As songwriters, most of our energy is focused on writing a great chorus, verse, and bridge, but the beginnings and especially endings of our songs seem to come as an afterthought in the writing process. One of the biggest questions people ask when figuring out the ending to their songs is “should I use a fadeout, or should I use a hard stop?” It seems like a simple question, but there are many factors to take into consideration when deciding which one to go with.
When did we start using fadeout endings?
We aren’t going to get into the full history of fadeouts here, but if you’re interested in learning more you can check out the links at the bottom of this post to some articles that discuss it more in depth.
The earliest noted fadeouts actually happened in classical music, such as Haydn’s Symphony No. 45, where each musician on stage would stand up, blow out a candle, and exit the stage, slowly leaving less musicians on stage until finally there was no one left to play. A more famous example is Holst’s The Planets, where at the end of the Neptune movement, a female chorus in the other room slowly becomes softer as someone closes the door to the room.
In recorded music, fadeout endings began to appear once recording studios stopped recording directly to vinyl records and started recording to tape machines before transferring the music to a vinyl disc. This allowed them to do post-production work on the recording, including adjusting volume levels. Before this point, if musicians wanted a fadeout on their music they essentially had to do the fadeout themselves on their instruments.
Why do people choose to use fadeouts over hard endings?
When we think about it, the idea of turning down the volume on a band that’s still playing and calling that the end of the song is a bit odd and unnatural. Some people believe that musicians use fadeouts simply because they’re too lazy to think of an ending, which I admittedly used to believe. This may very well be the case, but there are actually many reasons why you might want to use a fadeout instead of a hard ending. Below are a few reasons given by some prominent names in the music industry:
“The fade-out became a way to end the record in a manner that perhaps suggested there was more to come.” – Dan Daley, music journalist
“I believe that one of the advantages of fade-outs was that we could repeat the hooks and drive that message home.” – Ellio Mazer, producer and engineer
“That was the purpose of the fade. The song that never ends. We did it because it sounded good.” – Lou Gonzales, engineer
“Another [possibility] is that in the era before multitrack, you could have a really good take with a ragged end, and rather than call for another take you could bounce the take to another machine and then fade before the ragged end.” – Colin Escott, author
“Most time(s) it was because the arranger didn’t have an ending, or to shorten the arrangement for air play. Remember, back then singles wouldn’t be played if they were longer than 3 minutes.” – Al Schmitt, recording engineer
“The fade happened because we had to give the DJ a cue that the record was ending, so he could talk over that and segue into the next record,” – Ron Albert, recording engineer
“Fade Outs had a resurgence in the ’70’s with funk bands who might jam endlessly on a two chord progression. This was a simple way to create an ending to a jam session that had no definitive end.” – Joe Chiccarelli, engineer
“With the passing of the big bands and orchestral pop, recordings were made improvisationally by smaller groups in the studio rather than according to formally structured arrangements (with predetermined endings) for larger aggregations, and thus tended to exceed the 3:00 time limit that radio stations demanded back then. So, in order to bring the total time under 3:00 the fade was employed.” – Greg Geller, archivist and consultant
Why have fadeouts stopped being used in modern music?
The answer to this question is less clear, and can only be answered in speculation. One possibility is the rise of streaming platforms and the decline of radio. As mentioned earlier, having a fadeout on your song was desirable for DJs who could talk over the music as it was ending, and so many musicians wrote with that in mind. Having a fadeout also allowed a smoother transition from one song to another, allowing DJs to keep the music going without abrupt endings or pauses. With streaming services, we don’t have DJs talking over our songs, so there’s no incentive for fadeouts there.
Also, with high skip rates on streaming services (50% of people will skip a song before it ends), fadeouts can make listeners impatient and cause them to hit the skip button. In essence, once a song starts fading out, that signals to the listener that they’re reaching the end.
I’ve even seen people suggest that the ease of editing with new technology has made it easier to “patch in” a new ending with the click of the mouse, but this silly theory sounds more like another excuse to bash modern music. Anyone who has edited music before knows that it’s much faster just to write in an ending rather than manufacture one in the editing process, so I doubt the evil new editing technology is the reason more songs have hard stop endings.
More likely, the ditching of fadeouts may simply be a result of them going out of fashion. After all, things such as chord proggressions, song lengths, instrument choices, and singing styles have changed drastically over the past 70 years of popular music, so it isn’t far-fetched that preferences in song endings have changed as well.
Should you use a hard stop or a fadeout?
The short answer is to use what sounds right for your song, which I can’t prescribe to you through a blog post. As with all the other parts to your song, use your own judgement and try both on to see what fits. That being said, I do have some pointers if you want to take all factors into consideration.
Practical implications
There are practical implications behind a hard stop versus a fadeout. First, if you choose to write a fadeout, you’re going to have to figure out how to end your song when it comes time to perform it live. Second, if anyone wants to use your song in a performance such as a dance routine or theatre production, it will be easy to coordinate the end of the performance with the end of the song if the song uses a hard stop. Furthermore, if you want your music to be used in TV, films, or commercials, music supervisors and editors much prefer songs with hard stops because they’re easier to cut and edit according to the length of the scene. In terms of practicality, hard stops win here.
Psychological implications
As for the psychological effects on the listener, a hard stop tends to provide more closure. The downside however is if you have a great vibe going in your music (especially if it’s an upbeat tune), a sudden stop may kill it a bit. With a fadeout ending, the band is still jamming away into the infinite. It would be like going to a great party, but you just had to leave early; although you couldn’t stay until the very end, you left on a high note and the good feeling is still lingering with you. In some situations, this may be more desirable. You don’t want to suddenly end the song and cut off the vibe of the music, and instead you want the emotion from the music to linger with your listener even after it’s finished. In this case, a fadeout would actually be more desirable, and there’s even some scientific research to back it up. Below is an excerpt from an article by Slate:
David Huron, of the School of Music and Center for Cognitive and Brain Sciences at Ohio State University, has struck upon a different interpretation. “With a fade-out, music manages to delay closure indefinitely,” he writes in Sweet Anticipation: Music and the Psychology of Expectation. “The ‘stop’ gesture is replaced by a gesture toward the ‘infinite.’ ”
Furthermore, a study at Hanover University of Music in Germany had students tap along to different versions of the same song with a fadeout ending and hard stop ending. They found that on average, students stopped tapping their feet 1.4 seconds before the hard stop ending, while with the fadeout ending they continued tapping their feet 1.04 seconds after it finished.
All of this is to say that a hard stop ending may provide more closure or a feeling of completeness, while a fadeout ending will leave your listener with the aftertaste of your music in their mouth.
Music function
When deciding whether a fadeout or hard stop is more appropriate for your song, consider what people will be doing while listening to it. Will they be exercising? Having dinner with friends? Dancing? Having fadeouts, especially long ones, means that the last 15 seconds of your song are decreasing in intensity. When I’m doing a high-intensity cardio workout and my lungs are on fire, the last thing I want in my playlist is a song with a slow, anti-climactic fadeout. In these critical moments when I’m pushing myself past my limits, I don’t want the music that has been keeping me motivated to slowly disappear. I want a song that is high-energy right up to the end, that way there’s no dip in energy in my playlist.
This also applies if you’re writing dance music. When you go to any function with dancing, whether it’s weddings or nightclubs, one thing you’ll notice is that people are much more likely to stop dancing and sit down if a song has a fadeout. Again, the fadeout causes a dip in energy and signals that the song is ending, providing an easy opportunity for people to leave the dance floor and take a break. When your song has an hard ending though, people are much more inclined to dance to the end and stay for the next song that comes on.
If you’re writing gentler music that is likely to be played in the background at a gathering or while you’re working, a fadeout may be more appropriate. An abrupt ending is much more obvious and can create a noticeable awkward silence, while a fadeout is more subtle and eases you into the silence. Before you have a chance to realize the song is over, another one has already started.
Conclusion
Now that we’ve taken a look at the topic from a few different angles, hopefully you have a better idea of whether a fadeout or hard ending makes sense for your song. I’ve seen people online with strangely strong opinions over song endings; some are lamenting over the lack of fadeouts used in modern music, and others declare their burning hatred of fadeout endings. It really doesn’t matter, and I’ll bet you that these people still listen to their favourite songs anyway, regardless of the endings. In the grand scheme of things, a great song will always transcend your choice to use a fadeout or hard ending. As with all the musical decisions you make while writing, use your creative intuition and I have no doubt you’ll make the right choice.
Further Reading
You Ask, We Answer: Why Do Some Songs Fade Out at the End?
A Little Bit Softer Now, A Little Bit Softer Now: The Sad, Gradual Decline of the Fade-Out in Popular Music
Why Do Some Songs Fade Out? The History Behind It