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Introduction
Introduction
Within the 1960s music was forever changing from the traditional 1950s jazz and blues music style to the introduction of soul and funk. Motown and black music grew in popularity after the success of blues music in the 1950s and the rise of gospel music spreading words of peace. New technology was being experimented with, such as the development of pedals, fuzz and distortion effects, stereo mixing, and many more.
Technology and Production Techniques
Technology and Production Techniques
Fuzz and Distortion Effects
Fuzz and Distortion Effects
Fuzz pedals use extreme clipping to turn your audio signal into what’s essentially a square wave. This creates massive amounts of harmonic saturation, but it diminishes the intensity of the fundamental—which, in audio terms, refers to the note you’re actually playing.
Pedals were a new invention and were commercially available in the 50s and 60s, "The Rolling Stones 1962 hit 'Satisfaction ' by Keith Richards incorporates the Fuzz distortion pedal. The Maestro FZ-1 Fuzz-Tone was the first widely marketed fuzz distortion guitar and bass effect. Introduced in 1962, it achieved widespread popularity in 1965 after the Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richard's prominent use of the FZ-1 on the group's hit, "Satisfaction".
https://www.guitarworld.com/artists/keith-richards-why-i-hardly-ever-use-effect-pedals
Jimi Hendrix was infamous for creating unique sounds with his guitar, the link helped me to discover what pedals Hendrix used in his performances"The Jimi Hendrix Fuzz Face Distortion is a meticulously faithful reproduction of the 1969—70 Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face that Jimi used on classic albums such as Electric Ladyland. Dunlop's engineering department examined numerous vintage Fuzz Face pedals, honing in on a few units that possessed that unmistakable Hendrix sound".
https://www.jimdunlop.com/jimi-hendrix-fuzz-face-distortion/#:~:text=The%20Long%20Story&text=The%20Long%20Story-,The%20Jimi%20Hendrix%20Fuzz%20Face%20Distortion%20is%20a%20meticulously%20faithful,albums%20such%20as%20Electric%20Ladyland.
Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
Hendrix broadened the sonic horizons of his contemporaries and continues to inspire aspiring guitarists many generations later. The psychedelic rock genre developed through loud and crazy pedal effects. Although Hendrix crafted an idiosyncratic sound, it’s fair to say that it can be closely captured with modern equipment.
Mellotron
Mellotron
Within the 1960s, the invention of the Mellotron in 1963 was released. The instrument consisted of two keyboards, where the one on the left gave you rhythms and backing tracks, while on the right were wind, string, and other instruments. Throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s, artists such as The Beatles, David Bowie, Rolling Stones, Moody Blues, Led Zeppelin, and many others adopted various models of keyboards that the Mellotron company was making.
https://www.npr.org/2019/11/05/776342573/on-mellotron-variations-a-1960s-era-instrument-makes-a-comeback#:~:text=The%20Mellotron%20debuted%20in%201963,woodwinds%2C%20strings%20and%20other%20instruments.
'Strawberry Feilds Forever' By The Beatles
'Strawberry Feilds Forever' By The Beatles
The 1967 song by The Beatles included a mellotron. They used it as an experiment within the studios and then included it in the actual recording. John Lennon took a liking to the Mellotron during the 1960s, satisfying his quest to find new sounds in the studio. He worked to combine it with a flute instrumental during Strawberry Fields. The track includes psychedelic elements and the mellotron "adding a haze-y beauty to the recording".
Production Techniques
Production Techniques
In the mid-1960s a four-track tape machine would typically be used for recording. This meant many parts had to occupy one track, and when it came to the stereo mix they could not be separated, resulting in multiple parts being panned to the same place.
When EMI started using 4-track tape machines at their Abbey Road Studios in 1963, a greater degree of freedom entered the recording process. The additional tracks allowed different parts to be added to the recording at different times. It also allowed tracks to be ‘bounced’. If three tracks contained, for example, drums, bass guitar, and lead guitar, these could be mixed together and recorded onto the fourth track on the same tape, allowing those original three tracks to be re-used for additional instruments. Of course, the mix had to be right, because it was not possible to return to the original tracks and try again once they had been replaced.
https://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/recording-music-and-sound/content-section-3.3#:~:text=When%20EMI%20started%20using%204,tracks%20to%20be%20'bounced'.
file:///C:/Users/Freya/Desktop/Early%20recording%20techniques_%20The%20Mid%201960s%20and%20Abbey%20Road.pdf
Composition
Composition
Psychedelic Elements
Psychedelic Elements
Psychedelic rock, a style of rock music popular in the late 1960s was largely inspired by hallucinogens, or so-called “mind-expanding” drugs such as marijuana and LSD. Psychedelic rock often includes trippy studio effects like reverb, phasing, distortion, and reversed sound. Inventive use of instruments: The sound of an electric guitar with feedback and a wah-wah pedal is emblematic of the genre. The artist used their own experiences of experimentation and put them into their lyrics and writing.
Many musicians of the 1960s experimented with psychedelic elements, such as The 13th Floor Elevators. Their single' Your Gonna Miss Me' was released in 1966 off their album 'The Psychedelic Sounds of The 13th Floor Elevators' This track incorporated a special aspect of the Elevators' sound that came from Tommy Hall's innovative electric jug. The jug, a crock jug with a microphone held up to it while it was being blown, sounded somewhat like a cross between a Minimoog and cuica drum. At the beginning of the track Hall's chugging jug sound is heard, which he sprowted the idea one day when he was on LSD to create the sound.
https://www.austinchronicle.com/music/2004-08-13/224147/
Notable Music Producers of the 1960s
Notable Music Producers of the 1960s
George Martin
George Martin
George Martin was well known for being the record producer for The Beatles throughout the 1960s. The Beatles first met George Martin in 1962, shortly after being turned down by Decca Records. At the time, Martin was one of EMI's most celebrated producers. After a meeting with the charismatic manager Brian Epstein, he decided to sign the group off the bat and agreed to meet with The Beatles for an audition.
Martin's first collaboration with The Beatles wasn't a big hit, but their second single with him, "Please Please Me", made an immediate impact, and propelled the band to national stardom in Britain. The hits continued, and Martin's own name began to appear on the recordings he produced (both for The Beatles, and for other artists) a few months later, as the record-producer's role became more widely recognized in the industry.
McCartney first played Martin his classic torch song during the group’s Paris residency in January 1964. The group may have considered it, at first, as simply a ballad that would get the full-band treatment. But when McCartney decided to record it, during the “Help!” sessions in 1965, Martin proposed that McCartney accompany himself on an acoustic guitar, with a string quartet taking the place of the other Beatles.
McCartney had his doubts: In his view, string arrangements on rock records were suspect. But Martin played him some recordings and sat him down at the piano to show him what could be done. In the end, McCartney was convinced.
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/10/arts/music/george-martin-and-the-beatles-a-producers-impact-in-five-songs.html#:~:text=Martin%20proposed%20that%20Mr.,on%20rock%20records%20were%20suspect.
https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/the-beatles-producer-george-martin-revealed-biggest-regret/#:~:text=The%20Beatles%20first%20met%20George,The%20Beatles%20for%20an%20audition.
Andrew Loog Oldham
Andrew Loog Oldham
As co-manager of the Rolling Stones from May 1963 to September 1967, and founder and co-owner of Immediate Records from 1965 to 1970, Andrew Loog Oldham helped shape the future of rock, and certainly turned the music industry in the United Kingdom on its head.
The Stones first fell under Oldham’s nose in May 1963, when the aspiring producer and manager was just 19 years old. The driven teenager became competent working initially as a manager for the fashion designer Mary Quant, to which he brought style and flamboyance to the band's appearance. He later worked for The Beatles under the vital mentorship of Brian Epstein as part of the latter’s NEMS program.
Loog Oldham was much more than a manager for The Rolling Stones. He “produced” their early recordings without really knowing what a record producer did. The fact is he had a sixth sense as to what worked. When the band was struggling for a follow-up to their first single, Loog Oldham hustled John Lennon and Paul McCartney into giving the Stones an unreleased and unrecorded song to cover. “I Wanna Be Your Man” made No.12 on the UK charts and was the catalyst for much that followed.
https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/the-rolling-stones-andrew-loog-oldham/
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