This is so cool. Back in 1995, I wrote a tongue-in-cheek article for Keyboard magazine’s 20th anniversary issue called “20 Sounds That Must Die!” In it, I listed synthesizer presets that had been way overused in pop music, and added snarky comments.
James Brown vocalizations and synthetic pan flute, two of the Top 20 overused sounds of 1995.
Several readers missed the joke and wrote enraged letters accusing me of snobbery. Satire, I learned, requires a light touch, or at least consistency. (The bulk of the article was an interview with synthesizer programmers Eric Persing and Jack Hotop, who had created several of the sounds on the list—sounds so catchy they were impossible to resist using.)
But one reader, Paolo Di Nicolantonio of Synth Mania, used the list as a starting point, compiling a fantastic table of famous sounds. I came across the page today while searching for something else and had a wonderful time reliving the sounds and instruments that have shaped modern music.
Here’s a tip before you head over to the page:
Drag the following link into your browser toolbar: PlayTagger. Then once the Synth Mania page loads, click the toolbar link. It’s a JavaScript bookmarklet from Del.icio.us that converts MP3 links to playback buttons. (Thanks, Aristotle.)
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Comments (2)
Read More Entries by David Battino.
Thanks, Carlos. By the way, I called Paolo a few months back and we collaborated on two podcasts featuring the sounds:
I think your article was very thought provoking and now could be considered a classic!, probably in 2015 will appear on a list titled "20 articles that should be forgotten" (ok, that was a bad joke).
Thank you for the pointers, I really was looking for the article to look for all those sounds, so the work was already done for me.