RECORDING THE BEATLES

[midnightsun]

I am discovering a serious problem with RECORDING THE BEATLES by Ryan & Kehew. This is a very large book and I am having a hard time putting it down. Little else is getting done. I am going to have to exercise some self restraint.

Seriously, I would list this book as one of the top ten publications I have ever had in my hands and laid my eyes upon. I tip my hat to Ryan & Kehew.

[Legacy Audio]

I love the book but it's no joy for bedtime reading. So damn big and heavy.
I would have preferred 2 or 3 volumes. Oh well...

[ianvargo]

I love that book, it has so much good information. Someone that doesn't like the Beatles but still likes recording may start to love the beatles because of it.

[midnightsun]

Originally Posted by Legacy Audio

I love the book but it's no joy for bedtime reading. So damn big and heavy.
I would have preferred 2 or 3 volumes. Oh well...

I totally agree. I was thinking that I would be glad to pay a bit for for a three volume set to get the size down as I do most of my reading in bed.

[void]

where can one buy it from?

[Kiwiburger]

Recording The Beatles

Dispels a lot of myths. Explains a lot.

[juicylime]

Originally Posted by midnightsun

I am discovering a serious problem with RECORDING THE BEATLES by Ryan & Kehew. This is a very large book and I am having a hard time putting it down. Little else is getting done. I am going to have to exercise some self restraint.

I have that problem with gearslutz.com!!

[PRobb]

Originally Posted by midnightsun

I am discovering a serious problem with RECORDING THE BEATLES by Ryan & Kehew. This is a very large book and I am having a hard time putting it down. Little else is getting done. I am going to have to exercise some self restraint.

Can't help you. I had the same problem. The only cure is to finish the book.

And since it's been a while since I thanked messers Ryan & Kehew, THANKS GUYS!

[Chris Nighman]

Yeah, I got mine for Father's Day and have really been enjoying it. My cover got beat up in shipping, and they sent a replacement like 2 days later. Hats off to Curvebender!

[rwhitney]

A fantastic book, but I do wish they had caught more of the typos. I supoose they will in subsequent edtions.

[GearHunter]

Having trouble putting the book down?

Do you go to bed with the book and end up reading 'till dawn, getting no sleep?

Before you retire with the book at bed-time, take 2 Tylenol PM. That will give you about 20 to 30 minutes of up-time and then, ZONK!

Nighty night!

[Trev@Circle]

I do wish they had caught more of the typos. I supoose they will in subsequent edtions.

no pun intended then...

[daddykev]

I received my copy on Friday, and wow, this book is absolutely amazing. So much great information. I have to buy the monophonic version of Sgt. Pepper's now.

[allencollins]

I like the Beatles, great songwriters but why would anyone want to copy the way the recorded? There records sound thin. I suppose you could use a book
like that to avoid certain techniques.

I always thought U.S. records sounded better from that era. The beach boys , Doors, Hendrix , Cream all had bigger more sonically appealing recordings than the beatles. The beatles did have more mojo and better songs but their production was not as innovative as other recording done in the states.

A/B pet sounds with sgt pepper. No comparison. Pet Sounds is way bigger

[max cooper]

Originally Posted by midnightsun

I totally agree. I was thinking that I would be glad to pay a bit for for a three volume set to get the size down as I do most of my reading in bed.

I'm ordering this for my copy:

Levenger

Originally Posted by allencollins

I like the Beatles, great songwriters but why would anyone want to copy the way the recorded?

Well, either way, ignorance of history is a good thing.

[FFTT]

Gosh what were so many people thinking, going out and buying Vox amps Hofners, Rickenbackers, Fenders, Epiphones, Gibsons, and all those Neumann U47's go figure.

Who would ever want to record like the Beatles?

[Auslander]

I got mine for Christmas. It's excellent. Not to mention that I had the good fortune to work with people like Ken Scott and Geoff Emerick, so that makes it all the more special.

[sleestack]

I like the sound of 'get back' imho. What was that track done on? Is "let it be" chronicled in recording the beatles?

[ianvargo]

Go put on Michelle from Rubber Soul and play it at a decent volume and tell me that sounds thin... Are you doing an A/B comparison with the stereo CDs? In that case I'd might agree with you that Pet Sounds is bigger and clearer. But it goes into detail in the book about how the Beatles and their engineers always spent the most time and effort on the Mono Mixes.

It goes into detail about each album, I think most of Let it Be was recorded at Twickenham Studios. (sp) Of course Phil Spector got his hands on that one.

[FFTT]

Rubber Soul or Revolver on vinyl through a great system is simply amazing when you consider what they were working with.

How many of the bands that you are recording these days can nail a song live?

[bexarametric]

The Beatles recordings were excellent. The earliest stuff wasn't the greatest, but the later stuff sounded great. I think people are just phased by the loudness wars that go on these days.

Let's just put it this way. There will not be hardcover books released about recording the bands that are out today. Can you really see yourself spending $100+ on a book that details the recording methods of Linkin Park 20 years from now????

[ianvargo]

Originally Posted by bexarametric

Let's just put it this way. There will not be hardcover books released about recording the bands that are out today. Can you really see yourself spending $100+ on a book that details the recording methods of Linkin Park 20 years from now????

Actually I think that The Beatles are so great and influential that people will once again start copying them, and start releasing books about how crappy bands were recorded, just to try and cash in by doing something The Beatles did first.

[midnightsun]

I found it very interesting how much effort went into recording during the early era of the Beatles. The logistics of pulling off an album and methodically applying consistency and precision is mind boggling. Now with DAWs it seems that creative techniques can be automated and made much simpler; yet, I don't hear much that surpasses the creativity of what went into recording the Beatles. I remember when each Beatles album was released. I was always blown away with the new magic that they would bring to bare. Of course I also liked Hendrix, the Doors, Buffalo Springfield, etc. Damn those were great music times

It seems like now days we all have the tools that in the 60s took large staffs and dedicated infrastructure. But has music improved? I remember seeing Jimi Hendrix in a small venue and my jaw nearly hit the floor watching him perform what I never dreamed possible. Now days many people have the Hendrix hot licks mastered and you can even get Tab and video programs to learn the Hendrix technique. Though many have mastered many of Hendrix's techniques my jaw just doesn't bounce off the floor the way it used to with Hendrix. Same with the Beatles and their recording technique. I am just not taken with the many thousands of albums that use Flanging, chorusing, compression, multitracking, bouncing. All we have to do is click a plugin that probably took George Martin and his team days or weeks to figure out.


My hat is off to the geniuses and masters that would create masterpieces with what ever tools were available at the time.

[Colossal]

Originally Posted by bexarametric

Can you really see yourself spending $100+ on a book that details the recording methods of Linkin Park 20 years from now????

at risk of being killed, i gotta say that their first album is one of my favourite productions, and i'd willingly pay more than 100 dollars to find out the kind of information thats in the beatles book, but about linkin park. although wether i'd feel the same 20 years from now remains to be seen.

i get your point though

[Auslander]

Originally Posted by midnightsun

My hat is off to the geniuses and masters that would create masterpieces with what ever tools were available at the time.

I couldn't agree more. I was working on a mixing project with Dennis Mackay at Trident back in the mid 70s and we were just starting a new song. It was a French album, and the producer had just said something along the lines of "I think it would be great if we could find a cool effect for the beginning of this song..sort of spacy, trippy etc."

Well, as we were bringing up the faders, channel 17 was misbehaving, and was making a loud pink noise type of swooshing/rumble etc. Instead of doing the usual "fix job" on the module..i.e. giving it a swift thwack to get rid of the gremlins, Dennis brought the fader up slowly and looked at me and said "Let's set up some tape phasing". We were using Studer C37s at that time, 4 of which were right behind us, and that's what we used for our tape delays and mixdown machines. So, I hooked them up for tape phasing and we spent 20 minutes or so recording these incredible phase sweeps using the noises channel 17 had decided to make that day, that sounded just like a jet engine taking off. Having recorded those to the mixdown machine, we then knocked channel 17 back into shape and got on with the mix proper. We ended up crossfading the jet f/x onto the front of the song, and it sounded really great!

It sounded infinitely better than an Eventide phaser or flanger would have sounded, had they been invented by then (which they hadn't of course) It's all about using the tools you've got at the time, and being creative.

I also worked on the mixing of Sheer Heart Attack by Queen, and on the song Killer Queen, the phasing on the word "laser" of "dynamite and a laser beam" was done manually by yours truly, using a Countryman phaser that I messed around with as that section played through each time. Also, much to the chagrin of Mike Stone and RTB, I suggested doing a tape phasing edit section for the "wanna try" part towards the end of the song. This wasn't a popular idea at the time as we'd all been working on the song for almost two days straight as it was and everyone was completely exhausted (actually the entire mix session for that album was like that...the days just blurred into each other) and when I suggested it Freddy said "That sounds like a good idea..let's try it". Mike and Roy were looking at me as if I'd suggested trying to break into Fort Knox or something, but once the mix was sorted Mike and I spent a couple of hours setting up the phasing again, and it did end up working out really well, although I think I had to dodge a couple of swift kicks for making the untimely suggestion.

[Kiwiburger]

Thanks Auslander - that is so cool. Those little phasing licks on Queen songs are just as magical today as they were when they first blew my mind in the 70's.

So when is "Recording Queen" going to be published?

[Auslander]

Originally Posted by Kiwiburger

Thanks Auslander - that is so cool. Those little phasing licks on Queen songs are just as magical today as they were when they first blew my mind in the 70's.

So when is "Recording Queen" going to be published?

You'll probably have to ask Roy about that one, as he did the most records with them. Sadly, Mike Stone passed away several years ago. I was fortunate to be a part of three different projects with them - Queen 2, SHA, and a live album that, as far as I know, never saw the light of day.

They were truly great times!

[malaclypse]

just ordered my copy a week ago... then, i read my confirmation e-mail a little more closely, only to find out they're out of stock until november!!!

oh well. i guess i'll forget about it for a while, and it'll be a pleasant surprise next month.

[dbbubba]

Originally Posted by Auslander

I also worked on the mixing of Sheer Heart Attack by Queen, and on the song Killer Queen, the phasing on the word "laser" of "dynamite and a laser beam" was done manually by yours truly, using a Countryman phaser that I messed around with as that section played through each time. Also, much to the chagrin of Mike Stone and RTB, I suggested doing a tape phasing edit section for the "wanna try" part towards the end of the song. This wasn't a popular idea at the time as we'd all been working on the song for almost two days straight as it was and everyone was completely exhausted (actually the entire mix session for that album was like that...the days just blurred into each other) and when I suggested it Freddy said "That sounds like a good idea..let's try it". Mike and Roy were looking at me as if I'd suggested trying to break into Fort Knox or something, but once the mix was sorted Mike and I spent a couple of hours setting up the phasing again, and it did end up working out really well, although I think I had to dodge a couple of swift kicks for making the untimely suggestion.

Really neat stuff here!

I can vividly standing on my driveway washing my mustard yelow on black, '71 Ford LTD when my drummer came over and started talking about Keller Queen and the flange effect in particular.
It was odd because he was complete jazz/ jazz rock freak, so hearing him talk about a band like Queen was odd. It might have been the first time I even heard of Queen.
I didn't listen to FM radio (I was totally into my Zappa cassettes) so it took a few weeks before I ever heard the actual cut.
I also recall seeing Queen open for a band like Golden Ear Ring at about that time as well!

So your the guy, huh?

Maybe you could explain some of those mis-labled tracks on the bootleg multi-tracks then.
Specifically tom, hat and OH mics.
There is also something about the bass tracks that seems to be different then what is labeled. Maybe there are three tracks of the same performance.
I forget now as I haven't looked at them in a while.

I guess that was few years ago wasn't it?
Might be hard to answer specifically.

[piotr]

Beautiful Book.

It feels like a solid piece of gear: nice and heavy, detailed and with tons of vintage mojo...

I am pretty sure it was designed and published specifically for gearslutz...

;-)

p.