This is not news by any means, but I have always wondered what these "beeps" were from and why exactly do the pillows keep using them...The songs that contain these "beeps" ( eventhough they almost sound like a boat whistle or something) are as follows, if there are more, please add them.


1. Rush ( Beeps start at 3:30)

2. Wonderful Sight ( All through the beginning of the song, 00:10)

3. Carnival ( first beep is heard at 1:10)

It comes from the guitar, maybe interfering with the amps or something. I'm still trying to figure out how they do it live, like on 916, when they played Rush

i think i hear something in 'rush', and i definitely hear it in 'wonderful sight'... more like a buzzing though.

While I don't quite recall the beeps in Wonderful Sight, or in Carnival, I know what you talking about in Rush.

I [i]think[/i] it's some sort of feedback thing, caused by an amp. You know those loud, annoying screeching tones that sometimes happen with mics? (When they interfere with other electronics)

It's probably something like that, but with some special method, they may be able to control when they occur...like maybe jacking up the gain, and moving the guitar really close to the amp?

I don't really know what I'm talking about here, but it seems plausible.

Rain Brain?

I think I know what you are talking about in Wonderful Sight and Carnival. But I didn't hear it in Rush. My guess is that it aids in the recording of the song. Kinda like a checkpoint or a set mark/point. Like, at this beep at at this certain time, they supposed to go into the chorus or the bridge or whatever.

how can you not hear it in rush?!?!

I probably have a shit encoding of Rush.

And Thrice, those beeps are part of the song.

[quote="thejedipunk"]I think I know what you are talking about in Wonderful Sight and Carnival. But I didn't hear it in Rush. My guess is that it aids in the recording of the song. Kinda like a checkpoint or a set mark/point. Like, at this beep at at this certain time, they supposed to go into the chorus or the bridge or whatever. [/quote]

In Rush, it's during the solo.

I'm not so sure about your "checkpoint" theory. If they were going to do that, they'd probably use a light, and not something that'd actually affect the outcome of the song. I think it's just a dirty effect, like: "Weeeeowww! Check out this gnarly amp, its rough and tumble and oh-so metal!" ::BEEEEEEEEP::

Oooohh. That sounds like feedback to me.

Um, yeah. Feedback.

I'm fuzzy on the more advanced aspects of it, but the one in Carnival you're talking about is definitely feedback. IIRC, it's usually created when sound from an amplifier enters a microphone, exits the amplifier, enters the microphone, etc. in a loop. The same principle with guitar pickups, I think.

EDIT: It usually happens to guitars when the gain is turned up really high (or a really high-gain distortion pedal is turned on) and the amp is turned up fairly loud. Some musicians have made an art out of controlling feedback, but for the most part it's sort of an accidental thing. You can also get the sound by hitting a harmonic with some distortion on.

DOUBLE EDIT: I don't hear it in Rush, but in my encoding, 3:30 is the very end of the song. Did you mean 2:30?

-Midnight Down at about 0:20.

[quote="thejedipunk"]Oooohh. That sounds like feedback to me.[/quote]


That was my initial thought, but it dosen't really sound like

feedback to me anymore.

Strange how the beeps in each of those three songs are almost identical.

[quote="Sclone"]I have always wondered what these "beeps" were from[/quote]
ROBOT MAN

[img]http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a280/Snigwel/BEEProbot.jpg[/img]

NO SELF CONTROL: 2:17

I sounds a lot like feedback from pedal switching, and the fact that the beep comes out just when they change distortion makes it a fairly possible assumption. On "my" Rush the beep is there, but it is not loud and not on 3:30, it's on 0:43 and 1:52 on the right channel, there's some twitching on 2:30 too.