frudge

English translation: frudge

05:14 Feb 17, 2014

English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Slang

English term or phrase: frudge

What was your approach to recording at that time?

"I'd been using very few mics on tracks like Can't Find My Way Home by Blind Faith. I had recorded the whole thing using just two mics including vocals, guitar and Ginger Baker's drums. So I was really getting into that."

John Bonham was famous for his very particular drum sound. How hands on was he?

"I never had Bonzo turn round to me and say, 'oh that's a great drum sound, Andy.' He'd just say, 'There's not enough 'frudge' on the bass drum.' That was his word and I knew exactly what he meant by 'frudge'."

(This is from an interview with a sound engineer who worked with The Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin.)

Andrew Vdovin KudoZ activity Questions: 3923 (2 open) (2 closed without grading) Answers: 3924
Local time: 06:32

Selected answer:frudge

Explanation:
Untranslatable, and undefinable beacuse it's an invented word. It represents an undefinable sound quality that perhaps a drummer might be able to explain better.

If you need a translation, I'd leave it the way it is - in inverted commas.

All the links lead basically to your source or very similar ones:

Andy Johns on the secrets behind the Led Zeppelin IV sessions ...
www.musicradar.com/.../drums/andy-johns-on-the-secrets-behi...‎
Nov 2, 2013 - "I never had Bonzo turn round to me and say, 'oh that's a great drum sound, ... That was his word and I knew exactly what he meant by 'frudge'.

Selected response from:

Shera Lyn Parpia
Italy
Local time: 01:32

Grading comment

Thanks everybody!!!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED

2 +4

frudge

Shera Lyn Parpia

3 +3

a big, deep, reverberating thump

Charles Davis

Discussion entries: 4

Answers

1 hr confidence:

peer agreement (net): +4

frudge

Shera Lyn Parpia
Italy
Local time: 01:32
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 4

Grading comment

Thanks everybody!!!

3 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): +3

a big, deep, reverberating thump

Explanation:
This is a fun question, and I feel like having a go at suggesting an answer. Of course it's an invented word. Although the engineer says he knew what Bonham meant he doesn't explain, so we have to guess. My guess is based on a combination of the phonetic character of the word itself and the distinctive character of Bonham's bass drum sound, which is presumably what he wanted the engineer to accentuate.

That sound is one of the most famous in rock music. It was a huge sound, a great, deep, booming, thump. He used a very big bass drum, 24" or even 26", he tuned it quite tight, so it moved a lot of air, and he had a very powerful right foot. He was a very loud drummer generally; when he was young, in the Midlands, some clubs wouldn't book his bands because he was too loud. When they first recorded him his bass drum went off the scale.

It also had a lot of reverberation. Although his drumming was very precise, the bass drum sound itself was a bit rough, a bit "dirty". Bonham was well known for preferring his drum heads to be quite worn. He and the engineer were looking for a bit, reverberating sound. In this same interview the engineer tells how they took the drums out of the studio into the lobby.

As for the word itself, it's a kind of onomatopeia. Frudge is a very consonant-rich word, quite "buzzy", with the initial fricative f, the growling r and the final explosive affricate dg. Maybe the u distantly suggests "thump". Perhaps all this is a bit fanciful, but it seems consistent with the sound he was going for.

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Note added at 3 hrs (2014-02-17 08:55:03 GMT)
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For "bit" in paragraph 3, read "big".

Charles Davis
Spain
Local time: 01:32
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 16

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