Audio Engineering Tropes
banner
audiotropes.bsky.social
Audio Engineering Tropes
@audiotropes.bsky.social
An account attempting to be entertaining by highlighting audio engineering tricks and tropes in musical recordings.
The “what’s on the radio?” gambit.

Phil Spector brought this recording to life, with DeeDee Ramone being held at gunpoint.

In today’s dollars, this album cost ~$900k to record. That’s Taylor Swift level album budget, on a Ramones record!

It sounds amazing, though.

#Ramones
#PhilSpector
#Radio
Do You Remember Rock and Roll Radio?
YouTube video by Ramones - Topic
youtu.be
May 3, 2025 at 3:14 PM
“Where It’s At” kicks off with a needle on a record, which became a really common gimmick in the digital era.

I’ve never owned this on vinyl, does the record also include the needle on a record sound?

#Beck
#DigitalNeedleDrop
Beck - Where It's At [audio only]
YouTube video by MCFCRuss Brown
youtu.be
May 2, 2025 at 12:41 AM
You have to love a band self aware enough to tell you in the song title which audio trope they’re utilizing.

The Cars “Moving in Stereo” lives up to the promise, and hard pans on instruments while featuring a vocal frequently switching channels.

Stereo panning, FTW!

#TheCars
#Stereo
#Panning
Moving in Stereo
YouTube video by The Cars - Topic
youtu.be
April 30, 2025 at 2:32 PM
One can debate who invented it all day long, but Sam Phillips is the engineer who brought tape delay/slapback into the mainstream.

Today’s selection celebrates Sam deploying slapback to perfection on an early Elvis track, “Blue Moon of Kentucky”.

Keep on shining!

#Elvis
#SlapBack
#SunRecords
Elvis Presley - Blue Moon of Kentucky (Official Audio)
YouTube video by ElvisPresleyVEVO
youtu.be
April 29, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Frida’s 1982 hit has a couple of great audio tropes, but the highlight is definitely the gated reverb on the drums. It sounds like a Phil Collins ripoff, except it *is* Phil Collins backing one of the A’s from ABBA.

This may have been peak gated reverb!

#GatedReverb.
#AudioTropes
#PhilCollins
Frida - I Know There's Something Going On
YouTube video by FridaVEVO
youtu.be
April 28, 2025 at 3:07 PM