# Tracks that feature momentary silence

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tracks-that-feature-momentary-silence/612261>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [February 9, 2012, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tracks-that-feature-momentary-silence/612261 "2012-02-09T01:59:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\
**Post date:** [February 9, 2012, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tracks-that-feature-momentary-silence/612261/21 "2012-02-09T20:25:55Z")

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How about the ubiquitous 1990s alt-rock song “Shine” by Collective Soul, does that fit? Sorry if I gave anyone else an earworm like I’ve done to myself… argh.

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**Author:** ![ecseas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ecseas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ecseas)\
**Post date:** [March 10, 2012, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tracks-that-feature-momentary-silence/612261/22 "2012-03-10T13:18:24Z")

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My Apocalypse by Arch enemy, features quite a lot of those really short pauses.

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**Author:** ![Ashley\_Pomeroy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c68b51/32.png) [@Ashley\_Pomeroy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashley_Pomeroy)\
**Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tracks-that-feature-momentary-silence/612261/23 "2012-03-12T20:31:54Z")

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> [@jjimm](#):
>
> Then I had a hunch what I was hearing: the track seems to be full of tiny breaks of silence.

There was a really flashy use of this technique in Garbage’s “Supervixen”, back in 1995:  
https://www.youtube.com/embed/d-9DiUL9HA8?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque

It punctuates the guitar riff about four seconds in. Does anybody remember Garbage nowadays? I’m showing my age here. They were huge for a very short while. Hip, almost. The lead singer was an icon. And then James Bond and a slow dive into obscurity.

A variation on the technique (with a ramp, rather than a chop) is sometimes used in dance music in order to make the subsequent beat feel more thwacky, as the compressor pumps it back up. It’s called “gain pumping”, fast-forward to about 1.00 for an example:

[![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/xcNG4KnLQZg/hqdefault.jpg "Gain Pumping with a compressor") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcNG4KnLQZg)

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**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\
**Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tracks-that-feature-momentary-silence/612261/24 "2012-03-12T22:07:40Z")

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[The Cars - You Might Think](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8oZZJojROo)

But you kept it going [SILENT PAUSE] till the sun went down [SILENT PAUSE]. You kept it [SILENT PAUSE] going.

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**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\
**Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tracks-that-feature-momentary-silence/612261/25 "2012-03-12T22:38:42Z")

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> [@bordelond](#):
>
> Punctuated and recurring bits of silence only, or can we talk about songs that have a pregnant pause at merely one point?

You mean the kind that makes you shiver with antici

pation?

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