Am I the only one who thinks the Maynard has started to crack the secret of polytonic singing, i.e. producing more than one pitch at a time? On the long, low,sustained notes in "Days". Doesn't sound quite like a well practiced Tibetan monk, but it sounds to me like he's getting close, and given the nature and emotional content of the song, it wouldn't surprise me. Anybody else?

i think you're right and it's amazing.

It's possible, that is really hard to do. If thats what he's actually doing I'd be amazed. I had an instructor who could play a wind instrument and sing at the same time. It's nuts.

I don't hear it at all, but it would be cool.

The one part that stands out to me, is "you're going hooooome".

I always thought it was just dual tracking or whatever.

It's most definatley overdubbing and NOT polytonic vocals.

Yeah, the "Home" part is definitely a whole slew of overdubbed vocals, but the parts I'm speaking of are the ends of lines where he hits those long, low notes, that you can also hear a higher pitch occurring at the same time. Like I said originally, he's not all the way there yet, but gettin' close. My wife, not a TOOL fan like, me hears it too, and was kinda blown away...

this could be the main reason they've never played it live. he hasn't yet mastered it to the point where he won't fuck it up on a regular basis.
his voice sounds weird on that song for sure.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Throat_singing

overdubbing anyone?

It's just overdubbing. They're just gonna play the other vocal part over the PA like they do with the samples they use in some of their other songs. Listen to any live version of Tool songs with harmony(excluding You Lied).

Throat singing sounds absolutely nothing like this. I took a class last semester about World Music where it was covered, and the most...western application was a blind man from San Francisco would would use it with blues. But the vocals still sound VERY mongolian.

I'm guessing none of you read the following

http://mixonline.com/recording/projects/audio_making_tools_days/

He used different mics to produce different sounds. One of them, I believe if I remember correctly was the pipe bomb mic that created these 2 high and low pitch sounds simultaneously.

I seem to remember an interview (coulda been that one, but not really sure) where they said the pipe-bomb mic was used on Rosetta Stoned, to cause distortion. They apparently stuck the end of the pipe into the end of Maynard's megaphone. The sound it creates is supposed to basically sound like whatever was recorded with it is coming out of a crackly a.m. radio. I do remember Adam saying that was the sound it produced in the Guitar World interview from this past March/April. I think they also miked Adam's guitar with it for the solo/interlude in R.S.

Now, as far as the "throat singing" goes, there are a ton of ways to "fake it". Record into 2 mics w/ different e.q. settings, harmonizers, overdubs, etc... But if you listen closely, without other audio distractions, you'll here what I'm talking about, and it only happens on a few of the words, and when singing them, Maynard lowers his voice, settles into it, ditches melody, and "chants" these syllables (in caps);
herOES...
halOES...
saviOR...
been THERE...
NOT LIKE YOU...
spare ME....

The effect is very subtle, and completely different from the obvious overdubs and multi-tracks. He also does it to a lesser degree on Wings 1. Then again, to me, the song Parabol sounds like practice for these 2 tracks.....