“I’m on the way to the promised land, I’m on the highway to hell, highway to hell.”
In the renowned lyrics of Aussie rock band AC/DC’s 1979 ‘Highway to Hell’, the very materials needed to build that highway — concrete, crushed limestone, asphalt, igneous rock, and sandstone — came from mining.
To celebrate World Rock Day tomorrow (13 July), Mining.com.au pays tribute to those who rock out and the unsung heroes of the music industry – the mix of rocks and minerals mined to create the sounds of music.
World Rock Day celebrates rock music and commemorates the 13 July 1985 Live Aid benefit organised by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure concert to raise funds for famine relief in Ethiopia.
For those about to rock – we salute you!
Mining instrumental in making music
Rock, of the geological variants, are universally appreciated and instrumental in the music industry.
There are several types of materials from the Earth’s natural resources used to build instruments and create sound, with each metal and mineral creating a different kind of sound.
From stainless steel to copper, nickel, and iron, all of these materials and rocks from the ground fuel the world’s need for sound and music.
Ever wondered how iconic guitar riffs are born, like the unforgettable bassline of Queen’s 1980 ‘Another One Bites the Dust’? In the legendary song there are no synthesisers and all of the sounds are created by piano, electric guitars, and drums.
Instruments like guitars, acoustic and electric, use various materials including stainless steel, nickel, and copper-titanium alloys to achieve its distinctive sounds.
Speaking to Mining.com.au, Tempest Minerals (ASX:TEM) Managing Director Don Smith, who has a passion for rock and metal music, details the surprising connection between mining and rock music.
“A guitar is the first thing you think of when you think of rock music, most acoustic guitars are either nylon (a type of plastic), which is oil and gas, or made of steel,” Smith says.
“Rock guitars are usually made of steel with stainless steel as well.
“Then you can get the core of a string that is made of a different type of metal and then you can wind a different type of metal around the outside, which makes it thicker and stronger and has a different resonance.”
Bass metals
The Nature of Music’s Richard Hobbs says metal-bodied resonators – an acoustic guitar featuring metal resonators that amplifies and modifies the tone – are most commonly made from brass or steel. The shiny ones are usually nickel-plated, according to Hobbs.
Resonator guitars have a loud, brash sound, which is perfect for blues and rock music. For reference, this would sound like British guitarist Mark Knopfler’s 2006 hit ‘Romeo and Juliet’.
Smith says that every guitar has a pickup, which is a little microphone inside of the instrument, to pick up sound, which is made of copper and other metals.
“Each pickup is usually copper and sometimes other metals, usually copper-wound very finely round and round thousands of times in a squash tube shape and that is what collects sound,” he tells this news service.
Smith adds that premium guitars, these days, have stainless steel frets, which are metal lines that are on the board that separates the different notes that the guitarist is playing.
“It is made of stainless steel. What makes it premium is the shininess and it doesn’t rust. It is a combination of nickel and iron, and other materials,” he says.
Smith says it even comes down to the types of strings on guitars, for example, electric guitars use nickel, cobalt, or steel strings.
“If you’re listening to some pop singer or someone playing the guitar, they’re probably going to have steel strings, but thin,” he says.
This creates a more soft sound compared to rock music.
Instrument manufacturer Ernie Ball says electric guitar strings allow musicians, such as Beatles bass player and songwriter Paul McCartney and solo artist John Mayer to get the “perfect tonal quality and sound”.
Ball notes bass guitar strings, made up of primarily nickel and cobalt, creates a rich and deep sound. Without the bass guitar, sounds such as Paul McCartney’s iconic bassline from the Beatles’ 1969 ‘Come Together’ would have never existed.
Meanwhile, acoustic strings, often used by English musicians Jimmy Page from Led Zeppelin and Ketih Richards of the Rolling Stones, are made up of bronze, phosphorous bronze, and aluminium bronze.
The thickness, tension, and length of each string determines the pitch of the sound it generates. Typically, guitars feature six strings of varying thickness. If two strings are the same length, the thicker string will have a lower pitch than the thinner string.
Bass guitar strings are thicker and are made of nickel and cobalt. Musicians such as Mark Hoppus from Blink-182 or Tony Levin would use these types of strings.
Ernie Ball says classical strings, which are predominantly made up of nylon, provide the same quality and performance as the world famous electric guitar strings.
Tempest’s Smith says with nylon, you’ll get a “very soft sound and that’s typically classical music you are listening to”.
Rhythm of the rocks
Australian National University physicist Neville Fletcher says bronze, which is primarily made of copper and tin, is one of the most commonly used metals for making percussion instruments due to being able to melt and cast into shapes simply.
Bronze is also used in string instruments and in bells as it is dense and has low internal loss, creating a sustained sound, as reported by Fletcher.
Brass is an alpha-beta alloy made up primarily of copper (60%) and zinc (40%). Brass instruments include the tuba, trombone, and trumpet.
“Electronics need copper”
But it doesn’t stop there. The evolution of music owes much to the evolution of technology and the diverse range of materials extracted from the ground.
For example, Smith recalls at his father in-law’s birthday, where a band was playing and the majority of the instruments were electronic.
“The guys that played all had completely electronic instruments and that was really interesting,” he says.
“The drummer did not have drums, he just had a square box with pads on it, electronic pads. The guitarist had a wooden board, the fretboard, but that was the only old-school part.”
In the 1960s and 70s, rock musicians, such as the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin, used electronic instruments such as the theremin, which is made up of copper wiring, to create their music.
Modern electronic instruments, such as those increasingly seen on stage, are crafted from copper alloys renowned for their acoustic properties. As Smith notes, “electronics need copper, full stop”.
A lot of electronic instruments are made using copper alloys for their “excellent acoustic qualities”, Barclay Pearce Capital adds.
The Mineral Information Institute says copper is used in all electric instruments, all brass instruments, most of the string instruments, and many percussion instruments.
For those about the rocks
The impact of mining extends beyond the instruments themselves. Concert stages, adorned with steel framework, and the lighting that lights up audiences, rely on mined materials to bring these events into people’s lives.
“Any event you go to, the stage is made of steel,” Smith says.
“Even the lighting, the inside of light bulbs, all have tungsten, rare earths, you name it. The list goes on forever.”
The Minerals Education Coalition reports that even LED lights need these metals as they are small sources that become illuminated by the movement of electrons through a semiconductor, which requires arsenic, boron, gallium, indium, phosphate rock, selenium, and zinc.
Think Woodstock, Glastonbury, and Live Aid. None of these music festivals would’ve been made possible without the materials in the ground.
The relationship between music and mining has a long history and is intertwined to fuel the evolution of instruments, music genres, and even concerts. As Smith puts it, “there is not a single thing in our lives that does not come from mining, oil and gas, or farming”.
From the instruments played to the stages for performance, everything can be traced back to the earth beneath your feet.
So, next time you find yourself swept away by the electric energy of a live performance or get lost in a classic rock anthem, remember the unsung heroes that all made it happen — rocks.
For those about to rock – we salute you!
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: Rochelle Padua & Supplied
