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A CHRISTMAS GIFT TO YOU from Phil Spector

ari.mac

Hot Topic Tourer
Contest Winner!
  • Jul 16, 2020
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    IMG_20201221_091122.jpg

    Love the new look
    (Haters will say it's photoshopped 🙄) @Syn Gates
     

    Gabby Heafy

    Local Dive Bar Favorite
  • Apr 5, 2020
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    The playlist has been updated ✨
    42 songs, 2 hours and 30 min of Mr Bungle, The Beatles, and now Holiday tunes. I can’t wait to see what it looks like in 4 months 🙌😜

    Ah just wait until we’re back in 100+ degree weather for the summer. One of those days you decide you’d like to enjoy some of SGs recommendations, I mean, who wouldn’t? They’ve all bean great! So you throw that bad boy on shuffle and BAM, Frosty the Snowman by The Ronettes hits you. Glorious. Absolutely glorious ⛄️
    Only at the SGS baby
    In all seriousness, enjoy the playlist friends 🤘
    thats great! thank you Jamie!
     
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    Edward John

    New Student
    Nov 11, 2019
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    UK
    :syngates:Yo Family!
    For this months album rec I thought I’d rock some holiday spirit with A Christmas Gift To You From Phil Spector.

    This may be just another Christmas record at first glance and listen, but it was an unbelievably influential record by an unbelievably influential producer, Phil Spector.

    Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys has claimed that this is the most influential record on his songwriting and producing. This inspired the brilliance that is his magnum opus, Pet Sounds. You will immediately hear the influence after you familiarize yourself with Spector’s work.

    Phil Spector is probably more infamous now for the murder of his wife, Lana Clarkson, in which he appeared on trial to be apathetic all the while donning an outlandish perm and small spectacles, my new look.

    Phil Spector’s :explode-skull:Wall Of Sound:explode-skull: was an ingenious use of blending instruments with a lot of compression to achieve a unique hybrid instrument with its comprising instruments to be virtually indistinguishable from their sum. He also doubled a lot of instruments and used an echo chamber reverb to create a massive sound for the time.

    I’ve always felt that his records, especially vocally, were pushed to the max. The “breakup” or naturally overdriven nature of his compression techniques added next level intensity. You can really hear it on the tracks with The Ronnettes. Veronica Bennett(who married Spector and took the name), lead singer of The Ronnettes, really shines on this record. Also, Christmas(Baby Please Come Home) featuring Darlene Love, stands out as perfection among all components; songwriting, performance, arrangement, and production.

    Really try to listen to the arrangement of the instruments as well as the texture, meaning tone, overdrive, intensity, etc. I hope this inspires you to think outside of the box when you create. Try doubling guitars with pianos or other instruments to get a sound no ones ever heard before. I do this ALL THE TIME in the studio and it’s the only way to create something truly unique. It can also inspire how the song is written by how an unusual hybrid of textures makes you feel.

    I can’t wait to hear what you all think!

    Happy Holidays my beautiful family, I wish you all prosperity and good health!

    And get ready for 2021, it’s gonna be one hell of a ride!

    All my love,
    SYN
    :syngates:
    End of the Century, Phil Spector produced, is the best The Ramones album.
     
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    Brian Haner Sr.

    Papa
    Staff member
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    Fucking Legend
    Nov 11, 2019
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    The only argument for a better Christmas album might be an older album - like Bing Crosby or something like that. This is certainly (IMO) the best pop Christmas album ever made. It's Spector at his best. Every song has the famous "wall of sound" which was a combination of compression, echo and doubling instruments. Not the normal doubling of the same instrument for stereo effect, (this was all mono), but having (for example) guitar, piano and bells all play the exact same thing. By doing that, you can get 30 instruments on a track. If they all played something different, it would just be chaos.

    He recorded this album (and a lot of others) at Goldstar in Hollywood (a place I recorded at early in my career). It was famous for it's echo chamber. Literally a small room with concrete walls. A small speaker facing a wall and then a ribbon mic facing the other wall. Think of them as back to back - facing away from each other. You piped in the music, it would immediately hit the wall, then bounce off the other wall and into the ribbon mic. The room was much smaller than you might think. Like a pantry. (4x6 maybe?) You took that echo and mixed it back into the track. Primitive, but many (including myself) still believe it was the best echo ever created. Ironically, this giant sound came from Goldstar - which was a tiny room. Everybody sat shoulder to shoulder to record.
    But Spector always managed to make his stuff sound like it was recorded in a cathedral.

    I won't get into the song specifics on the album, because they are all good. The Ronettes, Darlene Love, Bob B Sox - all stellar.
    The album was released the day JFK was assassinated and it suffered because of that. I think it had one minor hit - but nobody in the US was in the mood to celebrate, so it just faded away. Years later it was re-released and is now considered a classic.

    Spector influenced countless musicians including The Beach Boys and The Beatles. (He actually produced their last album, Let It Be - and then a couple of John & George's solo albums).
    He was a game changer and this just might be his best album.
    Great pick, Syn!!!
    Merry Christmas!
    (or happy whatever you celebrate!)
    pg
     
    Last edited:

    tamagotchigraveyard

    Campfire Attention Holder
    Oct 26, 2020
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    Charlotte, NC
    8
    The only argument for a better Christmas album might be an older album - like Bing Crosby or something like that. This is certainly (IMO) the best pop Christmas album ever made. It's Spector at his best. Every song has the famous "wall of sound" which was a combination of compression, echo and doubling instruments. Not the normal doubling of the same instrument for stereo effect, (this was all mono), but having (for example) guitar, piano and bells all play the exact same thing. By doing that, you can get 30 instruments on a track. If they all played something different, it would just be chaos.

    He recorded this album (and a lot of others) at Goldstar in Hollywood (a place I recorded at early in my career). It was famous for it's echo chamber. Literally a small room with concrete walls. A small speaker facing a wall and then a ribbon mic facing the other wall. Think of them as back to back - facing away from each other. You piped in the music, it would immediately hit the wall, then bounce off the other wall and into the ribbon mic. The room was much smaller than you might think. Like a pantry. (4x6 maybe?) You took that echo and mixed it back into the track. Primitive, but many (including myself) still believe it was the best echo ever created. Ironically, this giant sound came from Goldstar - which was a tiny room. Everybody sat shoulder to shoulder to record.
    But Spector always managed to make his stuff sound like it was recorded in a cathedral.

    I won't get into the song specifics on the album, because they are all good. The Ronettes, Bob B Sox - all stellar.
    The album was released the day JFK was assassinated and it suffered because of that. I think it had one minor hit - but nobody in the US was in the mood to celebrate, so it just faded away. Years later it was re-released and is now considered a classic.

    Spector influenced countless musicians including The Beach Boys and The Beatles. (He actually produced their last album, Let It Be - and then a couple of John & George's solo albums).
    He was a game changer and this just might be his best album.
    Great pick, Syn!!!
    Merry Christmas!
    (or happy whatever you celebrate!)
    pg
    My fav christmas instrumental right here, merry christmas to you and the Gates family! (winter solstice today too w000000, Yuletide is here!)

     
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