sound at the beginning?

[imtheism]

What do you guys think the sound at the beginning is? What do you believe it to mean?

Personally, to me it sounds like a machine of some sort starting up. Much like a dentist's drill. No idea what bearing that could have on a meaning, other than the fact that the grudge in general has a much more 'mechanical' sound than a lot of the other songs.

No bearing on what any of this means whatsoever, a pointless thread indeed.

[TJBundy]

i always thought it sounded like an elevator...but is it going down or going up? i can't imagine the grudge w/out it actually...it's just something that fits...i can't really describe how it makesme feel...i guess maybe it's the anticipation that always gets me

[g-bay-be]

i always thought it sounded like an elevator...but is it going down or going up? i can't imagine the grudge w/out it actually...it's just something that fits...i can't really describe how it makesme feel...i guess maybe it's the anticipation that always gets me



i thought it was the cd spinning at rist... but no. hahahahahaha then i thought it was a electric toothbrush... who knows... who cares... its the same person!

[AnemicRoyalty]

The Melvins's album Ozma starts off with a sound that is strikingly similar to it and that album came out in 89'.

[talks in the clouds]

the sound leading the intro to 'the Grudge' at the beginning of 'Lateralus' is one of a brainwave frequenc-y(ies)

i cannot tell the actual Hz frequencies, although I know because I have found software which generates these frequencies. I do know it is a high frequency though, with alot of cycling, can you tell?

the soft ware i found you can but from the internet, and you can actually create your own frequencies with it- the brainwave generator is one of them you can search for and try out for a free trial

the software can be programed with different frequencies to produce a number of desired effects in order to relax you, aid you in meditation, or just stimulate different areas of activity in your brain experimentally

you can learn about brainwave frequencies and the Hz if you just search the internet with the key words brainwave frequencies and Hz

an example of a brainwave frequency that you can hear noramlly would be the schuman resonance, named after the scientist who discovered it, which is thought to be similar to the sound some crickets, or cicadas make, and is the Hz frequency of the earth's rotation

another tool track on undertow, the hidden track, is lead up to through a series of crickets, or cicadas chirping, and I think could be considered partial to a certain brainwave 'awareness', or 'intention' of hearing, or listening to the frequencies of nature, quite possibly the schuman resonance i have no idea how it was done

until then,
*-*

[neochrist]

it sounds like an elevator to me too.

[æternus-mens]

yeah kinda sounds like an elevator to me

[_La_te_ra_lus_]

I always thought the sound was supposed to be the CD starting up, or starting to spin.

[eslupminoyler]

My first interpretation of this sound gave me a feeling of sinking, meaning the sound goes from high to low, it sounds like a futuristic platform sinking below the Earth. In the back of my head for some reason I have a feeling that at some point on the cd this platform will rise again, I can't recall if it does.

[sweet_moment]

Reminded me of the intro to "Welcome to the machine" from the album "Wish you were here" by Pink Floyd.

But upon comparing them, I feel it does sound more like an elevator. Altough the frequency theory is believable.

[crow011]

its seriously an elevator . . .

i heard it on "the thirteenth floor" today . . .

going up, too, i believe . . .

peace and blessed be . . .

crow011 . . .

[radmanics]

To me this sounds like an elevator...going up. The click at the start.. can you explain that if it is a brainwave freqency?

If it is an elevator.. take it as a metaphor: This album, through the usual leanring and discovery, will elevate your mind or knowldge.

Also, if this song, or indeed the album, is about or one of its themes is alchemy, perhaps it's the sond of the magus returning to the above, or the austomaner going to the above for the first time.

Prehap someone with a decent audio levels equipment or software package, could study the entire album for a freqency such as this, or one going in the opersite direction (down for me), occuring again, in or at the start or end of other tracks, maybe out of human hearing.

Also, if this is a noise, at the Hz of a brainfrequency, we shouldn't hear it, or else we'd have a rather bad headache all of the time

[Mantra Man]

The sound is obviously a machine but to me it is irrelevant what type of machine it is, it just symbolizes the starting up of a great song/album.
Also the interesting mechanical noises in the final seconds of Faaip De Oiad.
Could this be representing a cycle of some sort?

[fathomthepower]

anybody think it could be a SAWBLADE???

here's my reasoning:

i bought Alex Grey's book Transfigurations. This is the artist that designed the cover for Lateralus. The book has pictures of his design and a brief commentary on it. Here's what he says:

"Adam Jones, from the rock group Tool, approached me with a concept about anatomically based art on acetate overlays. I'm a fan of Tool's intense music so I agreed. AS I WAS SKETCHING, THE "SAW BLADE" DESIGN EMERGED. THE "SAW BLADE" REPRESENTS THE PRIMORDIAL SPIRIT OF EMPTINESS AND AWARENESS. The next layer was a vajra emitting energy, the subtle essence of soul around which the physical body coagulates. The vajra is placed at the sonic power center through which the voice emanates. The next several layers detail the physical systems of viscera, skeletal, muscular, nervous, and cardiovascular systems. Weaving through the physical layers are symbols of the subtle life-energy bodies and centers of awareness."

take your cd out of the cd player for once and check out the saw blade on it.

[The Grudge]

Elevator shmelevator. Sawblade...I thoroughly agree.

[layersbeyondimagination]

it reminds me of an old projector machine starting up for some reason. but i agree with the high frequency post. it makes sense....
but it also sounds like any random machine starting up.

[spiralion]

I've heard it before else where. Someone should check some sound effects tapes.....

[Unhuman Elactic]

I allways thought that it was the sound of the most meaninglessly overanalysed sound ever...

just kidding.


Because of the Deep Purple factor I thought it was an electric door rising.

But maybe it is just a random sound left for people to interpret?

[whalethesecond]

I think the most plausible theory about what this is its the brainwave frequency, especially since the frequency is a high one. I think it means its the start of this album, which is an experience which stimulates the brain??? (or moreso the unconsciousness). Also, the sound comes and fades away again in Ticks and Leeches, in the soft bit. This could be that its the start of the last part of the album, where things get really in overdrive. Overall, its really the symbolism. The 'starting up' of the experience. Why always seems better that what!!! THOUGHTS??????

[radmanics]

If it was a brainwave we'd hear it constantly... yes/no?

[dischordance]

I agree with the "random machine spinning [spiralling] up" theory.
But consider the other generic electronic whirring sounds in The Grudge, which can be heard throughout the album, on Schism, Parabol, Ticks And Leeches, Triad, and the end of Faaip De Oiad.
Here's a thought.
Maybe the music in Lateralus depicts the universe as a machine, which is switched on in The Grudge (hence the tribal, summoning-ish drumming - the birth of civillisation?), and cataclysmically breaks down in Triad/Faaip.
Not that it's alluded to in the lyrics, or anything, but I always found it fascinating that although Ænima is the more industrial album, Lateralus sounds more machine-like (actually, it's paradoxically organic and mechanical at the exact same time).
The universe-as-a-machine thing is just what I always hear whenever I hear some sort of machine-like sample in Lateralus, which is crazy considering the lyrics point to something entirely different.

[Seven Deep]

That exact sample/sound was included in a sound effects collection
in my engineering school. I actually used it in a radio commercial I had to do.
It was called "elevator shaft"
I've heard it countless times in movies and TV shows.......it's kind of generic
The effects collection I was using was made in the late 80's too.....
I highly doubt it's any kind of bio electrical sound...if you listen closely you can hear the
metal clacking as it starts up. But if thats what you hear....go with it.

Personally, I dont think it has any deeper meaning than
Tool saying "here we go"

[AllforUnity]

Yeah, l agree, l really don't think it's more than a machine either. Brainwave sounds cool...but afraid, probably not.

[chapter24]

it reminds me of an old projector machine starting up for some reason. but i agree with the high frequency post. it makes sense....
but it also sounds like any random machine starting up.

Yeah I've always thought that. When you start the cd, just picture a movie theatre projector starting up, with the film winding and all. Gives even more foundation to the 'Laterals/movie synchronization' theory, I say. The sound comes in right when "in a film by darron aronofsky'' comes onto the screen. At least, thats how I do it, with the original track listing, of course.

[crow011]

yep, TOOL made an album so some tosser can synch it up with their favourite movie . . .

crow011 . . .

[INNER_STRUGGLE]

I always percieved it as a elevator. The sawblade thing is interesting though.

[hooker with a penis]

Yeah im pretty certain its a circular saw. It would make sense in relation to the song as well, with the destructive nature of hatred and grudges. Well at least more sense than an elevator.

[The Forked Pig]

I don't really know what it is, just kinda sounds like a machine starting up. I think it's really cool though, as I always thought of it as the signal that the giant musical machine that is Lateralus is being awoken. The we get pounded by the Grudge. Pretty cool.

[pops333]

It is an elevator. One of those old ones with the gate you have to pull. A table saw is too hihg. I dont'think it has much meaning beyond the fact that it sounds cool.

[munted_soul]

You know those little subliminal mental pictures you get in your head when you see something for the first time and you seem to think of that everytime you see or hear that thing?

everytime i hear that noise i see the picture in the undertow booklet with the fat dildo, i somehow always think of that thing starting up....

....anyway thats just my opinion, but seriously when you see something for the first time probe your mind and think about what you first thought about its kinda screwed what your mind thinks sometimes.

[AllforUnity]

Damn...lurker city.

[munted_soul]

nothing better to do aye buddy?

[lateralopiate]

i heard the exact same sound on a T.V. show prior to the explosion of a bomb of some sort..

perhaps it is a detonator or something, or as suggested a generic machinery sound effect

[corps d'allumen]

Some pretty interesting thoughts... I do like the elevator thing, and the brain wave thing is innovative, to say something... But, if something resonates with your brain waves, something bad is bound to happen... My favorite, but maybe not the most accurate has to be the saw thing. I haven't given this topic/subject much thought, so this is all I can/will say about it. That kinda makes me wonder 'what was the point of even writing this then?'

[Lackymacky]

Listen the start of the grudge (machine on...)
Listen the last seconds of Faaip de Oiad (machine off)

!! you took what i wanted to say :( hehe, yeah i think its no more than the begining of the cd, and at the end of Faaip de oiad its the end..no brainwaves or anything just a sound to make it cooler.


^_^

[gottagetaway]

Its most definately an alien space ship
Honestly, i did think that, after watching many X files and similar programmes/films that it was a landed spacecraft. The door mechanism opening outwards, what u see in the doorway was up to the listeners imagination, then the eerie music starts up.

[basher000000]

I think it's an elevator. Whenever I hear the beginning of the song I always think of some guy in some futuristic building running into an elevator, pushing the button, and then the soun starts and as the walls pass below him he looks up at his destination and the song starts... even thought that has nothing to do with the song, that's just what I thought of.

[Agent of Truth]

Well, i would have to say the sound is an elevator. I'm sure i've heard it in a video game before, maybe half-life? that being said, i think tool may have used the sound to make lateralus sound like a machine. We had the machine on, machine off post already, but what if the machine was running, then malfunctioned, resulting in triad and faaip. Or, maybe it is supposed to be like one of those spinning sphere dillys, like in the movie xmen, or contact. The machine revs up, and faaip is like, the reason for the machine, the message. Firing up a high-powered radio receiver. Just thoughts

[Cyanide ChrYst]

Actually its a sybian and faiip is the orgasm.

[5-MeO-AmT]

A lot of posts have been made about Buddism, Zen and what not on this album. It seems to me as if a lot of the Grudge has to do with letting go of personal judgments of people. I guess my interpretation of the "elevator noise" would be to stop looking up and for better things, and simply just exist as a human; return to earth and just exist, much like Zen doctrine. Judgement is the ultimate crime, who's to say what is right and wrong - who is to condemn. Freedom becomes lost the moment judgements start to be thrown around.

"defining, confining, controlling, and we're sinking deeper. "

[SiGuy]

to me it sounds like a machine that i work with frequently. the click then the whirr sound then the whine,it sounds almost exactly like when i start the big reel 2 track tape machine sitting three feet from me(maby a reberb added or something), the one we use for the recording of a final mix down, obviously louder of course. even further, the sound at the end of faaip sounds just like when the tape hits the end of the reel and slips out(as its supposed to) then whips through the record heads and sticks to the other reel, the thing then shuts off by itself with a series of clicks. this may not be it, but it'd be a startling co-incidence. that said, i have no idea what it means. perhaps a spurr of the moment kind of thing, i dont know, but i like the sybian idea.:)

(when i say sounds like, i mean it sounds like the artifact imposed on the tape recording, it only lasts for a few seconds till the bearings in te motor have had a chance to warm up)

[mmortal03]

What do you guys think the sound at the beginning is? What do you believe it to mean?

Personally, to me it sounds like a machine of some sort starting up. Much like a dentist's drill. No idea what bearing that could have on a meaning, other than the fact that the grudge in general has a much more 'mechanical' sound than a lot of the other songs.

No bearing on what any of this means whatsoever, a pointless thread indeed.

Holy thread resurrection, Batman!

The sound at the beginning of Lateralus is actually part of a standard sound effects library that we used for a post production class at my school. I don't know what the sound effects library is called, but it was in the "science fiction" folder, and is entitled "Servo Motor". I still have a copy of the clip, if someone wants proof. Basically, they just extended the noise of the motor at the end of the clip, and dropped the gain a lot.

[xineax]

I don't think it's an elevator at all, although that would be my first guess. Three years after I heard this album, I saw the movie "Lifestyles." It's about all these old swingers and it shows them fuck each other and shit. It's pretty disgusting to see elderly women and men in swingers clubs. Ick.

But anyway at the beginning of a MTV Cribs-like scene, grandpa is showing off his swingers pad. Then he goes over to the jacuzzi and starts up the jets...IT SOUNDED EXACTLY LIKE THE BEGINNING OF THE GRUDGE. The movie was made in '97. I think it would be very funny if Tool sampled this.

HAHA.

[TvAndDrugsLoveChild]

i always thought it sounded like one of those curtains at a theater. curtain goes up and the show starts or in this case curtain goes up, cd starts.

[FuzzTone]

It's an old-style film projector starting up. I think it's pretty distinct. Check out the begining of scorsese's Mean Streets for the same sound (i think about a minute into the film, when the projector turns on)

[][ncognito]

it reminds me of an old projector machine starting up for some reason. but i agree with the high frequency post. it makes sense....
but it also sounds like any random machine starting up.


to me it sounds like a machine that i work with frequently. the click then the whirr sound then the whine,it sounds almost exactly like when i start the big reel 2 track tape machine sitting three feet from me(maby a reberb added or something), the one we use for the recording of a final mix down, obviously louder of course. even further, the sound at the end of faaip sounds just like when the tape hits the end of the reel and slips out(as its supposed to) then whips through the record heads and sticks to the other reel, the thing then shuts off by itself with a series of clicks. this may not be it, but it'd be a startling co-incidence. that said, i have no idea what it means. perhaps a spurr of the moment kind of thing, i dont know, but i like the sybian idea.:)

(when i say sounds like, i mean it sounds like the artifact imposed on the tape recording, it only lasts for a few seconds till the bearings in te motor have had a chance to warm up)


It's an old-style film projector starting up. I think it's pretty distinct. Check out the begining of scorsese's Mean Streets for the same sound (i think about a minute into the film, when the projector turns on)

This is what I always imagined it as. Really interesting to see so many have the elevator idea. That never even crossed my mind. All the elevators I've been in have had much more of a lower pitched hum sound.

I always pictured it was the old-style film projecter winding up. I dunno why I had the idea about it, but the Grudge seems like it was take place on an old film like that machine would play. It seems to fit the song. It always had an archaic feel to it in my mind.

[RonanF]

Me and a friend were watching season one - second episode of King of the Hill where Hank brings his son to some sort of dairy/cow place to teach him the facts of life.

The sound at the beginning of the grudge came on when they put some machine against a cow. We looked at each other, replayed it a few times. The put in lateralus. We are 100% convinced it is the same sound effect.

[paraflux]

It's an old-style film projector starting up. I think it's pretty distinct. Check out the begining of scorsese's Mean Streets for the same sound (i think about a minute into the film, when the projector turns on)

.

[C-Finch]

Yeah, I always thought that it was a movie reel..

[C-Finch]

Yeah, i always thought that it was a movie reel... never doubted it~

[C-Finch]

Yeah, I always thought that it was a movie reel.. never doubted it~

[HateSolstice]

That exact sample/sound was included in a sound effects collection
in my engineering school. I actually used it in a radio commercial I had to do.
It was called "elevator shaft"
I've heard it countless times in movies and TV shows.......it's kind of generic
The effects collection I was using was made in the late 80's too.....
I highly doubt it's any kind of bio electrical sound...if you listen closely you can hear the
metal clacking as it starts up. But if thats what you hear....go with it.

Personally, I dont think it has any deeper meaning than
Tool saying "here we go"

I mostly just agree with that last comment there. And honestly, are you going to go around listening to everyone's skull to try and compare it to the sound on the album?

On second thought, that'd be awesome if someone did that. Just run up to every person you meet on the street untill you hear it, then report back here with the details.

[moppzero]

There is a very similar sound when they restore power in the Panic Room episode of CSI NY.

[ladycommish]

Listen the start of the grudge (machine on...)
Listen the last seconds of Faaip de Oiad (machine off)

hence the circular sawblade.

[nameloc01]

it is not an elevator. it is the sound of guitar or bass vacuum tubes warming up.the tubes inside the amps.

[Ghostwriter]

It's the GOD MACHINE!!!! "DEUS EX MACHINA"

[Gunner101]

I did a little research and found <a href="http://www.audiolicense.net/sfx/subcat_search.asp?subcat_id=11817&type=basic&keywords=elevator%2Bstart&match=n&ch=&dur_min=&dur_max=">this</a>

[Gunner101]

I did a little research and found this sound :
http://www.audiolicense.net/sfx/subcat_search.asp?subcat_id=11817&type=basic&keywords=elevator%2Bstart&match=n&ch=&dur_min=&dur_max=
just hit the speaker on the side

[Repugnant Creature]

It sounds like an awesome 2" 24 track analog tape machine firing up. aaahhh, feel the saturation.

[conor moore]

My first interpretation of this sound gave me a feeling of sinking, meaning the sound goes from high to low, it sounds like a futuristic platform sinking below the Earth. In the back of my head for some reason I have a feeling that at some point on the cd this platform will rise again, I can't recall if it does.

this elevator comes back up during ticks and leeches

[Ghostwriter]

It's the GOD MACHINE!!!! "DEUS EX MACHINA"

Sorry, "Deus Ex Machina" is Latin for "God Out of the Machine". We talked about it in English class; in the Shakesperian days it was used to describe a machine used in plays to lower a character (usually portraying God or some other divine figure) onto the stage as if they were flying. That is the direct translation but now it is used to interperate literature where something amazing or unrealistic occurs as a product of a machine or another non-living object. I usually think about this when I hear the noise at the beginning of the song; as if it is the machine about to produce the amazing work of art that is Lateralus...

[5th Eye]

The phrase deus ex machina (literally "god out of a machine") describes an unexpected, artificial, or improbable character, device, or event introduced suddenly in a work of fiction or drama to resolve a situation or untangle a plot (e.g. the rope that binds the hero's hands is luckily chewed off by a rat, or an angel suddenly appearing to solve problems).Nothing to do with machines, or The Grudge, I'm afraid.

[Ghostwriter]

Nothing to do with machines, or The Grudge, I'm afraid.

What are you talking about? WE ARE talking about the machine noise at the beginning of the Grudge...

[5th Eye]

What are you talking about? WE ARE talking about the machine noise at the beginning of the Grudge...

I know. And deus ex machina has nothing to do with that. I'm just pointing that out.

[Ghostwriter]

I know. And deus ex machina has nothing to do with that. I'm just pointing that out.

Okay BUDDY. I'm making a connection that makes sense; the masterpiece that is Lateralus comes out of this machine that begins to run at the beginning of The Grudge. It makes sense so I don't care what you think. ; )

[nameloc01]

i cannot believe it.... has no one ever turned on a tube amp before??? c' mon.
its no mystery

[fillow]

its seriously an elevator . . .

i heard it on "the thirteenth floor" today . . .


BUMP

I just logged in for the first time in years... to say that I was just watching this movie myself and immediately thought of The Grudge after hearing the sound. You can check it out, it's around 19 minutes into the film, a scene where Gretchen Mol character enter the elevator.

[davidz161]

I always thought it sounded like a film starting up, like a projector of some sort

[phototropic_spacecadet]

To me it sounds like a bong rip. Knowing tool, it probably is.

[iAMtheMA!]

lateralus starts with the sound of an elevator/lift's revolving motor parts
at the very least - metaphors aside - it suggests that "we're going up"...
up through the tracks/album/body-of-work/chakras. "the grudge" = root.
"faaip de oiad" = voice of god (enochian) = 13. thirteenth step = godhead
when you're watching tricky release the leaf in the woods, (http://66.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lot3d3Wn2N1qcupmyo1_500.gif) cosmic eyes...
we see the energy enter the "body-of-work" from the body of earth itself
the epic ending to the parabola video reiterates the album's liner artwork
yet another tool 'release' meant to lift us up. a 're-cord', you bought 'one'