Don't Worry's distortion is breathtaking in the context it's presented. I can see how it would make an impact in the industry. It's quite a unique sound, consistent square wave distortion, verging on not sounding like a guitar any longer. Can't say I've heard anything like it in earlier electric guitar recordings.
How an accident revolutionized guitar sound
21–30 of 36 posts
Re: How an accident revolutionized guitar sound
#22If that 'hack' story interests you, try this one about the amp found in a skip (dumpster) by Queen bass guitarist and electronics engineer John Deacon:
http://www.brianmay.com/brian/briannews/briannewsjun05.html
http://www.deacyamp.com/index.php?route=information/informat...
Link2 is to the slideshow of a booklet
Re: How an accident revolutionized guitar sound
#23> The distorted sound of rock ’n’ roll guitar aggression was born in Nashville, in 1960. That's not the way I heard it. Snoddy might have introduced the Fuzz-Tone in the 60s, but the distorted guitar sound began with Link Wray poking holes in his amplifier's speaker on "Rumble", in 1958. Not to minimize the Fuzz-Tone's impact, by any means. Just setting the record straight. ;) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumble_(in…
Although all of the comments here have been valid and interesting, I'm gonna poke this reply thread with a Youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAqTrbuxCRI James Cotton - Cotton Crop Blues, on Sun Records. Recorded 1954, with a guitar solo harder/heavier than most records up until the late 60s (with a few exceptions like Dick Dale). And it features distorted power chords. Pretty much the first really heavy tr…
that is wicked - and it's actually a good song too (the one in the article is a horrid crooner one, far too smooth.)
Re: How an accident revolutionized guitar sound
#24This reminds me of the famous "Phil Collins sound", which basically is a gated reverb applied on the drums, and was discovered by accident during a studio session. http://thecollectivereview.com/hugh-padgham/hugh-padghams-ga...
in Music Technology lessons (yes, that was a subject for a few years in the UK, I think it's defunct now) they loved giving us Phil Collins to analyse - he used all sorts of weird stuff noone else has ever bothered with (gated reverb, reverse reverb, short time delay on vocals, all in the same song, almost as a matter of course.)
The endless repetition is why I still sit still every time I hear the intro to "in the air tonight" trying to find the beat before the vocals come in!
Re: How an accident revolutionized guitar sound
#25Earlier quoted context omitted.
Although all of the comments here have been valid and interesting, I'm gonna poke this reply thread with a Youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAqTrbuxCRI James Cotton - Cotton Crop Blues, on Sun Records. Recorded 1954, with a guitar solo harder/heavier than most records up until the late 60s (with a few exceptions like Dick Dale). And it features distorted power chords. Pretty much the first really heavy tr…
OT, but that Cotton Crop Blues link is at 6575 views as of now. (19:25 6Aug2013 ) Very curious to see what an HN link does to it.
It's at 6605, after nine hours (according to the time indicator between your username and "| link | parent | flag"; you forgot to say in what timezone you're in).
One of them is mine, and I only went there because of your comment to be honest.
Edit: you said "19:25" and "nine hours ago" was 2013-08-07 09:03:45 UTC, so you're at EDT? (incidently, everytimezone.com is pretty cool)
Re: How an accident revolutionized guitar sound
#26I always like the story that when the Beatles went to the BBC to record a show the sound engineer (white lab coat and pipe) Flatly refused to allow them to use a feedback sound as this is the BBC we don't have feedback here!
Re: How an accident revolutionized guitar sound
#27This reminds me of the famous "Phil Collins sound", which basically is a gated reverb applied on the drums, and was discovered by accident during a studio session. http://thecollectivereview.com/hugh-padgham/hugh-padghams-ga...
in Music Technology lessons (yes, that was a subject for a few years in the UK, I think it's defunct now) they loved giving us Phil Collins to analyse - he used all sorts of weird stuff noone else has ever bothered with (gated reverb, reverse reverb, short time delay on vocals, all in the same song, almost as a matter of course.) The endless repetition is why I still sit still every time I hear the intro to "in the a…
Reverse reverb was also used by Jimmy Page on several Led Zeppelin tracks (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_echo)
Re: How an accident revolutionized guitar sound
#28This reminds me of the famous "Phil Collins sound", which basically is a gated reverb applied on the drums, and was discovered by accident during a studio session. http://thecollectivereview.com/hugh-padgham/hugh-padghams-ga...
in Music Technology lessons (yes, that was a subject for a few years in the UK, I think it's defunct now) they loved giving us Phil Collins to analyse - he used all sorts of weird stuff noone else has ever bothered with (gated reverb, reverse reverb, short time delay on vocals, all in the same song, almost as a matter of course.) The endless repetition is why I still sit still every time I hear the intro to "in the a…
Ah, I remember doing Music Technology A-Level - it was a brilliant course, and it helped that our school had the funds to build a halfway decent digital recording studio.
Re: How an accident revolutionized guitar sound
#29Another accidental discovery of distorted guitar sound was made by Dave Davies of the Kinks in 1964, who says he sliced is amp with a razor (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Davies#Early_years_.281963...)
The Kinks - You Really Got Me : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXWKowSK3yY
Re: How an accident revolutionized guitar sound
#30It would really be borderline impossible to try to pinpoint the origins of the distorted electric guitar sound. Well before 1960, most amplifiers would begin to distort at higher gain levels. And even if you only want to count "deliberate" distortion, there's the famous example of Link Wray poking holes in his amp's speakers in '58. This is an interesting story, but it's kind of overstating the significance. Or maybe…
Not the first distortion but the first 'fuzz'. Distortion is created by amp saturation at high levels while fuzz is created trough transistors which produce nearly square waves (http://www.geofex.com/effxfaq/distn101.htm fig.4)