3 ms·

This was also discussed on the Sonic Talk podcast #543, Cliff Drop Ending. They start at 12:57, but I thought the best bit was at 20:23: https://www.youtube.c

This was also discussed on the Sonic Talk podcast #543, Cliff Drop Ending. They start at 12:57, but I thought the best bit was at 20:23: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bkJpKtZMl4&t=20m23s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bkJpKtZMl4&t=20m23s They make some interesting points about how fade outs were a manual skill before digital audio, something you had to do with your hands on a mixing desk. So if your hand twitched during the fade - especially if you were fading the individual instrument channels at once, and not just the stereo master channel - then you would have to start all over again & try re-recording your fade out until it was just right. They also discussed some of the more creative approaches to a fade out - maybe you fade out the instruments faster than the vocal, so that the vocal at the end is left floating on its own. And rather than just decrease the vocal, you also increase the reverb at the same time, leaving a ghostly sound of just the echoes of vocals that remain through the fade out. I usually think of fade-outs as a cop-out, but that made me consider there can be more craft & artistry to it than I'd considered.

earthicus 8y ago
>I usually think of fade-outs as a cop-out, but that made me consider there can be more craft & artistry to it than I'd considered. I'm not sure this argument is entirely convincing, because 'fading' (be it acoustic or analog-electric or digital) is not incompatible with a traditional, more explicit ending. On the contrary! The diminishing, whisper quiet ending is one of the most effective techniques in classical music, and intelligently varying the presence of your instruments and/or singers is an essential ingredient for high quality orchestration. ----------------------- Some concrete examples: Ligeti - Musica Ricercata No. 7 (1953) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmuK8Wtux6Q https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmuK8Wtux6Q Simeon ten Holt - Palimpsest for String Septet (1993). This one kind of starts out as a fade but then ends more abruptly, which i love! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSX-TK_8Y90 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSX-TK_8Y90 Philip Glass - Violin Concerto (1987) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Owf8tk1MdPM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Owf8tk1MdPM Dvorak - Piano Quintet Dumka (1887) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SInKlybxgQw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SInKlybxgQw ---------------------- The fact that fades and explicit endings are not mutually exclusive is, I think, rather important: the implication is that (IMHO) very close to 100% of fade-out songs can be greatly improved by adapting those techniques our Classical friends showed us.

earthicus 8y ago

>I usually think of fade-outs as a cop-out, but that made me consider there can be more craft & artistry to it than I'd considered. I'm not sure this argument is entirely convincing, because 'fading' (be it acoustic or analog-electric or digital) is not incompatible with a traditional, more explicit ending. On the contrary! The diminishing, whisper quiet ending is one of the most effective techniques in classical music, and intelligently varying the presence of your instruments and/or singers is an essential ingredient for high quality orchestration. ----------------------- Some concrete examples: Ligeti - Musica Ricercata No. 7 (1953) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmuK8Wtux6Q https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmuK8Wtux6Q Simeon ten Holt - Palimpsest for String Septet (1993). This one kind of starts out as a fade but then ends more abruptly, which i love! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSX-TK_8Y90 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSX-TK_8Y90 Philip Glass - Violin Concerto (1987) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Owf8tk1MdPM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Owf8tk1MdPM Dvorak - Piano Quintet Dumka (1887) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SInKlybxgQw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SInKlybxgQw ---------------------- The fact that fades and explicit endings are not mutually exclusive is, I think, rather important: the implication is that (IMHO) very close to 100% of fade-out songs can be greatly improved by adapting those techniques our Classical friends showed us.