For pop singers with an ego, the best time to be in music may have been just after the second world war.
After that, the rise of super-guitarists like Brian May and Eric Clapton meant they were no longer the most important person in the room, a study suggests.
Researchers tracked the volume of lead singers’ vocals and the musicians they played with on the biggest hits from 1946 to 2020.
How loud the singing is compared to the backing music can reveal the ‘hierarchy of importance’ within bands.
Compared to the music, the results show the volume on singers’ microphones was effectively turned down more each decade from 1946 to 1975.
Researchers tracked the volume of lead singers’ vocals and the musicians they played with on the biggest hits from 1946 to 2020. Pictured: Freddie Mercury of Queen
The ratio of singing to instruments has stayed about the same ever since.
The results may help to explain the rivalries between singers and guitarists, like the Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.
They also provide insight into how guitarists like Brian May from the band Queen, who famously played at the Queen’s Golden Jubilee, achieved comparable stardom to his lead singer, Freddie Mercury.
But the findings can also be explained by improvements in modern sound-mixing technology, which meant vocals could be turned down and the lyrics can still be heard.
The study found country singers, rappers and solo performers, who may have more diva-ish tendencies, have managed to buck the general trend, with their vocals still relatively loud compared to the music behind them.
Dr Kai Siedenburg, senior author of the study, from the University of Oldenburg in Germany, said: ‘You can imagine famous band members having an argument or struggle over who is loudest in the mix, to reflect their status.
‘The change in the volume of the vocals over time could indicate the emergence of rock music, and high-status guitarists compared to vocalists.
‘It will also reflect changes in music recording technology.’
The study looked at the top four hits with lead vocals from the Billboard Hot 100 list every year from 1946 onwards.
They used sound separation software on a total of 300 songs to judge the relative volumes of the lead vocals and music.
Just after the war, when crooners like Frank Sinatra were famed for their silky voices, lead vocals in hit records were five decibels louder on average than the backing music
Just after the war, when crooners like Frank Sinatra were famed for their silky voices, lead vocals in hit records were five decibels louder on average than the backing music.
But in the period up until 1975, the lead vocal volume fell until it was just one decibel louder on average.
Ever since the mid-seventies, the difference has been between one and two decibels on average.
The researchers looked separately at the genres of country, pop, rap, rock and metal, analysing three songs from each category every year between 1990 and 2020.
This analysis of 414 songs revealed that the vocals were loudest relative to the music on country songs, perhaps because these songs use more acoustic instruments.
The vocals were also louder in pop and rock music.
Although some big-haired rock gods may not have liked it, rock music tends to have the lead singer and backing instruments at about the same volume.
That is because guitar ‘riffs’ are so important, the researchers note, taking a position in songs ‘comparable to lead vocals’.
In heavy metal songs, where lead singers are not exactly known for their melodious harmonies, the vocals are on average kept at a lower volume than the music.
The study, in the journal JASA Express Letters, from the Acoustical Society of America, found solo artists tend to have louder vocals on records.
That may be because they are top dog, with a backing group of ‘interchangeable instrumentalists’ who may have not yet achieved equal billing.
This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk
