How Roger Waters Got That Distorted Vocal on 'Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2'

Despite the era’s love for pitch-shifting processors like the Eventide Harmonizer, Roger Waters’ snarled vocal on the chorus of “Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2” came from something much simpler: a Fender Twin Reverb guitar amp. Engineer Nick Griffiths recalled running Waters’ vocal through the amp and cranking it until the tubes broke up, then re-miking the speaker. The result was a raw, compressed snarl that matched the song’s cynical take on authoritarian education.

No Harmonizer was used. The distortion is pure amplifier overdrive, giving Waters’ voice that gritty, almost megaphone-like quality that cuts through the disco-influenced groove. Interestingly, Waters sang the line “Hey! Teacher! Leave them kids alone!” live in the studio while the band played, and that spontaneous take ended up on the final record — the amp distortion was added later during mixing.