Rocket 88
Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats
-
Distortion
The electric guitar gets an extra fuzzy tone, thanks to a damaged loudspeaker in the electric guitar amplifier. Folklore tells the story two ways:
1. The amp fell off the roof of the car on the drive to Memphis, or
2. Water damage to the driver.
Either way, there is buzzing and scraping as the cone and voice coil move. The result is an early hint at rock and roll's future.
But is it the first use of deliberate distortion?
Unexplained Sounds
Do you know what you hear? Upsweep Whistle Bloop Have a listen and — please — explain… You may also be interested in… Pet Sounds Released 47 Years Ago Today (16 May 13) Sounds from NASA Loudspeaker Testing Lab
At The Zoo
Simon and Garfunkel
-
Flanging Chamber Reverb
Percussion gets a new texture, and a slight 60s flavor, courtesy of some flanging on the chamber reverb.
Specifically, the mono chamber reverb return was simultaneously sent to two analog tape machines. The outputs from both were mixed together. One of the tape machines had its speed constantly altered, up and down, leading to slight timing differences. The result is textbook flanging, done entirely analog.
It's hard to miss: four percussion hits appearing at about 0:13, and again at about 1:09.
A trivial effect using digital tools today, it was a lot more work, and a quite interesting sound when created entirely within the analog domain.
