Overused sounds in prog you love/hate

[JKL2000]

80ies Genesis and (mostly) Collins solo work uses a different unbearable sound gimmick: the "gated reverb drum sound". Just awful, it was first used by Peter Gabriel and heavily overused since. For me it systematically reminds the worst 80ies commercial pop sound. Designed for P.G by sound engineer Hugh Padgham, I'm definitely not going to thank him for his "invention".

In Brand X Collins never used this sound (not invented yet) but a standard (acoustic) drumkit. His playing was mostly light and jazzy, not heavy "powerdrumming". With Brand X you can really hear how a good and versatile drummer Collins was.

Is "gated reverb drumming" regular drums with an electronic reverb added? Or synth drums with the reverb added? Or either one? Or something else. I know I've heard it plenty, and I know what it sounds like, but I've never really been sure what it was exactly. I didn't know there was a specific originator of the sound! Hugh Padgham was so fucking '80s!

[Mister Triscuits]

Is "gated reverb drumming" regular drums with an electronic reverb added? Or synth drums with the reverb added? Or either one? Or something else. I know I've heard it plenty, and I know what it sounds like, but I've never really been sure what it was exactly.

It is drums with electronic reverb, but "gated" means that the reverb is cut off so that it is only heard while the drum is actually sounding instead of continuing to ring afterwards like natural reverb. This is the classic example; you can hear it especially clearly on the last beat of the six-note drum pattern in the intro.

[progmatist]

I still own an 80s Alesis Microverb...with a gated reverb preset. Which I must confess at the time, I thought was way cool. Using it on my Roland TR-505 drum machine.

[Sturgeon's Lawyer]

Vocals from the songwriter even when that person can't sing. It's not quirky. It's not eclectic. It's just the inability to carry a tune and/or the misfortune of having an annoying sounding voice. My suggestion is to get a singer. Pete Townshend had the right idea.

H'mmm. Yes and no. I actually like Pete's voice ... in the right place. For example: in "Baba O'Riley," it's hard to imagine Roger singing "don't cry, don't raise your eyes; it's only teenage wasteland." Likewise his short bit in WGFA. But a whole Who album of his singing? No, I don't think so.

But I mostly like his solo albums (and I generally enjoy his demos).

[clivey]

I still own an 80s Alesis Microverb...with a gated reverb preset. Which I must confess at the time, I thought was way cool. Using it on my Roland TR-505 drum machine.

Yikes. Had one too, and sadly remember that when I dismantled my studio before leaving the UK for a couple of years back in 2015 ,that I ended up donating it along with other stuff to the local Shelter charity shop . But yeah. That effect was a "time and a place".

[Mr.Krautman]

Another overused sound gimmick which wasn't mentioned yet is the famous "SLAP-BASS" sound, you know the "PENG-PENG" nearly all bass players feel absolutely obligated to include in their parts. There's no modern bass solo without lots of "PENG-PENG's" in it.
I have no idea who used this playing technique first (I'd guess some old Jazz musician) and the first time I heard it was in a 70ies Stanley Clarke solo record, and I found it really great back then. But from then on, everybody started to use it and it became an overtused cliché. It's still used today but it seems it's slowly going out of fashion and is less systematically used nowadays (except of course in bass solos).
There was something similar when Jaco Pastorius started to play on an electric fretless bass, soon afterwards all bass players started trying to copy his style and sound. But it only lasted for a relatively short while since for playing a fretless bass you really need to be a GOOD (if possible classical-trained) bass player while any mediocre bass player can do "PENG-PENG's"...
And the "king" of "PENG-PENG's" is... Mark KING (Level 42), his play is made of constant slapping and very few "real" (played) notes.

[Splicer]

Another overused sound gimmick which wasn't mentioned yet is the famous "SLAP-BASS" sound, you know the "PENG-PENG" nearly all bass players feel absolutely obligated to include in their parts. There's no modern bass solo without lots of "PENG-PENG's" in it.
I have no idea who used this playing technique first (I'd guess some old Jazz musician) and the first time I heard it was in a 70ies Stanley Clarke solo record, and I found it really great back then. But from then on, everybody started to use it and it became an overtused cliché. It's still used today but it seems it's slowly going out of fashion and is less systematically used nowadays (except of course in bass solos).
There was something similar when Jaco Pastorius started to play on an electric fretless bass, soon afterwards all bass players started trying to copy his style and sound. But it only lasted for a relatively short while since for playing a fretless bass you really need to be a GOOD (if possible classical-trained) bass player while any mediocre bass player can do "PENG-PENG's"...
And the "king" of "PENG-PENG's" is... Mark KING (Level 42), his play is made of constant slapping and very few "real" (played) notes.

I can watch Mohini Dey do it because she's cute. Otherwise, I'd skip if it went more than 20 seconds.

[bigbassdrum]

Another overused sound gimmick which wasn't mentioned yet is the famous "SLAP-BASS" sound, you know the "PENG-PENG" nearly all bass players feel absolutely obligated to include in their parts. There's no modern bass solo without lots of "PENG-PENG's" in it.

Flea of RHCP is pretty good at it as well.
To me, it's just another technique to pull out of the bag when needed. A 'rudiment' so to speak

Was it Bootsy Collins of Funkedelic who championed it? Ahhhh - wiki says it was Larry Graham of Sly and the Family Stone
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slapping_(music)

But I don't remember much use within prog

[Mr.Krautman]

I can watch Mohini Dey do it because she's cute. Otherwise, I'd skip if it went more than 20 seconds.

OK, thank you... now I feel a little bit stupid.
I've never heard about Mohini Dey and made a quick YT search.
All I can say is she can "slap" me any day, any time...
She's really over the top, over the best bass players, over the virtuso level.
My jaw dropped, can't even say if she's cute or not. Doesn't matter.

[progmatist]

Another overused sound gimmick which wasn't mentioned yet is the famous "SLAP-BASS" sound, you know the "PENG-PENG" nearly all bass players feel absolutely obligated to include in their parts. There's no modern bass solo without lots of "PENG-PENG's" in it.
I have no idea who used this playing technique first (I'd guess some old Jazz musician) and the first time I heard it was in a 70ies Stanley Clarke solo record, and I found it really great back then. But from then on, everybody started to use it and it became an overtused cliché. It's still used today but it seems it's slowly going out of fashion and is less systematically used nowadays (except of course in bass solos).
There was something similar when Jaco Pastorius started to play on an electric fretless bass, soon afterwards all bass players started trying to copy his style and sound. But it only lasted for a relatively short while since for playing a fretless bass you really need to be a GOOD (if possible classical-trained) bass player while any mediocre bass player can do "PENG-PENG's"...
And the "king" of "PENG-PENG's" is... Mark KING (Level 42), his play is made of constant slapping and very few "real" (played) notes.

It was really bad when used in the Seinfeld theme and incidental music. It wasn't even real....it was played on a workstation keyboard.

[Progbear]

I always associate the "slap-bass" sound with Tetsuo Sakurai of Casiopea, but I am reasonably sure he did not originate it.

[Nashorn]

Flea of RHCP is pretty good at it as well.
To me, it's just another technique to pull out of the bag when needed. A 'rudiment' so to speak

Was it Bootsy Collins of Funkedelic who championed it? Ahhhh - wiki says it was Larry Graham of Sly and the Family Stone
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slapping_(music)

He may have been the first to use it on electric bass, but it was invented much earlier, there is evidence for its use in the 17th century: https://research.lizzywelsh.com/?page_id=156

[Czyszy]

Cross post from Progarchives :P

I like Take a Break Today by Triumvirat. It's a catchy and enjoyable prog lite track. The best thing about it is the illustrative sound effects. :3 That's really cute. What's extremely cool is that the band created them using their musical instruments and did not use cheesy pre recorded samples!



Take a listen and pay attention to this:

🗎❛The Sunset Boulevard traffic lights all synthesized in tune❜ ― 🔈 sci fi style synth arps signifying the traffic lights lighting up in sync

🗎❛On Sunday afternoon with people on the run❜ ― 🔈 syncopated drum beats signifying people walking

🗎❛The New York jets they say flew in from JFK❜ ― 🔈 filtered noise oscillator signifying jetplanes taking off

[JKL2000]

Why were hippies so fond of starting albums really quietly for 20-30 seconds, with maybe just a little barely audible talking, so that you turned it way up and usually had to turn it back down?! Gentle Giant's Interview just got me with this!

[Mister Triscuits]

Why were hippies so fond of starting albums really quietly for 20-30 seconds, with maybe just a little barely audible talking, so that you turned it way up and usually had to turn it back down?! Gentle Giant's Interview just got me with this!

King Crimson were big on that--all of the first five albums, pretty much.

[Koreabruce]

King Crimson were big on that--all of the first five albums, pretty much.

Jade Warrior did that sort of thing a lot: a quiet bit suddenly interrupted by loud percussion, etc.

[moecurlythanu]

Sounds in Prog that were overused? Female moans and vocalizing like Donna Summer and Chaka Khan.

[veteranof1000psychicwars]

Just got an e-mail from Ciro, which states that a new Celeste album, called Echi Di Un Futuro Passato (Echoes of a Past Future) is about to come out in the beginning of next year. The cover looks very Roger Deanish ;-)

This reminds me of something that is overused...it isn't a sound, but rather the juxtaposition of 'past and future' in album titles and band names. I suppose Days Of Future Passed by the Moodies was the first one, but the idea was getting hokey around the time of Remember The Future (Nektar). Surprised to see a band still doing that in 2024 but since they are Italian they get a pass

[Sturgeon's Lawyer]

King Crimson were big on that--all of the first five albums, pretty much.

Yeh -- My first Crimson experience was a bargain-bin cassette tape of Lark's Tonguse in Aspic, on a cheap handheld player. LTiA1 started so quiet that I turned it up all the way...

[Rarebird]

Yeh -- My first Crimson experience was a bargain-bin cassette tape of Lark's Tonguse in Aspic, on a cheap handheld player. LTiA1 started so quiet that I turned it up all the way...

That's what you call dynamics.


I'm remembered on my album with The Planets by Holst, which made my mom ask if I could turn down the volume, which I didn't like, because when I did that, I could hear the soft parts.