling a computer with those.

The looper patch which Thom controls (via footswitch) on Give Up The Ghost and the piano-filtering Max patches which Jonny uses on Codex and Glass Eyes are all live processing effects, while the complex MIDI-generating patch used on performances of True Love Waits is just a patcher file involving no audio at all (the MIDI is used to trigger the piano sound module on the Yamaha U1TA upright piano, which the band usually only uses as backup in case of any problems with the instrument).

Jonny’s 17″ PowerBook G4 during the recording of The King of Limbs – From The Basement. The Max window visible on the screen is Jonny’s fairly simple piano-filtering patch for Codex.

Jonny did incorporate some pre-recorded sampling into his Max patches in order to build a drum machine for the “wonky rhythm experiment” 15 Step (the Max drum machine is also used on performances of Videotape). Based on images of the drum machine, Jonny used short recordings of individual percussion hits (far less than a second in length), each of which takes up an extremely small amount of space even at high quality.

A section of the Max 7 update to the “drum machine” patch which Jonny built in 2016.

Additionally, the 11" PowerBook G4 was by no means Jonny’s only computer at the time. Rather, it was just a compact machine used to integrate Max processing into his setup. Many pictures from the recording of In Rainbows show Jonny with his own personal PowerBook G4. Projects invoking larger audio files, such as beat managing, were often created collaboratively and so likely done on one of the band’s more powerful desktop computers. This is probably why he used a 17" PowerBook G4 2011, despite the age of the machine: it was still totally adequate for his Max-related needs.

A silly photo of Nigel in studio during the recording of In Rainbows, with several desktop computers behind him.

Jonny doubtless had many more samples and patcher files on his “12 PowerBook than we’ve ever heard, but a single computer dedicated to his particular style of using Max would almost certainly have a good deal of space free.

Radiohead’s judicious use of click tracks has been discussed previously in this post. One detail not included there is that John Leckie stated that all of The Bends(recorded before Nigel was Radiohead’s producer) was recorded entirely with a click track (gearslutz).

But as mentioned in the post linked to above, Nigel will sometimes use a click for only the first few measures in order to set the tempo of a studio recording (this was true for OK Computer at least). One of Phil’s greatest strengths is that he has an extremely good sense of time. As such, many songs have a stable tempo because Phil was able to maintain it even after the click had been turned off.

Additionally, Palo Altowas recorded with a click track in Phil’s absence: “… the abrasive ‘Palo Alto’, features guitar and vocal parts recorded on the bus to a click track; Phil’s drums were cut later in a ‘real’ studio. ‘Palo Alto’ was made on a deadline, since the next single, 'No Surprises’, needed another B-side” (Mac Randall Exit Music. 249).

In response to your specific questions:

It seems unreasonable to equate electronic percussion with click tracks, especially in Radiohead’s case. On songs like Bloom, the electronic percussion is played live on a drum pad, making it no different from acoustic percussion. It is true that on Idioteque, the electronic beat supplies the tempo to which the rest of the band plays, but the need to adjust that tempo in real time only makes the song more difficult to play (faster, Jonny!).

It does seem likely that a click (or drum machine) was used on the recording of Videotape. In its case, the static tempo provided by the click contributes to the ominous feeling of the track, which is consistent with Nigel’s judicious use of click.

Hello there, glad that you like the site! On performances of Desert Island Disk, Ed tacets for most of the song, but in three places he plays a scale that rises and falls repeatedly. This video of the band’s performance at London’s Roundhouse in 2016 shows Ed’s playing clearly. The song is in G Mixolydian, and Ed’s scale moves between G (a-string 10th fret) and F (high-e 13th fret) in that mode. His part contributes to the song’s momentum by repeatedly peaking on the 7th scale degree without reaching the tonic, even though his guitar’s timbre is smooth and soothing. A key feature of Ed’s part is his volume dynamics. As he moves up the scale, he crescendos, while he decrescendos as he descends. This makes the top note of the scale loud and distinct, while the bottom notes are barely audible.

Ed isn’t using many effects for the part, but he is using one very prominently: a dark delay with many repeats. The delay sound is quite different from either his EHX Deluxe Memory Man 1100-TT or his BOSS DD-5, so Ed most likely used his Strymon Timeline for the part. Because Ed plays the highest notes of the scale much louder than the lower notes, the high feedback of the delay draws out the high notes, while the dark character of the delay filters them to create a smooth wash of sound. The softer low notes are incorporated into this wash as well. It seems like the variations in “frequency and sound” to which you refer are a product of the delay, which further darkens the notes on each repeat.

Ed playing Desert Island Disk on his custom Fender Stratocaster (youtube). The pickup selector switch is set to the up position, which probably corresponds to the Fender single-coil middle pickup (the guitar lacks a neck pickup, so the selector seems to choose between bridge, middle, or both).

Ed’s pedalboard for touring in support of A Moon Shaped Pool (instagram). The Line 6 DL4 is configured to be used solely as a looper, leaving the EHX Deluxe Memory Man 1100-TT, BOSS DD-5, and Strymon Timeline as Ed’s primary delay pedals.

Please use this GuitarGeek diagram of Jonny’s pedalboard in 1997 as reference for Jonny’s signal chain. The older GuitarGeek diagram had many mistakes, but in 2014 we have advised on this newer version to ensure that it’s 100% correct.

His signal order from 2008-2009 is very similar to that in 1997, there are just a few pedals added. In addition, it features an EHX Polychorus between his DOD440 and Digitech Whammy, an Akai Headrush between his BOSS RV3 and Vox AC30, and a couple of extra BOSS LS2 line selectors at the start of his signal chain. The first line selector chooses whether his guitar is passed through his laptop. The second line selector chooses between two inputs: either his guitar or his Korg Kaoss Pad KP1.

The following are photos of Jonny’s pedalboards in 2006:

On performances of How To Disappear Completely andWhere I End and You Begin, Jonny does all looping of his ondes Martenot with an Akai Headrush.

From 2000-2016, the Headrush was kept on a pedalboard below his primary keyboard stand, alongside the BOSS RV3 and BOSS FV300 which he also used with his ondes Musicales. This year, Jonny uses one of the band’s new rolling keyboard stands for his primary Ondomo (one in a JGB finish), and has the Akai Headrush on the stand’s lower shelf. He also has an FV30 on the lower shelf, and a GE7 (used to manipulate Ondomo loops on Desert Island Disk) and RV5 on the upper shelf next to the Ondomo.

Jonny’s keyboard pedalboard in 2003, featuring a BOSS FV300, a BOSS RV3, a BOSS LS2, and an Akai Headrush E1.

Hello! You understand correctly, Ed’s current Audio Kitchen amps do have built-in reverb.

Ed’s setups has almost always included reverb, but he has rarely used the effect in a forward manner. Reverb is not necessary to create his distinctive atmospheric and ethereal sounds (those are delay-based), and for more traditional playing he mainly used it to give natural ambience. Additionally, from 2006 to 2011 Ed seems to have relied entirely on either Nigel or the band’s sound engineer for any reverb that was needed. Overall, it’s fair to say that while Ed does not consider reverb necessary, he does prefer to have the option of reverb in order to add natural ambience to his playing.

The Mesa Boogie Trem-o-Verbs which Ed used from 1992 to 2009 have built-in reverb. The Dave Petersen Vox AC30’s which he used from 2000-2009 have no built-in reverb, but from 2000-2001 Ed used a BOSS RV3 with the amps, and from 2003-2004 he used a “big box” EHX Holy Grail. He seems to have used no reverb with his AC30’s from 2006-2009. Additionally, Ed used a BOSS RV5 on the 2012 tour when playing through Fender Vibro-King Custom amplifiers.

A photo of Ed with his pedalboard at the 2003 Glastonbury Festival. His EHX Holy Grail reverb can be seen at the far right of his board. 

Yes. Jonny’s guitar always passed through those pedals, and they can be used with both of his amps. The BOSS line selector which chooses between his two amp-specific signal chains is directly after his Whammy WH4. Please use the updated GuitarGeek diagram as reference (also, not that the old guitarplayer diagram of Jonny’s pedalboard is very inaccurate in terms of signal order and should be disregarded).