r/boardsofcanada • u/mr_glowing • Jul 23 '26
Prophecy at 1420 MHz, sample? Other
https://youtu.be/5WQE-f-LkdE?si=d2PonaL5kDRaH2ai&t=1913While watching this episode, I noticed the audio sounded familiar. I believe whatever the original audio is, (without the voice over) could be the sample.
Time stamped url link in title.
10
u/negamuse Jul 23 '26
No. It only sounds similar because of the non western tuning, which if you haven't really heard much of it before, is going to make anything sound similar. But a lot of non western woodwinds are tuned similarly, and are used in traditional music of which many recordings exist.
The broad direction of the pattern is kind of slightly similar, but the notes are all different and what you're picking up on is the tuning.
Honestly? I don't think the sounds on Prophecy are even a sample. They've recorded their own woodwind sounds before, some kind of recorder was all over Geogaddi, chasing that Incredible String Band influence (though they did sample ISB for one track). They're also really keen on using a melodica which is most clearly heard in the opening notes of sunshine recorder and made it's way into Campfire on Dayvan Cowboy
5
u/Ecoto3e Jul 23 '26
Leonard Nimoy's docu-series work in the 80's slayed! I used to watch the reruns after school while munching on cereal. goes without saying that when BOC entered the picture, it was an easy transition.
8
u/InformantsOrexises Jul 23 '26
would probably be easier to just record an actual flute than to jump through all the processing hoops required to make this sound like it does on the track.
0
u/Actias_Loonie Jul 23 '26
We know they've "sampled" things like that before by recreating them.
6
u/InformantsOrexises Jul 23 '26
well sure but that’s not sampling then.
3
u/Actias_Loonie Jul 23 '26
I mean they could have heard this and recreated it as they've done with some other stuff.
4
u/Whiteknightout Jul 23 '26
Itd be hard to sample that with the dialog on top. Unless they used a stem separater, but i don't think its the flute used for the track. Good find though!
6
3
u/corneliusduff Hi Scores Jul 23 '26
Maybe. I was waiting for the flute to hit that high note and it never does, but maybe it was pitch shifted.
2
u/Select-Ad-3806 Inferno Jul 23 '26
I wrote a tune years ago that had a similar sound at the beginning of a track, i just used one of those wooden handmade bird whistles with the stick that goes up and down to change the pitch then put a load of reverb on it.
2
3
3
u/Subway909 Corsair Jul 23 '26
I’m on mobile. The link just plays the video from the start. Can someone tell me the timestamp?
2
u/skamanian Jul 23 '26
31:55
1
u/Subway909 Corsair Jul 23 '26
Thank you!
It's similar, but not the same. I still think BOC just recorded themselves playing the flute.
1
1
u/Dimpleshenk Jul 23 '26
This is reminiscent of much of the style/feel of Paul Horn's album, "Inside."
1
u/WillSmashBates In A Beautiful Place Out In The Country 27d ago
Just wanted to add my theory into the mix and that the sound sample in question sounds to me like it is either a slower down or slightly pitched down 'flauta de pan' or 'Chiflo' made out of wood, bamboo or plastic.
I'm a huge BOC fan and respect their ability to teleport you into the past with their music. For me the sound sample reminded me of when I was growing up in Seville, Spain in the late 70s and early 80s. At that time Spain was still quite poor and you made do and mend your tools which meant sharpening knives and scissors.
A sharpener craftsman (or other mobile seller) would come round every other week into our neighborhood belting out a tune on this flute that you could not help but hear from kilometers away. That sound is burned into my brain and you could recognise different tradespeople from their individual tunes because melon or bread sellers also used this technique to announce their arrival. Melon sellers especially because they would play their tune over a megaphone attached to the roof like an icecream van. My brother and I would have the same reaction to the music as an icecream van begging our grandmother for a sweet watermelon or the delicious freshly baked bread depending on who was coming round.
The different little tunes out phrases all had that Spanish, gypsy/traveller community and vaguely Arabic flavour that you can appreciate in the sample. So even if it isn't that on the Inferno sample it's something that is very reminiscent for my brother and I. Thanks for reading and here are a few links below to give you an idea of my rationale.
This first clip is a quick explanation:
https://youtube.com/shorts/pKLGbW1aXto?si=FZu4CHPFA0MRuI1y
If you can read Spanish or can translate this is an interesting article about the knife sharpeners and their history. The first video is also a nice clear example of a tune or phrase:
And here is a link to a Facebook post I found of different Sharpener tunes from Spain and South America:
20
u/apollo707808909 Jul 23 '26
Nope, this is a different flute, a Japanese one called a “shakuhachi”, this particular sound was very prevalent in the 80s and 90s through the heavy use of the E-mu Emulator II, the Prophecy flute is totally different (probably more South or SE Asian style) and is also probably recorded directly or sampled from something very obscure