The synth that defined Trent Reznor’s sound
Nine Inch Nails defy categorisation.
Despite being regularly recognised as one of the premier heavy metal acts of their day, the actual sound of Trent Reznor’s project is one that is constantly shifting. Broadly speaking, they fit under the industrial umbrella. Yet the band has also flirted with electronica, ambient and harsher, more experimental fusions of rock and techno. However, there’s also a reason that the band have the kind of fanbase that can fill any arena in the world several times over.
No matter how harsh and aggressive Nine Inch Nails gets, there’s often a maddeningly catchy pop sensibility at its core. What else are the likes of ‘The Hand That Feeds’, ‘Closer’ and ‘Into The Void’ if not spectacular works of pop songwriting under all the noise? Ironically enough, nowhere is this more apparent than where the band began, with their 1989 debut album, Pretty Hate Machine. A record indebted less to Throbbing Gristle and Ministry than it was to New Order and Soft Cell.
Some of the band’s most enduring hits come from this record. The likes of ‘Terrible Lie’, ‘Head Like a Hole’ and ‘Something I Can Never Have’ all come from their debut album, a record which shows just what a songwriting talent Trent Reznor has always been. It also shows his production prowess. Not only was it written and performed entirely by Reznor, but he also had a hand in producing, mixing, and even engineering the whole project.
What synth defined the first Nine Inch Nails record?
It’s one thing to credit Reznor with the record, but what tools did he use to build said record? This is an album that wasn’t built like many other rock albums of its time. To the extent that the only time a guitar is referenced in the liner notes is a sole credit to future Filter frontman Richard Patrick for adding a “guitar drone” to the end of the fourth track on the album ‘Sanctified’. No one else is credited as playing a traditional instrument. Just programming and, most importantly, synths.
This is a record built with synths, so which one did Reznor use to construct it with? In an interview with Synth History, he detailed the process when asked about his all-time favourite synths. After talking through his early experiments with the instrument, he then talks about his first sampler, saying, “My first real sampler was an Emax… and that was Pretty Hate Machine. It was pretty much all Emax and just figuring out every way to milk every bit of interesting stuff out of the limitations you had.”
That attitude pervades his music to this day, as he says, “Jump ahead to now, I have the privilege of not only having a lot more stuff being available but being able to afford stuff and collect things and spend time with them.” Reznor, after all, is an obsessive when it comes to his music. Not only finding the limits of whatever he works with, but pushing them too. An attitude that goes into his songwriting, film composing and live performances too, and long may it last!
