Recording The Beatles...finally!

[Mattsson]

http://www.recordingthebeatles.com/listorder/



SO EXCITED!!!!!=)

[jumpnyc]

wow - had to order immediately.

[darkwater]

I'm down!!! Can't wait!

[Mystr Tiger]

I ordered a copy. Listening to Sgt Pepper is what got me interested in recording, so this book should be especially fun for me.

[Kiwiburger]

So pissed off! I just tried to pre-order this, and the crap website doesn't recognise my VISA number. OK, so I live in New Zealand and must be punished. But I buy lots of stuff internationally, and usually don't have a problem using VISA.

I hope Amazon will stock this eventually. I ordered Geoff Emmericks book from them, and had it delivered in about 5 days.

[orange]

Originally Posted by Kiwiburger

So pissed off! I just tried to pre-order this, and the crap website doesn't recognise my VISA number. OK, so I live in New Zealand and must be punished. But I buy lots of stuff internationally, and usually don't have a problem using VISA.

I had that problem ! - just try it without (or with!) the spaces, it worked for me in the UK

si

[Kiwiburger]

Thanks for that! That first time I tried, I didn't use spaces. Today I tried again - with spaces - and it failed again. Then I tried again without spaces, and it worked.

I don't normally take a punt on stuff like this, but I read the endorsements by the Beatles engineers. Knowing that Ken Scott reads this forum, I expect he wouldn't allow his name to be misrepresented, so I assume this is all above board.

Should be a good read ...

RE: "Listening to Sgt Pepper is what got me interested in recording, so this book should be especially fun for me."

When? I heard it the day of release on KMPX in SF while in high school...

[Jules]

Originally Posted by Mattsson

http://www.recordingthebeatles.com/listorder/



SO EXCITED!!!!!=)

It will never catch on....

[Revelation]

We don't have the gear they worked on as they don't make it anymore. You also can never recreate what was done back then. Listen to Paul McCartney's Broadstreet record ... Today's technology gives you so much more flexiblity than what was done back then. We gotta go forward not backwards.

With saying all that, it would be interesting to read how they did things, but like I said, it can't be duplicated nor can you get the same results. Too many variables.

[Ken_Scott]

Originally Posted by Kiwiburger

Knowing that Ken Scott reads this forum, I expect he wouldn't allow his name to be misrepresented, so I assume this is all above board.

I have been waiting for this thread to start for a couple of days.

I think you all know by now that if there were mistakes in this book I would be screaming.

I won't have to.

Cheers

[pendejo]

Originally Posted by Revelation

We don't have the gear they worked on as they don't make it anymore.

What do you mean? It seems to me that a lot of the stuff they used is still available: Vox, Epiphone and Gretsch all sell recreations of the instruments & amps used. Then you have the TG series by Chandler, the REDD47 by Revolution Recording and a Fairchild 660 clone by Mercury Recording.

[Kiwiburger]

Thanks Ken - so glad to hear you won't have to scream!

It's amazing that the sounds created then are still an important reference, 40 years on. I expect there is a lot of "it's not what you've got, but what you do with it" going on.

Originally Posted by pendejo

What do you mean? It seems to me that a lot of the stuff they used is still available: Vox, Epiphone and Gretsch all sell recreations of the instruments & amps used. Then you have the TG series by Chandler, the REDD47 by Revolution Recording and a Fairchild 660 clone by Mercury Recording.

Gee, you think the gear will make the music? It takes the talent and the creativity, not the gear. This should be obvious... I Want to hold your hand? Never happen again! But new things will...

<L>

[pendejo]

Originally Posted by Lou Judson

Gee, you think the gear will make the music? It takes the talent and the creativity, not the gear. This should be obvious... I Want to hold your hand? Never happen again! But new things will...

<L>

Where did I say the gear would make the music?

[Mattsson]

Originally Posted by Jules

It will never catch on....

What?

[oceantracks]

Don't forget that one of the main things that gave it...and indeed most other Sixties acts "that sound"....was the lack of tracks. Paul McCartney recently spoke of the generation loss from comping so many tracks, and that "they liked how it made their guitars sound" etc. Under the skillful hands of the EMI crew you ended up with mesh of sound that you don't get with 64 tracks available. Decisions forced early on....Hiss be damned, it does give those tracks a wonderful vibe.

TH

[Mystr Tiger]

Originally Posted by Lou Judson

RE: "Listening to Sgt Pepper is what got me interested in recording, so this book should be especially fun for me."

When? I heard it the day of release on KMPX in SF while in high school...

Hi Lou, I prolly did not actually hear Sgt Pepper on it's first day of release. I bet that was fun - what was your first impression? I was still in grammar school, in a small town just outside Atlanta. I think I was at the local Woolworth's (like a K-Mart) browsing the record bin in the summer of '67 when I saw the mono version and decided to buy it. I took it home and was immediately floored. I could not stop listening to it - every day, several times - must have drove my siblings crazy. Then, at some point, I read a review that described how the stereo version had hard panned tracks such that you could set the stereo balance hard left or hard right and get only the vocals or only the instruments. I did not actually have a stereo - I was listening on my dad's mono record player. But, it actually had a stereo cartridge that was simply summed to mono (both left and right hots connected together at a terminal strip under the platter before feeding the amp). So, I fashioned a DPDT switch under the platter and rewired the connection so I could reach under the platter and activate the switch for either left, right, or both channels so I could hear the separated tracks - then, of course, I had to go out and buy the stereo version. What a way to spend my summer - dissecting Sgt Pepper with my little switch mod! Hope this wasn't too far OT. I think the book will likely give a lot more info than my little experiments could tell me. I was just a kid then - maybe I'm excited because this book might me allow me to relive that summer of '67. Anyone else have a favorite Beatles story to share?

[paterno]

Originally Posted by Revelation

We don't have the gear they worked on as they don't make it anymore. You also can never recreate what was done back then. Listen to Paul McCartney's Broadstreet record ... Today's technology gives you so much more flexiblity than what was done back then. We gotta go forward not backwards.

With saying all that, it would be interesting to read how they did things, but like I said, it can't be duplicated nor can you get the same results. Too many variables.

The biggest variables, and reason those records sound the way that they do, were the 20-somethings in front of the mic. The gear, technology, whatever, is secondary. The interaction of those 4 guys is what mattered -- not what mic they used. i'd take a Beatles record over 'Broadstreet' any day of the week...

It can also be argued that they sound the way they do because of the lack of technology.

And who cares if it can't be duplicated??? I for one love to hear about how records were done, and this book will be a great resource. Brain K is SO into it, and i've enjoyed my couple if discussions with him over the years bout it. The drive and energy that went into those records is the same drive Brian and his partner had in putting together this book.

I think 'today's technology' can be a crutch if not a fatal wound in making records. in the end, it's not the arrow, it's the Indian...

john

[GearHunter]

The Beatles music will never be commercially successful. It's a fad, a passing phase. The kids will grow out of it and by 1964 they'll be gone and forgotten.


Mark my words!

[thenoodle]

I really like the "Beatles Sessions" book and I'm trying to figure out if I'd really get into this new book as much.

"Hi Lou, I prolly did not actually hear Sgt Pepper on it's first day of release..."

I was 17 in 67, graduated HS the day of Monterey Pop, and lived in Marin near San Francisco. Remember as a sophomore hearing two girls in History class talking and giggling about "the Beatles" - such a weird thing to me, so` I asked, they said, oh, if you haven't heard of them where have you been! (I'd been playing jazz and singing in choir)... soon after that KMPX started underground radio and I suddenly jumped ahead in terms of hearing the latest and wierdest... They played the first day release of Sgt Pepper English version in the middle of the night and let it track into the leadout groovw with that strange repetitive sound. I happened to get it on tape and memorized the entire album in the next days.

Growing up near SF in the 60s was an amazing and unique time... Graduation party featured the first playing of the White Album all the way thru about six times, and a new world was born for us 17 year olds!

<L>

[Mystr Tiger]

Originally Posted by Lou Judson

I was 17 in 67, graduated HS the day of Monterey Pop...
<L>

Cool story! Thanks for sharing. The music scene in SF in the 60s must have been pretty incredible. The 60s seems so long ago, yet also seems like yesterday...

Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away...
... dum dum Yes ter day! ... etc. with string quartet ...
...I believe in yesterday!

Looking forward to the book. Got my order in right away!

<L>

[JP11]

This looks fun, too:

George Martin DVD

And who cares if The Beatles will be duplicated? They couldn't duplicate Elvis or Little Richard or The Everly Brothers or Motown or Ray Charles or John Cage or Goffin and King or Smokey Robinson or........the list goes on and on......

but I'm sure glad they tried!!

[oceantracks]

Originally Posted by JP11

This looks fun, too:

George Martin DVD

And who cares if The Beatles will be duplicated? They couldn't duplicate Elvis or Little Richard or The Everly Brothers or Motown or Ray Charles or John Cage or Goffin and King or Smokey Robinson or........the list goes on and on......

but I'm sure glad they tried!!

No, they didn't try to "duplicate" any of those mentioned, they were just influenced by them, just as many others were. The difference is where they took it.

TH

[JP11]

Originally Posted by oceantracks

No, they didn't try to "duplicate" any of those mentioned, they were just influenced by them, just as many others were. The difference is where they took it.

TH

Yes, of course...

I'm not sure why this duplicating thing is even being discussed...I mean, what's the point?

(I do think they tried to "do" those artists to varying degress, and maybe it was a combination of them being unable to actually cop it and a desire to make it their own...)

but, I mean, so what? Who said anything about reading this book so they could duplicate exactly what they did?

[shady656]

I'm excited too...just wish I had A HUNDRED DOLLARS!!!.........
shheeess. Guess I'll have to wait for the cliff notes.

[TonyBelmont]

Originally Posted by GearHunter

The Beatles music will never be commercially successful. It's a fad, a passing phase. The kids will grow out of it and by 1964 they'll be gone and forgotten.


Mark my words!

That's what Decca Records said when they tried to get their record deal from them... "Guitar music is on it's way out..."

[Kiwiburger]

That's what Decca Records said when they tried to get their record deal from them... "Guitar music is on it's way out..."

Nobody knew just how 'way out' it was going to get ...