Trent Reznor

Throughout his time as producer, Reznor goes for a very hard and gritty sound.  Much of what he produces is classified as “Industrial Rock” for this attribute.

Reznor cites his greatest influence was his life in a small town:  “I don’t know why I want to do these things, other than my desire to escape from Small Town, U.S.A., to dismiss the boundaries, to explore. It isn’t a bad place where I grew up, but there was nothing going on but the cornfields. My life experience came from watching movies, watching TV and reading books and looking at magazines. And when your fucking culture comes from watching TV every day, you’re bombarded with images of things that seem cool, places that seem interesting, people who have jobs and careers and opportunities. None of that happened where I was. You’re almost taught to realize it’s not for you.”  

Began producing in Clevelend, Ohio.  He had background in synthesizers from playing in some small-time synth bands in te mid 1980s, and was employed by Right Track Studios.  He began creating music in the spare hours in the studio under the name Nine Inch Nails.

His first album, as Nine Inch Nails, was Pretty Hate Machine.  This album used samples from various bands in the tracks.  In the track Sanctified, Reznor used speech from the movie Midnight Express.

Nine Inch Nails – Sanctified (3:15 – 3:35)

//Find Counterexample

This is also an example of how Reznor uses technology more subtly in his music.

Pretty Hate Machine was among the first independently produced albums to gain platinum certification.  With the success of Pretty Hate Machine, Reznor rented the 10050 Cielo Drive mansion, installed a home studio, and renamed his mansion and latest production area Le Pig.  He is said to have spent months in Le Pig recording samples, not sure what he would use them for, to use later.  After he was satisfied with his sample collection, he began work on his next album, The Downward Spiral.

Where the magic happened.

Some of the drums he sampled can be heard in Piggy (0:00 – 0:30).  The type of drums he uses changes for one section of the song (1:50 – 2:20).  //Recognizes difference between recorded and sampled.  Find quote.

Listen to the placement of the sounds: Mr. Self Destruct (0:00 – 0:30).

Listen to the technological attributes at (0:00 – 0:30) and at (1:10 – 1:30):  March of the Pigs

His effective use of technology does not stop at music.  Consider how he uses technology in the album version of Hurt (4:15) versus his use of technology when playing Hurt live: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvJKVKglIRs

Trent Reznor worked on the production of other artists as well.  He worked on a couple albums with Marilyn Manson.  However, on these works, he had considerably less input.  Consider the differences between Reznor’s usual style in the use of technology and the style used in “Cake and Sodomy” from Portrait of an American Family and “The Man that You Fear” from Antichrist Superstar.

Marilyn Manson – Cake And Sodomy (0:00 – 0:30)

16 MAN THAT YOU FEAR  (2:25 – 3:00)

Most recently, Reznor worked on the score for The Social Network with David Ross, as well as the score for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.  He puts great focus on the subtlety of the music as seen in these clips:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYkgpQEmvzs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bj8S-HlbKyE