Walk On The Wild Side

  • Artist: Lou Reed
  • Album: Transformer
  • Label: RCA
  • Year: 1972
  • Producer: David Bowie, Mick Ronson
  • Engineer: Ken Scott
  • Studio: Trident Studios, London

Notes:

Reverb
Riding the wet/dry mix as a mix move. The background vocals, sung by the Thunderthighs, go from 100% wet to 100% dry during their iconic “Doo, do do, do do, doo do do, …” Or a prefader send to the reverb does the trick, giving you a reverb return that always has the vocals in it, even if the vocal tracks are pulled all the way down. A rare example of one of the very few times we don’t use a post-fader send to reverb. It’s a spatial decrescendo, as it goes from wet to dry, from all ambience to none. Or it’s an intimacy crescendo as the singers get closer, clearer and louder. Either way, it makes this hook even hookier.


Sources

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