Book report good Vibrations: a history of record production
...be some of the most influential sessions and people of the 20th century recording industry. The story focuses mainly on Western music naming only as influences music of other’s cultures. The UK and the USA are the main countries that Cunningham concentrates his efforts on. It may perhaps have been interesting to see what influences countries in Europe, Asia or others may have had in more detail. The book is constructed well and separated into discreet chapters that could be read almost entirely separately as they contain few if no references to earlier passages in the book. Although, the reader would miss out on the history contained therein. ‘Let There be Sound on Sound,’ the title of the first chapter and the name of a long running music production magazine immediately inspiring confidence in the reader that the author has a grasp of the industry you are expecting him to inform you of. As mentioned earlier in this essay Cunningham starts with Edison. Then he moves swiftly onto a summary of early 20th Century popular music until he reaches Les Paul where he slows and goes into more detail about his life and work and the circumstances surrounding the creation of the first multitrack recorder. Cunningham even manages to give the reader an impression of what Les Paul was like through his use of many quotations from interviews and little stories about the subject’s life. The Author starts the second chapter with this comment, ‘For some considerable time, the Americans led the way in pop music production and many years would pass before the British industry as a whole caught up and latched onto their artistic and technical innovations.’ He names, ‘Tom Dowd,’ as the main engineer responsible for the early sixties soul classics and goes into a little detail as to the whole social climate of the time that gave rise to the type of music that comes from that era. Cunningham’s use of quotations mixed in with story telling contributes successfully to the overall feel of the time, about which he is writing, ‘Until the late sixties, there was a marked difference between the production and engineering methods in America and Britain, almost as if there was an impervious technological barrier set up in the Atlantic Ocean.’ As the reader moves further through the book they will begin to see the enormous amount of research that has been put into the creation of, ‘Good Vibrations: A History of Record Production.’ Cunningham has created an enjoyable style to read that not only thoroughly educates the reader, but the little stories and anecdotes entertain the reader at the same time. The enormous breadth of information within the work is impressive to say the least. In chapter four – an entire chapter devoted to Abbey Road and The Beatles Cunningham is detailing the production history of The Beatles and says this, ‘McCartney’s bass sound took on new life during 1966 and 1967 after he put his usual Hofner, “violin,” bass into semi retirement in favour of his new Rickenbacker 4001S. Suddenly, a whole new world of melody was accessed as his bass lines competed with guitar solos for prominence.’ This is just a small example of the type of depth of information the reader is presented with. The author ...