Tone Profile

A pioneering, rhythmic, and bright arpeggiated organ sequence that drives the song with a distinctive, almost hypnotic pulse. It's a clear, percussive sound derived from a home organ's auto-accompaniment feature.

Signal Chain

Recording Notes

• Recorded in 1971 at Olympic Studios, London, for the album 'Who's Next'.
• The synth part was famously generated by Pete Townshend using the 'Marimba Repeat' feature of a Lowrey Berkshire Deluxe TBO-1 organ.
• Townshend initially intended this as part of his 'Lifehouse' project, where the vital statistics of individuals (like Meher Baba) would be fed into a synthesizer to generate musical motifs. This sequence was a more practical, playable realization of that concept.
• The organ's output was recorded direct to the mixing console to capture its clear, defined tone without excessive room ambience or speaker coloration.

Recreation Tips

• Use an organ sound. A bright flute or tibia stop emulation is a good starting point. Avoid heavy Leslie/rotary effects.
• Employ an arpeggiator set to play continuous eighth notes.
• The chord progression is primarily F major, C major, and Bb major.
• The arpeggiator pattern for each chord is typically Root - Fifth - Octave (e.g., for F major: F-C-F'; for C major: C-G-C'; for Bb major: Bb-F-Bb').
• Ensure the arpeggiated notes are distinct and percussive, mimicking the 'marimba' quality of the original.
• Minimal additional effects are needed. The core sound is the organ and its arpeggiator. A touch of console EQ for brightness might have been used originally.
• Experiment with the note range and octave of the arpeggiator to match the original recording's pitch and feel.
• The Lowrey organ sound itself is fairly simple and clean, so don't over-process it with modern effects unless aiming for a variation.

Recommended Gear

• Lowrey Berkshire Deluxe TBO-1(Organ)
• Arturia B-3 V(Plugin)
• Native Instruments Vintage Organs(Plugin)
• GSI VB3-II(Plugin)
• Xfer Records Cthulhu(Plugin)
• Your DAW's built-in Arpeggiator (e.g., Logic Pro X Arpeggiator, Ableton Live Arpeggiator)(Plugin)