changing the speed. When Bowie asked what it did, Visconti replied, "It fucks with the fabric of time." Visconti rigged the Harmonizer to Davis's snare drum and monitored the results through his headphones. Speaking to Buckley, Visconti said: "My brain nearly exploded when I found what I could do with drums." He fed the pitch-altered sound back into the device, creating "an infinite dropping of [the] pitch, ever renewing itself". Buckley describes the sound, particularly evident on "Speed of Life", "Breaking Glass" and "Sound and Vision", as "revolutionary" and "stunning". Davis said it sounded "as big as a house". Bud Scoppa of Phonograph Record compares the sound to "cherry bombs exploding under tin cans". Trynka writes that Davis's "spirit and energy" propel the album's first side "ever onward". On its release, Kris Needs of ZigZag magazine called the drum sound one of the best sounds he had ever heard; Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone later described it as "one of rock's all-time most imitated drum sounds". Studio atmosphere With no deadline or planned structure, the mood during the sessions, says Seabrook, was "upbeat and relaxed". The studio was in the middle of the French countryside, and the musicians bonded and experimented regularly. According to Trynka, Eno was responsible for Bowie's motivation. Even Alomar – the most resistant to Eno's "avant-garde bullshit" – warmed to the experimentation. Seabrook writes that everyone ate together, watched the British television programme Fawlty Towers in their free time, and entertained each other with stories. Gardiner said, "We had some good conversations about music, astrology – the world." Davis was the "comedian" during the sessions, performing acts and telling tales. As well as contributing backing vocals to "What in the World", Pop was present throughout the sessions. Gardiner recalled him being "fit, healthy and positive". Like Davis, he encouraged a positive atmosphere by telling stories of his time with the Stooges. The sessions were not without problems. Most of the Château's staff were on holiday, leaving an inexperienced engineer and a kitchen staff who did not serve a variety of meals. Months after the sessions, Visconti said: "We found the studio totally useless. The people who own it now don't seem to care. We all came down with dysentery." Bowie and Visconti both contracted food poisoning. Bowie was in a fragile state of mind throughout the sessions, as his days of cocaine addiction were not far