Music Exam 2 1003

Wall of Sound

• Invented by Phil Spector

• Involved doubling parts, overdubbing, and cranking up the reverb to create a dense, layered sound.

Brill Building

• A New York City building (and style of songwriting)

• Associated with professional songwriters in the 1950s–60s

  • Teams wrote polished, commercial pop hits for artists like The Drifters and The Shirelles.

Payola

• The illegal practice of record companies or promoters paying radio stations or DJs to play certain songs without disclosing the payment, to boost a song’s popularity

Concept Album

• An album where all the songs are connected by a single theme, story, or idea, rather than being unrelated tracks

• Ex: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles

• Ex: The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars

Overdubbing

• A recording technique where additional sounds or instruments are recorded on top of an existing recording to build a fuller track

Double-tracking

• Recording the same vocal or instrument part twice and layering them together to create a richer, thicker sound

Synthesizer

• An electronic instrument that generates and manipulates sounds using electrical signals instead of acoustic vibrations. It can imitate other instruments or create entirely new sounds

Mellotron

An early keyboard instrument that plays pre-recorded tape loops of real instruments (like strings or flutes) when keys are pressed, creating a distinctive, slightly eerie sound used in songs by bands like The Beatles

Counterculture

• A cultural movement (especially in the 1960s) that rejected mainstream values and norms, often associated with protest, anti-war movements, and alternative lifestyles