Zoë Blade's notebook

The Prodigy

Music for the Jilted Generation
Music for the Jilted Generation

The Prodigy were a rave band that evolved into a more mainstream act. Liam Howlett wrote and performed all their music, with the other members later getting increasingly prominent on vocals.

Quotes

My music's hand-built. I don't copy sections. I always looked at it as being hand-built on the W-30. I write every fucking thing, even the little cymbal patterns that I'll sit and tap out for five minutes! Different notes come out at different velocities that way, and I thought that Cubase would take all that away.

When I use Cubase, I turn off cycle mode and use it as I would have used the W-30. Now I've got over the fear. I can't get into doing an eight-bar section and then arrange it from there. I have to do it as I'm going along. For something mechanical, it works, and it's obviously good for dance music because most dance music just repeats anyway.

I try to make the tracks a bit more song based, which helps me get out of the routine of having eight bars here and eight bars there. Because it's up on the screen, it's too easy to get into that.

— Liam Howlett, The Prodigy, 1997[1]

Equipment list

Circa What Evil Lurks

Additions circa Experience

Additions circa Music for the Jilted Generation

Additions circa The Fat of the Land

Additions circa Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned

Selected discography

References

  1. "Playing With Fire!" Robin Green, The Mix, Mar 1997
  2. Everybody in the Place Martin James, The Prodigy: Adventures With the Voodoo Crew, 1997, ISBN 0-09-186088-1, pp. 5—29
  3. Rapido, Nov 1991
  4. Everybody in the Place The Prodigy, Dec 1991
  5. "The Lone Raver" Tim Goodyer, Music Technology, May 1992, pp. 68—72
  6. Wind It Up (Rewound) The Prodigy, Apr 1993
  7. "Prodigious Talent" David Robinson, Future Music, Feb 1993, pp. 31—34
  8. "Liam Howlett: The Prodigy & Firestarter" Paul Nagle, Sound On Sound, Sep 1996
  9. "Liam Howlett: Recording Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned" Sue Sillitoe, Sound On Sound, Oct 2004
  10. "Skylined" The Prodigy, Music for the Jilted Generation, 1994
    Note: "Skylined" features the Proteus/3's preset 4 "Spirit Catch" as a main hook.
  11. "Prodigy Engineer/Co-Producer Neil McLellan Remembers the Jilted Generation Sessions" Will Betts, MusicTech, Jul 2019
  12. "Voodoo People" The Prodigy, Music for the Jilted Generation, 1994
    Note: "Voodoo People" has a prominent riff used throughout the track. This is the JD-990's internal preset 45 "Wailing guitar".
  13. "Poison" The Prodigy, Music for the Jilted Generation, 1994
    Note: "Poison" has a prominent rhythmic part with lots of moving resonance, used throughout the track. This is the SR‑JV80‑04's JD-990 preset 208 "EML Wobbler".
  14. "3 Kilos" The Prodigy, Music for the Jilted Generation, 1994
    Note: The outro for "3 Kilos" uses the SR‑JV80‑04's JV series preset 255 "RSS Spinner", with the second voice turned off.

Artists: Aphex Twin | Autechre | Derrick May | Fatboy Slim | Juan Atkins | Kevin Saunderson | Kraftwerk | LFO (artist) | Man Machine | Moby | Nine Inch Nails | Orbital | Richie Hawtin | The Future Sound of London | The Prodigy | Underworld | Vladimir Ussachevsky | Wendy Carlos | William Orbit | Zoë Blade