MASSIVE ATTACK - Teardrop - How Was It Made? Ep 8 

I was the guitarist on that album the noises were me... I used a cello guitar and walked backwards and forwards from the monitors to create all the long notes (and other noises). Thats what I'm good at.. Spike was given the full backing track... I know I was at the mixing stage in the studio, same with the whole album.

By an odd coincidence, I was present in the studio of our local campus radio station during their final broadcast in 1998. They were doing a listener-voted countdown of "Best songs of all time", were about to cue up the #1 which would be their last ever song and I distinctly remember the announcer saying (off air) "It's Teardrop", and everyone just sort of nodding like of course it is

A lot of noises on mezzanine may have come from Mark Stent who had a sample library from the sessions of Depeche Modes songs of faith and devotion. The album is full of drums, snares, noises and textures from that album.

absolutely phenomenal song from a fantastic album. Mezzanine came out the same day as Music Has the Right to Children by Boards of Canada. Both amazing albums.

Mezzanine is Massive Attack's masterpiece. Up there with Portishead's self-titled and Recoil's Liquid. Absolutely sublime.

wow. i'm so moved by this and taken aback by the coincidence of coming across this. i first heard this play when i was watching Grey's Anatomy while my partner was passed out stoned. stoned because he had recently been diagnosed with cancer and was nauseated from the chemo, so i had suggested brownies to help with the nausea. i ate some brownies too so he wouldn't have to do it alone. we were lying on the sofa at opposite ends with our legs intertwined around each other. i remember this song coming up as my face was pressed against his foot. at that stoned moment, my face pressed into his foot was my entire universe and it was all the love in the world that i could muster into his foot to make him live. gosh, i was so stoned. lol. this was almost twenty years ago. well, the cancer is back and now i come across this video. so, yeah, wow. i have no words.

I worked in the Music shop Music Connections just round the corner from Christchurch studio in Bristol when this was being made. Neil Davidge did an amazing job producing it but there were so many people involved from the Bristol music scene at the time which was just thriving, and I was lucky to witness some of it happening. We even got a shout out on the album cover

Please keep going with this series these are so amazing. I'm not even a producer but I could watch these all day.

Very sorry, I had to pause the video and listen to the whole song because my brain couldn't handle only hearing snippets of this masterpiece. Great job as always

I first found you today via your Aphex Twin video and now this. I got to say I absolutely love your taste and content. Creators like you are why I love RU-vid.

the "understated bass" was a crucial part of the sound of trip hop

Ah thank you so much for the shout out, Gyu! Awesome breakdown - I can tell you love this track as I do. 🖤

Hi, Newton Faulkner did a (very good) cover of this, and the lyric you are stuck on says (on his version) 'You're stumbling in the dark' - another great video - thank you!!

Absolutely love this tune. I remember blasting this out on my JBL control 5’s in my tiny halls room at uni. Around 2002.

@angelobruschini4899 Love your comments Angelo, I remember seeing your live guitar rig in a magazine with the gorgeous PRS you had and the story behind it. Although your time on this earth came to and end the music you helped create will last forever...Rest In Peace

I'm so fortunate to have this song tied to an amazing time of my life, and not just the intro to HOUSE MD.

Great look at this cool composition, and your video editing made it easy to listen to your comments, but also focus on the music tracks. Loved it!

Your smile at the beginning of this is so heartwarming. Way to feel the music!

"sigh , what is she saying !!" That my friend, is Liz Fraser all over...., don't try and find out , just embrace the vocal of anything she sings

brilliant work - really love these videos of yours. Thanks!

their bass sound is much larger, thicker and noisier. Like they somehow managed to make low end rumble from samples work in the track where a lot of producers would filter it out. Like its this massive compressed slab of warm sound everything floats on. Their sound is just incredible.

I've always completely misunderstood the lyrics for Teardrop! "Fearless are my prey" for example! Just shows we don't always associate a great song with lyrics, more the emotion and atmosphere. Mezzanine is such an incredible album. That scene emerging from Bristol around that time (including Portishead) was just amazing.

As an electronic music lover who has no idea about production techniques I find your videos fascinating.

Thanks for doing this. This track is absolutely spellbinding. Beautiful in its simplicity and utterly captivating. That vocal is glorious. Another Massive Attack song I’d love to see deconstructed is Paradise Circus. Another incredible vocal over one the the most moving and yet seductive tracks I’ve ever heard. The final crescendo is mind blowing.

Another massive vid, keep these coming please they are great to watch the breakdown and you nail it. ❤

Just brilliant yet again. You never fail to deliver.

Great recreation. These deconstruction/recreation videos are revealing, insightful and fun!

I heard that first line as "love, love isn't fair". Great video as ever!

Your videos are so good and nostalgic for me. Please keep doing these. I’m loving them. Thank you good sir

That was really good - thanks! It's amazing the job Massive Attack did on the mix to get even more energy into it.

Amazing breakdown of one of my favorite songs of all time, this way one could appreciate even more all the work that goes into such a beautiful track, also the influence that you could just gain by trying to get close as much as possible to a masterpiece, it's a very fun and didactic experience! Thanks for this amazing video

The "magical" part is... the crowds, the people, the time and the experience!

One of my all-time favorite songs, ever since I first heard it in the 90's. As an amateur producer, studying how my favorite songs were composed truly helps me understand how to achieve what I want to in my own music; thank you truly for this video. 👏🏾

Love this. Such an amazing track thanks for showing how it’s made

Another fantastic video and song breakdown. Love your choices of tracks to recreate. That end lyric is "you're stumbling in the dark".

Such a seminal track. A person's absolute favourite song/track usually has a lot of meaning to them, and it's obvious from your mannerisms and expressions throughout this video that Teardrop has a lot of meaning to you. Fantastic work, Guy!

Always look forward to these!!

Great video - AGAIN! Really appreciating these, particularly given the FSOL challenges…. Those 12 bar sections are interesting and your friend’s daughter has a great voice!

Gyu, you are an absolute star. Thank you once again for your terrific breakdown. First rate YT content.

This was a Joy to watch, the track is a all time favorite for me that i awlays circle bac to. I learned a bunch from your video! Thanks for the indepth video!

Another great job, I learn so much from these. I know you run into occasional trouble with RU-vid re copyright (which is nonsense - but what can you do), but PLEASE don't stop doing what you do, it's so instructional and inspiring. Understanding in detail how these pieces are constructed actually makes them MORE magical!

As I recall, Massive Attack purposely did not publish or explain the lyrics from this album, there was nothing in the CD or Tape cover, because it was all about how it felt, not the meaning, and it has never been officially published, so all written lyrics are, in fact, taken by ear. That might be BS, because I’m using memory here, but that is what I recall.

Between this video and Ixi's I've learned so much about this entrancing song. So simple in many ways yet so deep in others.

Amazing job of recreating this!

I love your videos - so in depth and informative and you dont drown the viewer in music theory and technical stuff ! fantastic !

Fantastic work 🙏 thanks for sharing..

Amazing breakdown! Love the song too.

Beautiful stuff, you are very talented. Love learning to appreciate classics all over again but in more depth. I hope you can get round to doing analogue bubblebath in the future, I'd love to see it through your interpretation. Keep doing what you do.

Brilliant video, and superb work breaking down one of my favourite bands/tracks.

beautiful take on the original this mate. Enjoyed watching this. Well done

Every track you deconstruct just happen to be one of my all time favorites. You do such a great job man. Really nice to hear your track as well, beautiful. Damn shame you lost the project. oh well, shit happens hehe. Maybe it was the Universe telling you it is done. Anyway fantastic job all round as ever. Turns out I had most of the lyrics right, apart from the stumbling bit. I had that as "it's totally internal" lol. Anyway, have a good one and again thanks for doing these, they are so fun.

Perfect analysis of a mega super chill song of Massive Attack’s teardrop song & I do have the song in my collection! 🎵🔊🎵🔊

Always been my favorite ever tune. It is everything that music should be and should achieve in the listener. Absolute perfection from Massive Attack! Amazing to see it broken down like this.

This is the first video I've seen by you and I subscribed almost instantly.

Brilliant! Mezzanine is one of my favorite albums. Brings back so many good memories.

Love it. thanks for the work.

really great video - attention to detail on the sound design was great and refreshing to see someone acknowledging where it's impossible to get some of the nuances. Would love to see you do some Black Sands era Bonobo

Another stunning video. I bought the album on day one and Teardrop still stops me in my tracks. Until now I had no idea what the lyrics were so thanks for that. I’d love to know what the artists think of your efforts and would like to see you and them together on a video. Huge respect to you man.

Mezzanine was such a jewel in their catalogue. Horace's Man Next Door is sublime.

awesome breakdown! possibly my favourite album of all time

Another great video, keep them coming please sir 😎

Dude ur videos r sooooo good. Please keep them coming.

Dam, just found your channel and we have very similar music tastes ... from Ray Keith, to inner city .. and now this. I use this song (among a few others) to tune speakers or rooms or what ever I happen to need to get sounding right at the time. The high end on this with them harpsichord strings and that that crackle is something else .. sends shivers every time when it sounds how it should. I put it on in the background when I was having some cuddle time with my ex, (it was the first time she came over mine), and she stopped randomly and was like "Is it raining outside WTF?!" (as it was in the middle of summer), but it was the sizzling crackle from this track played out of my studio monitors in my room lol. It really fills the air with an atmosphere this track, It never gets old either. You did a fantastic Job recreating it btw, especially the drums and low end, that's almost identical, other than some dark arts mixing magic as you describe. ;) Have you heard the Remastered version? It's really nice when the song gets going, but doesn't have the same impact when it initially builds imho. I'm currently trying to recreate Cutslo by Ed Rush, Opticle and Fierce. I wanted to do my rendition rather than a faithful reproduction. It started as I accidentally made one of the bass sounds from it and got super hyped xD. Not sure if I'll finish it though as I need to be focusing on my own music really haha. Not sure I could get the last distorted reeseish bass anywhere near right, so probably wont try lol. It's fun to mess about with however. You can learn so much from doing exercises like this.

Thank you mate! Amazing work. You really know what you’re talking about 🔥

Well this was unexpected. I fully expected someone to be working entirely in the box rebuilding the track with soft synths and all sorts of stuff which in my mind were probably massively untrue to the original. However here I am, welling up with emotion at a track Ive not given the airtime in a fair few years, beautifully broken down by someone that the music clearly touched. Fantastic. Looking forward to digging deeper into the channel.

Thank Christ Madonna didnt get near it - this was around the same time she was trying to recruit Aphex twin and he flat told her to piss off - trying to attach herself to the latest trend - There is no way this song would have the same reverence or gravity that it has, and has had with Madonna singing - massive bullet dodge imo - it would have been a sacrilege - You, on the other hand, have done an amazing job recreating it mate - fantastic - and probably with a professional mix and master engineer it would be a solid updated and modernised arrangement - I can hear it and would definately like to listen to it

Great Video! cant wait to get stuck into your other vids

I would be happy just getting that beep to sound the same! Excellent job mate 👍😎👏

🖤 love it🖤 great work 👏

Beautifully done

very good and solid cover, good job 👍 i would be happy to see anyone cover anything else than teardrop or angel

amazing as always mate

I love music that trips up the mind. Alot of dub artists drop several bars of say kick or bass then drop them back in just when you aren't expecting even halfway through a pattern. Oddly your mind starts to fill the gaps and sometimes both your mind and the track add to each other. The last thing I want is to know what's coming. It's a mysterious journey that pulls me along always... stumbling in the dark.

Fabulous breakdown to a wonderful song. Oddly, I remember Coronation Street using this back in 2001 as the outro to a storyline when Sarah Platt was being groomed. Very powerful.

This is just splendid

Love your channel!

Absolutely loved this. Took me right back to uni days and hearing it for the first time. Regarding that sound effect at the start. To me it sounds like plugging my guitar in at the body when I've forgotten to mute the amp. The jack going in suddenly vibrating the strings on an open tuning and getting connected to the amp, has a spring reverb quality to it too. Probably barking up the wrong tree, but it's what it makes me think of.

Thank you Gyu!

Love it, mad respect

Great job as always mate!

This comments section has late 90's early '00's rave scene message board vibes. I love it! Mezzanine is literally the internet's official best sexitime album of all time! Lovely breakdown, there are so many key elements that come together and any one missing is so noticeable. Couldn't help recalling the haze of red wine and fine cannabis, between the sheets with the most beautiful woman in the world, cosmic divine union best sex ever stylee with this album blasting. Really takes me back, and reminds me to be making this kind of music, rather than reminiscing. Subbed, niceone bruvvah! Keep up the fantastic work. You teleported me to the happiest moments of my life while simultaneously inspiring me to get on the ball.

Massive Attack = God Mode!🙏 Superb break down..👏👏

Another great video!

Awesome content and a fascinating insight into a stunning track. I remember using this in a mix i done of my favorite chilled tunes where i somehow managed to lay the guitar intro off The Verves "Lucky Man' over the break of it and i must admit it sounds excellent!

Absolutely fantastic. Wowza and the guitarist even commented. Unbelievable.

This is excellent 🙌

Cool deconstruction ❤

This video is amazing. Ever since I first heard Mezzanine, I wanted to know how did they achieve such interesting and unusual sounds and how did they manage to create such beautiful songs out of it. Some tracks on this album completely baffled me and still do to this day. Would love to see your take on other tracks on the album as well.

Great video! Also much appreciated are the links you provided too, you have a new subscriber with the bell enabled

Fascinating, thank you

Portishead as next please. This will be a challenge for you! 🙂

Nice one, mate!

Top job as per usual. Massive one of my all time faves, seen them live on numerous occasions. When you say your song is lacking something, to my ears it just sound like your track has more high frequency. The massive song has very little high freq and is quite a dark/duller mix compared to other mezzanine tracks. If you take down the volume of your hats and roll off some of the highs on the harpsichord etc it will sound instantly the same 👍

Gyu these are amazing and so inspirational for my own producing!! Please do The Sea by Morcheeba next :)

They do the same unpredictable thing with the claps in paradise circus- I live for it.

Dear God. That harpsichord sound . . . . . . . Sublime.

This song is absolute magic

awesome video more trip hop please!!

sounds great,fantastic song,effect at the start and running through sounds like an ebowed guitar with reverb

Back in 2003/4 I was studying music tech in Bristol and one of my tutors was a contemporary of Massive Attack from the local scene; somehow he had all the stems to Teardrop and set us the task of remixing it. I've still got the stems on a CD somewhere (but with no CD drive to open it)... though I'm pretty sure they're floating around online somewhere these days anyway!