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June 8

Guitar "squeak"

Listening to the famous guitar intro to Every Breath You Take this morning, started me thinking about the squeak presumably made by Andy Summers's fingers sliding on the guitar strings.

Is the squeak regarded by guitarists as undesirable / unprofessional, or inevitable? Our article mentions that the song was recorded in one take. Would more takes be able to eliminate the noise? Would a more modern recording's engineers surgically remove such squeaks? And is there a proper name for the squeak itself!? Thanks --Dweller 09:41, 8 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I personally find this sound very good to have on a piece of guitar music and I would hate any engineer to remove it. It connotes authenticity and makes the piece of music much more "alive" in a way. --Richardrj ^talk ^email 10:08, 8 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

i concur with richard, there is a squeak on Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd that i listen out for when hearing the tune Perry-mankster 10:13, 8 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

"String squeak" seems to be the term used in the industry - see here. We don't yet have an article on it, unfortunately, but now that you've alerted us to this glaring gap, I predict it will be created very soon. -- JackofOz 10:18, 8 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks all. I've wikilinked the term in Jack's answer, to facilitate the article creation. I don't mind the squeak too much, meself. You guys have covered most of my questions; however, I'd still like to know if accomplished guitar players seek to minimise/eradicate string squeaks and if therefore they'd view Summers famous intro as flawed. --Dweller 12:18, 8 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

It used to be that anything other than pure musical sound was removed. That included squeak and feedback. Lennon claimed he was the first to introduce feedback as music in Revolution (he wasn't). After that, the raw sound of feedback and squeaks was accepted and many live albums (full of "bad" sounds) came out - some eclipsing the popularity of the studio albums (ie: Peter Frampton). --Kainaw ^(talk) 12:25, 8 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I believe the same effect is noticeable at the end of Mrs. Robinson by Simon and Garfunkel, towards the fade-out. My musical "ear" is not great, though, so I'll leave somebody else to add that to the article if appropriate! Hassocks5489 13:01, 8 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I remember an audio software for the amiga that had the "fret sound" as an instrument. It was like a whole choir of mice! 213.48.15.234 13:23, 8 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Yeah, I know of a couple music programs that allow the user to add the squeak to their compositions. And thank you to whoever created the article, I've wikified it and added it to the See also section of the Strings (music) article so that it's not orphaned. Dismas|^(talk) 15:35, 8 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I think most guitarists see string squeak as normal and not-really-harmful. But, it's not particularly done on purpose either. Those that want a very clean sound might not like it. I'd guess that in classical guitar it's considered a ~~faulty technique.~~ Their hand posture is quite different though, and presumably it's aimed partly at reducing noises like this. Friday (talk) 15:49, 8 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Actually, upon reading classical guitar (which sadly seems to be more about classical guitars as instruments rather than as a style of playing, I was reminded that they use nylon strings. I've never used them but I think nylon string lack the winding that would produce such a sound. So, it's probably not a sound you'd get in classical guitar, even with sloppy technique. Friday (talk) 15:58, 8 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

As a sloppy-technique classical guitarist, I can testify that I make it squeak. (The bottom strings being wound). The noise is certainly unprofessional among classical guitarists. iames 22:23, 8 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

And I can testify, as a lover of classical guitar music, that string squeak is ever-present on guitars with nylon strings, both live and in recordings. I once read that it first appeared when Andres Segovia introduced nylon strings to Spanish guitars, but our article makes no mention of this. JackofOz 06:33, 9 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Random related thing: When my gamelan professor was teaching reyong technique, he compared the sound of muting the pots to string squeak. It has no definite pitch and plays no role in the music, but it is considered inoffensive or even desirable. —Keenan Pepper 22:38, 8 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Why?

This question was a duplicate of one that exists on the Miscellaneous desk; [1]. --LarryMac | Talk 13:40, 8 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Sarsippius

I was just listening to The Groove That Makes Your Booty Move and I was wondering if they ever said who does the voice of Sarsippius. Does anyone here know who it was? --Kainaw ^(talk) 13:30, 8 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I don't see an immediate source but you may have better luck if people know you're talking about Infectious_Grooves. Friday (talk) 07:21, 9 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Jackass The Movie: Roller Disco Truck

In this stunt, what are the songs used in the background? I know one of them is That's the Way (I Like It) by KC and the Sunshine Band, but I don't know the other song.

Does this help: Jackass The Movie soundtrack? -- Jreferee ^(Talk) 00:01, 12 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Heroes episodes

I've heard a lot of my friends have downloaded Heroes (NBC) episodes off the Net. If this is true, then where do I get them from? The Updater would like to talk to you! 22:45, 8 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Almost definitely it will be illegal to download these episodes, but one of the most common ways files are shared is bittorrent. It may also be available on the iTunes Music Store which has relatively recently started selling episodes of shows (there are other online stores out but I forget their names). On a side note if you are tempted by the idea of piracy as a means of getting a copy of this show, remember that the creative industry rely on sales of dvds/syndication/advertising revenue to continue production of shows/development of new shows. ny156uk 23:09, 8 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

You can watch episodes online at the NBC site. ny156uk has covered the bases on the other options. --LarryMac | Talk 00:04, 9 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Note, however, that only those with a US IP address can watch and/or download from NBC. The querent appears to be in Australia, making this option (largely) unavailable to him or her. Rockpocket 08:22, 9 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

You might be able to find a Proxy server to route your computer through and download them regardless of where you are in the world--GTPoompt (talk) 13:27, 11 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Song

There's a song I'm trying to find the name of. It's a hardcore punk song with a female vocalist, and the most notable use of it is used for most the South Park Movie trailer (the one on iTunes). I have heard it on several radio stations but cannot find any trace of it anywhere on the Internet, so can someone please tell me the title and artist? Thank you. 68.8.247.49 23:49, 8 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

That's "Cannonball", by The Breeders. --Joelmills 01:47, 9 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

If that's hardcore punk, then I'm Mickey Mouse. - Zepheus <ゼィフィアス> 23:21, 11 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Are you? (^_^) Polarwolf 18:05, 19 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]