MUSIC DORK ALERT: AFTER THE BURIAL EXPLAIN THE MATH BEHIND THE INSANE RHYTHMS OF “PI”
Tuesday, August 5th, 2008 at 12:07pm by Vince NeilsteinIf you aren’t a complete musician dork, stop reading right now. If you are… keep reading, and you’re in for a real treat. Especially if you’re a drummer, or dig on metal drumming in general.
Still with me? Alrighty then, because this is some seriously intense, heady shit. MetalSucks Maniac Fantasyoosh alerted us to an awesomely intricate description of the music theory behind the crazy Meshuggah-esque After the Burial track “Pi (The Mercury of Infinity)” from their album Forging a Future Self. The description is posted in the “more info” section of a YouTube stills video for the song and explains exactly how the band wrote the crazy technical drum patterns… Based on the number Pi!
Pi was written and recorded only a few days before the completion of the Master copy, at around 10 am, with a couple of serious hangovers. Justin and I had talked about having a classical guitar intro into some sort of heavier riffage, but we weren’t quite sure what that was exactly going to be.
We remembered back to a few weeks prior, when we were throwing around an idea of using the mathematical constant Pi, and incorporating it into some sort of complex breakdown pattern where the kick drum corresponded to each number as the figure progressed. Kinda creating the ultimate mind boggler of a riff. The complexity of the intro is often overheard, because it’s hard to discern what is actually going on within the track, UNTIL NOW!!
Here’s a breakdown of the….um, breakdown, in the intro to our album, “Pi: The Mercury God Of Infinity”
The actual tempo is 120 beats per minute (bpm). You can hear this by listening for the closed hi-hat that is panned left: it is playing constant eighth-notes.
The snare is on beat three in 4/4 time at 120 bpm.
A crash cymbal accents beat one of the first measure in 4/4. It is repeated every four measures.
Now this is where it gets tricky: the china cymbal.
It’s hard to feel the breakdown in Pi at 120 bpm, and this is mostly due to the china cymbal, which is playing a 4 over 3 (4/3) dotted-eighth note ostinato that begins on the “E” of one.
Confused?
Check it out: A quarter note is equal to one beat in 4/4 time, but so are two eighth notes, or 4 sixteenth notes. It’s all about subdividing note values.
When you count a measure of 4/4 in quarter notes, it’s: 1, 2, 3, 4.
When counting in eighth notes, it’s: 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +. (a plus sign refers to the spoken count “and” ex. “One and two and three and four and”)
When counting in sixteenths, it’s: 1 E + A 2 E + A 3 E + A 4 E + A. (Spoken: “One e and a two e and a three e and a four e and a)
So when I say the china starts on the “E” of one, I’m referring to the spoken counting value assigned to the second 16th note in a quarter note duration.
A dotted eighth note is a duration of three 16th notes, an ostinato is a persistently repeated pattern. Basically, the china plays on the bold-capitalized letters:
one E and a TWO e and A three e AND a four E and a ONE e and A etc.
Starting to get it? Cool.
At last, the reason Pi is what it is: the Double-bass pattern.
The formula of Pi for the kick drum was pretty far fetched at first, but seemed to work well once the track was finished. The numbers and rests in the formula translate to 16th notes on the kick drum, and 16th note rests. There is no kick drum beats where there are snare drums. Sooo, here it is:
With the decimal point BEFORE the number, and starting with the first number, move that many decimal points to the right and insert that many 16th note rests. Use one 16th note rest to divide the numbers you passed (when applicable). Continue on throughout the rest of the figure. No repeats.
So basically for the first step, you’d place the point (pt) before the first number, three: (pt)3.14159265
Next you jump the decimal three points to the right: 3.14(pt)159265
That’s where you insert three 16th rests, and insert one 16th note rest between the other numbers you passed: 3(16th rest)1(16th rest)4(dotted-eighth)159265
Now, your decimal lies in between the 4 and the 1. So, following the formula, you move one point to the right of the 1 and insert one 16th note rest. There are no numbers to separate with single 16th rests, so you move onto the next number, which is 5, and follow the same instructions.
That’s all there is to it! The formula extends out to 71 decimal points.
Now THAT is the fucking shit I’m talking about. How cool of them to take the time to explain it. And it actually makes sense, too. How the drummer can remember a pattern consisting of 71 decimal points is beyond me… But shit, more power to him!
By the way, After the Burial’s newest album Rareform just came out on July 22nd, and it fucking slays. Check them out on their MySpace page.
-VN
Not too into the whole weird beats thing. But that is kind of a kick ass theme to put a song to. Nerdy as hell, but at least it shows you they’re not just a bunch of dumbasses.
I read for 3.14159 minutes, then got bored.
yes because youre stupid!!!!!!!! duuuu
I hope the album is more interesting that the description. Seriously I’ll check this out, sounds interesting.
i have been reading music since i was born adn i can play the guitar, bass, drums, keyboards, and do death metal vocals but that friggen confused me man these guys are good
badass
Only 71 decimals?
Amateurs.
Lmao@ Einstein’s comment.
“The formula extends out to 71 decimal points.”
Does this statement mean that you move the point 71 times? Or does it mean that you reach the 71st number in the sequence? If neither of those, then what does it mean?
“There is no kick drum beats where there are snare drums.”
More questions. Does the kick drum pattern start on “one”? If so, do you replace where the kick drum should be on “three” with the snare instead, or is the pattern adjusted to make sure that never happens? If starts on one, and you didn’t replace the kick drum with the snare, then you would have that problem on the first measure; however, it sounds like you are using that replacement.
I love you guys’ idea for this; I’m considering buying the album now.
I listened to their myspace…. It’s cool how they got a typewriter to sounds sort of like a kick drum.
Protest the Hero are 3.14 times better than these guys. That’s (3.14)x(After the Burial)=Protest the Hero.
its band like that that make disturbed redundant
btbam
messhuggah
dep
that’s all you need ;)
curse you, Akenaten!
anyway, this band is great, glad to see them get some mainstream recognition.
I am glad you guys here are fond of their new stuff and aren’t saying it’s generic or whatever cause I’m a huge fan. The new album took me a few listens to get used to but after that I realized it’s got a lot more to it than their first album.
And I can’t follow that pattern no matter how hard I try.
now if only they could they could work more than one and a half notes into the entire song…
Fuck My Absolute Life!!
I wish i paid more attention in maths.
haha i love how technical and math based this band are.
love em,
both albums are sickk
SWEET!!!
This is the same $hlt in a slightly different bag. Why not use a drum machine? it would be more reliable live and sound the exact same on a cd. Actually, they probably did use a drum machine on the cd. None of you will ever hear this song live because the band cannot remember how to play it. any bored doom-head with Garage Band on their laptop has already written this breakdown then deleted it because they thought it sucked.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_Msy-YUs4Y
Check it, ese.
you can’t even fucking SPELL “rhythm” right..why should we trust you to have a reasonable commentary on it?!
I have been a huge fan of these guys. I had Rareform first, and I just got their older album with this song on it. I have to say, these guys are fucking geniuses. I love the heavy (8 String) guitar riffs and the drums…basically the whole band. I don’t think they used a drum machine, they are way to good to use that kind of stuff. Have you ever seen them in live btw? They know exactly what to play, they know their shit. The guitar players play so well live it’s just amazing. (Although, I have to say that Mesuggah is still #1 in “weird” music like this)
Ps.: If there are any other bands like these guys, please hit me up! Thanks! :D
just got back from their show in Denver, CO. Fucking kick-ass. That’s all I have to say. I honestly had never heard of these guys before they opened for All Shall Perish and Born Of Osiris. Anyway, they were fucking awesome! I’m a huge Meshuggah fan and these guys take the Meshuggah formula to a new level! Kick-ass polyrhythmic shit. Period.
You sir know your music and I applaud you for it.
thx dude, i try :) you’re a fellow Meshuggah fan, i take it?
Most definitely…I just love crazy time signature changes and complex patterns. I’m a music major going in to my second year of theory so I’m starting to understand a lot of the shit they’re doing now rather than just attempting to copy it lol