60s production techniques

Panning is where you can distribute the different instruments and sounds across the stereo field, meaning that all these sounds can either be placed and heard from the right, the centre, or the left. Doing this helps to create more depth within recordings by placing the instruments and vocals in different positions either within the stereo image.

In the 60s, panning was used being used more as the popularity of stereo recordings grew. Many producers experimented with different positionings, mainly being either really far left and really far right, or just placing the entire set of instruments and vocals in one speaker, leaving the other speaker with no audio or just a different noise altogether. Bands like The Beatles took advantage of panning to create sonic experiences by isolating certain parts of the song in different channels to emphasize the movement and contrast of the different sounds.

The effect that panning had on music in the 60s was that it helped to shape the way that songs were recorded and heard. It meant that producers and sound technicians could now create more dynamic and immersive listening experiences, this making recordings feel more spacious and separated. Listeners could hear certain instruments more clearly than the others.

Overdubbing is where you recording multiple layers of sound on top of one another, meaning that artists and producers can build up more complicated pieces of music by adding instruments, effects, or vocal and/or instrumental harmonies after the initial recording had been taken. Overdubbing is commonly used to make any small changes to the pieces, correct any mistakes that were made, or to just simply create a more full sound without needing all of the musicians to play together at the same time.

In the 1960s, overdubbing became a key technique in the studios as the technology for multitrack recording became more advanced. Artists and producers used overdubbing in order to experiment with stuff like different layered sounds and intricate vocal harmonies. Using The Beatles as my example, had the producer known as George Martin to use overdubbing to add multiple layers of vocals and strings to their recordings. In the 60s, there as a new production technique called 'Wall of Sound'. This was developed by Phil Spector. This is technique is based fully on overdubbing, the technique requires you to create a layered, dense, reverberant sound that is well produced on radios and jukeboxes.

The effect that overdubbing had on music in the 60s is that it allowed a musicians to have an easier way of checking over their music and fixing any mistakes that they may have made during their recordings. It allowed for more creativity for artists to add anything else they think could be added to their music that they might have thought about adding beforehand.