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“Like the stacked vocals you can hear all over contemporary pop, these choir-like vocal sounds were created with just a few people at a time. Unlike today's productions, yesteryear's multiple takes of harmonies were far more likely to be sung in real-time. That is, instead of being constructed and pitch-shifted from just a few lines, each new harmony part was worked out on the mic and committed to tape.” (Video: How to Get the Cars’ Densely Layered Backing Vocals, n.d.)

Something The Cars were very good at but it really dates their music. It was something the Pixies didn’t do. Kim Deal’s harmonies as back-up vocalist is what makes the Pixies sound unique. And when I sang back-up vocals in a couple of bands, I took a leaf out of the Pixies book. Especially with a male lead singer we found that a female’s voice would be the perfect contrast. I don’t know if no-one else in The Cars couldn't sing or they weren’t allowed. Band dynamics can be strange. Maybe they didn't experiment enough in the studio.

Video: How to Get The Cars’ Densely Layered Backing Vocals. (n.d.). reverb.com. https://reverb.com/news/video-how-to-get-the-cars-densely-layered-backing-vocals

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Musically, this band experimented a lot. “Equally experimental was Lou Reed's 'ostrich' guitar tuning on 'Venus In Furs' and 'All Tomorrow's Parties'. So named because he had first used this technique for the 1964 dance number 'The Ostrich' that he and John Cale recorded as members of a group called the Primitives, it consisted of Reed tuning every string to the same note to produce a drone that mirrored Cale's on the viola.” (Classic Tracks: The Velvet Underground “Heroin,” n.d.)

I know that it also takes talent to create a good sounding record.  These musician’s have talent. I’ve been playing every artist on my stereo as I’ve been researching them. The Velvet Underground songs are very effective at getting the story across. Their songs have moods and feelings. Emotive creations. Definitely an artist I’ve added to my library. I can hear the Pixies in them. In songs I’ve written in the past, I could hear the Pixies in me. Yes, I can hear how I have been influenced by The Velvet Underground, indirectly, in my old songs. I never thought to create a Genealogy Tree of musical influences but I’m glad I did. I will continue to ask artists and colleagues, family and friends who they are influenced by the most and build a Genealogy Tree in my mind, trying to link together their inspirations and perhaps get to know where they want to go and what they want to create. Interpret their vision better and in turn deliver a superior final product. Making me an influential sound engineer.

Classic Tracks: The Velvet Underground “Heroin.” (n.d.). Sound on Sound. https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/classic-tracks-velvet-underground-heroin

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A young student of doo-wop and free jazz he toyed with unconventional guitar tunings and other avant-garde touches lifted from his cross-genre spectrum of influences. Talking about Metal Machine Music, “I did it for fun, and I did it for myself, because I wanted to hear lots of guitars and not have to worry about keeping the beat of a drum, or a lyric and a melody and what key you were in. I’m a guitar player. I like guitars, I like amps, I like tubes.” (Lou Reed & Zeitkratzer, n.d.) I see the same love for guitars from the Pixies. Whaling feedback characterised in both artists.

Lou Reed explains: “What I did is I had a bunch of 4x12 amplifiers, and I would set them up with various repeat and tremolo units, and then I would tune all the strings to a certain note, and then I would figure out a good distance to have the guitar in proximity to the cabinet, and then it would start feeding back naturally. And then I would have another guitar doing the same thing from another 4x12. And then these harmonics would hit one another, causing a third one. And I would be playing another guitar over those, while I was recording it.” (Lou Reed & Zeitkratzer, n.d.)

Experiment yes but do what you love, no matter what others might think. Create something you’ll be proud of now and in fifty years time.

Lou Reed & Zeitkratzer. (n.d.). Sound on Sound. https://www.soundonsound.com/people/lou-reed-zeitkratzer

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David Bowie no longer likes to do anything technical. Tony Visconti on recording the guitars for Bowie’s album Reality. "To record them I used the SM57, which is very reliable, and occasionally I'd open up one of the PZMs and try it out. Gerry had an open-back amp that I miked from behind with a Sennheiser 421, because I found that I got more low end by positioning the mic there if that's what was called for. I sometimes also did that with David on his Supro amps, which are open-back too." (David Bowie & Tony Visconti, n.d.)

I have seen this done on LinkedIn Learning. Reading up all these influences has given me a greater understanding of the audio world… like I’m slowly getting a clearer picture. I appreciate just how much Bowie likes to redirect and find a new focus. Art is his passion. Music is life. Visconti goes on about miking the drums from the same album, “I wouldn't have two kick drum mics, but I did try a little experiment where I had a bass amp in the drum booth and ran one of the kick drum mics through that. That made the kick really loud and it sounded good, so I used it on a few tracks.” (David Bowie & Tony Visconti, n.d.) Don’t be afraid to experiment with mics or mic placings… it just might be the sound the song is needing. Research and learn all you can. Always learning, it never stops.

My personal motto is Use It Or Lose It and I refer to the brain as a muscle that needs to be used. Learn, grow, evolve. Always and forever. Music is such a good tool for our brains to use. Sure I listen to music… Now I’m critically listening to music. And my world has opened up. Is this how Bowie feels? I used to live on a mountain. Mt. Stupid. Since my father died three months ago I’ve been lost and alone, wandering in the Valley Of Despair. Now I’m getting educated about a passion of mine. The changes I’ve made to my life in just the past three weeks as a result of this education and the support I've recieved has been unbelievable. It’s hard work but such is life on the Slope Of Enlightenment.

David Bowie & Tony Visconti. (n.d.). Sound on Sound. https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/david-bowie-tony-visconti

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“Generally speaking it was either a 67 or [a Beyer] M160 or a combination of both, which I still use today. It might be slightly different, of course, but the basic principles are the same — a ribbon and a condenser, along with compression and EQ and reverb. All that stuff was always added during recording." (Classic Tracks: Jimi Hendrix Experience “All Along the Watchtower,” n.d.-b)

Eddie Kramer, Engineer on the track All Along The Watchtower when asked about the techniques used to record Hendrix's guitar. “When the songs we'd recorded at Olympic had been transferred from four-track half-inch to 12-track one-inch, Jimi had said 'Wow, man, now I've got eight more tracks to fuck around with. Cool!' and of course they all got filled up.” (Classic Tracks: Jimi Hendrix Experience “All Along the Watchtower,” n.d.-b)

Hendrix liked experimenting with sound. If you are into creating music, don't we all. I recently bought a Boss BR-600 recorder and I’ve done the same thing. Now I play around with Pro Tools Studio. Your imagination is your limitation.

I think Hendrix is a bit of a legend. But personally, the way my brain is going… I find at this point in time, writing music and riffs is getting more of a challenge. Maybe because I stopped playing guitar for ten years. Sold all my gear. Now I've bought it back but I haven't taken the time to shake off the rust. Instead, I thought I would go back to college to attain a qualification to enable me to help artists record their music as a professional. Or maybe to help artists get a good sound at their gigs as a professional. I’m not a performer anymore. My goal is to become a sound engineer. Music is life. I have a passion like Hendrix, like Robert Smith… I’d like to help people pull a good sound.

Classic Tracks: Jimi Hendrix Experience “All Along The Watchtower.” (n.d.). Sound on Sound. https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/classic-tracks-jimi-hendrix-experience-all-along-watchtower

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“One of the best known of the Beatles’ techniques, Automatic Double-Tracking using two tape machines running together playing the same audio, and using variations between the playback speed of the two machines to introduce anything from a thickening effect all the way through to psychedelic tape flanging/phasing effects.” (Rodgers, 2023)

Ken Scott, production expert talking about The Beatles. “Young engineers were challenging the established ways of doing things in the 1960s, is the story of how Geoff Emerick had to break house rules about placing a mic too close to a kick drum, in this case actually inside it to get the sound. This close miking approach was incorporated into the recording of acoustic instruments, notably the strings in Eleanor Rigby which were miked close, giving the famous quartet arrangement its characteristic immediacy.”(Rodgers, 2023)

Ken is quoted to say, “However damping of the toms by draping tea towels over them to give Ringo’s characteristic use of the toms even more uniqueness.” (Rodgers, 2023)

They broke barriers. Very inspiring. Those of us who have taken our band into the studio to record, you’re thinking and creating and you come up with ideas on how to make your music unique. If you experiment, you might get a different sounding result. There is just so much music out in the world, especially since the Digital Age with artists recording themselves in bedrooms and home studios. The key is to find some way to differentiate your music from the others. Experimentation. But planned, thought out experimentation. Think about the physics of sound. Think about what it is you want to achieve. Take all your knowledge and experiences with microphones, instruments, genres of music, the music industry, EQ, compression and harmonics and deliberately experiment with the process of recording and producing music.

Rodgers, J. (2023). Ken Scott And PureMix - History Of The Beatles Recording Techniques | Production Expert. Production Expert. https://www.pro-tools-expert.com/production-expert-1/ken-scott-and-puremix-history-of-the-beatles-recording-techniques

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“If he’s not keen on working digitally, though, why did Young and Rubin choose this method? The answer, it transpires, is control. “There's a lot you can do with digital that's really convenient that you can't you can't do with analogue,” says Rubin. “Or - I don't want to say can't do it with analogue - but if you did it with analogue, you wouldn't get the same benefit that you get if you do it digitally, because you have to make copies. And they're going down generations. Whereas if you can get into the digital realm immediately from analogue at the highest quality, if you're playing in that world, it's not degrading.”” (Rogerson, 2022)

Neil Young took a chance on working digitally. So he thought about this new technology. I’m learning it all depends on the project. What do we want to achieve? Planning is vital with room to experiment.

Rogerson, B. (2022, December 26). Neil Young says that “nothing is real” when you take the “dark step” into digital music production, as Rick… MusicRadar. https://www.musicradar.com/news/neil-young-rick-rubin-digital

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Proto-punk, orchestrated rock & roll and Chicago blues influences with his band the Stooges, Iggy Pop created some of the most powerful rock music the world had ever heard, influencing every generation of punk, garage rock and grunge artists that was to come especially Nirvana. Gallucci mentions that he thought it would be worth a try. He didn’t know… it sounds like they would’ve given anything a try. So it might not work. It might just sound amazing.

““That way Iggy could be comfortable and have the live sound experience he was used to, and he didn’t need headphones. We absolutely wanted everything to bleed. That gave us the much-needed natural sound quality and the familiar aural environment the band wanted,” Gallucci says. “I think some of the best recordings-at least in terms of fatness, texture and warmth-were made with one microphone at the back of a bar, so I thought it was at least worth a try.”” (Rudolph & Rudolph, 2000b)

Rudolph, E., & Rudolph, E. (2000, June 1). Rocking in the Studio With The Stooges: Inside “The Complete Fun House Sessions” Mixonline. https://www.mixonline.com/recording/rocking-studio-stooges-inside-complete-fun-house-sessions-372032

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“So, immediately realising I wasn't going to get him over the top of all these thrashing guitar parts with a beautiful tube mic that overloaded and didn't sound particularly pleasant when it came out at the other end, I put him back on the SM58 and thereafter always used that. It tended to bring out a lot more in the voice, and even if it remained on the stand it was quite OK when he wanted to grab it.” (Classic Tracks: The Sex Pistols “Anarchy in the UK,” n.d.-b)

Pack full of attitude, balls and honesty, The Sex Pistols create music out of poverty and anger. A symbol of social and political turmoil in the United Kingdom. Song ideas may be slightly different to Nirvana but the potency of the messages are the same. Like Nirvana they are complicated but The Sex Pistols are more chaotic, and raw, and take their casualties. Both have songs that are full of riffs and have great hooks, real edgy rhythmic music. They are both pioneers in their genres just decades between the movements. As an engineer, I feel like you have to be flexible. If the U47 isn’t working, it’s not working. Something always goes wrong and things don’t go to plan. Experimentation is vital to getting something new and unique.

Classic Tracks: The Sex Pistols “Anarchy In The UK.” (n.d.). Sound on Sound. https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/classic-tracks-sex-pistols-anarchy-uk

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“As an engineer I was very, very keen to experiment, and Robert encouraged me to do this, so as co-producers he was in charge of the musical direction while I took care of the sonic direction. The band members were very individual, so I wanted a really individual sound, and this led to quite a bit of experimenting and equipment changes. Robert got a better guitar amp and a better guitar — I think he changed to a Fender Jazzmaster — and he also had the Woolworths Top Twenty guitar that he'd used on the first album. You didn't want to lean on that thing too heavily.” (Classic Tracks: The Cure “A Forest,” n.d.)

My dad loved The Cure therefore I did too. There was no choice but to listen to the cassette in the car on family road trips and holidays. The first CD I ever bought was The Cure’s Live In Berlin album where they played Disintegration, Pornography and Bloodflowers live, one after another. I’ll always be inspired by The Cure. I’m beginning to understand just how important experimenting is when it comes to recording with mics, amps, kits, plug-ins. But so you don’t waste too much time/energy/money having a vision of how you’d like the final product to sound is also key.

Classic Tracks: The Cure “A Forest.” (n.d.). Sound on Sound. https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/classic-tracks-the-cure-a-forest

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“With the rhythm section set up in a live formation, Dave Lovering's kit was positioned at the far end of the studio. Kim Deal's bass was DI'd and miked with a U47 on the cabinet, while the guitars were amped with Marshalls or Peaveys — sometimes a combination of the two, split and then mixed together — and miked with 57s or 414s.” (Classic Tracks: The Pixies “Monkey Gone to Heaven,” n.d.)

Oblique, short song structures, screaming guitars, manic vocals and often disturbing lyrics, the Pixies influenced almost every guitarist in the ‘90s. Punk, heavy metal, pure pop, surf rock, the Pixies combined these components to phenomenal effects and paved the way for the indie/alternative/grunge eruption of the early 1990s. I was one of those guitarists who just admired the Pixies. I was a chick playing bass in a band, now I'm an audio student. I realise how you have to use your knowledge but to a certain extent you have to try different things. Never get complacent. You must reflect on your work.

Classic Tracks: The Pixies “Monkey Gone To Heaven.” (n.d.). Sound on Sound. https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/classic-tracks-pixies-monkey-gone-heaven

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“In the studio I used a fair amount of compression on the vocals so that I could control his dynamics, and I also got Kurt to do some double‑tracking. I'm a big fan of doubling, particularly on choruses, so he did that quite a bit on the record and that's part of what the sound is. Andy Wallace, the mix engineer, had a little bit of tight slap echo — almost a double echo — on a couple of the songs, and he also used a little bit of reverb and so on, but for the most part the vocals were left fairly dry.” (BUTCVIG: Nevermind the Garbage, n.d.)

The first I paid attention to Nirvana was on the day Kurt died. The radio played every song of theirs as a tribute. The distorted-filled guitars and feedback lay a foundation in my brain that would never be replaced. Kurt was tortured and led the way for teenage angst. His lyrics hit home, the emotion in his voice struck a nerve in me. Part of me turned into a socially conscious punk. The desire to play guitar grew stronger everyday to the point where I finally got a guitar for my 19th birthday. My love for alternative music as a whole is attributed to Nirvana.

BUTCVIG: Nevermind The Garbage. (n.d.). Sound on Sound. https://www.soundonsound.com/people/butcvig-nevermind-garbage