80s music and reverb

[tapper mike]

Is this not the same forum where previously there was a lexicon 80's lovefest going on...

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... con+reverb

Yes I believe it is.

All that has gone before is not bad because it's no longer new. And all that is new is not great simply because it is new. Sure I abused digital delays and reverbs when I first got them back in the eighties. But I also developed my skills with them in the process of finding what worked for me along the way.

Then as now your tools are your options. You don't have the tools you don't have the options. If you don't want or need the option don't get it for yourself. If you don't like it when someone else uses it as an option well...Other people are going to like what they like regardless of what you think. That's life.

Rather then being consumed with things you don't like which only leads to finding other things you don't like. Find things you do like and enjoy them. Life will be less aggravating and more productive. Who knows you might be a happier person as a bonus.

[codec_spurt]

Name a commercially successful Pop song from the 1980s..

Now listen for reverb.. I bet there is a lathering of it somewhere in the mix.. typically on the snare and sometimes entire drum bus (including kick drum!!) but it seems to be there.. heavily.

Is this when digital delays were becoming more common or does it go further back (no pun intended) than that?

I get the feeling it was a new effect in the rack of many producers and mixing engineers and thus it was overused as a result.. by the late 80s/early 90s it seems the reverb amounts were tamed a bit.. well somewhat.

All I know is, when this album came out, it was like they had never heard of REVERB before:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabotage_( ... ath_album)

The whole album is saturated with it - to a mess - check it out.

This song seems to be banned in the UK:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symptom_of ... rse_(song)

but it is a good example.

Sabotage was from '75, so not sure if it even was digital REVERB mushing it up.

It would have been around that time.

Anywyay, the whole album is souped up.

[SODDI]

Not hate. More like looking at a classic painting and noticing that the anatomy is REALLY off. "Helene Fourment in a Fur Coat" by Rubens:

[kritikon]

VitaminD wrote:
Name a commercially successful Pop song from the 1980s..

You don't count Roxy Music and the Clash as pop music? They were number 1 all over the world, not just the UK. By definition, number 1 in charts means popular irrespective of what genre. I really think plenty of todays big pop bands only dream of being able to fill stadia, sell gazillions of albums and get devoted followings like Roxy Music and the Clash...

And yeah, the Stranglers were a UK band, but I went all over Europe in the 80s and songs like Golden Brown were very popular all over Europe. They certainly weren't just UK sellers. I'll eat my own underpants if Golden Brown isn't on quite a few pop hit lists from the 80s. The Stranglers if anything aimed much of their output at Europe in general, not just the UK. Feline is a perfect example.

I think maybe it's your idea of what constitutes pop that is more debatable. FOr me it means mainstream sales. Chart hits. Clash, Roxy Music, Stranglers - they don't get much more mainstream in terms of sales and chart hits than that...sure they weren't boy bands, but neither were Abba - are they not pop either, then? And by the way, Abba had quite a few big hits in the 80s too. They also weren't slathered in reverb. No don't tell me...you never heard of Abba either...

[robogone]

They were number 1 all over the world, not just the UK. By definition, number 1 in charts means popular irrespective of what genre. I really think plenty of todays big pop bands only dream of being able to fill stadia, sell gazillions of albums and get devoted followings like Roxy Music and the Clash...

I think Avalon sold worldwide in the millions for sure, and while the Clash sold less records, they made a shitload of money from filling stadiums and were offered stupid money to reform just for a US tour to sell out the same stadiums all over again.

Popular for sure.

[kritikon]

Shame it was only in the US. I would have gone to see them. Some of those old farts are still pretty good. I saw the Police's last tour, and have to say I was impressed how tight they were. It still surprises me how much noise 3 old men can make on a stage...

[robogone]

Yep. And the record company refused to release their first album in the US - said it was too regional or something stupid like that. It went on to become the biggest selling import album ever!

I also seem to remember that Rolling Stone magazine voted London Calling the best album of the 80s. Strange really as it was released in 1979.

Not bad achievements for a band that is not popular music...

[Marcus Aurelius]

I love reverb. I see it as a musical instrument in its own right.

There. I said it.

I also love 80s big, gated, reverbed drum sounds.
As well as their polar opposite, the super-dry, tight, focused 70s drum sounds.

[Marcus Aurelius]

I love reverb. I see it as a musical instrument in its own right.

There. I said it.

I also love 80s big, gated, reverbed drum sounds.
As well as their polar opposite, the super-dry, tight, focused 70s drum sounds.

[Chopper]

If you want a good idea of early 80's pop and the uncontroled use of reverb, tainted love is a start...

[Numanoid]

I get the feeling it was a new effect in the rack of many producers and mixing engineers and thus it was overused as a result..

Peter Gabriel built a career on it

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intruder_%28song%29

[foosnark]

It's all Ivo Watts-Russell's fault.

Try listening to the first Dead Can Dance CD (1984) - there is so much reverb it is almost painful. Everything is smooshed into reverb moosh.

Nearly as bad is Ivo's house project This Mortal Coil's first CD, "It Will End in Tears"

Goth without heavy reverb is like goth without the color black.