Musc 200 1st Edition Lecture 21 Outline of Last Lecture I Early 60s Rock a Surf Rock b Girl Groups II Surf Rock a 4 important things b Sound i Whammy bar ii Rhythm Outline of Current Lecture II Surf Rock continued a Timbre b Stomp Boxes c Dick Dale III The Brill Building and Girl Groups a Phil Spector i Wall of Sound Current Lecture Surf Rock continued Timbre tone color o Timbre is the features of sound that is not pitch dynamics or rhythm Think of the difference between the same note played on a trumpet and a guitar Clear vs raspy bright vs dark etc Vacuum tubes were originally used in amps and distortion occurred if the volume was cranked up really loud mid 50s Early 60s stomp boxes were introduced o Electronic device that was plugged in between the guitar and the amp These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute o Fuzz box type of stomp box that used transistors for distortion o Transistors smaller more reliable less fragile and produced a different type of distortion than vacuum tubes did Vacuum tubes warm rich full distortion at high volume Fuzz box nasal buzzing distortion without having to be super loud Listening The 2000 Pound Bee Parts 1 and 2 by The Ventures Perhaps the first recorded song to use a fuzz box 12 bar blues in the surf rock style 2 guitars are used one clean one with the distortion Listening Latinia by the Sentinals Combines lush reverb with the whammy bar o Plays chord then whammies it while the reverb is occurring o Which causes the pitch to waver up and down o The lingering pitch clashes with the wavering pitches o Slight variations of the same pitch reflecting against each other creates a full sound Arpeggios Listening Paradise Cove by the Surfmen Saxophone at the beginning Arpeggios Whammied chords combined with reverb Reverb creates a watery sound making people think of surfing Dick Dale Defined surf rock as virtuoso guitar music Often split the sound from his guitar into two amplifiers to have a huge sound Often used the guitar technique known as tremolo picking Impulsive instruments play note and it fades away guitar piano gong etc Drive instruments if you keep feeding it energy it keeps going violin voice etc Tremolo picking makes the guitar imitate a driven instrument o Continuously strike the string giving a constant flow of sound o Makes guitar sound more vocal and expressive Listening Miserlou by Dick Dale and the Del Tones Dale s most popular song Early 60s groove throughout Tremolo picking Pick slides and left hand embellishments Exoticism use of musical techniques to draw images of foreign places The Brill Building and the Girl Groups Early 60s explosion of groups with 3 4 females singers o Represents return of women to pop charts in particular African American women Many girl groups were produced by those who worked in the Brill Building in NYC In the early 60s a group of songwriters clustered together in the Brill Building and began to write songs that combined elements of R B with elements of pop o o Independent producers dominated the production process Not all independent producers were songwriters but they still managed and worked with the songwriters The producer was the creative force Wrote music connected to TPA Traditional song crafting People hired specifically to write songs More towards the pop direction with strings reeds and other pop ideas Carole King started out as a Brill Building songwriter and later started her own singing career Girl groups were not the only thing produced at the Brill Building but they were the main ones Girl Group Sound 3 or 4 vocalists 1 lead 2 3 backing instruments piano bass drums guitar maybe strings reeds bass o Girl groups had no guitar solos or boogie woogie bass lines o Had strong but not aggressive danceable groove o Vocalists had the loudest part Some R B elements a few blue notes and a little melisma every now and then More pop influences than R B o Rhythm section existed to keep things interesting but didn t serve a huge part o Hooky and simple chord progressions Lyrics spoke to teenage women at this time and the gender stereotypes and expectations they faced Some consider these girl groups as doo wop with instruments but that s not accurate o If you removed the instruments from girl groups they wouldn t have the same sound It would be emptier because the background vocals weren t as elaborate as doo wop Listening Will You Love Me Tomorrow by The Shirelles Written by Carole King and her husband Gerry Goffin Produced by Luther Dickson This song is one of the best illustrations of the girl group sound Has 60s groove o Given by guitar piano bass and drums o Not aggressive Compared to R B this isn t as ornamented or embellished String section steers it in the pop direction Backing vocals not as elaborate as doo wop harmonies o Plaintive and straightforward Lyrics explore the issue of the gendered paradox of men having sex vs women having sex Listening The Shoop Shoop Song It s in His Kiss by Betty Everett Instrumentation includes bass strings and percussion More elaborate and developed than the last song Vocals closer to the R B style Call and response style o Backup vocals have call o Lead vocal has response o Represents social relationship between groups of friends they re talking back and forth with each other Phil Spector Very successful became a millionaire before he was 21 o Long career that continued into the early 2000s o 2009 convicted of murder Worked in the Brill Building as an independent producer o Before that he was an assistant to Leiber and Stoller Micromanaged everything Wall of Sound o Giant thick dense full effect o Used lots of instruments to fill the entire frequency range o Used double triple even quadruple tracking o Lots of reverb o Would record the sound of an instrument along with the natural reverb of the room and then play that again and record it again to get a fuller sound Worked with the Beatles and the Ramones Listening Da Doo Ron Ron by the Crystals Girl group song produced by Phil Spector Wall of Sound bass has a consistent flow of pitches baritone saxophone repeated piano hand claps reeds back vocals drums o Every instrument is continually playing