Big Bam Boom

Big Bam Boom is the twelfth studio album by American duo Daryl Hall & John Oates, released by RCA Records on October 12, 1984.

It has even more of an electronic, urban feel to it than their previous albums, combining their song structure and vocals with the latest technical advances in recording and playing.

The duo opted to record on analog tape rather than the then-new digital multitrack machines, and due to their commercial success they were able to take advantage of the latest musical devices available at the time, specially the most advanced polyphonic synthesizers like Synclavier and the Fairlight.

[2] Bob Clearmountain, one of the producers and drummer Mickey Curry recorded various drum sounds, manipulating delays and reverbs to create huge dramatic bottom end that is emblematic of this album and the 1980s in general.

[2] Thanks to the new polyphonic synthesizers, the duo experimented with new sounds, for example, recording Boy Scout canteens, cardboard boxes, vocals, footsteps in gravel, etc., and combined them with newer and more sophisticated drum machines.

[7] In a review for AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine called Big Bam Boom "a sprawling and diffuse album" and "a bigger, noisier record than its predecessors, with its rhythms smacking around in an echo chamber and each track built on layers of synthesizers and studio effects".