Portal:Record production

The Record Production Portal

Noted audio engineer Roger Nichols at a vintage Neve recording console

P:RECORD

This portal is focused on music production within the era of written records through sound recordings, digital downloads, and beyond. Its scope includes articles that document the considerations and mechanisms used by, and consistent with, the purview of the production element. As an art form, music predates transcription and simultaneously transcends descriptive limitations. As an industry, music has demonstrated consistent viability over time. The record producer conjoins these potential, and serves as a broker to bridge the demand (spawned by their aspirations) with supply and satisfaction. The results are measurable and attributable, derived from effort and skillful application of craft, to a manifestation of the art in its melodic form. (Read more)

The music industry consists of the individuals and organizations that earn money by writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling recorded music and sheet music, presenting concerts, as well as the organizations that aid, train, represent and supply music creators. Among the many individuals and organizations that operate in the industry are: the songwriters and composers who write songs and musical compositions; the singers, musicians, conductors, and bandleaders who perform the music; the record labels, music publishers, recording studios, music producers, audio engineers, retail and digital music stores, and performance rights organizations who create and sell recorded music and sheet music; and the booking agents, promoters, music venues, road crew, and audio engineers who help organize and sell concerts. (Read more)

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Featured articles - load new batch

Featured articles are displayed here, which represent some of the best content on English Wikipedia.

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Title page of original printed edition

Agrippina (HWV 6) is an opera seria in three acts by George Frideric Handel with a libretto by Cardinal Vincenzo Grimani. Composed for the 1709–10 Venice Carnevale season, the opera tells the story of Agrippina, the mother of Nero, as she plots the downfall of the Roman Emperor Claudius and the installation of her son as emperor. Grimani's libretto, considered one of the best that Handel set, is an "anti-heroic satirical comedy", full of topical political allusions. Some analysts believe that it reflects Grimani's political and diplomatic rivalry with Pope Clement XI.

Handel composed Agrippina at the end of a three-year sojourn in Italy. It premiered in Venice at the Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo on 26 December 1709. It proved an immediate success and an unprecedented series of 27 consecutive performances followed. Observers praised the quality of the music—much of which, in keeping with the contemporary custom, had been borrowed and adapted from other works, including the works of other composers. Despite the evident public enthusiasm for the work, Handel did not promote further stagings. There were occasional productions in the years following its premiere but Handel's operas, including Agrippina, fell out of fashion in the mid-18th century. (Full article...)
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"Rehab" is a song recorded by Barbadian singer Rihanna for her third studio album, Good Girl Gone Bad (2007). Def Jam Recordings serviced the song to contemporary hit radio in the United States on October 6, 2008, as the fifth and final single from the album. It was released in the United Kingdom as a CD single on December 8, 2008.

Development of "Rehab" began while Rihanna was accompanying Timbaland on Justin Timberlake's FutureSex/LoveShow tour in 2007. Timberlake wrote the song in collaboration with his producers, Hannon Lane and Timbaland, and provided additional vocals. "Rehab" is a mid-paced R&B song with an emotional, melancholy chorus; the lyrics are about the protagonist's painful memories of her former lover, who is portrayed metaphorically as a disease. (Full article...)
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Arular is the debut studio album by British recording artist M.I.A. It was released on 22 March 2005 in the United States, and one month later in the United Kingdom, with a slightly different track listing. In 2004, the album's release was preceded by two singles and a mixtape. M.I.A. wrote or co-wrote all the songs on the album, while collaborators included Justine Frischmann, Switch, Diplo, Richard X, Ant Whiting and Greg "Wizard" Fleming.

The album's title is the political code name used by her father, Arul Pragasam, during his involvement with Sri Lankan Tamil militant groups, and themes of conflict and revolution feature heavily in the lyrics and artwork. Musically, the album incorporates styles that range from hip hop and electroclash to dancehall, baile funk, and punk. M.I.A. created the basic backing tracks using a Roland MC-505 sequencer/drum machine given to her by long-time friend Frischmann. (Full article...)
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Dion in 2012

Céline Marie Claudette Dion (born 30 March 1968) is a Canadian singer. Referred to as the "Queen of Power Ballads", Dion's powerful, technically skilled vocals and commercially successful works have had a significant impact on popular music.

Born into a large family in Charlemagne, Quebec, Dion was discovered by her future manager and husband, René Angélil, and emerged as a teen star in her home country with a series of French-language albums during the 1980s. She gained international recognition by winning the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest, where she represented Switzerland with the song "Ne partez pas sans moi". Dion went on to release twelve English-language albums, including The Colour of My Love (1993), Falling into You (1996), Let's Talk About Love (1997), and All the Way... A Decade of Song (1999), all of which rank among the best-selling albums in history. Her catalog of high-charting tracks includes "Beauty and the Beast", "The Power of Love", "Think Twice", "To Love You More", "Because You Loved Me", "It's All Coming Back to Me Now", "All by Myself", "I'm Your Angel", "That's the Way It Is", "I'm Alive", and "My Heart Will Go On" – the theme for the 1997 film Titanic, which is the second best-selling single by a woman in history. (Full article...)
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Kal Ho Naa Ho (transl. Tomorrow may never come, pronounced [kəl ɦoː naː ɦoː]), also abbreviated as KHNH, is a 2003 Indian Hindi-language romantic comedy drama film directed by debutant Nikhil Advani from a script written by Karan Johar and Niranjan Iyengar, and produced by Yash Johar under Dharma Productions. The film stars Shah Rukh Khan, Saif Ali Khan, and Preity Zinta, with Jaya Bachchan, Sushma Seth, Reema Lagoo, Lillete Dubey, and Delnaaz Irani in supporting roles. Set in New York City, the story follows Naina Catherine Kapur (Zinta) who gradually falls for her visiting neighbour Aman Mathur (Shah Rukh Khan), but a secret prevents Aman from reciprocating his feelings, causing him to set Naina up with her best friend, Rohit Patel (Saif Ali Khan).

Collaborating with Johar in a first, Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy composed the original soundtrack and background score, with Javed Akhtar writing the lyrics. Anil Mehta, Manish Malhotra, and Sharmishta Roy were the cinematographer, costume designer and art director, respectively. Principal photography took place in Toronto, New York City, and Mumbai from January to October 2003. Filming was stalled for around six months due to Shahrukh Khan's illness. The soundtrack was released on 27 September 2003 to positive reviews; the title song, "It's The Time To Disco", "Kuch To Hua Hai", and "Pretty Woman" were particularly well-received. (Full article...)
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Slayer's original lineup, performing at the Fields of Rock in 2007. From left to right: Jeff Hanneman, Tom Araya, Kerry King, and Dave Lombardo.

Slayer is an American thrash metal band from Huntington Park, California, formed in 1981 by guitarists Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King, drummer Dave Lombardo and bassist/vocalist Tom Araya. Slayer's fast and aggressive musical style made them one of the "big four" bands of thrash metal, alongside Metallica, Megadeth and Anthrax. Slayer's current lineup comprises Araya, King, drummer Paul Bostaph and guitarist Gary Holt, who initially joined as a touring musician in 2011 before joining the band permanently after Hanneman's death in 2013. Drummer Jon Dette is a former member of the band.

In the original lineup, King, Hanneman and Araya contributed to the band's lyrics, and all of the band's music was written by King and Hanneman. The band's lyrics and album art, which cover topics such as serial killers, occultism, terrorism, religion, fascism, racism, and war, have generated album bans, delays, lawsuits and criticism from religious groups. However, its music has been highly influential, being cited by many bands as an influence musically, visually and lyrically; the band's third album, Reign in Blood (1986), has been described as one of the heaviest and most influential thrash metal albums. (Full article...)
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Side A of retail US single

"Like a Rolling Stone" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on July 20, 1965, by Columbia Records. Its confrontational lyrics originated in an extended piece of verse Dylan wrote in June 1965, when he returned exhausted from a grueling tour of England. Dylan distilled this draft into four verses and a chorus. "Like a Rolling Stone" was recorded a few weeks later as part of the sessions for the forthcoming album Highway 61 Revisited as its opening track.

During a difficult two-day preproduction, Dylan struggled to find the essence of the song, which was demoed without success in ³
₄ time. A breakthrough was made when it was tried in a rock music format, and rookie session musician Al Kooper improvised the Hammond B2 organ riff which contributed to the track's signature sound. Columbia Records was unhappy with both the song's length at over six minutes and its heavy electric sound, and was hesitant to release it. It was only when, a month later, a copy was leaked to a new popular music club and heard by influential DJs that the song was put out as a single. Although radio stations were reluctant to play such a long track, "Like a Rolling Stone" reached No. 2 in the US Billboard charts (No. 1 in Cashbox) and became a worldwide hit. (Full article...)
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Narayan in 1974

Ram Narayan (IPA: [raːm naːˈɾaːjəɳ]; 25 December 1927 – 9 November 2024), often referred to with the title Pandit, was an Indian musician who popularised the bowed instrument sarangi as a solo concert instrument in Hindustani classical music and became the first internationally successful sarangi player.

Narayan was born near Udaipur and learned to play the sarangi at an early age. He studied under sarangi players and singers and, as a teenager, worked as a music teacher and travelling musician. All India Radio, Lahore, hired Narayan as an accompanist for vocalists in 1944. Narayan relocated to Delhi following the partition of India in 1947, but, wishing to go beyond accompaniment and frustrated with his supporting role, moved to Mumbai in 1949 to work in Indian cinema. (Full article...)
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Ride the Lightning is the second studio album by the American heavy metal band Metallica, released on July 27, 1984, by the independent record label Megaforce Records. The album was recorded in three weeks with producer Flemming Rasmussen at Sweet Silence Studios in Copenhagen, Denmark. The artwork, based on a concept by the band, depicts an electric chair being struck by lightning flowing from the band logo. The title was taken from a passage in Stephen King's novel The Stand, in which a character uses the phrase to refer to execution by electric chair.

Although rooted in the thrash metal genre, the album showcased the band's musical growth and lyrical sophistication. Bassist Cliff Burton introduced the basics of music theory to the band and had more input in the songwriting. Beyond the fast tempos of its debut Kill 'Em All, Metallica broadened its approach by employing acoustic guitars, extended instrumentals, and more complex harmonies. The overall recording costs were paid by Metallica's European label Music for Nations because Megaforce was unable to cover it. It is the last album to feature songwriting contributions from former lead guitarist Dave Mustaine, and the first to feature contributions from successor Kirk Hammett. (Full article...)
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The Wiggles lineup in 2022 (L–R: Tsehay Hawkins, Caterina Mete, Lachlan Gillespie, Lucia Field, Simon Pryce, Evie Ferris, Anthony Field, John Pearce)

The Wiggles are an Australian children's music group formed in Sydney in 1991. As of 2022, the group members are Anthony Field, Lachlan Gillespie, Simon Pryce, Tsehay Hawkins, Evie Ferris, John Pearce, Caterina Mete and Lucia Field. The Wiggles were founded in 1991 by Anthony Field, Murray Cook, Jeff Fatt, Greg Page and Phillip Wilcher. Wilcher left the group after their first album. Page retired in 2006 due to ill health and was replaced by understudy Sam Moran, but returned in 2012, replacing Moran. At the end of 2012, Cook, Fatt and Page retired and were replaced by Gillespie, Pryce and Emma Watkins. Cook and Fatt retained their shareholding in the group and all three continued to have input into its creative and production aspects, while engaging in occasional reunion performances. Watkins departed the group in 2021, with the group subsequently adopting an expanded line-up of eight members.

Field and Fatt were members of the Australian pop band the Cockroaches in the 1980s, and Cook was a member of several bands before meeting Field and Page at Macquarie University, where they were studying to become pre-school teachers. In 1991, Field was inspired to create an album of children's music based upon concepts of early childhood education, and he enlisted Cook, Page, and Fatt to assist him. They began touring to promote the album and became so successful, they quit their teaching jobs to perform full-time. The group augmented their act with costumed characters Dorothy the Dinosaur, Henry the Octopus and Wags the Dog, as well as the human character Captain Feathersword, played by Paul Paddick since 1993. Shirley Shawn the Unicorn was later introduced. They originally travelled with a small group of dancers, which later grew into a larger troupe. The group's albums, DVDs and television programs have been produced independently since their inception. The height of their popularity came in the early 2000s, after they broke into the American market. (Full article...)
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Little Miss Sunshine is a 2006 American tragicomedy road film directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris (in their directorial debut) from a screenplay written by Michael Arndt. The film stars an ensemble cast consisting of Greg Kinnear, Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Paul Dano, Abigail Breslin, and Alan Arkin, all of whom play members of a dysfunctional family taking the youngest (Breslin) to compete in a child beauty pageant. Abigail Breslin’s breakout performance in the film earned her first Academy Award nomination. The film tackles themes of family, depression, self-acceptance, and finding meaning in absurd conditions. It was produced by Big Beach Films on a budget of US$8 million. Filming began on June 6, 2005, and took place over 30 days in Arizona and Southern California.

The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 20, 2006, and its distribution rights were bought by Fox Searchlight Pictures for one of the biggest deals made in the history of the festival. The film had a limited release in the United States on July 26, 2006, and expanded to a wider release starting on August 18. (Full article...)
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Aaliyah is the third and final studio album by the American singer Aaliyah. It was released on July 7, 2001, by Blackground Records and Virgin Records. Because of its packaging design, it is also known as "The Red Album". Aaliyah started to work on the album in 1998, but rescheduled its recording around her developing film career. She resumed recording in 2000 at Sing Sing Studios in Australia, where she shot her role for the 2002 film Queen of the Damned during the day and recorded songs at night. Additional recording took place at Manhattan Center and Sony Music Studios in New York and Westlake Recording Studios in Los Angeles, among other locations. Through her recording contract with Blackground, the singer worked primarily with the record label's in-house crew of writers and producers, including Bud'da, J. Dub, Rapture, and Eric Seats, as well as longtime collaborator Timbaland.

Aaliyah is described in critical commentaries as an album of R&B, neo soul, and dance-pop, while drawing on an array of other genres such as funk, hip-hop, alternative rock, electronica, and Latin music. The album's producers incorporated synthesizer melodies, fragmented beats, distorted guitar, and eccentrically manipulated vocals and song structures, while much of the lyrics were written by singer-songwriter Static Major, who shared a close friendship and strong rapport with Aaliyah. The resulting songs deal with the complexities of romantic love and different stages in a relationship. Aaliyah viewed the album as a reflection of herself as both a young adult and a matured vocalist. (Full article...)

More featured articles

Did you know (auto-generated) - load new batch

... that to promote the Buffalo Club, Rising Tide Records sent packages of plastic buffalo to music industry executives in Nashville?
... that until the release of the documentary Predator: The Secret Scandal of J-Pop, sexual abuse claims involving record producer Johnny Kitagawa went widely unreported in Japanese media?
... that voice actress Rika Hayashi brought a golf club to the recording studio for Tonbo!, a golf-themed anime series?
... that one critic interpreted a SZA song as being about her fears about the growing influence of AI in the music industry?
... that Light Vessel 95 is now a recording studio?
... that when Divine's song "Lately" topped the Billboard Hot 100 in 1998, it became the first number-one single for the performers, the songwriters, the producers, and the record labels?

Born this day

Birthdays in Music: June 4

Michelle Phillips, (born Holly Michelle Gilliam) American actress, singer, and songwriter with The Mamas and The Papas, turns 81.
Roger Ball, Scottish keyboardist and saxophonist with The Average White Band, turns 81.
Anthony Braxton, American reedist, turns 80.
Paquito D'Rivera, Cuban clarinetist and saxophonist, turns 77.
Fred Thelonious Baker, Brit bassist, turns 65.
Winard Harper, American drummer, turns 63.
Cecilia Bartoli, Italian coloratura mezzo-soprano opera singer and recitalist, turns 59.
Stefan Lessard, American bassist of Dave Matthews Band fame, turns 51.

Gordon Waller (Record production, 1945 –July 17, 2009), Brit singer with Peter and Gordon, would have turned 80 this year.
Alan Branscombe (Record production, 1936 –October 27, 1986), Brit pianist, would have turned 89 this year.
Oliver Nelson (Record production, 1932 –October 28 , 1975), American arranger, composer, and saxophonist, would have turned 93 this year.
Morgana King, (born Maria Grazia Morgana Messina DeBerardinis) American jazz vocalist, turns 95.
Britt Woodman (Record production, 1920 –October 13, 2000), American trombonist, would have turned 105 this year.
Teddy Kotick (Record production, 1928 –April 17, 1986), American bass player, would have turned 97 this year.
Robert Merrill (Record production, 1917 –October 23, 2004), American operatic baritone and actor, would have turned 108 this year.
Johnny Russell (Record production, 1909 –July 26, 1991), American tenor saxophonist, would have turned 116 this year.

List of musical events • Anniversaries • More birthdays...

Selected albums - load new batch

These are all Good articles, which meet a core set of high editorial standards.

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Here Come the Warm Jets is the debut solo studio album by English musician Brian Eno (mononymously credited as "Eno"), released on Island Records on 8 February 1974. It was recorded and produced by Eno following his departure from Roxy Music, and blends glam and pop stylings with avant-garde approaches. The album features numerous guests, including several of Eno's former Roxy Music bandmates along with members of Hawkwind, Matching Mole, Pink Fairies, Sharks, Sweetfeed, and King Crimson. Eno employed unusual directions and production methods to coax unexpected results from the musicians.

Here Come the Warm Jets peaked at number 26 on the United Kingdom album charts and number 151 on the US Billboard charts, receiving mostly positive reviews. It was re-issued on compact disc in 1990 on Island Records and remastered in 2004 on Virgin Records, and continued to elicit praise. (Full article...)
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Tommy is the fourth studio album by the English rock band the Who, released on 17 May 1969. Written primarily by guitarist Pete Townshend, Tommy is a double album and an early rock opera that tells the story of the fictional Tommy Walker and his path to becoming a spiritual leader and messianic figure.

Townshend came up with the concept of Tommy after being introduced to the work of Indian spiritual teacher Meher Baba, and he attempted to translate Baba's ideas into music. Recording of the album began in September 1968, but took six months to complete as material needed to be arranged and re-recorded in the studio. The Who promoted the album's release with an extensive tour, including a live version of Tommy, which lasted throughout 1969 and 1970. Key gigs from the tour included appearances at Woodstock, the 1969 Isle of Wight Festival, the University of Leeds, the Metropolitan Opera House, and the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival. The live performances of Tommy drew critical praise and revitalised the band's career. (Full article...)
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The Nightfly is the debut solo studio album by American singer-songwriter Donald Fagen. Produced by Gary Katz, it was released October 1, 1982, by Warner Bros. Records. Fagen is best known for his work in the group Steely Dan, with whom he enjoyed a successful career since the 1970s. The band separated in 1981, leading Fagen to pursue a solo career. Although The Nightfly includes a number of production staff and musicians who had played on Steely Dan records, it was Fagen's first release without longtime collaborator Walter Becker.

Unlike most of Fagen's previous work, The Nightfly is highly autobiographical. Many of the songs relate to the cautiously optimistic mood of his suburban childhood in the late 1950s and early 1960s and incorporate such topics as late-night jazz disc jockeys, fallout shelters, and the Cuban Revolution. Recorded over eight months at various studios between New York City and Los Angeles, the album is an early example of a fully digital recording in popular music. The nascent technology, as well as the perfectionist nature of its engineers and musicians, made the album difficult to record. (Full article...)
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A young man browsing through a record store in Bonn, West Germany, June 1988

The album era (sometimes, album-rock era) was a period in popular music, usually defined as the mid-1960s through the mid-2000s, in which the album—a collection of songs issued on physical media—was the dominant form of recorded music expression and consumption. It was driven primarily by three storage formats: the 33⅓ rpm long-playing record (LP), the cassette tape, and the compact disc (CD). Rock musicians from the US and UK were often at the forefront of the era. The term "album era" is also used to refer to the marketing and aesthetic period surrounding a recording artist's release of an album.

Long-playing record albums, first released in 1948, offered the ability to sell larger amounts of music than singles. The album era arrived in earnest in the mid-1960s, when the Beatles began to release artistically ambitious and top-selling LPs. The industry embraced albums to immense success, and burgeoning rock criticism validated their cultural value. By the 1970s, the LP had emerged as a fundamental artistic unit and a widely popular item with young people. Some were concept albums, especially by progressive musicians in rock and soul. (Full article...)
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Parables for Wooden Ears is the debut studio album released by the Australian band Powderfinger. It was released on 18 July 1994 by Polydor Records, after recording at the Metropolis Studios in Melbourne during February 1994. The album peaked a number 51 on the ARIA charts, selling 10,000 copies.

The album was received poorly by critics who complained about its poor imitation of Americana, as well as its overuse of complex riffs. In a 2004 interview, Powderfinger lead singer Bernard Fanning said, in reference to the album, "God knows what we were on then." (Full article...)
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To My Surprise is the only album by American alternative rock band To My Surprise. Released on October 7, 2003 by Roadrunner Records, it was the only album that the band released before disbanding in 2006. The album was intended to be self-produced by Shawn Crahan and Brandon Darner, but after producer Rick Rubin was sent demos by Crahan, Rubin invited the band to Los Angeles where he assumed the role of executive producer. Following the release of the album, a music video was released for the song "In The Mood" on December 1.

The album was generally well received by critics, who remarked on its diversity and significantly different musical style to that of drummer Crahan's other band Slipknot. They noted that it features music inspired by The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and Weezer, among others. However the album did not appear on any sales charts. (Full article...)
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Felt Mountain is the debut studio album by English electronic music duo Goldfrapp. It was released on 11 September 2000 by Mute Records. The album takes influence from a variety of music styles such as 1960s pop, cabaret, folk and electronica.

Felt Mountain was generally well received by music critics, and was described as "simultaneously smarmy and seductive, yet elegant and graceful". It peaked at number 57 on the UK Albums Chart, and was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) in October 2001. In 2001, the album was shortlisted for the Mercury Prize, an annual music prize awarded for the best British or Irish album from the previous year. (Full article...)
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Trópico (English: Tropic) is the fifteenth compilation album by the Guatemalan singer-songwriter Ricardo Arjona, released on 13 June 2009. The album consists of Arjona's past songs, drawn from Animal Nocturno (1992) to Galería Caribe (2000), which are performed either by him, or by other Latin artists, including Marc Anthony, Tito Nieves and Gilberto Santa Rosa. The album follows Sony's release of Simplemente Lo Mejor in December 2008, and it marks the second compilation album released after Arjona's departure to Warner Music in September 2008.

Trópico is a collection of Arjona's past hits re-recorded in a "tropical version", featuring genres such as salsa, bachata and merengue. Several songs included in the album were originally part of another compilation that Arjona released several years before, entitled Arjona Trópical, with the exception of "Historia De Taxi", which was borrowed from Quién Dijo Ayer. Trópico became a moderate commercial success, reaching number nine on the US Billboard Tropical Albums chart and number 23 in Mexico. The album received positive critical reception, with Jason Birchmeier from AllMusic awarding the album three-and-a-half stars out of five. (Full article...)
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Now That's What I Call Drag Music, Vol. 1, also known as Songs in the Key of Nope, is a comedy album by American drag performer Willam Belli, self-released on October 26, 2018. The album features fellow RuPaul's Drag Race contestants Latrice Royale and Trixie Mattel, as well as drag performer Rhea Litré. Former contestants Derrick Barry and Courtney Act make guest appearances in the music video for the song "Derrick". In the United States, the album spent two weeks on Billboard's Comedy Albums chart, reaching a peak position of number four. (Full article...)
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Mount Eerie is the fourth studio album by American indie folk and indie rock band the Microphones, released by K Records on January 21, 2003. The album is named after the mountain Mount Erie near Anacortes, Washington, which is the hometown of Phil Elverum, the band's frontman. The album received generally positive reviews from critics, including accolades such as Pitchfork's "Best New Music" title and inclusion on Treblezine's list of "essential" psychedelic folk albums.

Mount Eerie has been described by Elverum as being about mountains, earth and space. The album is a concept album, consisting of a linear narrative spanning its five songs. Elverum establishes a metaphor for life in which he depicts the womb, birth, and through to death, in the second-last track. His lyrics depict a cast of characters, while the music includes cinematic drums, choirs and drones. Sonically, the album is a continuation of The Glow Pt. 2 (2001), the previous studio album by the Microphones. (Full article...)
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Supernova is a studio album by The Gonzalo Rubalcaba Trio released by Blue Note Records on July 17, 2001. The trio consisted of Gonzalo Rubalcaba on piano, bassist Carlos Henríquez, and drummer Ignacio Berroa. It peaked at number 25 in the Billboard Top Jazz Albums chart.

Produced by Rubalcaba, the album was released following his collaborative work with Charlie Haden on the album Nocturne, which resulted in a Grammy Award for Haden. Supernova includes nine tracks and met with mostly positive reviews by critics, most commenting on the versatility and musical ability of the performer. The album was further nominated for a Grammy, a Billboard Latin Music Award, and earned the Latin Grammy for Best Latin Jazz Album. (Full article...)
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Back to Black is the second and final studio album by English singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse, released on 27 October 2006 by Island Records. Winehouse predominantly based the album on her tumultuous relationship with Blake Fielder-Civil, who temporarily left her to pursue an ex-girlfriend. Their brief separation spurred Winehouse to create an album that explores themes of guilt, grief, infidelity, heartbreak and trauma in a relationship.

Influenced by the pop and soul music of 1960s girl groups, Winehouse collaborated with producers Salaam Remi and Mark Ronson, along with Sharon Jones' band The Dap-Kings, to assist her on capturing the sounds from that period while blending them with contemporary R&B and neo-soul music. Between 2005 and 2006, she recorded the album's songs with Remi at Instrumental Zoo Studios in Miami and then with Ronson and the Dap-Kings at Chung King Studios and Daptone Records in New York. Tom Elmhirst mixed the album at Metropolis Studios in London. (Full article...)

More selected albums

General images - load new batch

The following are images from various record production-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Mixing desk with twenty inputs and eight outputs (from Multitrack recording)
Image 2Korg D888 eight-track digital recorder (from Multitrack recording)
Image 3Control room at the Tec de Monterrey, Mexico City Campus (from Recording studio)
Image 4Hip hop producer and rapper RZA in a music studio with two collaborators. Pictured in the foreground is a synthesizer keyboard and a number of vinyl records; both of these items are key tools that producers and DJs use to create hip hop beats. (from Hip-hop production)
Image 5Scully 280 eight-track recorder at the Stax Museum of American Soul Music (from Multitrack recording)
Image 6Digital audio interface for the Pro Tools computer-based hard disk multitrack recording system. Digital audio quality is measured in data resolution per channel. (from Multitrack recording)
Image 7Engineers and producers watch a trumpet player from a window in the control room during a recording session. (from Recording studio)
Image 8The TASCAM 85 16B analog tape multitrack recorder can record 16 tracks of audio on 1-inch (2.54cm) magnetic tape. Professional analog units of 24 tracks on 2-inch tape were common, with specialty tape heads providing 8, or even 16 tracks on the same tape width (8 tracks for greater fidelity). (from Multitrack recording)
Image 9The studio at Ridge Radio in Caterham, England (from Recording studio)
Image 10The TEAC 2340, a popular early (1973) home multitrack recorder, four tracks on ¼ inch tape (from Multitrack recording)
Image 11A selection of instruments at a music studio, including a grand piano (from Recording studio)
Image 12Home studio setup (from Recording studio)
Image 13Danny Knicely records with Furnace Mountain Band in Virginia (2012) (from Recording studio)
Image 14Donna Summer wearing headphones during a recording session in 1977 (from Recording studio)
Image 15The Siemens Studio for Electronic Music c. 1956. (from Recording studio)
Image 16Neve VR60, a multitrack mixing console. Above the console are a range of studio monitor speakers. (from Recording studio)

Featured lists - load new batch

Featured lists have been determined by the Wikipedia community to be the best lists on English Wikipedia.

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Barbadian singer Rihanna featured on five different number-one singles during the 2000s, more than any other artist.

The UK Singles Downloads Chart is a weekly music chart that ranks the most-downloaded singles in the United Kingdom. During the 2000s, the chart was compiled by The Official UK Charts Company (OCC) on behalf of the British music industry, and was based solely on non-subscription music downloads from selected online music stores. It was compiled using weekly sales from Sunday to Saturday, and was published each Wednesday afternoon, so as not to clash with the Sunday evening announcement of the UK Singles Chart.

The chart was founded in September 2004 as the UK Official Download Chart, with the first single to top the chart being a live version of "Flying Without Wings" by Irish boy band Westlife. By the end of the decade, 109 further singles had topped the chart. The most downloaded single of the 2000s was "Poker Face" by Lady Gaga. Released in 2009, the song was downloaded 779,000 times, and topped the chart for three weeks. "Just Dance", also by Gaga, and "Sex on Fire" by Kings of Leon were the third and second highest selling downloads of the decade respectively. The single that spent the longest time at number one was "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley, which spent 11 weeks at the top and became the UK's 18th best-selling download of the 2000s. (Full article...)
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Tanya Tucker had her first chart-topper in 1973 at the age of 14.

Hot Country Songs is a record chart that ranks the top-performing country music songs in the United States, published by Billboard magazine. In 1973, 36 different singles topped the chart, at the time published under the title Hot Country Singles, in 52 issues of the magazine. Chart placings were based on playlists submitted by country music radio stations and sales reports submitted by stores.

At the start of the year, the number one song was "She's Got to Be a Saint" by Ray Price, which had reached number one the previous week, and remained atop the chart for two weeks in 1973. Price returned to the top spot for a single week later in the year with "You're the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me". This marked his final appearance at the top of the Hot Country Singles chart, fifteen years after he had been at number one on the very first combined country sales and airplay chart published by Billboard. Conway Twitty spent the highest number of weeks at number one by any artist in 1973 with six, including one week at the top with a duet with Loretta Lynn. Twitty and Lynn had a run of success with duet recordings in the early 1970s alongside their ongoing solo careers, and each had three number one singles during the year, tying with Charley Pride, Tammy Wynette and Merle Haggard for the most number ones by an artist. Despite being banned by some radio stations due to its lyrical content, Twitty's "You've Never Been This Far Before" spent three weeks at number one, tying for the longest unbroken run of the year with "The Most Beautiful Girl" by Charlie Rich. (Full article...)
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Country star Blake Shelton (second left) and his partner, pop/rock singer Gwen Stefani (right), collaborated on two Country Airplay number ones in 2020.

Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay are charts that rank the top-performing country music songs in the United States, published by Billboard magazine. Hot Country Songs ranks songs based on digital downloads, streaming, and airplay not only from country stations but from stations of all formats, a methodology introduced in 2012. Country Airplay, which began being published in 2012, is based solely on country radio airplay, a methodology that had previously been used from 1990 to 2012 for Hot Country Songs.

Both charts began the year with songs at number one that had been in the top spot in the last chart of 2019; "10,000 Hours" by Dan + Shay and Justin Bieber holding the top spot on the Hot Country Songs chart, and "Even Though I'm Leaving" by Luke Combs atop the Country Airplay chart. Having spent the last 11 weeks of 2019 at number one on Hot Country Songs, "10,000 Hours" went on to spend its 15th consecutive week in the top spot in the issue of Billboard dated January 25, and in the same week topped the Country Airplay listing for the first time. The song remained at number one on Hot Country Songs until March 14, when it was displaced by "The Bones" by Maren Morris. It was the first number one on the chart for Morris and made her the first female artist to top the chart without an accompanying male act since Kelsea Ballerini with "Peter Pan" in September 2016. In May, "The Bones" spent its 11th week at number one on Hot Country Songs, surpassing Taylor Swift's "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" as the longest-lasting number one by a solo female artist on that chart. The song ultimately spent 19 weeks at number one. (Full article...)
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The Beatles had eighteen number-one singles on the NME chart, only one of which never topped the Record Retailer chart.

The NME (or New Musical Express) was a British weekly popular music newspaper. Record charts in the United Kingdom began on 14 November 1952 when NME imitated an idea started in American Billboard magazine compiled their own hit parade. Until 15 February 1969, when the British Market Research Bureau (BMRB) chart was established, many periodicals compiled their own charts. During this time the BBC used aggregated results of the prominent NME, Melody Maker, Disc, Record Mirror and, later, Record Retailer charts to compile their Pick of the Pops chart. Prior to 1969 there was no universally accepted source or "official" singles chart; however, the Official Charts Company and Guinness' British Hit Singles & Albums regard the canonical sources for this period as NME before 10 March 1960 and Record Retailer from then until the BMRB took over in 1969. Although Record Retailer is now the most predominantly used source for charting music in the 1960s, NME had the biggest circulation of charts in the decade and was more widely followed. After the BMRB was formed, the NME continued compiling its own chart up until 14 May 1988.

The Allisons' entry for the Eurovision Song Contest, entitled "Are You Sure?", was the first single to be number one on the NME chart but not to reach the top spot on Record Retailer's chart. In total, sixteen songs failed to reach number one with Record Retailer but topped the NME chart. In 1969, after the BMRB chart was introduced, four songs topped the NME but not the BMRB chart. Notable discrepancies include "19th Nervous Breakdown", which reached number one for the Rolling Stones on the NME, Disc, and Melody Maker charts, topped the BBC's Pick of the Pops aggregated chart and was announced as number one on Top of the Pops; however, because it did not reach number one on the Record Retailer chart, it is omitted from the Official Charts Company's canon. The Beatles' "Please Please Me" suffered the same fate so, arguably, should be considered the Beatles' first number-one single. Conversely, Elvis Presley's double A-side, "Rock-A-Hula Baby"/"Can't Help Falling in Love", reached number one on all charts except NME because the entries were split by NME according to which song was requested when the shop returned its figures. (Full article...)
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Craig Morgan's song "That's What I Love About Sunday" was named the number-one country song of 2005 by Billboard;it remains his only number one hit as of May 2022^[update].

Hot Country Songs is a chart that ranks the top-performing country music songs in the United States, published by Billboard magazine. In 2005, twenty different songs topped the chart, published under the title Hot Country Singles & Tracks through the April 23 issue, in 52 issues of the magazine, based on weekly airplay data from country music radio stations compiled by Nielsen SoundScan.

Singer Blake Shelton's song "Some Beach" was at number one at the start of the year, having risen to the top in the issue of Billboard dated December 25, 2004. The song remained at number one for three further weeks until it was replaced at the top by "Awful, Beautiful Life" by Darryl Worley in the issue dated January 22. Australian singer Keith Urban spent the most weeks at number one in 2005, with eleven, comprising five weeks with "Making Memories of Us" and six with "Better Life", the latter of which tied for the most weeks at number one by a single song with "As Good as I Once Was" by Toby Keith. Two other acts reached the top of the chart with more than one song in 2005. Brooks & Dunn topped the chart with "It's Getting Better All the Time" in May and "Play Something Country" in September, although each only spent one week at number one. Rascal Flatts, in contrast, spent eight weeks in total at number one with their two chart-toppers, "Bless the Broken Road" and "Fast Cars and Freedom". (Full article...)
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Puerto Rican singer Chayanne reached the top of the chart for the first time with "Fuiste un Trozo de Hielo en la Escarcha" in 1989.

The Hot Latin Songs chart (formerly Hot Latin 50 and Hot Latin Tracks), published in Billboard magazine, is a record chart based on Latin music airplay. The data were compiled by the Billboard chart and research department with information from 70 Spanish-language radio stations in the United States and Puerto Rico. Those radio stations were selected based on their number of listeners, and were asked to report their playlists for the week. This information was then entered to the Billboard computer system, and points were tabulated for each song. Before this chart's inception, the Latin music information on the magazine was presented only in the form of the biweekly album sales chart Top Latin Albums, which was divided into Latin Pop, Tropical/Salsa, and Region Mexican and continues to be listed separately.

During the 1980s, 33 songs topped the chart. According to the Billboard electronic database, the first was "La Guirnalda" by Spanish singer Rocío Dúrcal on September 6, 1986. However, in the listings included in the first printed publication of the chart on October 4, 1986, the first number-one song was "Yo No Sé Qué Me Pasó" by Mexican singer-songwriter Juan Gabriel. By the end of that year, another of Gabriel's compositions, "De Mí Enamórate", sung by Daniela Romo, also reached number one. Also in 1986, two Spanish versions of the Italian song "Tutta la vita", performed by Franco and Emmanuel succeeded one another at the top of the chart. Two songs recorded by Spanish singer Julio Iglesias peaked at number one, "Lo Mejor de Tu Vida" and "Que No Se Rompa la Noche". These songs were released from the album Un hombre solo, which received the Grammy Award for Best Latin Pop Performance. (Full article...)
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Johnny Cash reached number one in 1976 with the song "One Piece at a Time", about an assembly line worker who constructs his own car using stolen parts from a variety of different models. After the song became successful, an auto shop built the car described in the lyrics. Cash is pictured in the driving seat of the car.

Hot Country Songs is a chart that ranks the top-performing country music songs in the United States, published by Billboard magazine. In 1976, 37 different singles topped the chart, which at the time was published under the title Hot Country Singles, in 52 issues of the magazine. Chart placings were based on playlists submitted by country music radio stations and sales reports submitted by stores.

At the start of the year the song at the top of the chart was "Convoy" by C. W. McCall, its third week at number one. The song remained in the top spot until the issue of Billboard dated January 31, 1976, when it was replaced by "This Time I've Hurt Her More than She Loves Me" by Conway Twitty. "Convoy" also topped the magazine's all-genres singles chart, the Hot 100. It was one of three 1976 country number ones to capitalize on the prevailing fad for citizens band radio (CB), along with "The White Knight" by Cledus Maggard & the Citizen's Band and "Teddy Bear" by Red Sovine. CB also featured, to a lesser extent, in the song "One Piece at a Time", which was the final chart-topper for Country Music Hall of Famer and icon of the genre Johnny Cash. (Full article...)
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"Broken Man" by St. Vincent is the most recent recipient

The Grammy Award for Best Rock Song is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality songs in the rock music genre. Honors in several categories are presented at the ceremony annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without regard to album sales or chart position".

The award, reserved for songwriters, was first presented to English musician Sting in 1992. According to the category description guide for the 52nd Grammy Awards, the award honors new songs (containing both melody and lyrics) or songs "first achieving prominence" during the period of eligibility. Songs containing prominent samples or interpolations are not eligible. (Full article...)
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The duo Montgomery Gentry topped the chart for the first time in 2004.

Hot Country Songs is a chart that ranks the top-performing country music songs in the United States, published by Billboard magazine. In 2004, 21 different songs topped the chart, then published under the title Hot Country Singles & Tracks, in 52 issues of the magazine, based on weekly airplay data from country music radio stations compiled by Nielsen SoundScan.

Singer Kenny Chesney's song "There Goes My Life" was at number one at the start of the year, having been at the top since the issue of Billboard dated December 20, 2003. It remained at number one for the first five weeks of 2004 before being replaced by "Remember When" by Alan Jackson. The highest total number of weeks spent at number one by a song in 2004 was seven, achieved by "Live Like You Were Dying" by Tim McGraw, which was ranked number one on Billboards year-end chart of the most popular country songs. As the song's seven weeks at the top were split into two separate spells, however, the longest unbroken run at the top was five weeks, achieved by three different songs, two of which were by Chesney: "There Goes My Life" and "When the Sun Goes Down", the latter a collaboration with Uncle Kracker. The third song with a five-week run at the top was "Redneck Woman" by Gretchen Wilson. ('Full article...)
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Three songs by Bob Wills reached number one in 1946, including "New Spanish Two Step", which spent 15 consecutive weeks in the top spot.

From 1944 until 1957, Billboard magazine published a chart that ranked the top-performing country music songs in the United States, based on the number of times a song had been played in jukeboxes; until 1948 it was the magazine's only country music chart. In 1946, nine different songs topped the chart, which was published under the title Most Played Juke Box Folk Records. The chart was compiled based on a survey of jukebox operators nationwide, and its methodology allowed for the possibility of records tying for a position. On several occasions during 1946 two or more songs tied for the number-one spot, including the issue of Billboard dated February 2, when four songs tied for the peak position. The Juke Box Folk chart is considered part of the lineage of the current Hot Country Songs chart, which was first published in 1958.

In 1946 the top spot was dominated by two songs which each spent 16 weeks at number one and which between them topped the chart from February to September. In the issue of Billboard dated February 2, "Guitar Polka" by Al Dexter reached number one for the first time, albeit jointly with three other songs. After one week out of the top spot it returned to number one, where it spent fifteen consecutive weeks, one of them jointly with "New Spanish Two Step" by Bob Wills, widely known as the "King of Western swing". After Dexter's run at number one ended, Wills's song returned to the top spot and also spent fifteen consecutive weeks atop the chart. Wills had topped the chart earlier in the year with "Silver Dew on the Blue Grass Tonight" and "White Cross on Okinawa" and was the only artist to take three different songs to number one in 1946. Dexter, however, had the highest number of total weeks at number one, spending 21 weeks in total (including two tied weeks) atop the chart with "Guitar Polka" and "Wine Women and Song". Wills and Dexter were the only acts with more than one chart-topper during the year. (Full article...)