them on everything they could. As Sam gets into the first verse, the reverb use is clearest on more powerful notes such as ‘I’ and ‘Sorrow’, as they resonate for a split second after he’s finished executing each word. The clearest example in this tune, and what became Sam’s hallmark, is his characteristic ‘Whooa-oh-oh-oh- oh, oh-oh-oh-OH-oh’ adlib as the choruses and the song end. ‘Win Your Love’ was neither the first nor the greatest example of reverb use on a vocal, but it was my earliest recollection and one which gets regular rotation on both my iPhone and in my shower. Earlier and more interesting uses in popular music are credited to Leonard Chess at Chess Records (artists such as Little Walter, Chuck Berry, Muddy Waters, Gene Chandler) and Sam Phillips at Sun Records (including Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash), both of whom ultimately defined the direction popular music has and continues to follow today. By the time Elvis left Chess for RCA records in 1956, the reverb sound was so necessary that the engineer, Chet Atkins, recorded ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ by using the hallway outside the bathroom at Sun Studios as an echo chamber to achieve the effect on Presley’s vocal. 5 Just by listening, you can tell that he was in a smaller space than the reverb added to Sam’s vocal suggests, as there is less tail to each of Elvis’ words. ‘Heartbreak’ was Elvis’ first number one pop record, first million seller, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995. * With the proven success of using such reverbs, singers, producers and engineers have continued to experiment with them. Though RCA recorded Elvis outside the bathroom, The Doors’ Jim Morrison wanted to get even closer to the source. For the song ‘LA Woman’, self-recorded and produced by The Doors at their workshop in Los Angeles in 1971, Jim sang his vocals in the bathroom for the ‘natural reverb’. The group’s keyboardist, Ray Manzarek’s favourite memory of Jim during that time is Jim singing the vocal to ‘Riders on the Storm’ in the bathroom, explaining that they used the bathroom as an isolation booth to get ‘that classic bathroom echo’. 6 The vocal sound has the small space feel that the bathroom can call its own. Other musicians and producers opted to experiment with instruments in the bathroom, especially drums. Peter Criss, the original drummer for KISS, setup his drums in the washroom at the Star Theatre where the band recorded their entire Rock and Roll Over album. He communicated with the rest of the band with a video link, 7 and the difference in his drum sound versus the effects used on the guitars and vocals is marked. On ‘Calling Dr. Love’, the resonance left from the first cowbell hits give a strong sense of space, this bathroom sounding much larger than Jim Morrison’s and reinforced with every Peter Criss hit of his snare drum that follows. Steve Albini, known for his prolific yet avante-garde production and engineering work, was another fan of the bathroom sound. While working with The Pixies on their
The Memphis Horns in 1977:Andrew Love, James Mitchell, Jack Hale,Wayne Jackson and Lewis Collins. Patrick Montier collection: staxrecords.free.fr
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The Doors, ‘LA Woman’ The Doors,‘Riders on the Storm’
KISS,‘Calling Dr. Love’
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