Teasing the Korean Posted November 14, 2021 Report Share Posted November 14, 2021 Mitch Miller sure loved reverb. One of the things that gave Tony Bennett and Johnny Mathis their distinctive sounds in the 1950s and 1960s was the reverb that was slathered onto their voices. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hardbopjazz Posted November 14, 2021 Report Share Posted November 14, 2021 Sometimes too much reverb on Bennett, Mathis and Andy Williams. I always wondered why Reverbed was looked at as something that needed to be added. Sometimes it’s so intense it feels as if I’m in a tunnel listening to music or an empty shopping mall with music playing over the sound system. Is there an industry reason why reverb was used so much? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teasing the Korean Posted November 14, 2021 Author Report Share Posted November 14, 2021 4 minutes ago, Hardbopjazz said: Sometimes too much reverb on Bennett, Mathis and Andy Williams. I always wondered why Reverbed was looked at as something that needed to be added. Sometimes it’s so intense it feels as if I’m in a tunnel listening to music or an empty shopping mall with music playing over the sound system. Is there an industry reason why reverb was used so much? It was a Mitch Miller directive. He loved him some reverb. On the one hand, I very much agree with you, but when I hear one of those records, the reverb totally transports me to a time and place. It's like the reverb is a part of their voices. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted November 14, 2021 Report Share Posted November 14, 2021 AM radio. And not just those singers, Kind Of Blue, Time Out, Ah Um, all them records had that Columbia reverb that sounded like a massive central air unit was always running. Ray Coniff, Percy Faith, Kirby Stone, for crying out loud! The Firestone Christmas records! Robert Goulet! AM radio was often noisy. Reverb would lift the music out of that noise and put into a swirling noise all its own. Phil Spector just took it to the next level or five Solid State, Thad-Mel, remember how they removed all the reverb for the Mosaic? NOW those records were ready for the FM! Before that, AM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sgcim Posted November 15, 2021 Report Share Posted November 15, 2021 The lack of reverb on Wes Montgomery's Riverside recordings was the only thing that stopped me from buying that boxed set. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
felser Posted November 15, 2021 Report Share Posted November 15, 2021 Gary U.S. Bonds. Those records sounded like they were from Mars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted November 15, 2021 Report Share Posted November 15, 2021 9 minutes ago, felser said: Gary U.S. Bonds. Those records sounded like they were from Mars. One of the 70s Phil Spector bios looks at those records as predecessors for the Spector concept, and actually goes into a bit of detail about how they were made. I believe the description was something to do with sounding like they were recorded outdoors, on a runway with planes taking off and landing, and pressed on asphalt. As usual, the effect was born of a combination of high imagination and low resources. It was a tiny studio, and they double tracked the voices by having the coming back into the studio in real time. So you got actual, real-time slap-back effects. Then they compressed the already shitting sound of the studio to make it a advantage, not a limitation. And then, yes, they used shitty pressings, because that's what they could afford. If you ever get an OG Legrand, the noise starts the secong the stylus drops, and it's not the noise of wear and tear, it's the noise of the crappiest viny imaginable. As with damn near all 45s, if you hear these records in digital and/or FM form, you're really not hearing those records. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.