your LEAST favourite sound in music

Following on from the 'favourite sound' thread, what sounds really can't you stand?

bjork

For me it's the string/orchestra synths... actually hate most of synth sounds based on organic instruments, like say... synth saxophones or synth guitars.

I hate the sound of those tinkling vertical bells, especially when they introduce the verse bit of a mushy ballad. People who use it seem to think they're being so sophisticated.

80's drums sound, especialy the overblown snare-horrible.

I don't know what makes this sound, but it's the creaky wind-up noise that's all over the rhythm track of "Right On" by Marvin Gaye. Almost ruins the song for me.

It's a guiro (although I always think of it is a fish 'cause that's what the ones in my school looked like)

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31CBSV9EPAL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guiro

Tambourines

Heather Small

Axl Rose on Reading festival TV coverage this weekend. Very unpleasant.

Also, that kind of over-the-top mall-punk style of singing that was popularised by bands like Blink182 but people still emulate today, where "myself" become "moy-saalf".

relative to bjork and mall-punk singing, guiros & tambourines aok

Yamaha DX7 - Classic or Dud?

that strangled gurgle of death metal vocalists

Heavy breathing, except for Serge Gainsbourg's music

that high-pitched "woo! yeah!" sample that was all over shit pop-house in the 90s.

ledge, you hate fun.

xp especially when repeated throughout the song: "woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!"

Also, that kind of over-the-top mall-punk style of singing that was popularised by bands like Blink182 but people still emulate today, where "myself" become "moy-saalf".

― village idiot (dog latin), Thursday, September 2, 2010 11:24 AM (34 minutes ago) Bookmark

Seconded. Also really not a fan of can't-be-arsed indie vocals.

xp especially when repeated throughout the song: "woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!"

Think you're getting confused with this and the other thread about sounds you like.

Need a couple of "Ah Yeah!"'s and you have pure sonic bliss.

dl this is your favourite song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MR98gRckjmY

Tambourines

Just to expand on this, I really can't abide tambourines played by singers with no sense of rhythm. You get this particularly on live recordings, I think it's basically something for them to do with their hands. Once you notice them in the mix, they're just poison to your enjoyment.

Saxophones. You can tell badness has come when the saxophone blunders in. There's a few obvious exceptions, but usually, it's all too much.

oh ffs

ledge - i think that was my favourite song when i was, like, 9. Which would explain a few things I suppose.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bVhPEwXfnk&annotation_id=annotation_90981&feature=iv

That definitely needs some "Woo! Yeah!"s.

The banjo. And most of the sounds in the following piece in isolation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fCtDO7OcRM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IBRbzf3Fws

^ for Ledge

It's a James Brown sample btw iirc

sanpaku that is one of the greatest pieces of music ever recorded

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVqkGOYWDEQ

^ also for Ledge

That chimey keyboard used on loads of 80s and 90s schmaltzy RnB ballads, whatever that is. There's one on I Will Always Love You.

xp acoleuthic: agreed. And unbelievably superior to the "Most Wanted Song".

But operatic sopranos (at least with heavy vibrato), Children's choruses, bagpipes, etc in their usual contexts aren't my cup o'.

got 2.49 into sax loop before it got annoying btw

most wanted song has brilliant outro

1. quintessential country and western guitar twang
2. auto-tune effect on a kesha-style vocal
3. scat

2. auto-tune effect on a kesha-style vocal

Why u make Scatman cry

Someone overlay Scatman's "be-bop-bu-bop-o-bop" over the top of Eurovision sax guy...

1) Shredding
2) Metal Rhythm guitar playing - the sort of all down- stroke, heavily overdriven churn where you can hear the pointy headstock.

whispering
Glenn Gould
sped-up soul samples
that synth sound in every trance track

Garrison Keillor

hahahaha someone has to make an alterna-Most Unwanted Song based on this thread

Interesting how this gets framed in some cases as "Person X" and in other cases as "Person who sings like X".

I haven't heard anyone else who sings like Garisson Keillor, thankfully.

...like, is the *personality* of the named hated singer what is hated (as well as? or because of...) the singing quality.

Because I'd think that certain singing qualities would have more of an effect. But it's being expressed in terms of the person doing the singing. Why?

(Thinking about people named like Bjork, Axl Rose, Ke$ha)

fucking crying baby sample noises

OTM those goddamn baby samples in Are You That Somebody are so grating.

Sometimes fine but sometimes my least favorite instruments: vibes, xylophone, marimba.

the baby sounds in Are You That Somebody don't really bother me so much.

The Most Unwanted Song sounds like a long lost Van Dyke Parks and Brian Wilson joint.

gun sample in chorus of 'paper planes' is up there for me

I actually don't think I have a 'least favourite sound in music'. 'Music', I guess, has this ability to render normatively unpleasant timbres in novel and striking ways. Like I fucking hate bagpipes, say, but my don't they sound so fucking TRIUMPHANT on second-to-last song on In The Aeroplane Over The Sea.

In the case of Axl Rose, he sounds like a balloon slowly being deflated while a demented cat is let loose on a chalkboard.

Nonono the guns and cash register on Paper Planes is like popmusiqueconcrete for me.

proper popmusiqueconcrete doesn't take the most boringly unoriginal samples it can possibly think of

you're right that the untitled track of ITAOTS is awesome though - much better than the indie wibbling on the rest of the album (except Ghost)

wtf louis, the guns'cash samples are what MAKE that track!

as mentioned upthread, poor synth approximations of natural instruments, especially the synth 'horns' used in reggae, especially live.

the growl of sub-standard blues singers trying to sound bluesy

the humming sound of fingers moving thickly over acoustic guitar strings

The 'nu-metal' guitar sound.

I like most of these (especially bemused at hating on the guiro! And vibes! These things are awesome).

Would have to go for SMOOTH '80s SAX. Any other type of sax is fine, but bad soul sax is horrendous.

pretty much all sax sounds like honking goose to me.

There's a time and a place for honking goose in music.

e.g. John Martyn's 'Small Hours'

that point in Broadway singing when the sprechgesang starts to turn into heavy vibrato belting.

I'd throw votes behind R&B ballad chimes and forced blues rock growls too.

i like most of these sounds

That clean John Popper harmonica sound.

Completely losing it over the combination of sounds in "Most Unwanted Song" here!

I'd have to vote for the trifecta of cookie-monster vocal, blastbeat drumming and 1000 MPH shredding of any post-80s extreme/death/Cannibal Corpse-style metal. Virtually anything else listed upthread I can hang with for a song or two.

Is that "woo! yeah" one of the little vocal tics left on the "Think" break, i.e. sampled from Lyn Collins' "Think (About It)"? Cz those are both irritating and sublime, in a way, to me. Sorry, at work, can't see the youtubes.

I can't stand autotune but I guess that is a total "have other ideas please" answer, so I vote for the post-emo male vocal style that has cursed British indie for the past 6 or 7 years

hey, I grew up in the 90s with vocalists who couldn't hold a damn note talk-singing, wd take that over all these singers who can hit 3 notes and do so over and over while enunciating like you are in a public school production of a musical

on the other hand, a thing that was worse in the 90s: at least people have now realised that women faking orgasms over the breakdown does not make a track sexxxy, just embarrassing (can just about give Moroder+Summer a pass here but people should really have been bored of it by 1990 at the latest)

all objections to the 'Think' sample are surely based almost entirely on it's over-use/repetition at one time rather than anything inherent about that sample of fabulous music itself.

I really hate sappy, maudlin "irish"-style pennywhistle melodies, usually played on a MIDI-driven synth preset through tons of reverb.

for example, the theme to the "Battlestar Galactica" remake, or the luv theme to "Titanic". That Riverdance-wannabe-tearjerk thing. Gross!

and lately, I'm really, really, really sick of new bands doing pseudo Animal Collective style vocals- it's painful to hear people try to imitate somebody else's imitation of Brian Wilson with added "child-like innocence" and "whimsy" sprayed on. Hearing people who probably do have a voice of their own trying to squeeze into this deeply artificial posture makes me feel embarrassed for them. I mean, I don't have a problem with people who can pull off a weird, mannered voice (Blossom Dearie! Tiny Tim! David Tibet!) but sometimes I wish that the guy from Slovenly or Chet Baker could be the default source of indie dude vocal mannerism ripoff for a while. Leave poor crazy old Brian Wilson alone dammit.

that kind of over-the-top mall-punk style of singing that was popularised by bands like Blink182 but people still emulate today, where "myself" become "moy-saalf".

was coming here to post exactly this but I'll just say 'thirded' and also elect slap bass and Kimya Dawson

Drake auto-tune singing

and lately, I'm really, really, really sick of new bands doing pseudo Animal Collective style vocals- it's painful to hear people try to imitate somebody else's imitation of Brian Wilson with added "child-like innocence" and "whimsy" sprayed on. Hearing people who probably do have a voice of their own trying to squeeze into this deeply artificial posture makes me feel embarrassed for them.

I agree with this, but it's not the SOUND that I dislike (got mad love for AnCo), it's the lack of variation and imagination. That's a whole other thing.

I really hate sappy, maudlin "irish"-style pennywhistle melodies, usually played on a MIDI-driven synth preset through tons of reverb.

It's probably been mentioned already here, but that singing-through-a-shit-eating-grin style of vocalising originated (possibly) by Marti Pellow and subsequently copied by every fucking boy band makes me want to kill.

overprocessed harmonies. cheapen the impact of them and ruin the aesthetic beauty of them if you double them too many times. give me Beach Boys esque harmonies anyday.

that kind of over-the-top mall-punk style of singing that was popularised by bands like Blink182 but people still emulate today, where "myself" become "moy-saalf".

was coming here to post exactly this but I'll just say 'thirded'

― If Assholes Could Fly This Place Would Be An Airport, Thursday, September 2, 2010

Also just all out whining by mall-punk targeted emo bands. Its like an overwrought progression from what is said above.

Any harmonica not in an old acoustic blues recording or played by little stevie wonder.

1/2 points if its a folky thing or the Harmonicats

oh my god that Tiesto is horrific

can't stand hearing mouth/throat noises when someone is singing a capella. like when the microphone is close and i can hear wetness. reminds me of phlegm. which, sadly, is why i can't listen to bobby bland sing. also really can't stand when people whisper in my ear for this reason. but that's just me. (so siked to hear sinead's 2nd album when it came out and really liked it a lot until she does that long solo vocal thing and i feel like i'm sitting in her mouth when i listen to it which is why i can never listen to it. aaaaaahhhhhh! wanna jump off a bridge. still love her though.)

Might be misremembering, but isn't there a Slint song that is basically the sound of someone sipping and swallowing a drink, and it feels like you're sitting inside the actual drinks can and it's just ...icky?

All-white choirs on soul records. I mean, I love all of Ray Charles’ “Modern Sounds in County ...” stuff, but I still cringe when I hear those backing vocals on “I Can’t Stop Loving You” or “Hang Your Head in Shame.” Compare that to the all-black singers on “You Are My Sunshine.”
SNL did a skit once when they had an all-white group perform a Ray Charles cover. Only they sang it as, “What Did I Say.”

80's drums sound, especialy the overblown snare-horrible.

― nakamura, Thursday, September 2, 2010 9:29 AM (7 hours ago) Bookmark

^^^ this

^^^ especially when it's on the 2nd and 4th beat: bomp BISH! bomp BISH! bomp BISH! bomp BISH!

sb; both of you

80's snare sound, especially when coupled with 80's over-processed "Tom Scholz Rockman"-sounding guitar. Tim by the Replacements (for instance) ruined by these production techniques...

xp especially when repeated throughout the song: "woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!, woo! yeah!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgpDN-bARwc

are you kidding? this is the shit

When I first think of the overblown 80's snare I think of 'In the Air Tonight'. The snare is essential to that song

okay maybe that isn't snare drum. i'm no pro

I Think of 'Born In The USA.' Hate the snare on that.

you must embrace the fucking massive snare.

80s gated snare is the best

i used to dislike high pitched whiny moog leads but i've cooled out on that now

xp
It's the sound of a boot being smashed in the human face forever.....1984, innit

80s gated snare is the best

― vessels in distress (r1o natsume), Thursday, September 2, 2010 5:03 PM (30 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

ZZ Top's Frank Beard would disagree.

The kalimba tends to really annoy me

That clean John Popper harmonica sound.

― ellaguru, Thursday, September 2, 2010 1:57 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

Yes, that is the worst.

I don't like:

Max/MSP generated FM synthesis, i.e. Autechre "Confield"

Digitally recorded crash cymbals

"Good" singing except in opera, R&B and 80s-era hard rock

Sounds below 50 Hz

Cockney accents

That vocal affectation on ballads in recent years in which the vocalist 'croaks' their way into almost every note, presumably to show added feeling.

>are you kidding? this is the shit

physically impossible to not nod yr head to that tune. Never seen the vid before, good work Cap'n.

Joan Baez (and warbly vibrato-abusing female folk singers in general)

mumbly shuffly can't-be-arsed american indie

With the caveat that there are good examples of all of these:

Flutes
Fretless bass
Steel drums
Operatic singing

Fretless bass. Blueergh!

Sub-bass below 50hz is the shit.

Cello. "Strings" are fine but cello should never appear in a pop context.

yep, fretless bass, saxophone, and add rollicking honky-tonk-style piano.

"Good" singing except in opera, R&B and 80s-era hard rock

The processed, squealing guitar effect used by the likes of Viv Campbell and Zakk Wylde on late 80s, mid 90s "metal" records. One of the most un-metal sounds by supposedly "metal" guitarists.

best pop cello intro EVER.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fo0LMNSKrt4

melisma

Is this a cello? Because if it is, I'm gonna have to respectfully disagree that it has no place in rock/pop.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KntdgqByqYM

I'm gonna submit autotuned/vocodered melisma as my least fave.

Cello. "Strings" are fine but cello should never appear in a pop context.

― cee-oh-tee-tee, Friday, September 3, 2010 1:03 PM

Surprised at first but I might somewhat agree with you, only because, in the classical context, the cello is the king of all instruments.

percussive farts

piccolo snares (311) and properly tuned toms (rush)

also, flutes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEgRdZj7LJQ

^ my favourite flutes in rock

Actually, is that flutes? Or is it ...a mellotron?

I don't like:

Max/MSP generated FM synthesis, i.e. Autechre "Confield"

Sounds below 50 Hz

:(

now less excited to hear future FF releases

Actually, is that flutes? Or is it ...a mellotron?

Mellotron!

i'd love to hear mbv incorporating more flutes into their work, it works so so so well w/ this song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azXLPL-iuSI

god i hope to christ the new album is a fact

there is a farty guitar sound used by the Grateful Dead on songs like "Estimated Prophet". bwamp bwwaamp bwaaaamp. phhbblltttthumpth pooty pooty poo.

I'm not sure why they wanted their songs to have that sound.

lololol i know precisely what you're talking about. its like a soundtrack to duck waddling.

bass-slapping a la Level 42..

Flutes
Fretless bass
Steel drums

<3 all this stuff, flutes less so but COME ON if you don't love steel drums and fretless base you don't love life imo

i really hate that crunchy, overblown digital synth sound that's all over mpp and at least 1/3 of recent indie-electro

^ me too

faux-sincere vocals - including the embarrassing white people trying to sound like soulful black people thing mentioned upthread, the croaking thing mentioned upthread, faux-outsider singing (a la Joanna Newsom) ... everyone has an "authentic" voice - use your own and don't try to badly ape someone else's

everything else i'm generally annoyed by, i can think of examples of that i like - even the horrible drum sounds used in "In the Air Tonight"

i'm ok with Kimya Dawson, ke$ha's non-autotuned voice - but cringe at Joanna Newsom and Cocorosie

the orchestra hit sound used on songs like Owner of a Lonely Heart

also people who dislike fretless bass should be put in camps

sarahel how do you feel about mick jagger??

sarahel not a member of the karen dalton fan club i'm guessing.

Weird, contrived, Pitchfork-friendly faux-puberty yelp voices a la Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Islands/Unicorns, or Dirty P's (even though they rule, DP, I mean).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoNFXBWrd4Y
BARF!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qtj9_q6Zo80&feature=related
Cute, but YOU ARE LIKE 26.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtbVqLLH1Tg
Sometimes affecting, sometimes disgusting.

otm

Almost everything mentioned in this thread is crap so well done everybody!

FM synthesis and melisma can be ok.

This is petty grumbling but it's a feature of some good records - I dislike excessively lengthy bursts of unadorned high-pitched feedback, if it's an Incapacitants records and there's loads of other stuff going on that's cool but the not the intro 'The Modern Dance'.

*intro ~to~*

cant stand the unicorns either. good work!

FM synthesis is cool if you're John Chowning

Two for me: soprano saxophone and scat singing.

i generally hate powerful female vocals.

i generally hate women in power. it's a psychological issue.

Ha yes, scat singing. Sometimes good though!

It's interesting that some people list "sounds they don't like" and others list "sounds that signify things they don't like"

FWIW Nick was 19 or 20 when they made that Unicorns record

rap albums that begin with spoken word. begin with an INTRO track like with one verse over a drone beat or even a skit, but not some dude goin "ay....dis the [Dirty South/East Coast/West Coast/People's Republic of China] bringin' hits to yo ass".

It is I says me
And all who agree are more than we cause we're three (BIIIIIIIOOOOOOTCH!!)

-- Stranded on Death Row, Dr. Dre; the only intro I've ever really enjoyed.

xp - i've never heard Karen Dalton, and my feelings about Mick Jagger vary based on the song.

roscoe dash

Self-conscious clapping. Like when a song is just going along and then out of nowhere CLAP-CLAP! CLAP!

The weak, wobbly, or bullhorn vocal style of pretty much every male fronted indie band of the the 00s.

^ eg, guy from Arcade Fire.

I don't like:

Max/MSP generated FM synthesis, i.e. Autechre "Confield"

:(

Ha, I see Curti5 already posted the same thing.

the sound of people complaining about indie vocals for the 1000000th time

100+ songs that used the DX7 bass

dynamic range compression

oh and shiny slick stadium rock drums, fuck that

Self-conscious clapping. Like when a song is just going along and then out of nowhere CLAP-CLAP! CLAP!

:(

i agree w/ the clapping, so annoying

tinnitus

I have yet to hear a sampled saxophone that hasn't sounded horrible.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVWooMru3-U

(i like the most wanted song except for the smooth sax part. can't find the full song on yourtub)

whistling.

the sound of people complaining about indie vocals for the 1000000th time

― candid gamera (s1ocki), Monday, October 25, 2010 5:23 AM (18 hours ago) Bookmark

I'll stop when they (shitty indie vocalists) stop.

I like a lot of (pop) indie, but the typical indie vocal, particularly the Wayne Coyne/Jonathan Donahue type of singer who has been dominating an otherwise excellent genre for the past 10-15 years or so.

Well... It has become a bit wearing, I mean.

the '90s snare drum sound (examples: "Beautiful Disaster" by 311, "Two Princes" by Spin Doctors)

- that sweaty 80s blues-revival sound of the Stevie Ray Vaughn variety. This extends to stuff like Tom Jones, the Blues Brothers, the Commitments, JJ Cale and stuff like that.
- I don't like that liquidy pad sound you get in loads of 90s drum'n'bass. It makes me feel like I'm at a spa or something. Don't know why it's so ubiquitous
- despite liking noise and electronic music, I don't get the appeal of things like Fennesz, Fuck Buttons and Tim Hecker. It's ugly and unsatisfying music - too much compression, zero low-end. You can't chill out to it, space out to it or dance to it, so what is it for?

- attitude

saxophone

Calvin cloned chorus chords.

self-conscious laughter

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9DHhy6ynxw

Roy Thomas Baker stacked/compressed vocals.

Most instances of harpsichord use in '60s music.

Every sound has its place and use, but probably my most consistent least favorite over time has been the splash cymbal.

In terms of contemporary music, it's probably the use of soaring and 'inspirational' "WHOOOOAAAAA-OOOOOHHHH-OOOOHHHH" background choruses in pop songs and commercials, as presumably popularized by the band fun.

those goddamn Jordanaires

that high pitched synth sound at the beginning of pink floyd's echoes actually makes my ear hurt at a relatively normal volume, which is weird

i'm generally sensitive to really bright sounds though

I've probably talked about this in cringe threads, but I really hate the close-up sounds of like soda commercials where its like DRIBBLY POURING GUK GUK GUK GUK AHHHH and now every "lean" influenced rap album is like a fucking soda ad with all these terrible sloshing noises

i really hate soda commercials on the radio or TV where you hear the sound effects
of

*PSSSSSH* --guk guk guk guk-- *AHHHHHHHHH*

― easter back, somebody call the binks truck (Whiney G. Weingarten), Wednesday, April 11, 2012 11:51 PM (four years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

ukulele by a long shot

Arrested Development and Bob's Burgers conditioned me to not hate ukelele as much as I used to

lots of hip hop foley work out there

i'm not a fan of flute playing where you can hear the player inhaling

definitely something that's turned me off from Jethro Trull. Anderson sounds like he's slobbering all over the poor thing.

Despite 'There is a Light That Never Goes Out' I cannot stand the sound of synthesized pan flute.

The line "No huggee, no kissee" in Georgia Satellite's Keep Your Hands To Yourself.

There's this water drip sound you hear on a lot of country songs from the late 70s/early 80s. Kenny Rogers used it. Garth Brooks too.

And it just taps a cold shiver right up my spine when I hear it.

And whatever the synthesizer being used on this song is:
https://youtu.be/rvlI5DO_IK0

"heavy flute"

throaty hard rock vocals eg acdc
shrieky hard rock vocals eg guns n roses

Whispered panning vocals when I'm wearing headphones. I literally shit myself every time.

Accordion

Keytar

Jane's Addiction

Anthony Kiedis

the oleaginous vocals of this dead-eyed weasel

http://www.media.wmg-is.com/media/portal/media/cms/images/201302/photo-credit-warwick-saint-extralarge_1361301956669.jpg

There are a number of contender 80s synth sounds but one that comes to mind in particular is sort of a synth Asian wood flute sound.

I mentioned scat singing and the soprano saxophone upthread, and would like to add the cuica (a horrible Brazilian instrument that sounds like a rat trapped in a tennis ball can; Airto Moreira polluted several early 70s Miles Davis albums with this thing) and the sound of fingers scraping acoustic guitar strings.

lol I love the cuica, but that's a great description

speaking of scraped acoustic strings, I think the sound of an Ovation guitar might actually be my hands down winner.

The sound of that Passenger guy's voice. I don't know anyone can actually like that.

That snare sound in modern rap/trap that's literally just a pathetic little "click"

or hi-hat, whatever

any use whatsoever of traffic sounds as a 'sound effect' (car horns, screeching tires, and especially fucking sirens omg why why WHY)

you must hate public enemy

there goes Shook Ones Pt II

and "War Pigs", though that's air raid sirens as opposed to like ambulance/police/fire sirens

xp The Bomb Squad stuff rarely bothers me because those sounds are usually integrated into the beats. I'm thinking more of songs that feature those sounds as an actual sound effect used to suggest...well, I'm not quite sure. But Ice-T skits are pretty rough on me.

"War Pigs: is ok because I'd never confuse an air raid siren with, like, the highway patrol. I don't even remember sirens on "Shook Ones"

also Dylan's harmonica on like his first seven albums

sorry for all the 'like,' I'm tired

children choir

someone hasn't heard 'Pissjoy' by The Wildhearts

xp you monster

http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/images/46782000/gif/_46782005_win_slide1.gif

Oh and what's that otherwise dope Mike Oldfield song where there's this sudden terrible ringing phone and then what sounds like an insane giant answering it angrily? That's the vibe killer to end all vibe killers

maybe 'vibe-annihilating moments in otherwise awesome songs' should be its own thread

xylophone, vibraphone, glockenspiel

I used to think p much anyone who enjoyed soprano saxophone had to be an asshole. I've sort of warmed to it though, and to being an asshole.

Too much Coltrane on soprano that kicks butt for me to write it off.

yeah I don't even count that, I'm talking like Wayne Shorter on Native Dancer soprano sax.

terry riley's gonna beat your ass!!

I wouldn't have a problem putting a timeline on when soprano sax becomes unacceptable.

Like, say, post-1973.

xylophone, vibraphone, glockenspiel

Vibraphone's like the greatest instrument ever. Slight exagg.

i FP'd him for that tbh

harpsichord mention otm

Centuries ago they at least accounted for its lack of dynamics, in a lot of Bach stuff I've heard the very deliberate use of the instrument takes on this shimmering hypnotic feel. Harpsichord can be pretty awesome I think

Metal Rhythm guitar playing - the sort of all down- stroke, heavily overdriven churn where you can hear the pointy headstock.

This is an incredible sound BTW. Though I don't know what pointy headstock is.

Oh and what's that otherwise dope Mike Oldfield song where there's this sudden terrible ringing phone and then what sounds like an insane giant answering it angrily? That's the vibe killer to end all vibe killers

maybe 'vibe-annihilating moments in otherwise awesome songs' should be its own thread

― Wimmels, Friday, August 26, 2016 1:21 AM (nine hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This sounds amazing??

never understood accordion hate. one of my favourite sounds.

This sounds amazing??

― TARANTINO! (dog latin), Friday, August 26, 2016 6:08 AM (thirty-six minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

it isn't (1:54)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9eaOWiB8wk

haha, that's pretty great actually.

Hmm. I don't actually think I dislike the natural sound of any instrument, really. It's usually the way the sound of the instruments get treated in the studio (engineering/production/mix) where I find myself saying "ah, I don't really like the sound of that"

haha, wimmels, and that's on THE BEST of Mike Oldfield.

never understood accordion hate. one of my favourite sounds.
Agreed. Whenever I see a band I don't know take the stage with an accordion (or upright bass), I get excited immediately.

upright bass too - my favourite instrument that I've always wanted to play. I dislike gypsy-swing music though.

I've probably talked about this in cringe threads, but I really hate the close-up sounds of like soda commercials where its like DRIBBLY POURING GUK GUK GUK GUK AHHHH and now every "lean" influenced rap album is like a fucking soda ad with all these terrible sloshing noises

― Whiney G. Weingarten, Thursday, August 25, 2016 6:46 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i really hate soda commercials on the radio or TV where you hear the sound effects
of

*PSSSSSH* --guk guk guk guk-- *AHHHHHHHHH*

― easter back, somebody call the binks truck (Whiney G. Weingarten), Wednesday, April 11, 2012 11:51 PM (four years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

― Whiney G. Weingarten, Thursday, August 25, 2016 6:48 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

THIS FOREVER N EVER^^^

That vocal affectation on ballads in recent years in which the vocalist 'croaks' their way into almost every note, presumably to show added feeling.

― Daniel Giraffe, Friday, September 3, 2010 12:30 AM (five years ago)

I apparently loathed this at the time, but now I don't even remember what it sounds like. I think I've warmed somewhat to Joanna Newsom and Karen Dalton style vocals, and they are now on the same tier as flutes and Phil Collins' gated drums -- mostly but not always cringe-inducing.

Thanks for reading my opinions about music.

wide open hi-hat on a mid-tempo rock or funk beat

Not a fan of Agharta or Pangaea?

(the open hi-hat on those was disappointing to me initially, but I've grown to dig it -- but only on Miles records)

That vocal affectation on ballads in recent years in which the vocalist 'croaks' their way into almost every note, presumably to show added feeling.

― Daniel Giraffe, Friday, September 3, 2010 12:30 AM (five years ago)

Often followed by a kind of breathy sigh-singing through the same note. Like any affect it can have its uses, but as a default it just becomes canned insta-emotion.

examples, please! I hated it once, I will probably hate it again!

Tony Williams and Al Foster get the exception. In general '70s open hi-hat >>> '90s & '00s open hi-hat.

Ok I just went through some random Spotify lists and I feel like Charlotte OC is a good generic example of the throaty/croaky/breathy formula:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihgLAm5i9pM

I think it may be a generational thing but I cannot stand the aound of autotuned vocals. It's like nails on a chalkboard. This makes it difficult for me to enjoy about 99% of popular music.

Pretty much all big budget music is autotuned at least a little now, right? Because I feel like the perfection of pitch in the average singer can't have risen as much as it seems to have in the last couple decades. And yes there is something just a little bit grating and tiring to my ear about it.

Yea autotune has become fairly commonplace on any album, not just pop. It's mostly a "well we have it, would be a crime not to use it". Like you all, I just dislike it (as a singer myself) just because it creates a robotic smoothing that makes singing sound plastic. The "authenticity" argument though can go fuck itself,studio trickery to improve vocal mediocrity has existed since almost the advent of recorded music.

Autotune of the T-Pain variety i generally am ok with though.

Yeah it's less of an "authenticity" thing for me and more of a sameyness thing, where it feels like studio engineering has actually gotten its formula down so perfectly, has gotten so good at what it does, that there aren't as many surprises because no one wants to deviate from that formula where you let the low notes waver just a little bit (yet stay perfectly in tune) and have the high notes bell-clear. Autotune usage has definitely become more sophisticated and subtle in recent years, it used to produce much more of a noticeable robo-voice effect (I don't even mean T-Pain I just mean regular badly masked autotune) and now it just produces a kind of uber-human effect. But there's still something unplaceably bad about it in most cases.

I don't mean subtle uses to correct pitch, I'm talking about the Kanye West, T-Pain effect.

I've probably talked about this in cringe threads, but I really hate the close-up sounds of like soda commercials where its like DRIBBLY POURING GUK GUK GUK GUK AHHHH and now every "lean" influenced rap album is like a fucking soda ad with all these terrible sloshing noises

― Whiney G. Weingarten, Thursday, August 25, 2016 2:46 PM (one year ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

1:12

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vk-WWT6IwPA

That squidgy synth in Donald Fagen's 'IGY'. Like it seriously makes me feel vaguely ill.

how did Michael Chion get a recording of me reading ILX

studies music theory for decades --> makes musical diarrhea

I think it may be a generational thing but I cannot stand the aound of autotuned vocals. It's like nails on a chalkboard.

luckily my ears are shot so I have a hard time spotting autotune if it's relatively subtle but obviously-autotuned stuff is the worst of all sounds for sure

i really, really hate the part two thirds of the way through every single action movie trailer when the music reaches a frenzied shepard-tone climax, then everything cuts out to dead silence for half a second, then the SUBSONIC boom that is so completely fucking predictable, followed by the frenzied music quickly fading back in and resuming pace.

and that's why I don't go to the movies anymore.

KM otm

I think the first sound in every trailer for a film that's not a comedy is the same muffled boom, it sounds like a distant depth charge. Or it's a single sinister mid-high note.

i really, really hate the part two thirds of the way through every single action movie trailer when the music reaches a frenzied shepard-tone climax, then everything cuts out to dead silence for half a second, then the SUBSONIC boom that is so completely fucking predictable, followed by the frenzied music quickly fading back in and resuming pace.

― Karl Malone, Wednesday, January 3, 2018 11:48 AM (twenty-two minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah.

Usually: dead silence -> line of dialogue -> a clip of any character reacting/getting punched (often not actually part of the scene in question) -> SUBSONIC boom (low bass drop?) -> follow up dialogue/punchline -> normal music resumes

I realized during the WKCR bach festival that I really, really hate the english horn and similar instruments, they have this awful, guttural, goose-like sound that also reminds me a little bit of milk being whipped with a utencil.

I don't mind the oboe as much although it's the same family.

Especially bad when played stacatto

are you talking about crumhorns?
i like the sound of crumhorns/honking instruments
to each their own!

English horn = cor anglais.

It's just a low oboe, really, a loboe in fact.

there's one busdriver song where he raps fast against a flute doing a similar melody to his cadence, and that makes me physically ill...not sure that's a "sound" as much as doubling down on annoying fast-paced rap with an even more annoying flute

florence welch

like a sheep trapped in a fence

The guy from Dashboard Conventional's voice

*Confessional

Crumhorns, English horns and oboes are among my favorite sounds in the universe. I love quacking reed instruments that are hard to keep in tune.

I'm way way way over sped up and slowed down vocals.

ctrl+f steel drums: 3 results

It should be 300

^ I was struggling to think of any sound I dislike more than like, but steel drums is the one

pan flutes

bjork

― a dystopian society awaits if we continue on this path. (contenderizer), Thursday, September 2, 2010 3:16 AM (seven years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i came here to post this

The sound of the cd drive skipping as you try to import Into iTunes

Should be zero!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDKP31eylTA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1yhaBsD8Vw

what kind of heathens dont like steel drums.

re whiney, how do you feel about the intro to gin & juice?

That big reverby half marimba half pizzicato string sound that's been on countless hits in the last five years.

<3 marimbas

Heavy Flute

i don't <3 hoary great hard rock voices where the guy sounds like he's going for somewhere between a baritone and a punk/metal shout. The singers from Bad Religion and Neurosis are the example culprits here

here's a weird one. classically trained singers. something about that way of singing makes them all sound like arrogant pricks.

The E-Street Band

any artificial-sounding synthesized horn, esp the 80s versions of them

bass wobble in EDM/dubstep is so corny

that same goddamn "hey!" in the background of 75% of pop songs

^ otm

ukelele

i hate that hawaiian man that ruined somewhere over the rainbow

listen to aunto molly urso's version of "over the rainbow", it'll unruin it for you

note: according to the internet in 2018, there is no such thing as aunto molly urso, all i have is a rip from a 2011 youtube upload

but it is the best

i'd love to hear it, put it back on youtube for the world

All sounds and noises are potentially awesome depending on the context but autotune puts that belief to the test for me. Given how poptimistic ILM tends to be, I'm surprised by the relative consensus on this matter. For what it's worth, I do acknowledge that it's become more sophisticated (read: bearable) over the years.

i don't know how to convert mp3s to youtube files and if i want to learn i am going to have to, like, sober up or something

which sounds kind of lame right now

sorry

could you upload the mp3 somewhere and dm me it

the vacuum-sealed production of a lot of tech house where the sounds have no character and everything just burbles on lifelessly for 5 minutes.

i hate a really squelchy synth sound. there is a sound Animal Collective uses sometimes like there is a slow flange and it is kind of churning and gross. i have heard it in some other electronic songs, it's usually a single note drone pressed over and over. my stomach makes those guy of noises before i throw up so there is a visceral reaction i have.

fwiw i enjoy the band and songs but that sound hahah its just so gross. and i get it, it is very 80s/90s, it makes me think of Gak and Ecto Coolers and the slime stuff that was so big. i think a big part of being a Cold War kid was dealing w normalization of mutants and slime and the real possibilities of nuclear war/apocalyptic imagery that our parents had been raised to live with (hence the retro popularity a lot of the apocalyptic-nostalgic stuff today).

hawaiian uke dude is awesome. he is the real deal. he has a ukulele in hawaii. this is like, a thing people do in the real world. don't blame him, blame the millions of suburban losers buying them at Guitar Centers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0la2lbUh4v4

Pomenitul as OTM as ever

well speak of the devil. i had nothing to do with this upload, i still don't know how to upload songs to youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFgWooxDAOY

https://thepatterning.com/2016/08/20/the-millennial-whoop-a-glorious-obsession-with-the-melodic-alternation-between-the-fifth-and-the-third/

FUCK THIS SHIT

That is amazing. Now that it's been pointed out, ffs please stop the millennial whoop.

holy shit rushomancy that is incredible, also thank you for the dm, i almost never check the email associated with this account and i didn't see your dm until just now. glad to have an mp3 of it, this is absolutely wild. and there's no ukulele - fantastic!

this is an amazing song! wish I could find a decent copy

Lol that article on the whoop

Of course it is ubiquitous precisely because it is so generic and slight that nobody can claim to legally own it so no fear of getting sued, something everyone can freely rip off

Kind of amazing all the new ways copyright law continues to destroy creativity

wait, is this just going back and forth from the 3 to the 5 on a major scale, because that's just what you end up playing after having taken piano lessons and have to write a simple melody or accompaniment.

I dunno if this related to the keyboard vs. guitar generational shift thing in pop/rock music -- that could be more interesting?

That 3-5-3-5 is a keyboard instrument default, whereas with a guitar, the default patterns are different due to the design of the instrument itself.

(Unless I missed tons of articles about it).

I think a lot of it had to due with ubiquitous syncs of Arcade Fire’s “Wake Up” in the past 10+ years

well, it's only so ubiquitous -- I have no idea what you are referring to!

lots of these millennial whoops remind me of TARZAN BOY

^ a redeeming quality imo

Arcade Fire definitely a big part of the whoop but I think it's also a variant of the whoa-oh-oh's you'd hear in some pop-punk/emo songs in the early '00s

there's even a hint of it in Killing Joke's 2003 album! (1 minute in)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vb5WxIUFziw

imo focusing on the specific interval is maybe missing the bigger pattern of wordless oh-ohs - like "til the world ends," "some nights" and "pompeii" are what i would reach for as examples of this sound and its intentions. or do those all fit the motivic bill also?

Wasn't the whoop an Italo Disco thing? Not just "Tarzan Boy" but also this 1987 track (the chorus at 2:26):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtpp6H559NQ

yea but it became ubiquitous in indie rock/pop in the mid-late 00s, another big one that got a lot of syncs and was super popular was 'chicago' by sufjan stevens, which doesn't feature legit whoops but it's one of the templates of 'epiphany-core' which is what i call this phenomenon. xylophones and ukuleles.

longing for community (singalong), longing for low-tech 'authenticity' experiences that are nonetheless potentially instagrammable (campfire, washboard type instruments etc.), overlaid on more familiar youth problems like longing for meaning and to have big huge emotional turns, catharses and yes epiphanies. the ineffable but deeply felt desire to feel something big and transformative right as the waves crash onto the rocks and everyone lifts their torches and goes "ohhhhh OH! oh-ooh-ooohh OH!"

or maybe they all just heard the "survivor" theme music in the womb or something idk

man that Shy Rose track is great thanks for sharing

DC otm

i do love the millennial whoop here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t3jKtjgRZQY

Thing related to the millennial whoop: the "kindergarten taunt" melodic line annoys me no end when it turns up in songs I enjoy until its turning up. This mostly happens in modern r&b i think? Or this may just be where the disappointment is greatest when it occurs.

clicktrack  |...:...;...:...|...:...;...:...|
(C major)   G   E A G   E   G   E A G   E   
(scale deg) 5   3 6 5   3   5   3 6 5   3

G

Nah, a G on its own is alright.

Thing related to the millennial whoop: the "kindergarten taunt" melodic line annoys me no end when it turns up in songs I enjoy until its turning up. This mostly happens in modern r&b i think? Or this may just be where the disappointment is greatest when it occurs.

clicktrack |...:...;...:...|...:...;...:...|
(C major) G E A G E G E A G E
(scale deg) 5 3 6 5 3 5 3 6 5 3
― anatol_merklich

didn't sly and the family stone do this

Songs that incorporate the "nan nanny boo boo" melody

omg thanks for link, I had no idea it occurred on the actual 1982 Black Metal album! :-D

(still don't like it tho)

longing for community (singalong), longing for low-tech 'authenticity' experiences that are nonetheless potentially instagrammable (campfire, washboard type instruments etc.), overlaid on more familiar youth problems like longing for meaning and to have big huge emotional turns, catharses and yes epiphanies. the ineffable but deeply felt desire to feel something big and transformative right as the waves crash onto the rocks and everyone lifts their torches and goes "ohhhhh OH! oh-ooh-ooohh OH!"

or maybe they all just heard the "survivor" theme music in the womb or something idk

Nah it's because they grew up on The Lion King, which is also why we have furries

Nah it's because they grew up on The Lion King, which is also why we have furries

― flamboyant goon tie included

bullshit we have furries because of Disney Afternoon and, I am going to call this show out specifically, Tail Spin

thought we'd decided it went back at least to Robin Hood

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/81/Animalympics.jpg

As Whiney described it, the Rocky Horror of Furry Fandom.

Dougal, we've got to lose that saxophone....

Personally I'm more comfortable blaming Sid and Marty Krofft.

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/puppet/images/d/d4/Pufnstuf.png/revision/latest?cb=20111227030119

As Whiney described it, the Rocky Horror of Furry Fandom.

― how's life, Friday, January 12, 2018 3:17 AM (nine hours ago)

those who forget horribly formed jokes are doomed to repeat them

im pretty sure Zoobilee Zoo is more responsible for furries than anything else

Animalympics fuckin rules, but yah furries love that shit. I think most of them discover it well into furrydom though.

My actual answer to op is whiny Fat Mike/Less Than Jake style pop punk vocals. Why do men sing like that? It's the worst.

A lot of people attribute Disney's Robin Hood as the first time animals made them horny and who can blame em?

R.I.P. the family dog licking yr genitals

Jump to most recent message function feelin p jarring itt rn

Tom Waits’s voice

hell yeah

Is the Millenial Whoop in any way related to this bit in Barbie Girl?

Barbie Girl represents good infectious pop whereas MW is like dragging goodinfectuouspop.wav onto your timeline

nah the millennial whoop is a baby of Arcade Fire "Wake Up" and Sufjan Stevens "Chicago"

I’m getting really sick of rappers that sound like Future. Any rao that is like, depressive and proceeds in terms of these bursts of short phrases.

I used to love gucci mane specifically bc of this same kinda anhedonia but i really don’t like this sound now.

Young Thug is working in the same idiom but he doesn’t count. That guy is a visionary.

whenever I hear a clarinet in a movie score I fly into a rage.

Awww I like the clarinet

sarahell posts itt bring the lols

it's really the 'whimsy' trope.

future is fucking garbage

shirley manson is fucking future