Recording practices of the Beatles
The studio practices of
Studios
EMI (Abbey Road)
In the early part of the 1960s,
The first two Beatles albums,
In 1968 eight-track recorders became available, but Abbey Road was somewhat slow in adopting the new technology and a number of Beatles tracks (including "Hey Jude") were recorded in other studios in London to get access to the new eight-track recorders.[6]
The Beatles' album Abbey Road, was the only one to be recorded using a transistorised mixing console, the EMI TG12345, rather than the earlier REDD valve consoles. Let It Be was recorded largely at the Beatles' own Apple Studios, using borrowed REDD valve consoles from EMI after the designer Magic Alex (Alex Mardas) failed to come up with a suitable desk for the studio. Engineer Geoff Emerick has said that the transistorised console played a large part in shaping overall sound of Abbey Road, lacking the aggressive edge of the valve consoles.[7]
Personnel
The Beatles
The success of the Beatles meant that EMI gave them carte blanche access to the Abbey Road studios—they were not charged for studio time[8] and could spend as long as they wanted working on music. Starting around 1965 with the Rubber Soul sessions, the Beatles increasingly used the studio as an instrument in itself, spending long hours experimenting and writing.[5] The Beatles demanded a lot from the studio; Lennon allegedly wanted to know why the bass on a certain Wilson Pickett record far exceeded the bass on any Beatles records. This prompted EMI engineer Geoff Emerick to try new techniques for "Paperback Writer". He explains that the song "was the first time the bass sound had been heard in all its excitement ... To get the loud bass sound Paul played a different bass, a Rickenbacker. Then we boosted it further by using a loudspeaker as a microphone. We positioned it directly in front of the bass speaker and the moving diaphragm of the second speaker made the electric current." [9]
Combined with this was the conscious desire to be different. McCartney said, "Each time we just want to do something different. After Please Please Me we decided we must do something different for the next song... Why should we ever want to go back? That would be soft."
Engineers and other Abbey Road staff have reported that the Beatles would try to take advantage of accidental occurrences in the recording process; "I Feel Fine" and "It's All Too Much"'s feedback and "Long, Long, Long"'s resonating glass bottle (towards the end of the track) are examples of this.[15] In other instances the group deliberately toyed with situations and techniques which would foster chance effects, such as the live (and thereby unpredictable) mixing of a UK radio broadcast into the fade of "I Am the Walrus" or the chaotic assemblage of "Tomorrow Never Knows".
The Beatles' song "You Like Me Too Much" has one of the earliest examples of this technique:[clarification needed] the Beatles recorded the electric piano through a Hammond B-3's rotating Leslie speaker, a 122 or 122RV, a trick they would come back to over and over again. (At the end of the intro, the switching off of the Leslie is audible.)[citation needed] Also on "Tomorrow Never Knows" the vocal was sent through a Leslie speaker. Although not the first recorded vocal use of a Leslie speaker, the technique would later be used by the Grateful Dead, Cream, The Moody Blues and others.[16]
All of the Beatles had
Engineers and producers
Norman Smith
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Session musicians
Although strings were commonly used on pop recordings, George Martin's suggestion that a string quartet be used for the recording of "
As the Beatles' musical work developed, particularly in the studio, classical instruments were increasingly added to tracks. Lennon recalled the two way education; the Beatles and Martin learning from each other – George Martin asking if they'd heard an oboe and the Beatles saying, "No, which one's that one?"[20]
Geoff Emerick documented the change in attitude to pop, as opposed to classical music during the Beatles career. In EMI at the start of the 1960s, balance engineers were either "classical" or "pop".[21] Similarly, Paul McCartney recalled a large "Pop/Classical" switch on the mixing console.[22] Emerick also noted a tension between the classical and pop people - even eating separately in the canteen. The tension was also increased as it was the money from pop sales that paid for the classical sessions.[23]
Emerick was the engineer on "A Day in the Life", which used a 40-piece orchestra and recalled "dismay" amongst the classical musicians when they were told to improvise between the lowest and highest notes of their instruments (whilst wearing rubber noses).[24] However, Emerick also saw a change in attitude at the end of the recording when everyone present (including the orchestra) broke into spontaneous applause. Emerick recalled the evening as the "passing of the torch" between the old attitudes to pop music and the new.[25]
Techniques
Guitar feedback
Audio feedback was used by composers such as Robert Ashley in the early 60s.[26] Ashley's The Wolfman, which uses feedback extensively, was composed early in 1964, though not heard publicly until the autumn of that year.[27] In the same year as Ashley's feedback experiments, The Beatles song "I Feel Fine", recorded on 18 October, starts with a feedback note produced by plucking the A-note on McCartney's bass guitar, which was picked up on Lennon's semi-acoustic guitar. It was distinguished from its predecessors by a more complex guitar sound, particularly in its introduction, a sustained plucked electric note that after a few seconds swelled in volume and buzzed like an electric razor. This was the very first use of feedback on a rock record.[28] Speaking in one of his last interviews — with the BBC's Andy Peebles — Lennon said this was the first intentional use of feedback on a music record. In The Beatles Anthology series, George Harrison said that the feedback started accidentally when a guitar was placed on an amplifier but that Lennon had worked out how to achieve the effect live on stage. In The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions, Mark Lewisohn states that all the takes of the song included the feedback.[18]
The Beatles continued to use feedback on later songs. "It's All Too Much", for instance, begins with sustained guitar feedback.[citation needed]
Close miking of acoustic instruments
During the recording of "Eleanor Rigby" on 28 April 1966, McCartney said he wanted to avoid "Mancini" strings. To fulfil this brief, Geoff Emerick close-miked the strings—the microphones were almost touching the strings. George Martin had to instruct the players not to back away from the microphones.[29]
Microphones began to be placed closer to the instruments in order to produce a fuller sound. Ringo's drums had a large sweater stuffed in the bass drum to 'deaden' the sound while the bass drum microphone was positioned very close, which resulted in the drum being more prominent in the mix. "Eleanor Rigby" features just McCartney and a double string quartet that has the instruments miked so close to the string that 'the musicians were in horror'. In "Got to Get You into My Life", the brass were miked in the bells of their instruments then put through a Fairchild limiter.[30][page needed]
According to Emerick, in 1966, this was considered a radically new way of recording strings; nowadays it is common practice.[29]
Direct input
Tape manipulation
Artificial double tracking
The effect had been created "accidentally" earlier, when recording "Yesterday": loudspeakers were used to cue the string quartet and some of McCartney's voice was recorded onto the string track, which can be heard on the final recording.
It has been claimed that
ADT greatly influenced recording—virtually all the tracks on Revolver and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band had the treatment and it is still widely used for instruments and voices. Nowadays, the effect is more often known as automatic double tracking.
ADT can be heard on the lead guitar on "Here, There and Everywhere" and the vocals on "Eleanor Rigby" for example. The technique was used later by bands like the Grateful Dead and Iron Butterfly, amongst others.[16]
Sampling
The Beatles first used samples of other music on "Yellow Submarine", the samples being added on 1 June 1966. The brass band solo was constructed from a Sousa march by George Martin and Geoff Emerick, the original solo was in the same key and was transferred to tape, cut into small segments and re-arranged to form a brief solo which was added to the song.[36] A similar technique was used for "
More obvious, and therefore more influential samples were used on "I Am the Walrus"—a live BBC Third Programme broadcast of King Lear was mixed into the track on 29 September 1967. McCartney has also described[37] a lost opportunity of live sampling: the EMI studio was set up in such a way that the echo track from the echo chamber could be picked up in any of the control rooms. Paul Jones was recording in a studio whilst "I Am the Walrus" was being mixed and the Beatles were tempted to "nick" (steal) some of Jones's singing to put into the mix.
Synchronising tape machines
One way of increasing the number of tracks available for recording is to synchronise tape machines together. Since the early 1970s SMPTE timecode has been used to synchronise tape machines. Modern SMPTE timecode controlled recorders provide a mechanism so that the second machine will automatically position the tape correctly and start and stop simultaneously with the master machine.[38] However, in 1967, SMPTE timecode was not available and other techniques had to be used.
On 10 February 1967 during the recording of "A Day in the Life", Ken Townsend synchronised two machines so that extra tracks were available for recording the orchestra. Speaking in an interview with Australia's ABC, Geoff Emerick described the technique; EMI tape machines' speed could be controlled using an external speed controller which adjusted the frequency of the mains supply to the motor. By using the same controller to control two machines, they were synchronised.[39] Townsend thereby effectively used pilottone, a technique that was common in 16mm news gathering whereby a 50/60 Hz tone was sent from the movie camera to a tape recorder during filming in order to achieve lip-synch sound recording. With the simple tone used for "A Day in the Life", the start position was marked with a wax pencil on the two machines and the tape operator had to align the tapes by eye and attempt to press play and record simultaneously for each take.[40]
Although the technique was reasonably successful, Townsend recalled that when they tried to use the tape on a different machine, the synchronisation was sometimes lost. George Martin claimed[citation needed] this as the first time tape machines had been synchronised, although SMPTE synchronisation for video/audio synchronisation was developed around 1967.[41]
Backwards tapes
This section needs additional citations for verification. (October 2015) |
As the Beatles pioneered[
The stereo version of George Harrison's "Blue Jay Way" (1967, Magical Mystery Tour) also includes backwards vocals, which is actually a backwards copy of the entire mix, including all instruments, which is faded up at the end of each phrase.[citation needed]
See also
References
- ^ Lewisohn 1988, p. 13.
- ^ 2002/123/1 Reel-to-reel tape recorder, BTR1, metal / plastic / glass / electronic components, designed and manufactured by EMI (Electric and Musical Industries), England, 1948... at www.dhub.org
- ^ Hertsgaard 1995, p. 75.
- ^ Ryan & Kehew 2006, p. 216.
- ^ a b Lewisohn 1988, p. 54.
- ^ Lewisohn 1988, p. 146.
- ^ Emerick 2006, p. 277.
- ^ Lewisohn 1988, p. 100.
- ^ Lewisohn 1988, p. 74.
- ^ Davies 1996, p. 300.
- ^ Unterberger, Richie. "Eight Days a Week". AllMusic. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
- ^ Everett 2009, p. 347.
- ^ Everett 2009, p. 346.
- ^ Everett 2009, p. 51.
- ^ Hertsgaard 1995, p. 103.
- ^ a b Everett 2009, p. 342.
- ^ Lewisohn 1988, p. 72.
- ^ a b Lewisohn 1988, p. 50.
- ^ The Beatles 2000, p. 175.
- ^ The Beatles 2000, p. 197.
- ^ Emerick 2006, p. 56.
- ^ Lewisohn 1988, p. 11.
- ^ Emerick 2006, p. 57.
- ^ Emerick 2006, p. 157.
- ^ Emerick 2006, p. 159.
- ^ Holmes 2002, pp. 27–28.
- ^ "Wolfman". www.lovely.com. Retrieved 2008-12-19.
- ^ Unterberger, Richie. "I Feel Fine". AllMusic. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
- ^ a b Emerick 2006, p. 127.
- ^ Morin 1998.
- ^ Lewisohn 1988, p. 95.
- ^ Repsch 1989.
- ^ "Acme Audio Manufacturing Company". Acme. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
- ^ a b c Lewisohn 1988, p. 70.
- ^ About The Beatles – Songs – Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
- ^ Emerick 2006, pp. 122–123.
- ^ Lewisohn 1988, p. 8.
- ^ "How to Sync Audio for Modern Video Production Workflows". No Film School. 14 December 2020. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
- ^ Lewisohn 1988, p. 96.
- ^ Emerick 2006, p. 154.
- ^ Editors Sync Guide (ESG) at www.sssm.com
Bibliography
- ISBN 0-811-82684-8.
- ISBN 0-393-31571-1.
- ISBN 978-1-59240-269-4.
- ISBN 978-0-19-531024-5.
- ISBN 978-0-385-31517-3.
- Holmes, Thomas (2002). Electronic and Experimental Music: Pioneers in Technology and Composition. Psychology Press. ISBN 978-0-415936446.
- ISBN 978-0-600-61207-0.
- Morin, Cari (1998). The Evolution of Beatles' Recording Technology. Northwestern University. Archived from the original on 2006-07-02. Retrieved 31 March 2008.
- ISBN 1-901447-20-0.
- Ryan, Kevin; Kehew, Brian (2006). Recording the Beatles (1st ed.). Curvebender. ISBN 0-9785200-0-9.