Pop music Production

Pop!

In this lesson we studied aspects of technical production that define the pop genre. We recognised that pop recordings are often heavily processed in order to achieve a 'perfect sound' for a record.

An obvious effect used on pop songs is pitch correction - commonly known as 'auto tune'. Programs such as logic incorporate the use of pitch correction, to enable an engineer to correct the pitch of a vocal recording if the artist does not athe note correctly (singing off-key).

Another common effect is compression, where the sound within a recording is compressed so that all levels of volume within the track are the same. for instance, vocals sang quietly are the same volume as vocals sung loudly. Even the sounds of vocalists taking in a breath can clearly be heard on highly compressed recordings.

Reverb is another effect used to warm the sound or tone of instruments on a recorded or live performance. reverb works by simulating the sound of natural acoustics and creating an echo - an artist or sound engineer can select how much reverb is used (a lot of reverb can encourage the sound of playing in a 'echoey' room like a bathroom)

I was given the chance to mix the vocals of an unfinished pop track. I added some pitch correction - but not too much as this can cause a voice to sound very robotic.