The Wall of Sound Production Technique: Its Importance in the Music Industry - Essay Example

The Wall of Sound Production Technique: Its Importance in the Music Industry Number Word Count: 3844 words TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE NO. ABSTRACT ............................................................ III INTRODUCTION ............................................................ 1 DISCUSSION ............................................................ 1 Chapter 1. The Evolution of Music Recording and Processing.. 2 Chapter 2. Phil Spector’s Creation of the Wall of Sound........... 4 Chapter 3. Significance of the Girl Group Sound....................... 7 Chapter 4. Recording of the Wall of Sound Music..................... 11 CONCLUSION ................................................................. 14 DISCOGRAPHY ................................................................. 15 BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................. 16 ABSTRACT The Wall of Sound musical effect created and perfected by Phil Spector in the 1960s will be discussed in this paper. His use of mono recording format was highly successful, earning him several hits and fame in the world of popular music. Spector’s technique was to employ many musicians to play instruments that were generally not used in large ensembles, such as guitars and tambourines, along with brass and percussion instruments. Each type of instrument was played by several musicians, to produce a rich, layered effect. He did not give much prominence to the vocal singing by artistes, almost merging the voice with the instrumental music. Using the acoustics and technology of the studio, he used overdubbing and mix along with echo and other additional sound effects to produce a “wall of music” that was very well received by the fans of pop music. He worked with several artistes, and produced numerous hit records especially with the Righteous Brothers and the girls groups such as the Ronettes. Spector was a pioneer in establishing the importance of the music producer over that of the performers. His style of music production was a path-breaker that several other producers followed in later decades. INTRODUCTION Music production methods and producers’ creativity and artistic output began to be recognised as significant contributions on the development of music, from the early 1960s. Phil Spector is credited with being the force who “single-handed, turned the producer from an obscure backroom boy whose name was of no or little importance to the average record buyer, into a figure whose function paralleled that of a film director”1. Singers on records began to be acknowledged only as an after-thought. Another dimension for which Phil Spector is acknowledged for is the evolution of the pop single. He developed the earlier work of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, enriching the three minutes of music into a condensed drama with the help of orchestral sounds and a wide range of contrasts, which had never been attempted before him. This Wall of Sound used by Spector eclipsed the “identities of the groups and singers who sang and performed the material”2 Thesis Statement: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the Wall of Sound production technique created by Phil Spector. The scope of the musical evolution and the reasons for the innovation’s importance for the music industry will be determined. DISCUSSION Production of sound is an integral element of audio engineering and is greatly relevant in popular music. Music production is based on styles and genres which express social structures and musical practices, thereby making the pop track an important representation of cultural and social history. This is because music production and recording techniques exemplify the individual tastes of people and their ways of experiencing music, and infuse music with ideological meanings. Moreover, recording technology and production facilitate an understanding of the “historical, social, political and gendered circumstances of musicians”3. The original author’s creativity is as important as the production of musical texts; while the different dimensions of content and context combine to form a structured and discursive analysis. Moreover, the historical and social aspects of technological uses, support a conception of production. Developments in the field of popular music emerge from the “pioneering work of feminists, sociologists, cultural theorists, and musicologists working in the field of popular music”4. CHAPTER 1. The Evolution of Music Recording and Processing: A Brief Outline In the 1940s and the 1950s jazz, blues, folk and rock ‘n’ roll dominated the popular music scene, and by the 1960s, rock music came into prominence as an emerging genre, different from rock ‘n’ roll. The craft behind song writing and music production became important, from “catchy pop to create music you could feel and think about instead of just dance to”5. Similar to folk music being based on political and social issues in the 1940s and 1950s, “folk, folk-rock and psychedelic music”6 were used as media for representing the cultural environment, especially during the mid-1960s. The people’s voice was expressed through rock music, on topics ranging from ecological issues, the Civil Rights movement, collective opposition to police brutality and America’s increasing involvement in the Vietnam war. However, rock became more than a new musical genre which provided an outlet for disillusioned youth to voice their concerns, album sales increased to great heights. By 1967, album formats had replaced singles to a great extent, taking over 82 percent of the record market7. However, Spector did not have an inclination for the album format, preferring singles. By the late 1950s, the production of musical sound had evolved greatly with the introduction of tape which catalysed the development of an entire series of different processing equipment such as “delay lines and reverberation units, equalizers, filters, compressors and limiters”8. The stereo and the multi-track tape recorder arrived almost at the same time; followed in 1958 by the first four-channel tape recorders, from which emerged the eight and sixteen channel tape recorders by the late 1960s. From this time onwards, pop music became a new product of musical creation. Earlier, direct recording to tape or disc depended on “microphone placement, equalization, acoustics and mixing before recording”9, whereas mixing was done afterwards in the case of multi-track recording. Another advantage of the new development was that it allowed overdubbing or the recording of different musical parts at different times on parallel tracks, followed by a process of re-recording termed as mixing down or remixing, integrating the numerous parallel tracks to a single master version. However, overdubbing had been done even with a single track tape recorder by re-recording from one deck to another by adding in another live recording at the same time. However, the process was used as a normal practice only with the arrival of multi-track recorders. Mixing differentiates popular music from classical music10. Concurrent with the development of new techniques, a new generation of independent producers worked in studios with the help of a particular team consisting of an engineer, artists and groups. Musicians could go to the studio without prior rehearsal, and could compose their music on an ongoing basis. Further, mistakes could be corrected since multi-track recording facilitated punch-ins and re-recording of parts of individual tracks on top of existing music. These new developments, however, made the production of music an increasingly fragmented process. With the involvement of musicians, engineers and producers in different aspects of the recording process, authorship of any piece of music became less clear, leading to power-struggles for taking control of the creative product11. By the 1980s, mixing evolved to the extent that different versions of the mix were required for the diverse media; hence the final mix was not the last product. Frequently, numerous versions of the song would be released for the various formats: “a short mix for AM (amplitude modulation) radio, a longer, more elaborate mix for FM (frequency modulation) radio, a long mix with many effects and edits added for dance clubs”, and an adaptation for FM radio mix with effects and a sweetening influence specifically added for combining the song with a video. The remix has evolved into new genres such as the reggae12. CHAPTER 2. Phil Spector’s Creation of the Wall of Sound In the early 1960s, the American record producer and song writer Harvey Philip Spector (see figure 1) of Los Angeles (born1939), created the musical Wall of Sound effect. The music producer coined the term “wall of sound”13 for his combination of rich instrumentation, including prominently highlighted “orchestral strings or blazing brass”14 underscored by rhythmic and strong percussion sound, magnified by the use of echo and tape loops. Spector’s own experience as a guitarist with the Teddy Bears in the late 1950s, gave him insights into the work he expected his musicians to perform15. The wall of sound effect was specifically achieved by a mix which gave equal prominence to the diverse elements that it constituted. Another instrument was the voice considered to be equal in significance with the third tambourine, though not allowed to merge into the mix, it was not heard too prominently above the other instruments. Using a large number of musicians, Spector arranged the songs including instruments which were usually not used in large ensembles such as electric or acoustic guitars, besides tambourines. For achieving fullness of sound several musicians played the same parts in unison. The musicians had to have unlimited patience, to repeat the same music for several takes. He would tire them out, so that they would merge together better, without any instrument sounding separately16. Figure 1: Phil Spector, Music Producer 17 Phil Spector spent the early years of the 1960s in perfecting the techniques of overproducing rock music, to produce meticulously engineered records in the studio. His innovation of the Afro-American tradition of rock ‘n’ roll was considered as an overproduced sound effect, distinguished from Afro-American music in one significant way: the wall of sound does not “emphasize the distinctive expressive qualities of individual voices and instruments”18. Only the voices of the lead singers in his girls groups, the Crsytals and the Ronnettes were given prominence to a small extent in their recordings; in all his other work, Spector “treated voices as mere units of manipulable sound”19, and this fact applied even more to musical instruments. It is stated that20 the musicians were prepared by long sessions of playing repetitive parts, thus tiring them out. This was done in order to produce an impersonal element in the “wall of sound”, a term for the quasi-orchestral material infused with echoes, forming the sound effects of Spector’s records and musical productions. Some of the techniques used by the music producer included limiters and equalizers to compress “more volume into the narrow frequency range of the transistor radio”21. Moreover, Spector used an echo chamber to record his music, for the unique effects from additional layering. His innovative merging of instrumental music and studio expertise helped to promote several pop groups such as the “Chiffons, the Ronnettes, the Crystals and the Righteous Brothers”22. Significant artistes of the 1960s, such as the Rolling Stones, the Beatles and Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys were backed by the music producer’s creative work. Among Spector’s most memorable recordings are: “George Harrison’s post-Beatle triple album All Things Must Pass, the Beatles’ Let it Be, John Lennon’s Imagine, Leonard Cohen’s Death of a Ladies Man, the Ramones’ End of a Century, and Eric Clapton’s Cross-roads23. Spector was determined to remain a prominent figure in his musical productions, and overshadowed the actual performers. He emphasized his value as a record producer through such albums such as A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector released in 1963. Record sales increased because of Spector’s involvement in his records. By mid-1960s, his “wall of sound” was considered to have risen to its peak in the Righteous Brothers’ album You’ve Lost that Loving’ Feelin’, followed by further music albums from the the Righteous Brothers the same year. Spector’s work with the same duo singers facilitated his rise to fame and a high level of influence on subsequent record producers of the future. The latter in turn helped to direct the way in which popular music was recorded in the following decades24. Spector’s studio technique using extensive instrumental sounds, focused on making music that did not depend on the positive or adverse attributes of the musicians. Though this was advantageous for the producer, a negative aspect was that by removing Afro-American music from the entertainment discipline, the studio of the 1960s deprived itself of the main source of its strength25. CHAPTER 3. Significance of the Girl Group Sound The great popularity of girl groups in the 1960s fuelled feminism, the philosophies supporting the Civil Rights Movement, and the history of popular music. The songs of the ShangriLas, Ronettes, and Shirelles expressed the concerns of girls evolving out of past relegations to obscurity, helped in reducing colour discrimination while promoting integration, and also influenced many well-known male artists of the time. For example, the Beatles and the Beach Boys “performed girl group songs and carefully emulated the girl group style in their original compositions”26. Phil Spector’s musical productions were extensively related to his work with girl groups. The girl group sound was prevalent mainly between 1958 and 1965, flourishing only for a shorter duration in that timeline. Until the introduction of the rich instrumental combined with vocal “wall of sound” by Phil Spector and George Morton, their music highlighted voice with the instrumentation as a backdrop. Girl group performers were interchangeable, and if there was urgency to release the song before a rival version appeared, Spector cut some of his songs using other girl groups. There was exploitation in terms of underpaid royalties, though one of the ShangriLas’ musicians said that they were in it “for the fun, the innocence and love of art”27. The songs of girl groups are mainly products of the recording studio, since they are appropriate for the recording techniques usually found in rock music, while rising to meet the standards of a live concert performance. Hence, the possibility of an authentic live performance is reduced28. In 1964, the group ShangriLas’ well-known song Leader of the Pack sung by Ellie Greenwich reveals the existence of a strong network of collaboration between women artistes and their male support system. The influence of male writers and producers on women singers have been extensive, using high levels of negotiation, compromise and manipulation. They have caused both the elevation as well as the decline of female artistes and girl groups. Phil Spector, known as the “megalomaniac”29 music producer has had an immense influence on girl group records. His uniquely developed production style obliterated the singers’ identities. The contradictions of girl group music can be seen through the work of Phil Spector, as one of the main producers in this genre, “because his work’s bombastic exaggeration stretches those contradictions to their breaking point”30. The music producer’s distinctive use of the “wall of sound” in Da Doo Ron Ron in 1962 to River Deep, Mountain High in 1966, the dominant characteristic of his music was a huge, unfathomable, integration of sounds, with several instruments merging together, none could be distinguished separately. This baroque method was termed by Spector as “little symphonies for the kids”. Like a symphony composer, the music producer spent “hundreds of hours in the studio arranging and perfecting the sound of each release”31. The Ronnettes consisted of three black women whom Spector discovered when they were singing as amateurs in a New York city high school. Their song produced by Spector Walking in the Rain begins with a peal of thunder, and then the sound of falling rain. The Ronnettes then walk in “singing a gentle refrain of nonsense syllables – Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo...”32. There is also a rhythmic organ note banged repeatedly. Another roll of thunder is followed by the lead singer Veronica Bennett beginning the lead vocal, and the sounds of thunder and falling rain continue in the background. The beat of the drums, ringing of bells and a clavichord merge together, and the different instruments are indistinguishable, played by numerous musicians33. Ed Ward, the critic describes Phil Spector’s music as a creation of Utopia based on socialism, through “thousands of instruments and singers labouring together for the common good”34. The music producer was brilliant in creating an imaginary paradise within the pop music world which he made free to be filled with illusionary conceptions which may not be true to life. He set up a tight bond between the larger than life, exaggerated, and almost a parody of the music industry infused in his “wall of sound”, against “the lonely voices which pierce its layers”35. For example, Walking in the Rain took Spector hundreds of hours of studio work to assemble the instrumentals and other sounds, but the Ronnette group’s vocal was taken in the first attempt. This impacts the vocal effect to be fresh and clear, contrasting against the “wall of sound”. It is difficult to recognise distinctly any of the instrumental sounds, or to separate them from the combined wall of sound36. This combination of sounds is an expression of capitalism. In the song Walking in the Rain nature’s elements are also incorporated into the music, and makes one wonder at the mind which conceptualizes so literally the lyrics on rain, that he has added the real sound of rain to the composition. This compels a realization of the “wall of sound” as a natural entity, while at the same time reminding the listener that the sound produces only a poor imitation of the natural experience37. Phil Spector married lead singer Ronnie Bennett of the group the “Ronnettes”, and is reported to have exerted excessive control over her creativity, as in the release of the record Be My Baby. This song was a pioneering piece of work which brought females to the fore-front in the music industry. In spite of their rise in significance, female singers still continue to be placed lower than male producers, in the music production hierarchy, reflecting “the struggles within girl music and girl culture”38. CHAPTER 4. Recording of Wall of Sound Music through Remixing as Recoding The process of recording is both creative and aesthetic. The sound recordist changes musical performance to a work of art, using his sense of aesthetics to make judgments and decisions on producing the final piece. On the other hand, Tankel states that in modern music recording, there is no finished product since the technology allows for continual manipulation of recorded sounds39. The musical piece is not entirely dependent on the performers alone, but depends to a great extent on the recording technology used as well as the skills and aesthetics of the producer. The recordist works on both sound design and engineering, these functions constitute audio control; besides composing the melody, lyrics and beats. Though sound recording technology is capable of storing and calling up the different aspects of sound, including “rhythm, melody, harmony, and tonal colour”40, the recordist is also able to control skillfully the sound effects of the entire musical piece. Coding the music is done by setting parameters for the different dimensions of sound, such as “volume, pitch, timbre, juxtaposition, presence, and attack/ decay”41. For instance, the Beatles’ album Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band includes the song sung by John Lennon Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, which uses artificial Double Tracking and varispeeding which involves changing the speed of the tape to alter the pitch. Other studio techniques are also used, to enhance Lennon’s recorded performance and make it distinctive. This unique recording code can be used by other artistes, to create music that sounds similar to that of the Beatles42. Spector produced the required sound effects by the concerted efforts of the sound engineers, the studio space, and the available electronics. He generally used the Gold Star Studios in Hollywood. The four echo chambers were designed geometrically for maximum acoustic balance and reverberation, which enhanced Spector’s recordings43. Some dimensions of the recording code are: “sonic” which denotes the relative reproductive clarity of recording, and “grain of the voice” which is a mix created by sound recording technology and the recordist’s skills. This is basically a sonic context composed of the expression or music and the grain or mix. Most innovation in popular music is sonic rather than musical, which is exemplified by the success of the compact disc. In creating new sounds and timbres using extensive technical resources, “popular music derives its aesthetic tension from the interaction between the need for sonic clarity and the potential for sonic subversion through the grain”44. Phil Spector preferred to use mono mixing equipment which had fewer variables, and avoided the use of stereo for a long time. In the early 1960s, he achieved commercial succes through using the mono format. Later in his career, when he used stereo mixing techniques, he could experiment to a greater degree with music by the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and “psychedelic” artistes such as Pink Floyd and Jimi Hendrix. Spector’s music with stereo format was considered to be only on par with that of other producers, and their production value was not considered to be high45. According to the critical social theorist Adorno, recording is an art in the sphere of popular music. There is a relationship between the forces of musical production composed of the creative and functional aspects of production and reproduction, with the circumstances of production which are the economic and ideological conditions of production and reception. However, Adorno’s highlighting the issue of reception does not take into consideration the creative dynamic of popular music. Progressivism and conservatism together facilitate artistic creativity within mass production. Creativity that reflects familiarity is supported by the audience46. Spector’s creation of music by the immense use of overdubbing to allow the artiste or group of artistes to be heard distinct from the instrumentals, resulted in music that would not be possible to reproduce accurately in live performance. Studio construction had been far advanced before the Beatles, as seen in Spector’s work. The 1966 Beach Boys album Pet Sounds recorded by Brian Wilson was released before Sergeant Pepper produced by George Martin. The latter was considered as the initial “studio album” which demonstrated that rock music need not be performed live. “The recording itself is the rock music”47, as exemplified in remix records. Remixing not only has aesthetic aspects and the practical requirement for adaptation to radio, but was also economical, since the remixed version of a song is considered to be a different version, a distinctive work of art, and saves on the requirement for new melody or lyrics48. Spector’s influence slowly declined after the Righteous Brothers time with the hits You’ve Lost that Lovin’ Feelin’ which topped the charts at number 1, Just Once in My Life at number 9, Unchained Melody at number 4, and Ebb Tide at number 5, all the releases being in 1965. With Ike and Tina Turner in 1966, Spector produced a hit with River Deep, Mountain High. His additional orchestral layering in the song Let it Be by the Beatles in 1969 was not approved by bassist/ vocalist Paul McCartney, but it helped the music producer to continue as a public figure. Subsequently, Spector had only two top-five studio recordings: All Things Must Pass in 1970 by George Harrison and Imagine in 1971 by John Lennon. His music production techniques during the mid-1960s, however, fuelled a new sound system, which was continued for several decades by other music producers who succeeded him49. CONCLUSION This paper has highlighted the “wall of sound” effect created by Phil Spector. He used the overdub and mix and employed the acoustic capabilities within the studio, particularly microphones, and unusual instrumentation to a significant extent. He worked with several artistes and groups, and is most well known for the music he produced with the Righteous Brothers and with girl groups. Spector’s music directly impacted the work of other music producers such as George Martin and Brian Wilson, and even later producers in the twenty-first century. Spector was well known for his uncompromising attitude, and working several hours with his musicians to create his “wall of sound”. His music was rich, with numerous instrumentals merging together, and vocals also barely distinguishable. He used studio technology to enhance his music production, to release records that were dynamic with additional sound effects such as echoes, and even rain and thunder. He delivered pop music culture through various media such as radio, jukeboxes and records. Spector was most successful in producing hits with the mono recording format, before the advent of stereo mixing. The declining popularity of “AM radio in the years after, was key to mono recording’s demise”50. His use of dynamics created excitement in carefully planned moments in the song, with a deviation of the basic harmonic pattern. Spector was the first to emphasize the role of the music producer, and is considered to be an influential figure in the world of popular music. APPENDIX Discography Artiste/ Artistes Song Year Beatles Let it Be 1970 Beatles Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band 1967 Bobb B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans Zip-a-dee-doo-dah 1963 George Harrison All Things Must Pass 1970 John Lennon Imagine 1971 Ike and Tina Turner River Deep, Mountain High 1966 Leonard Cohen Death of a Ladies’ Man 1977 Phil Spector A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector 1963 The Crystals He’s a Rebel 1962 The Righteous Brothers You’ve Lost that Lovin’ Feelin’ 1965 The Righteous Brothers Just Once in My Life 1965 The Righteous Brothers Unchained Melody 1965 The Righteous Brothers Ebb Tide 1966 The Ronnettes Be My Baby 1963 The Ronnettes Walking in the Rain 1964 The Teddy Bears To Know him is to Love Him 1958 BIBLIOGRAPHY Bayles, M. (1996). Hole in our soul: the loss of beauty and meaning in American popular music. The United States of America: University of Chicago Press. Chanan, M. (1995). Repeated takes: a short history of recording and its effects on music. London: Verso. DeNora, T. & Adorno, T.W. (2003). After Adorno: rethinking music sociology. 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