page_title: The Unforgettable Fire
section_title: Recording and production
hierarchical_section_title: The Unforgettable Fire / Recording and production
caption_attribution_description: English: The Windmill Lane Studios in Dublin, Irland Deutsch: Die Windmill Lane Studios in Dublin, Irland
context_page_description: The Unforgettable Fire is the fourth studio album by Irish rock band U2. It was produced by Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois, and released on 1 October 1984 by Island Records. The band wanted to pursue a new musical direction following the harder-hitting rock of their previous album, War. As a result, they employed Eno and Lanois to produce and assist in their experimentation with a more ambient sound. The resulting change in direction was at the time the band's most dramatic. The album's title is a reference to "The Unforgettable Fire", an art exhibit about the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.
  Recording began in May 1984 at Slane Castle, where the band lived, wrote, and recorded to find new inspiration. The album was completed in August 1984 at Windmill Lane Studios. It features atmospheric sounds and lyrics that lead vocalist Bono describes as "sketches". "Pride" and "MLK" are lyrical tributes to Martin Luther King Jr.
  The Unforgettable Fire received generally favourable reviews from critics and produced the band's biggest hit at the time, "Pride", as well as the live favourite "Bad", a song about heroin addiction. A 25th anniversary edition of the album was released in October 2009.
context_section_description: The band arrived at Slane Castle on 7 May 1984 for a month-long recording session. A makeshift control room was set up in the castle's drawing room. Ezratty's company Effanel Music, which recorded U2's concerts in Boston and at Red Rocks Amphitheatre the previous year, was hired to provide their then-unique portable 24-track recording system. The equipment, which came in wheeling flight cases with removable lids, was described by Lanois as a "heavily modified Sound Workshop mixing console with a Stevens [sic] tape recorder". He said it was not the "ultimate technical system" but that the priority was to capture the feeling of the band's music. Ezratty's equipment was set up in the castle's library, dubbed the Chinese Room, with cables running into the adjacent ballroom where the band played. The band and crew lived at the castle during the sessions, helping to foster a camaraderie among them. The site provided a relaxed and experimental atmosphere.
  U2 worked long days at the castle, sometimes starting at 10 a.m. and finishing at 1 a.m. Eno, who worked on a more "executive schedule" than other members of the creative team, was focused on creative ideas and conceptual aspects, while Lanois handled the production duties. In Bill Graham's words, Eno's task was to "help [U2] mature a new, more experimental and European musical vocabulary". Eno was glad that the group began the sessions with only rough sketches of songs, as he was more interested in encouraging experimentation and improvisation than refining their ideas. To that end, he often created atmospheric compositions on a synthesiser that were intended to inspire U2 and Lanois to play along with. Bono and the Edge, who the singer described as the "more cerebral" members of the band, were particularly drawn to Eno's ideas. The band's experiments produced 15 additional pieces of music. The Edge said that they "didn't object to [Eno] taking liberties with what [they] had achieved up to that point", adding: "We were eager to learn and not precious at all about our sound or the way we worked. We threw ourselves wholeheartedly into this different approach." According to the Edge, Eno's points of reference were philosophy and contemporary art, and he was not beholden to the standard schools of thought in rock music. The producer encouraged U2 to work on their more unconventional material, "champion[ing] the songs that didn't seem very U2-ish or things that had strong beginnings but no clear destination". As a result, he did not take much interest in songs like "Pride (In the Name of Love)" or "The Unforgettable Fire". However, Lanois would "cover for him" such that the two balanced each other out. 
  Since the group had primarily been interested in working with Eno, Lanois was initially viewed as an "interloper", which caused tension at the start of the sessions, according to Ezratty. However, once the band realised his musical talents, they embraced him as a fellow collaborator. As a songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Lanois understood musical notation and was able to simplify the songwriting process for them. Drummer Larry Mullen Jr. in particular enjoyed working with Lanois, as the producer took an interest in the band's rhythm section, which Mullen felt had been neglected on their past recordings. Mullen called himself "not technically proficient" and appreciated Lanois spending time to develop his skills and encourage different approaches to playing drums. The producer convinced Mullen to utilise timbales and two types of snare drums (one being a piccolo snare) in his drum kit, and he explained how to use brushes and tom-toms on various drum parts. The crew also experimented with distant miking of his drum kit, placing microphones up to 60 feet away. Mullen eschewed wearing headphones while playing and instead used monitor speakers, which caused audio spill issues with other microphones in the recording space.
  The Edge said that the band's plan for recording at Slane was rather than working in the "dead, acoustic atmosphere" of a studio and "trying to revitalise the rec
caption: The second phase of recording took place at Windmill Lane Studios.
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