Trippy Sounds: Recording Studio Effects of Psychedelic Rock, 1960s and Present

The psychedelic rock movement of the 1960s dominated popular music and culture of the decade. The movement was heavily shaped by the consumption of LSD, a mind-altering hallucinogenic drug. Songwriting and lyrics often reflected the drug and the states of mind that it induced, and unique cutting-edge production techniques were used to imitate the effects of LSD use. Artists such as The Beatles used new effects, such as phasing, artificial double tracking, tape loops, and reverse recording. In the 21st century, music has again been described as psychedelic rock, though the music under that term is much more diverse. Bands such as King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, The Apples In Stereo, and Tame Impala can all be described as psychedelic rock. Though they all sound different, sometimes significantly different from 1960s psychedelic rock, they are united by their modern approach to 1960s production techniques. This paper investigates the common production trends in modern psychedelic rock and how they compare to psychedelic rock production in the 1960s. Topics of investigation include guitar pedals, stereo and multitrack tape machines, stereo panning, artificial double tracking, phasing, rotary cabinets, tape reversal, varispeed, sound effects, and echo. Research has been done through historical texts about music of the 1960s, reading interviews with musicians, and careful listening of selected albums by noteworthy artists