Notable Innovators:

Reverse:

Arthur Honegger

Claude Roland-Manuel

Maurice Jaubert

Pierre Schaeffer

Thomas Edison

Distortion:

Goree Carter

Grady Martin

Junior Barnard

Link Wray

Paul Burlison

Willie Kizart

Delay:

Bonfiglio Bini

Charlie Watkins

Les Paul

Mike Battle

Ray Butts

Ray Stolle

Raymond Lubow

Reverb:

Bill Putnam

Laurens Hammon

Leonard Chess

Manfred Schroeder

Sam Phillips

Overdubbing:

Paul Hindemith

Sidney Bechet

Literature:

Blesser, Barry, and Linda-Ruth Salter. Spaces Speak, Are You Listening? Experiencing Aural Architecture. (2007).

Bode, Harald. History of Electronic Sound Modification. (1984)

Bromham, Gary; Moore, Austin. Distortion in Music Production: The Soul of Sonics. (2023).

Daniel W. Martin, Armand F. Knoblaugh; Loudspeaker Accessory for the Production of Reverberant Sound. (1954)

Doyle, Peter. Echo and Reverb: Fabricating Space in Popular Music Recording, 1900-1960. (2005).

Fink, Robert. The Relentless Pursuit of Tone: Timbre in Popular Music. (2018).

Herbst, Jan-Peter. Historical Development, Sound Aesthetics and Production Techniques of the Distorted Electric Guitar in Metal Music. (2017)

Jonathan Sterne; Space within Space: Artificial Reverb and the Detachable Echo. (2015)

Leydon, Rebecca. The Soft-Focus Sound: Reverb as a Gendered Attribute in Mid-Century Mood Music. (2001)

Poss, Robert M. Distortion Is Truth. (1998).

Reiss, Joshua D.; McPherson, Andrew. Audio Effects: Theory, Implementation and Application. (2014)

Misc:

How Humans Conquered Echo

A brief history of the distortion pedal in music

What is distortion and how does it actually work?

Ride the Feedback: A Brief History of Guitar Distortion

The cultural evolution of distortion in music (and other norms of mixed appeal)

The history of delay, from studio guitar reel-to-reel experiments to Line 6 and the rise of digital

Reel Talk: a Brief History of Delay

A History of Spatial Music

Repeat That? A Brief History of Tape Echo

Guitar Pedal History: The Origins of Every Guitar Effect Pedal

A Brief History Of Reverb

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