Andrew Loog Oldham’s Heavy Reverb and Compression: Making the Rolling Stones Sound Loud on Transistor Radios

Oldham was 19 when he produced the Stones’ debut. He had no engineering experience—just a gut feeling that the band should not sound polite. He told the studio to push the meters into the red and drench things in reverb and compression so the records would jump out of cheap transistor radios.

On The Rolling Stones (1964), the effect is immediate. Vocals and guitars hit hard and distorted, with a slapback echo that makes everything feel urgent. “Not Fade Away” is the clearest example: the maracas and Jagger’s voice sit on