What Is Phil Spector's "Wall Of Sound" All About??

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mike Freze
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I just had some sauce under the Ramones label, thought it a bit funny that a local music store *Daddy's junky music* selling pasta sauce.
 
moresound said:
I just had some sauce under the Ramones label, thought it a bit funny that a local music store *Daddy's junky music* selling pasta sauce.
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That would be Marky Ramone's spaghetti gravy. It seems silly, but Marky supposedly comes from a family of Italian chefs, so what the hell? If i find some, I'm trying it. I expect it to be simple but really good and run straight through me. :D
 
Drummer Marky has put his name to it. *Marky Ramones Brooklyn's own pasta sauce*.
Guess all punk rockers will soon enter the culinary field.
 
Yeah it's all over the net, Google it up. If you have a hard time getting some I'll see what I can do to get a jar sent your way.
 
moresound said:
Same here Lt.! Listening to his work over and over gave me the insight of what can be done in the studio and broaden my artistic ability. :cool:
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you hip to the 'Nazz'?

if not go find their first album. It was the first example of what he would become.
 
Lt. Bob said:
you hip to the 'Nazz'?

if not go find their first album. It was the first example of what he would become.
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Alice Cooper had to change their name from the Nazz because of them.
For a long time, I thought the Nazz were one of the most overrated bands ever. But not now. Their three LPs contain some utterly great stuff, especially "Nazz Nazz", the fungo bat Lp. Todd Rundgren is actually , in my opinion, one of the bizarrely underrated writers of the 60s and Thom Mooney, one of the most energetic and dynamic drummers of the period, a kind of American Keith Moon with more solid timekeeping. "Rain rider" and "Christopher Columbus" are already in my trunk for when I crash land on that desert island !

As for Phil Spector, no look at recording and production history is complete without him. In a period where 4 track [and sometimes 8] was the norm in the States (English studios were always behind in the early 60s, 2 track being the norm), he stacked so many instruments into his productions and certainly pointed the way {along with Berry Gordy} in terms of the hands on producer that controlled the crafting of hits. Also interesting is that he was very young at the time, in his early 20s. He was a big influence on Brian Wilson and got Wilson thinking on a totally different tangent.
But one of the most interesting aspects of the "wall of sound" is that it wasn't taken up wholesale by the industry, even though it produced hits. In a way, it was doomed to a short life because not long after, the whole 'self contained' band thing came in and most of them lived for live performance, which the wall of sound wasn't suited to. Personally, I'm no great fan of the wall of sound. I think it sounds little different to it's contemporaries, to be honest.
That said, I always dug "Let it be". I don't get this "oh, it's totally overproduced" thing. The Beatles used string sections, orchestras, brasses, raga set ups and noise collages etc for nearly five years and I've never seen what detrimental difference his production made. Especially when you consider that all four Beatles rejected Glyn Johns' initial 'naked' version and didn't want George Martin producing them at the time of the "Let it be" sessions.
That all said, I think Spector had his moment early on and ran out of trajectory surprizingly early and became better known for ill treating his wife, blasting guns in studios and kidnapping the tapes of a John Lennon album......
 
One cool thing and somewhat daunting about Spector's "Wall of Sound" is not just the arrangement/layering of instruments...but the fact that it basically happened as one session with all the players jammed into a not-so-huge studio space.
It's one thing to layer tracks when you have a large multi-track deck, or even easier, a DAW...but when you are working with minimal tracks, the layering has to happen "live" in the studio.
Apparently, he would walk around the studio while everyone was playing...stop them...then move someone a little this way/that way...then have them start playing...etc...etc. This would go on for a few hours and once he set someone in their spot, they weren't allowed to move, not even to go out to the bathroom...until the actual take was completed.

Try jamming 20-30 musicians in a room and getting a good balance that translates into an ass-kicking mono mix...all live, simultaneously. That was the "Wall of Sound". I can just imagine how it must have felt to be in that room with everyone playing!!! :eek:
 
For me Spector's towering achievement is the Righteous Brother's song 'You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling'.
He produced George Harrison's 'All Things Must Pass' album in 1970 and for its time it sounded great.
In 2000 George released a 'stripped down' version of the same album and to me it breated new life into it...
Spector also produced John Lennon's masterpiece 'Plastic Ono Band' in 1970 and that is a much more sparse recording.
So Spector really could do a lot more than 'the wall of sound' for which he is most known.
 
Hey, guys, thanks for the great insights to my thread!! I guess it hits a nerve in all of us.

Quick question: do you consider lavish productions these days as basically the same as the "Wall Of Sound" with Spector? Examples: Barry Manilow, Celine Dion, Reba McIntyre, Faith Hill, U2, Phil Collins, The Bee Gees, etc. All these artists use a lot of add ons arrangement-wise, a lot of orchestra sounds, big bold vocal harmonies, great effects, big reverby sounds (or delays), and so on. Or do you distinguish these lavish productions today as different from Spector just because we have unlimited tracks to work with now?

Mike Freze
 
That's a very good question.
I think they are similar in a lot of ways but with unlimited tracks and with digital recording there is a difference.
Sonically I can tell a difference....but I'm not having an easy time explaining it....
It just might be the difference between analogue and digital....but there is more to it than that....
 
The difference is in having a whole bunch of musicians playing together in one room with minimal isolation between them.
It all blends together in the room...plus, with so much sound in the room, it starts to naturally compress/diffuse/reverberate until it is just that - a Wall of Sound.

With lots of individual tracks...you get the bricks, but you don't get a wall. ;)
 
miroslav said:
The difference is in having a whole bunch of musicians playing together in one room with minimal isolation between them.
It all blends together in the room...plus, with so much sound in the room, it starts to naturally compress/diffuse/reverberate until it is just that - a Wall of Sound.

With lots of individual tracks...you get the bricks, but you don't get a wall. ;)
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Thanks....that's an excellent explanation !
 
stevieb said:
You are an Atlantan, moresound?
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He's an alien first... Atlantan second...


I suppose I'm going to have to dig out my Toddy Runtgren's Greatest Hits album from my iPod to see what I missed. Can we still be friends?
 
Armistice said:
He's an alien first... Atlantan second...


I suppose I'm going to have to dig out my Toddy Runtgren's Greatest Hits album from my iPod to see what I missed. Can we still be friends?
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I just like me human brains with pasta sauce .... what can I say.

You have to listen to both A wizard a true star then Something/anything album over and over and over.

Can we still be friends and Hello it's me .... both inspired me to write a song .... I'll be a big AM hit for you baby.
 
But probably the weirdest thing I witnessed Todd do was to appear on the game show .. Hollywood Squares.
 
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