Wall Of Sound

The Wall of Sound (less commonly known as the Spector sound) is a recording approach and style of music production developed by American producer and songwriter Phil Spector at Gold Star Studios in the early 1960s. Aspiring for an aesthetic akin to the live spontaneity of 1950s rock 'n' roll records on an orchestral scale, his method involved treatment of the studio as a compositional tool alongside a rotating ensemble of about twenty-five Los Angeles-based session musicians, later known as the Wrecking Crew and sometimes credited as "the Phil Spector Wall of Sound Orchestra". From 1962 to 1966, Spector produced over a dozen U.S. top 40 hits in conjunction with engineer Larry Levine, arranger Jack Nitzsche, and professional songwriting teams. His process combined arranging, rehearsal, and mixing simultaneously. Furthering R&B recording practices learned under Leiber and Stoller, his self-described "Wagnerian" approach quadrupled the typical four-person rock band lineup, augmented by woodwind, brass, and string sections. He mixed exclusively in mono and around extreme loudness, and prominently employed ambience and echo, reverb and compression effects unique to Gold Star's constrained layout. Sessions routinely exceeded the standard three-hour block; he devoted much of the time to diffusing instruments, a process coupling orchestral doubling with level balancing and microphone placement, which produced a chorusing or phasing effect irreplicable through electronic means. Elements of Spector's technique spread throughout rock music and informed music genres and movements including the Motown sound, psychedelia, and French yé-yé. By the mid-1960s, the Wall of Sound was reconfigured by producers such as Shadow Morton, Brian Wilson, Andrew Loog Oldham, and Johnny Franz. Many other acts, including Wizzard, ABBA, and Bruce Springsteen, enjoyed success with adaptations of Spector's technique and production style through the 1970s. By the 1980s, large-scale live ensemble recording in popular music had waned, at which time a broad indie music movement, encompassing numerous alternative rock, shoegazing and dream pop bands, developed an offshoot of the Wall of Sound that substituted its orchestration with digital effects and loud, distorted guitars. Pioneering groups in this milieu included Cocteau Twins, the Jesus and Mary Chain, and My Bloody Valentine.