The theory and practice of recording hand claps

I was desperate for a good excuse to link to this post from Tape Op magazine, which is a brilliant thing about how to record handclaps. Sample quote: "If you have four drumers clapping perfectly in time, it sucks. But when you get your neighbor to come over, who will always slightly lag behind because he's so nervous, that lag spreads out the clap and gives you that 80's drum machine type of clap that is SUPER fat".
So, I asked Kate from The Priscillas to for her top ten cool records with hand claps on them: This would make a great album...
1: The Angels: 'My Boyfriend's Back'
2: The Ramones: 'Do You Remember Rock'n'Roll Radio?'
3: Roxy Music: 'Do The Strand'
4: The Belle Stars: 'The Clapping Song' (Yes, sorry, that's the Aaron Carter version. Or here is the Baccara version, which I can highly recommend).
5: The Meters: 'Hand Clapping Song'
6: Santa Esmeralda: 'Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood'
7: Tony Basil 'Hey Mickey'
8: Thee Headcoats 'Davy Crockett' (Let me know if you find this on the web)
9: Belle & Sebastian: 'The Boy with the Arab Strap'
10: Kenickie - 'Come Out 2 Nite'
Bonus Track: The best clapping solo of all time: 'Greased Lightning' from Grease. Obviously.

Posted by Tom Whitwell.

Comments:

i've got the most convincing set of handclap samples in the world! they're for the S770! that's all i've got to say!

# posted by

Mikey : 11:40 am

So post your samples on the web somewhere and let us link to them!

# posted by

Tom Whitwell : 11:51 am

It has to be mentioned that the 1176 is the best hand clap squasher of all time. Without out one they just sound like little ticks to me.

# posted by

Anonymous : 11:05 pm

no way.. it has to be Parliament-Funkadelic ! they have lots of claps

# posted by

Anonymous : 1:52 am

Can't believe nobody mentioned "Car Wash" by Rose Royce.

# posted by

Anonymous : 11:52 pm

Zapp !!! The biggest clap in the world... With G Clinton of course...

# posted by

Anonymous : 12:47 am

Best use of hands in a percussive role:- 'In The Navy' by the village people (so I'm told)

# posted by

Anonymous : 8:57 am

Pilot were fond of handclaps. Check out the singles "Magic" and "January".

# posted by

Gavin Lloyd Wilson : 4:52 pm

sylvester 'over and over' (fantasy and some other labels) has some great sloppy live claps in the breakdowns.

# posted by

Anonymous : 3:12 am

To double your claps when recording, it is common to slap your thighs instead of your hands.

Stu

# posted by

Anonymous : 1:35 am

Good Selection!!
I would add this track: "Nina Simone - See Line Woman". I've talked about this song in my blog.

# posted by

Masterfill : 7:30 pm

As I understand it, Bernie Worell of PFunk was the inovator behind the synthesized hand-clap, or maybe sampled? I don't know how he did it but they weren't "real," and were partially responsible for much of the 80's. But god bless him anyway.

Seems he should be included just for his contribution to the field.

# posted by

Anonymous : 8:46 pm

I've just got to add Steve Reich's Clapping Music to the list of great clapping music.

# posted by

Anonymous : 6:17 pm

Naw Best hand clap sound was from the Oberheim DMX as heard on so many early 80 synth pop records notably Heaven 17's "Penthouse and Pavement" and "Luxury Gap" LPs. That CLap is far and away the best a close second would be what ever Thomas Dolby used on "Europa and the Pirate Twins" again an early 80's claptastic tune

# posted by

Anonymous : 2:11 am

While maybe not the most famous hand claps ever, with out them this song wouldn't be much. John Cougar's (later on John Mellencamp)80's hit "Jack and Diane". I guess the 80's were big on hand claps and saxaphone solos...you don't hear many of either in todays music.

# posted by

Brian : 5:08 pm

Damn, people. This article has been up for a year and a half and nobody has mentioned Papa Was A Rollin Stone? Damn. Seriously.

# posted by

Anonymous : 12:19 pm

'Yield no to temptation" by Bobby "Blue Bland...
or any authentic flamenco

# posted by

Anonymous : 5:30 pm

Gino Soccio's 'Dancer', anybody?

# posted by

Anonymous : 6:41 pm

"The Ghetto" anyone? Bold use of clapping hands on the speed of the hi-hat, not the snare drum. Loud as hell too. Apalling.

# posted by

Locadora do Werneck : 3:33 pm

Dude... My Best Friend's Girl by the Cars. ...Also "I've Got the Clap" by Alan Clapp and the Clappingtons.

# posted by

Anonymous : 4:29 pm

One of my favorite handclap tracks is "Fahrenheit Fair Enough" by Telefon Tel Aviv. It breaks down to a handclap part in the second half of the song, and *one* of the claps is sent into this beautiful spring reverb-sounding verb....just gorgeous.

# posted by

Anonymous : 9:21 pm

Yeah, that Telefon Tel Aviv track is pretty good for that. There's also a great Tortoise track with claps on it off Standards, I forget which one it is, I think it's either Seneca or Speakeasy...

My favourite clap is also the oberheim, it's so fake and great-sounding. Also, I still think the 808 clap is fun.

I've got a great clap sound in my my roland 6-pad drum thing.

# posted by

Pema : 10:16 pm

"Time of the Season", natch

# posted by

Anonymous : 5:35 pm

'Who Are You' - The Who

# posted by

Anonymous : 4:27 am

I got my dad a DVD of Queen at Wembley Stadium for his birthday. "Radio Gaga" has one of the most amazing instances of audience clapping involvement I've ever seen!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0jw0IPYRAM

# posted by

Anonymous : 6:26 pm

Outkast "Rosa Parks"!!!!

# posted by

Anonymous : 6:57 am