Vocals, snare, bass [Baby Love]

[carlier74]

"...if you’ve got strong vocals, snare, and bass, the rest of the production can pretty much afford to be window-dressing…"

I've always felt that snare is the secret driver of all pop music. (With tambourine in close second place...)

[Mike Senior]

"...if you’ve got strong vocals, snare, and bass, the rest of the production can pretty much afford to be window-dressing…"

I've always felt that snare is the secret driver of all pop music. (With tambourine in close second place...)

To an extent, but as they say "no-one goes around whistling the snare drum"... I kind of like to think that with vocals, snare, and bass, you're pretty much guaranteed to have melody, rhythm, and harmony/counterpoint, which is why it's so efficient. To an extent, I'd also lump kick in with bass, as I think the bass line's rhythmic definition is also crucial in a lot of cases.

But the rest is often just filler...

[carlier74]

"...if you’ve got strong vocals, snare, and bass, the rest of the production can pretty much afford to be window-dressing…"

I've always felt that snare is the secret driver of all pop music. (With tambourine in close second place...)

To an extent, but as they say "no-one goes around whistling the snare drum"... I kind of like to think that with vocals, snare, and bass, you're pretty much guaranteed to have melody, rhythm, and harmony/counterpoint, which is why it's so efficient. To an extent, I'd also lump kick in with bass, as I think the bass line's rhythmic definition is also crucial in a lot of cases.

But the rest is often just filler...

Jonathan Richman did it without bass!

[Roy]

I've heard it refers to the "supermarket mix", I think Tom Elmhirst said it. It's those elements that only make its through the poor tannoys and din of a supermarket.

Edit: I looked it up and it was Tom Elmhirst. He also has my new favorite quote about working alone:
"I need my space at the beginning because it’s going to be a mess at first -- you don’t watch someone in the bathroom, you just want them to come out with their hands dry."