Northern State are no longer together, and though that’s a bummer, they left us with three hyper-fun—and very different—albums before they hung up their microphones a few years back. I’m not here to give you a Northern State history lesson (though I’d love to), but it’s worth mentioning because they’re one of those groups whose sound changed starkly with each release. They were always hip-hop, but they constantly flirted with other genres and eventually became hard to classify, which was, for me, when they finally found the sound they had always been looking for and came into their own.

They never really intended a mass release of their first album, and accordingly, it was raw, better-than-demo-quality rap that was party-worthy, but never too complex (that’s not a bad thing). Their second release was more thoroughly produced, and more focused in general, but some of the looseness of their debut was conspicuously missing. Their third album, the one which featured the song we’ll be taking a listen to, was a huge step forward. The hip-hop elements are still in the forefront, but the band managed to incorporate a ton of other sounds and influences.

Northern State – Better Already

This song in particular is a great example of what was going on throughout the album: they rap the verses, sing the chorus, and float a bunch of other bits and pieces around those main sections to really make the track an impressive little slice of three-minute pop. A few years back, this cut was on heavy rotation in my stereo, and I never shy away from returning to it.

Better Already - Synthy-Jagged Guitar
The synthy-jagged guitar, intro that starts the song off is intentionally panned hard to the left speaker—not only to mellow it out a bit, but also to leave room for the vocals, bass, and drums that kick in just after it cycles through once. While you might initially think that the guitar is going to lead the charge Click to read the rest…

Last time around we were talking ear training for echo effects, all those wonderful ways to make many repeating sounds from one… Now for a slightly different effect (but definitely staying in the same family as echo):

On to reverb we go!

The story here is not much different. It was pretty much the same quest to produce that “spacious ambient” sound so common in halls, caverns, or caves that led this particular sonic safari.

Sure, the mechanics used are different for producing reverb sounds, but the evolution was parallel to the echo/delay story from last time.

• In place of tapes there are plates.
• In place of delay chips there are springs.
• In place of an echo sound there is the sound of halls, and large auditoriums.

Early Days: Physical Reverbs

You know the song and dance by now. All beginnings are humble, and this was no different.
Instrument amplifiers had springs placed in a “tank” with an electronic transducer feeding a portion of the amp signal to the reverb tank. The vibration and electronic stimulation of the springs caused the reverb we all know as “Spring reverb”. Listen to anything produced from the 1950’s and 60’s and chances are you’ll hear springs doing their thing.

A modern spring reverb unit (Image: Accutronics)

Studios on the other hand used larger versions of the same idea. Plate reverbs were and still are also very common in studios.

With plate reverb, usually a giant metal plate was suspended in an anechoic (meaning devoid of any natural echo) chamber, and driven with an electronic transducer – much like its little brother, the spring reverb. Plate reverbs were used on drums and vocals due to their inherent “bright” and slightly metallic sound. Actually, they were used on everything – for a while especially in the ‘70s and early ‘80s you could hear that “plate” on all the harder rock of the day.

In short, reverb, was produced in a mechanical way.
Click to read the rest…

Bonus Question answer

Last time around, our bonus question was this:

Where was the first echo (or delay) effect first manufactured?

If you have been following the Hearing Effects series so far, then you’ll know by now that nothing has a clear-cut answer. There is always too much debate about who really did what, and who really did what when; and this is even among the official records’ archivists!

However, regardless of who first “pioneered” the echo effect; the first to commercially manufacture it was Ray Butts in the early 1950s, who designed and built his wire-based echo machine into guitar amplifiers. (There might be someone out there to dispute that, but most fingers point to Ray.) It is a common mistake that the “echoplex” distributed by Maestro was the first, but that mix up is understandable since the “echoplex” holds the popularity award, and is still certainly regarded as the “Holy Grail” of echo effects.

This leads us straight into our next topic of echo/delay/reverb effects. Smooth, aren’t I?

Inspired by Nature

Alright, let’s dive right in. Everyone knows the sound characteristics of, say, yelling in a giant stadium or a cavern, or even out in the open high mountain ranges (for those who have actually experienced the wonder of something like the Grand Canyon).

Nature has built-in reverberation. For each different environment, sounds behave accordingly. The larger, more open and unobstructed spaces produce a longer delay between the sound and the bouncing around of that sound that reaches back to your ears. Those reflections can take a few milliseconds or up to a second or two to reach back to you. Once they do: Click to read the rest…