![]() ![]() The raspy and chaotic delivery of Ol’ Dirty Bastard, the monotonous tone of GZA, Raekwon’s commanding voice – each member of the Wu-Tang Clan brought their own unique style and flavour to the album, all tied together through the common themes of comic books, kung-fu, chess, smoking weed and life in New York City. ![]() Though nine different MC’s appear on the album, each voice was easily distinguishable. The use of this effect is perhaps most noticeable in the album’s opening song, as well as during the opening moments of Clan in da Front. The most prominent effects unit used on the album was the Tascam 122 MKII, imparting a subtle analog slap-back to the vocal tracks. The only microphone to be used on the album was the AKG C414 EB with very minimal effects applied to the vocals. ![]() When it came to recording the vocals for the album, RZA kept the set-up rather simple. Trademark Wu-Tang vocals and uncompromising lyricism The Alchemist, Just Blaze, and even Kanye West have all expressed their admiration for RZA and heavily rely on the sampling technique pioneered on the album. Many current-day producers have opened up about how RZA’s sampling techniques have influenced them. The minimalist and grimy soul samples on Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) provided the perfect blueprint for up and coming hardcore hip-hop artists. This technique would go on to greatly influence hip-hop production for years to come. The horns were sampled from the outro of the 1968 song Different Strokes by Syl Johnson, with RZA slowing down the speed of the sample and lowering the pitch of the lively horn section. The RZA would take a sample from a song and either slow it down to fit the desired tempo or speed it up to create a chipmunk effect.įor example, Shame on a N**** is one of the most well-known songs from the album and opens up with a booming horn section. Though sampling drum loops and piano chords from old soul numbers had been done prior to the release of Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), it was how RZA warped and manipulated his samples that was unique. Everything from Thelonious Monk to Otis Reading, The Jackson 5, and even Barbra Streisand were all sampled for the album. In contrast to the melodic synth-driven G-Funk of the time, the RZA and the Wu-Tang Clan as a whole largely relied on sampling soul and jazz songs from the ’50s and ’60s. ![]() From the rapid-fire fists of fury in Shame on a N**** to outlining the intricacies of chess in Da Mystery of Chessboxin, each grab of dialogue was a lot more than a loving homage - the Wu created a dark, Eastern-influenced atmosphere that was, at the time, largely unprecedented in hip-hop. Many more martial arts films, including Executioners from Shaolin, Ten Tigers from Kwangtung, to Five Deadly Venoms, were sampled throughout the record. Even before the booming kick drum enters the song, this small grab of dialogue from the kung-fu film perfectly sets the cut-throat tone prevalent throughout the entire album. Aside from this nod, and naming the two sides of their LP after the two martial arts schools, the album’s opening track Bring the Ruckus begins with a sample of the film. #Youtube enter the wu tang 36 chambers movie#In a 2013 interview with Spin, mastering engineer Chris Gehringer said, “It was a little bit of a shit-show! It wasn’t the cleanest of audio, and it wasn’t audiophile material, and they didn’t spend a lot of time miking and recording stuff, but sometimes art shows up in funny ways.”Īs life-long lovers of martial arts and kung-fu films, the nine-man rap group named themselves after the 1983 Hong Kong movie Shaolin and Wu-Tang. Though RZA had produced an EP two years earlier, he wasn’t the most technically skilled when it came to setting up microphones and dealing with complex mixes. Aside from the tiny budget and using worn-out equipment, a lot of the lo-fi quality can be traced back to the group’s lack of production experience. ![]()
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