No - this isn't about James Brown.

My cousin used to have this term for some seventies rock songs, which he called "The Brown Sound".

What "the brown sound" actually is, is pretty indefinable; although Country Rock features heavily. However, it wasn't solely Country Rock...

I was just listening to Mc.Cartney's 'Maybe I'm Amazed' again (which I posted yesterday) and it definitely has "the brown sound"...

Another good example would be Rod Stewart's 'Seems Like A Long Time'.



Can anyone else hear the brown?

This is very brown too...


[Edited 10/5/09 14:24pm]

Browntastic!

Hate Eric Clapton but I'm feeling the brown sound on this...

Maybe it's the rather dull EQ on these songs. They all sound a little muffled... Maybe that's what the brown sound is?

Even the squelchy synth on this track can't stop the brown sound...

Couldn't find the original but this live performance from MTV Unplugged is pretty damned close...

Maybe it's not just 1970s stuff after all...

k.d. lang's 'Save Me' is steeped in the brown sound. Wish they'd release k.d.'s full Unplugged performance on DVD someday.

Interesting.
I've always heard this term used in reference to Eddie Van Halen's early guitar sounnd.

Another critical aspect of Eddie's playing has been his guitar tone, the Brown sound. Van Halen achieved his distinctive tone by using a stock 100-watt Marshall amp, a Variac to lower the voltage of the amp to change the tone, and a "Frankenstrat" guitar Van Halen constructed using a Charvel factory 2nd body and neck, a vintage Gibson P.A.F. humbucker pickup sealed in surfboard wax (to reduce microphonic feedback), a pre-CBS Fender tremolo bridge (later to be a Floyd Rose bridge) and a single volume control (with the volume knob labelled as 'tone' ) In music, timbre, or sometimes timber, (from Fr. ... The brown sound is a legendary electric guitar distortion tone that musicians try to emulate using various effects pedals, tube amplifiers and modeling amplifiers. ... For other uses, see Watt (disambiguation). ... For the British rock band of the same name, see Amplifier (band). ... The word Transformer can also mean: The Transformers toys, and the related comics and animated television series which have run from the 1980s onwards. ... International safety symbol Caution, risk of electric shock (ISO 3864), colloquially known as high voltage symbol. ... EVHs Frankenstrat. ... Charvel is a guitar brand originally founded by Wayne Charvel in Azusa, California and then later, San Dimas, California; they were made popular by famous rock guitarist Edward Van Halen, and later, others like Warren DeMartini (Ratt) and George Lynch (Dokken). ... The Gibson Guitar Corporation, of Nashville, Tennessee, USA, is a manufacturer of acoustic and electric guitars. ... Traditional Open Coil (uncovered) humbucker pickup A conventional humbucker (or Humbucking pickup) is a type of electric guitar pickup that uses two coils, both generating string signal. ... Surfboard wax (also known as surfwax ) is a formulation of natural and synthetic wax for application to the deck of a surfboard, bodyboard, or skimboard, to keep the surfer from slipping off the board when paddling out or riding a wave. ... Fender redirects here. ... An electric guitar is a type of guitar with a solid or semi-solid body that utilizes electromagnetic pickups to convert the vibration of the steel-cored strings into electrical current. ... Floyd Rose Original Floyd Rose is the organization that licenses, distributes and manufactures the Floyd Rose Locking Tremolo invented by Floyd D. Rose. ...

http://www.statemaster.co...-Van-Halen

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tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

theAudience said:

Can you hear the vibe that all these songs share though?

They do all have "ringing" guitars and flat bass, I suppose.

GirlBrother said:

"WIIIIILD HORSES!!!!!"

It's the "flat wound mudd butt sound" of the BASS GUITAR!!!!!