The Role Of Recording Studio Technology Essay

It is hard to imagine Van Halen without thinking of their original album that copied the band’s name. They were a total party rock and roll machine in their day’s of the 80’s. From “Somebody Get Me A Doctor” to “D.O.A.”, the content on Van Halen II comes up as ruminative, which is fleshed out by instrumental shreddings of lead guitarist Eddie Van Halen and drummer Alex Van Halen. The players are free to create any familiar fuzz-tone riff, sudden bass run, cowbell clunk, and rumbling drum eruption which is known to their genre. The album named Van Halen II, is rarely cited as one of the groups best works. The recording process was completed in three weeks, this started some sonic innovation. Eddie Van Halen achieved a thick guitar sound by overloading

Queen’s 1975 classic ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ is extremely influenced by the recording technology used to create its sound and enhance its musical presentation. Multi-tracking phrases and over-dubbing instruments played a key role in the creation of the piece. The piece was revolutionary for the progressive rock musical period as maximised the use of recording technology at the time. This can be seen when compared to a contemporary classics of the time, Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven and Pink Floyd’s Eclipse.

So, that’s how Spector gave many hits along with creating an original sound and recording style.

When Dalessandro headed off to college in 2000, Roger went on to form a band. Though they have been friends for years, the two never really worked on a project together ... until now.

The groups first album released after Jimmy Stokley’s forced departure was not one that the group enjoyed recording. All There Is was full of disco influence; a style that was being forced on many groups at the time. As a group that did not even like disco,

David Grohl and his band Foo Fighters, icons in the music industry, are famous due to their success and renowned due to their experiences. Too poor to afford lessons and not following the normal teachings drum teachers, Grohl made himself known in this world. “After dropping out in his junior year, he joined the Washington, D.C.-based hardcore band, Scream.” ("Dave Grohl-Biography." 1) Grohl has also appeared on three of the group’s albums and toured with them several times. He then moved on to join Nirvana in 1990. After Nirvana, Grohl released a single album that he worked on with Nirvana and later began taking auditions for the band Foo Fighters.

Grateful Dead band around as a groupie, it became personal. He struggled many years with his

“We were doing these one-off shows and started playing ‘War Pigs’ by Black Sabbath”, he says, “and we’d get back to the studio and try to inject some of that into the proceedings.”

To record this album an EMI console, a 16-track tape machine, a Fairchild limiters, and an EMT plate reverb were used. There were also up to five or six tape machines doing various delays, reverb delays, ect. at one time. Alan remembers “on the mix having to

As a child, Cobain’s main influence was Evel Knievel, and he was determined to be reckless and fearless like his hero. As Cobain grew older, however, his influences became primarily musical, and included Neil Young, nicknamed the “Godfather of Grunge,” the Beatles, and various alternative bands (DeRogatis, para. 8). His major accomplishments were his recordings, as Cobain was known as a lyricist more than a musician, despite his short-lived career.

As much as I wanted to eat something healthy, I allowed myself to splurge and buy a bacon hamburger packed with macaroni and cheese and a side of fries. The burger was unreal. Yet despite the savory taste, this would come to haunt me during The 1975’s performance. After waiting four hours at Piedmont stage and nearly being thrown in a mosh pit during a Swedish heavy-metal band, Ghost’s, set, The 1975 came on stage and revived my life. At this point my legs were aching, I was about to collapse from the lack of sleep I got the night before, I felt nauseous from the amount of weed and cigarettes being smoked, and what lovely time for my stomach to start meeting up with the burger I just had. When I tell you I nearly threw up on the girl in front of me I am not kidding. I felt miserable, but it was all worth it. Having seen The 1975 two times prior to this event, you’d expect that I would be accustomed to their performances. This was not the case. As they grow bigger and bigger everytime I see them the moment feels more and more surreal. From everyone knowing the lyrics to ‘Robbers’ to making the entire crowd jump to ‘The Sound’, it just shows one the dedication us fans have towards a band. They never fail to surprise

“Satisfaction” was written and recorded in a random way that was completely out of the ordinary. Rolling Stones guitarist, Keith Richards, woke up from being fast asleep. He reached for his portable cassette recorder to record the riff that wouldn’t get out of his mind- 1-2, 1-2-3, 1-2-3-4-5. He says he heard it in a dream. Keith kept repeating it into the recorder until he fell asleep. Some might say that he was “riffling while passing out.” When Keith woke up the next day, he saw that he filled the rest of the tape with his snoring while he was sleeping. Keith didn’t realize it at the time, but his motel riff was exactly what all of them were looking for. This song would be the one that would put them at Super Star Status.

One band some may know that was a popular grunge band in the 90’s was Nirvana, which consisted of lead singer and guitarist Kurt Cobain, drummer Dave Grohl, and bassist Krist Novoselic. This band was most popular for their hit album “Nevermind”. “One of their most popular songs on this album, ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’, has been and always will be a rebellion anthem for adolescents, empowering them. This message and it’s meaning make this one of the most popular songs by this band to date.”

Jerry Garcia’s most obvious influences deal with music and the modern pop music band’s role. He has changed the way music is produced, the way music relates to its listeners, and how the band interacts with its fans. Jerry Garcia was the renaissance man of the 1960’s singing, writing, and playing many instruments including the acoustic, bass, and electric guitars, the banjo, and the piano, which was a revolutionary idea for the time. He and the Grateful Dead worked to successfully enable the elimination of a record company in the music world. Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead all worked together- blending different musical genres- to create new styles of music that will continue into modern day. Jerry Garcia is largely responsible for the revolution in the identity of the music artist, for the increase in popularity of the live album, for the divergence of many musicians from record companies, and for the changes in bands’ touring style and interaction with their

“He frequently recorded with triple rhythm sections, that is, three drummers, three bass players, and three pianos” (13.03). One technique often used is called doubling, where two different instruments would play the same line, which would thicken the sound. Spector would also add wind instruments and guitar sounds into his recordings. Another technique used by Spector is reverb. Spector usually would record the instrumental track before having the artist record their singing. He believed that hearing a collective harmony of the ensemble was more important than hearing the individual instruments. “Spector would combine all of the recordings into what he called the wall of sound” (13.03). The wall of sound is Spector’s trademark production technique. It is simply putting a lot of instrumentalists in the recording studio and having them all play at once. Two songs produced by Phil Spector that showcases his different musical techniques are Ike & Tina Turner’s "River Deep - Mountain High" and The Ronettes’ “Baby, I Love