Backup singers nearly missing

[firepoint525]

So was the fade a product of the 45’?

The fade works really well for D.J.s for back-timing into top-of-the-hour newscasts. The problem is that the time posted on the 45 is for the total length of the song until it fades down to COMPLETE silence, which is, of course, utterly USELESS for D.J.s. So at many stations where I worked, the pre-printed time was crossed out, and replaced with the CORRECT time, which is usually somewhere in the neighborhood of 10-15 seconds SHORTER than the record companies told us that it was! One would think that the record companies would WANT to post the shorter times, just to further encourage radio stations to play them!

 

[firepoint525]

Except unless the artist was also the writer, the songwriter isn't in the studio when the song is recorded. The writer's version usually ends cold. The fade is created in the studio by the musicians and the producer, typically to get the song to end by a certain time. The musicians get on a roll, and continue on a riff. The problem a fade creates is how does the artist perform it live? I think that's why you hear it less. There's less reason to fade for time reasons, and more of a reason to have a song end cold.

"Lay Down Sally" is one of the few in which the live version (on "Just One Night") ALSO fades out. (But Clapton did not perform it when we saw him here.)

 

[Mikey Radio]

The fade works really well for D.J.s for back-timing into top-of-the-hour newscasts. The problem is that the time posted on the 45 is for the total length of the song until it fades down to COMPLETE silence, which is, of course, utterly USELESS for D.J.s. So at many stations where I worked, the pre-printed time was crossed out, and replaced with the CORRECT time, which is usually somewhere in the neighborhood of 10-15 seconds SHORTER than the record companies told us that it was!

I remember when a CHR station I worked for installed Denon DN-951FA CD players, and they had the large LED countdown clock on the front. The PD nearly put tape over the clock as he wanted things as tight as possible on the air, and a few of the jocks would get caught up in watching the countdown rather than relying on their ears and starting the next song once the fade had just begun.

 

[firepoint525]

I remember when a CHR station I worked for installed Denon DN-951FA CD players, and they had the large LED countdown clock on the front. The PD nearly put tape over the clock as he wanted things as tight as possible on the air, and a few of the jocks would get caught up in watching the countdown rather than relying on their ears and starting the next song once the fade had just begun.

Yeah, the times posted on the CDs were usually for the length of that TRACK, not the song that occupied that track. There would indeed usually be a few seconds of silence between each track on a CD.

 

[gr8oldies]

"Lay Down Sally" is one of the few in which the live version (on "Just One Night") ALSO fades out. (But Clapton did not perform it when we saw him here.)

You get to pretty much know where to hit the button (or place the end tone) on the song pretty quickly.

 

[vchimpanzee]

Actually it was. From the wikipedia page:

I don't believe I've ever heard it fade as much as it did on KTUC.

 

[RadioFan2J3]

If I recall correctly, in the fade of the Beach Boys' I Get Around, someone says "okay" and some of the musicians stop playing.

Well, I did find one YouTube version with the "okay", at the 2:10 point:

 

[kevtronics]

Studies have shown that songs which fade out tend to stick in your head longer than songs which end "cold". The fade gives the illusion that the song is longer than it really is, and you often find yourself still humming it even after it has ended.

 

[Don CT]

Studies have shown that songs which fade out tend to stick in your head longer than songs which end "cold". The fade gives the illusion that the song is longer than it really is, and you often find yourself still humming it even after it has ended.

Or the OCD kicks in and you wonder why the song never ended.

 

[firepoint525]

I always thought that the idea behind the fade was to give the impression that the song goes on into infinity and eternity and beyond! (Of course, it doesn't, but that is the impression that we are supposed to get!)

 

[vchimpanzee]

On KTUC Ray Charles says "What you say?" and "I can't hear you" and "I didn't understand you" on the song "Hit the Road Jack". In this case, he's right.