Decline of the fade-out in popular music
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Topic: Decline of the fade-out in popular music
Posted By: Ringmaster_D
Subject: Decline of the fade-out in popular music
Date Posted: 15 March 2019 at 6:04am
Hi all. Thought you would enjoy this article:
https://slate.com/culture/2014/09/the-fade-out-in-pop-
music-why-dont-modern-pop-songs-end-by-slowly-reducing-
in-volume.html
Having spent so much time re-creating single fades--and
not nearly as much time listening to hits of the 2000's-
-I guess I didn't realize this trend. Personally, I
enjoy a nice fade when it occurs at just the right point
in the song, implying that the music could go on and
on...
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Replies:
Posted By: The Hits Man
Date Posted: 15 March 2019 at 6:09am
I also prefer fades, especially long ones.
Of course there's many more these days, but the first
time
I noticed a fade in years was with Bruno Mars "Treasure".
Of course, he, like some other artists, are into retro.
Another I can think of is "Get Lucky" by Daft Punk.
I have noticed the trend of cold endings in the last
couple of decades, and I somehow link it to an overall
decrease in patience and attention span. To me, it
indicates a harsher society. I equate fades as being
gentle.
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Posted By: eriejwg
Date Posted: 15 March 2019 at 1:48pm
I got a 404 not found in trying to read the article.
------------- John Gallagher Erie, PA https://www.johngallagher.com" rel="nofollow - John Gallagher Wedding & Special Event Entertainment / Snapblast Photo Booth
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Posted By: crapfromthepast
Date Posted: 15 March 2019 at 2:31pm
It's from the forum adding line breaks to the original post.
Try https://slate.com/culture/2014/09/the-fade-out-in-pop-music-why-dont-modern-pop-songs-end-by-slowly-reducing-in-volume.html - this
------------- There's a lot of crap on the radio, but there's only one http://www.crapfromthepast.com" rel="nofollow - Crap From The Past .
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Posted By: torcan
Date Posted: 16 March 2019 at 7:49am
I may be in the minority here, but I've always preferred
songs with cold endings. It bugged me a little that so
many songs faded out - I wanted to hear how it ends!
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Posted By: Hykker
Date Posted: 16 March 2019 at 4:28pm
torcan wrote:
I may be in the minority here, but
I've always preferred
songs with cold endings. It bugged me a little that
so
many songs faded out - I wanted to hear how it ends!
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Actually, in a lot of cases it didn't...the musicians
knew the song would have a fade-out, so once the song
was essentially over, they just stopped playing, and
let the producers deal with it.
I heard an interview with Stevie Nicks many years ago,
and she commented about how when Fleetwood Mac was
getting ready to on tour (I think this was after
"Rumours"), and they had to come up with endings for
the songs to use in the shows.
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Posted By: MMathews
Date Posted: 23 July 2021 at 11:07pm
I remembered seeing this post a few years ago. I just
came by to comment that in the last 3 years I have not
heard ONE new song with a fade-out. Earlier this year I
put together a couple of CDR's for a friend. It was
about 40-50 requests for pop and Hot A/C hits from 2019
- 2021.
Two things I noticed.
One was that almost EVERY source was brick-walled to
DEATH...often to the point of distortion.
The 2nd thing was that not one song faded. Not only do
they all end cold, but in most the ending is very
abrupt. Like all music stops and ends on one word - all
within 1 second.
I guess this goes under the category of "modern pop
production playbook" which, at least as far as I can
tell, everyone is working from some modern instruction
"check-list" that now ALL producers work from. Use
plenty of pre-set loops common in all modern pop, use
plenty of auto-tune, and then take the finished result
and blast the levels so high as to remove all traces of
a final mix, because at the end, all elements IN the mix
are all at blasting levels.
So, working from the modern electro-type pop play-book,
no song will ever have a fade-out again.
Fascinating.
MM
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Posted By: promojunkie
Date Posted: 24 July 2021 at 8:22am
Interesting topic. I've also noticed that pop songs are
getting shorter and shorter. I would venture to say the
average pop song 30 years ago averaged around 4 minutes
on the radio. Now they seem to average 3 minutes or
under. And what is with the brick-walling in mastering
these days? Even remastered hits from years past are
brick-walled. The distortion is crazy.
------------- Rick
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Posted By: AdvprosD
Date Posted: 24 July 2021 at 9:03am
Back in the day, I used to enjoy songs that would end cold. I never really minded a good fade out, but it always seemed like they would always be getting to a really good
part in the song and then it started to fade. Cold endings didn't seem to be robbing me of a splendid guitar solo. Since I rarely listen to any new music these days, I might
see if I can find something interesting.
I always used to comment about ZZ Top as a band that could make some great rock, but couldn't figure out how to end a song to save their lives.
------------- <Dave> Someone please tell I-Heart Radio that St. Louis is not known as The Loo!
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Posted By: eriejwg
Date Posted: 25 July 2021 at 12:30pm
Many current and popular songs, as was mentioned, are much
shorter in length. The trend seemed to start around the
time of the remix of "Old Town Road" which runs 2:35 or so.
I've seen quite a few less than 2 minutes long.
------------- John Gallagher Erie, PA https://www.johngallagher.com" rel="nofollow - John Gallagher Wedding & Special Event Entertainment / Snapblast Photo Booth
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Posted By: EdisonLite
Date Posted: 07 August 2021 at 3:21pm
Mark, I can think of a fairly recent hit that does fade - Justin Bieber's "Intentions". In fact, I'm so used to the sudden stop that the first time I heard the song, it sounded jarring :) ... well, at least, surprising ... that it didn't end cold!
As far as the shorter songs these days, I think it was quite before "Old Town Road". I remember Bazzi's "Mine" was just barely over 2 minutes. In any case, there's been many short songs the past 2 or 3 years. I remember in the '80s, it seemed the average length was probably 5 minutes. (Or at least, that length was quite common). Now, I'd bet the average is about 2:50 ... or maybe a bit longer.
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