Editing Motown (section)

==Motown sound==
{{Infobox music genre
| name              = Motown sound
| stylistic_origins = {{hlist|[[Pop music|Pop]]|[[Soul music|soul]]}}
| cultural_origins  = 1960s, [[Detroit, Michigan]]
| derivatives       = 
| subgenres         = {{hlist|Soul metal<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://thequietus.com/articles/02512-soul-metal-outfit-invasion-on-the-power-of-motown-metallica-and-magic |title=Soul Metal Outfit Invasion On The Power Of Motown, Metallica And Magic |first=Mark |last=Eglinton |date=August 18, 2009 |website=[[The Quietus]]}}</ref>
|[[pop-soul]]}}
| fusiongenres      = 
| other_topics      = {{hlist|[[Northern soul]]|[[rare groove]]}}
}}

Motown specialized in a type of soul music it referred to with the [[trademark]] "The Motown sound". Crafted with an ear towards pop appeal, the Motown sound typically featured [[tambourine]]s to accent the [[back beat]], prominent and often melodic electric bass guitar lines, distinctive [[Melody|melodic]] and [[Chord (music)|chord]] structures, and a [[Call and response (music)|call-and-response]] singing style that originated in [[gospel music]]. In 1971, [[Jon Landau]] wrote in ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' that the sound consisted of songs with simple structures but sophisticated melodies, along with a four-beat drum pattern, regular use of horns and strings, and "a trebly style of mixing that relied heavily on electronic limiting and equalizing (boosting the high range frequencies) to give the overall product a distinctive sound, particularly effective for broadcast over AM radio".<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/the-motown-story-19710513|title=The Motown Story|newspaper=Rolling Stone|access-date=2016-12-11|archive-date=December 14, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211214230027/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/the-motown-story-how-berry-gordy-jr-created-the-legendary-label-178066/|url-status=live}}</ref> Pop production techniques such as the use of orchestral string sections, charted horn sections, and carefully arranged background vocals were also used. Complex arrangements and elaborate, [[melisma]]tic vocal riffs were avoided.<ref>Chin, Brian & David Nathan, "Reflections Of..." ''The Supremes'' [CD boxed-set liner notes] (New York: Motown Record Co./Universal Music, 2000).</ref> Motown producers believed steadfastly in the "[[KISS principle]]" (keep it simple, stupid).<ref>Williams, Otis & Patricia Romanowski, ''Temptations'' (Lanham, MD: Cooper Square, 1988; updated 2002). {{ISBN|0-8154-1218-5}}, p. 157.</ref>

The Motown production process has been described as factory-like. The Hitsville studios remained open and active 22 hours a day, and artists would often go on tour for weeks, come back to Detroit to record as many songs as possible, and then promptly go on tour again. Berry Gordy held quality control meetings every Friday morning, and used veto power to ensure that only the very best material and performances would be released. The test was that every new release needed to fit into a sequence of the top five selling pop singles of the week. Several tracks that later became critical and commercial favorites were initially rejected by Gordy, the two most notable being the Marvin Gaye songs "[[I Heard It Through the Grapevine]]" and "[[What's Going On (song)|What's Going On]]". In several cases, producers would rework tracks in hopes of eventually getting them approved at a later Friday morning meeting, as producer [[Norman Whitfield]] did with "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" and the Temptations' "[[Ain't Too Proud to Beg]]".

Many of Motown's best-known songs, including all the early hits for [[the Supremes]], were written by the songwriting trio of [[Holland–Dozier–Holland]] ([[Lamont Dozier]] and brothers [[Brian Holland|Brian]] and [[Eddie Holland]]). Other important Motown producers and songwriters included [[Norman Whitfield]], [[William "Mickey" Stevenson]], [[Smokey Robinson]], [[Barrett Strong]], [[Ashford & Simpson|Nickolas Ashford & Valerie Simpson]], [[Frank Wilson (musician)|Frank Wilson]], [[Pam Sawyer|Pamela Sawyer]] & [[Gloria Jones]], James Dean & [[William Weatherspoon]], [[Johnny Bristol]], [[Harvey Fuqua]], [[Gil Askey]],<ref name="Washington Times May 2006">{{cite news|title=Diana Ross: old wine in 'Blue' bottles |url=https://www.questia.com/read/1G1-146501906  |newspaper=[[The Washington Times]] |last=Yourse |first=Robyn-Denise |date=May 19, 2006 |access-date= |via= |url-access= }}{{dead link|date=July 2021}}</ref> [[Stevie Wonder]], and Gordy himself.

The style created by the Motown musicians was a major influence on several non-Motown artists of the mid-1960s, such as [[Dusty Springfield]] and [[the Foundations]]. In the United Kingdom, the Motown sound became the basis of the [[northern soul]] movement. Smokey Robinson said the Motown sound had little to do with Detroit:
{{blockquote|People would listen to it, and they'd say, 'Aha, they use more bass. Or they use more drums.' Bullshit. When we were first successful with it, people were coming from Germany, France, Italy, Mobile, Alabama. From New York, Chicago, California. From ''everywhere''. Just to record in Detroit. They figured it was in the air, that if they came to Detroit and recorded on the freeway, they'd get the Motown sound. Listen, the Motown sound to me is ''not'' an audible sound. It's spiritual, and it comes from the people that make it happen. What other people didn't realize is that we just had one studio there, but we recorded in [[Chicago]], [[Nashville, Tennessee|Nashville]], New York, L.A.—almost every big city. And we still got the sound.<ref>Hirshey, Gerri (1994 [1984]). ''Nowhere to Run: The Story of Soul Music''. New York: Da Capo Press. p. 187. {{ISBN|0-306-80581-2}}.</ref>}}

===The Funk Brothers===
{{main|The Funk Brothers}}
In addition to the songwriting process of the writers and producers, one of the major factors in the widespread appeal of Motown's music was Gordy's practice of using a highly-select and tight-knit group of studio musicians, collectively known as [[the Funk Brothers]], to record the instrumental or "band" tracks of a majority of Motown recordings. Among the studio musicians responsible for the "Motown sound" were keyboardists [[Earl Van Dyke]], [[Johnny Griffith (musician)|Johnny Griffith]], and [[Joe Hunter (musician)|Joe Hunter]]; guitarists [[Ray Monette]], [[Joe Messina]], [[Robert White (guitarist)|Robert White]], and [[Eddie Willis]]; percussionists [[Eddie "Bongo" Brown]] and [[Jack Ashford]]; drummers [[Benny Benjamin]], [[Uriel Jones]], and [[Richard "Pistol" Allen]]; and bassists [[James Jamerson]] and [[Bob Babbitt]]. The band's career and work is chronicled in the 2002 [[documentary film]] ''[[Standing in the Shadows of Motown (film)|Standing in the Shadows of Motown]]'', which publicised the fact that these musicians "played on more number-one records than The Beatles, Elvis, The Rolling Stones, and The Beach Boys combined".<ref name="standing" /> Ashford later played on [[Raphael Saadiq]]'s 2008 album ''[[The Way I See It]]'', whose recording and production were modelled after the Motown sound.<ref name="Lewis">{{cite journal|last=Lewis |first=Pete |url=http://www.bluesandsoul.com/feature/409/raphael_saadiq_this_years_vintage/ |title=Raphael Saadiq: This Years Vintage |journal=[[Blues & Soul]] |location=London |issue=1020 |date=May 22, 2009 |access-date=March 27, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120903081409/http://www.bluesandsoul.com/feature/409/raphael_saadiq_this_years_vintage/ |archive-date=September 3, 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Much of the Motown sound came from the use of overdubbed and duplicated instrumentation. Motown songs regularly featured two drummers instead of one (either overdubbed or in unison), as well as three or four guitar lines.<ref name="standing">
{{cite video | people = Justman, Paul | title = [[Standing in the Shadows of Motown (film)|Standing in the Shadows of Motown]]  | medium = DVD | publisher = [[Artisan Entertainment]] | location = [[Santa Monica, California]] |year=2002 }}</ref>
Bassist [[James Jamerson]] often played his instrument with only the [[index finger]] of his right hand, and created many of the basslines apparent on Motown songs such as "[[Up the Ladder to the Roof]]" by the Supremes.<ref name="standing" />