John Lennon vocal mic: All You Need is Love

[max cooper]

I've been playing that track all week, driving everyone crazy. The vocal sounds so amazing, tho. Round, fat, sweet...Just wondering about the recording chain...and how many houses would have to be hocked to pay for it today.

It's been a long while since I've seen the footage from the telecast. I know George Martin talks about "basic tracks" being done in advance, so I wonder if that means that everything but the crowd was "basic". I wish I could see the footage now, but wasn't there a U-47 in front of Lennon? I suppose that could explain a lot.

Also love the fuzzy sound of his vocal on Walrus.

[jbuntz]

That fuzzy sound is not the U47. Legend has it that John Lennon didn't like the sound of his own voice and often asked the engineers to do crazy stuff to it. It's most likely a driven preamp judging by the sound of it.

[mikey]

ill check the book and see if i can find out

[natpub]

Originally posted by jbuntz
That fuzzy sound is not the U47. Legend has it that John Lennon didn't like the sound of his own voice and often asked the engineers to do crazy stuff to it. It's most likely a driven preamp judging by the sound of it.

From Beatles Anthology notes:

...According to Rob Stevens, Lennon did not write an excess amount of material for his albums. Unlike some artists (i.e. Springsteen), Lennon had a firm idea of what he wanted to do before he entered the studio. If he had ten songs in his head, those ten songs would be recorded. Stevens explains his philosophy for mixing the Anthology, "We determined that we would only mix material that John had not mixed himself." "We put John's voice front and center on some recordings because, believe it or not, John did not like his own voice, so he put as many effects on it as he could."

[mikey]

max i checked the book --at first they rigged the talkback mic and john sang in the control room while they worked on the song ay olympic studios over and over when they got to the end he started the count off again tutt but it sounds like that vocal was done over at abbey road.I see a pic and it looks like they got the neumanns going. Maybe ill give sir paul a ring and see if he remembers

[max cooper]

Thanks for the info...I figured the fuzz to be some kinda o/d.

The thing about the U47 is that I think that's what's in front of Lennon on the set, but the vocal sounds prerecorded to me and so I wonder if that's what he sang it into in the studio or if they just thought it looked cool.


dangit, I keep forgetting to order the George Martin book...what's it called again, anyway?

[idylldon]

Originally posted by max cooper
dangit, I keep forgetting to order the George Martin book...what's it called again, anyway?

All You Need Is Ears

Cheers,
--
Don

[mikey]

The book i have is called beatle gear --really cool book--but its funny on some questions each enginneer has a different recollection of what was used tutt

[hollywood_steve]

What ever happened to the Beatles' recording gear book that they've been teasing us with for at least 3 years?

http://www.recordingthebeatles.com/

The site has been "down" for about 5 months. But people close to the project keep saying its almost done????

[retrograde]

Some of the backing tracks were prerecorded. The tune was sung live on air at Abbey Road.

[Slider]

U47 - EMI - Fairchild 670.
The fuzz is most likely hitting the ADT hard.
This track has loads of ADT, mabey the most ADT on any beatles vocal.
I've heard stories about using a pultec and slamming the front end to get fuzz on tracks, but I've never confirmed this.

[max cooper]

Slider: do you mean on "All You Need is Love" or "I Am the Walrus"?

I know I confused things by mentioning both tracks.

U47 - EMI - Fairchild 670.

...damn "pro-sumer" gear.

[mikey]

well i found a pic of the live performance and Lennon has a big old Neumann in front of him
I dont rememberthat vocal sounding different tutt but i'll have another listen

[max cooper]

mikey

I don't know how "different" it sounds from other Lennon vocals, but for some reason it stands out because of it's richness...

[John Hedger]

Interesting that one of the most dynamic rock singers of all time didn't like his own voice! I thought that most of the effects John implemented on his vocals were very effective (no pun!), especially the echo slap on the tune Instant Karma.

The one Lp which I thought Lennon went way overboard with vocal effects was his Rock N'Roll album.

JHedger

[mikey]

thought i read that he was using a shure 57 that he liked alot on the rock and roll album ---
I'd like to get that book steve was talking about just to drool over it--they sure are a study

[Slider]

Originally posted by max cooper
Slider: do you mean on "All You Need is Love" or "I Am the Walrus"?

I know I confused things by mentioning both tracks.




...damn "pro-sumer" gear.

Both tracks feature quite a bit of ADT.
This might contribute to the warm sound of "All You Need Is Love" as the tape used for the ADT helps create that thick softened effected ADT sound.

Walrus is for sure the fuzzier of the two.
I've heard different stories of how that was achieved.
I would guess it's either hitting the front end of the tube mic pre hard or overdriving the front end of the fairchild 670.
It could also be sending a very hot signal to the 2-track used for the ADT.
I've also heard stories of a Pultec being overdriven by sending a hot level to it for some beatles vocals.

It's amazing how great most of the vocals sound on most of the beatles records.
They're present and heavily compressed without being over sibilant.

I thought the UA 610 remakes would drive in a pleasant way like the old EMI stuff. It doesn't though.
A telefunken tube pre would probably do a better job for that type of sound.

[mikey]

well what about the chandler stuff pre and compressor
and then John Hinson has his Revolution pre and i heard hes coming out with a new beatle type compressor too.Anybody got that website of his i cant find it
I found it just type in ''revolution recording eqipment''
Now all i need is to find my bib

[max cooper]

It's amazing how great most of the vocals sound on most of the beatles records.
They're present and heavily compressed without being over sibilant.

No joke. I don't seem to get quite the same result when I try it like that.

Didja read that Ken Scott article in mix?

"Oh, yeah. It was the '60s. Rules were meant to be broken. For a period of time on some of those songs, the standard procedure for mixing was full bass and full treble on every track. That was the EQ. One day, probably John came in and said, ÒJust put full bass and full treble on everything,Ó and he liked the sound of it and it caught on. Everyone wanted to do that on everything. That was just toward the end of the White Album.


I remember with ÒSavoy Truffle,Ó we were mixing it very loud when [Beatles producer] George Martin, who had been on vacation in Greece, walked in and passed a comment to George [Harrison]: ÒWow, that's very bright, isn't it?Ó and George said, ÒYup, and I like it.Ó And that's how it stayed. [Laughs]"

http://mixonline.com/mag/audio_ken_scott/

[mikey]

why dont one of you guys with alot of $$$$$ pick up one of these redd 47's and let us know how huge it sounds Its only 3000$
Wow i like the way they desribe the ''massive transformers''thumbsup It must sound great with the U-47
I been bugging Kurt Foster at Recording .org to get a hold of one for review but to date i dont think John Hinson has sent it to him.
I know John called him and told him he also was working on the compressor.I wonder how many tubes it has

[littledoodler]

what is ADT?

[20to20]

Click here for ADT...

[neve1073]

Slightly OT: does anyone know what kind of guitar Lennon was playing on "across the universe" (let it be naked) and what mic and pre was used on him?

[chessparov]

You mean it might NOT be John's favorite "cracked" SM57 on the lead vocal?

Chris

[max cooper]

what is ADT?

automatic delay take-away from the old '60's UAD-1's

My GF reminded me that we have the Beatles Gear book and promised that she'd dig it out tomorrow (she's the best!). I'll check out the Across the Universe thing if there's info there....

[neve1073]

ty max.

(I need to get that book.)

[littledoodler]

Originally posted by 20to20
Click here for ADT...

thanks kindly

[mikey]

i believe that they used the redd47 preamp but i can't remember when they switched to that setup ---before that it was the redd 37 desk i believe--The redd37 had a siemanns amp in it and was used on all the early songs according to ''beatle gear''book

[mikey]

The gear book says that Lennon played his martin D-28 on accross the universe and i think by that time they had the redd 47 desk--I think REDD stands for recording engineering development department.

[idylldon]

Another good book that gets into more detail about recording the Beatles is With a Little Help from My Friends: The Making of Sgt. Pepper by George Martin and William Pearson, which was published in the U.S. by Little Brown in '94.

Cheers,
--
Don