Reply posted by themixfix
The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions book, by Mark Lewishon (sp?), is the BEST, most informative, technical book out there, describing the recording techniques for, virtually, every song that The Beatles EVERY recorded, including a LOT of (still) unreleased stuff!!

PLUS, there are copies of track sheets, take numbers used, details of what was bounced from what machine to the next, etc.!!

It MAY be a bit hard to find, because it may be out of print, BUT there are a LOT of copies still floating around out there, especially on Beatle Fan Websites!! It was published around 1990, in both hard and soft cover versions, and the hardcover was around $25.00. BEST money you'll EVER spend on a recording book, I PROMISE!!

Bob Buontempo.


Reply posted by lory
The Beatles recordings, in their present form of re-constitituted stereo on CD, serve to remind me how paramount the writing and "vibe" are. The weird but undeniable fact is that these recording sound great - even with the oft-encountered bizarre panning of an entire drum kit on one side and all the vocals on the other side!

It's too bizarre.

Nothing should sound worse than that, and all everyone does is turn it up. I'm afraid to draw any conclusions about panning from these mono-stereo aberrations. Why are they still enjoyable? The writing and the vibe. Oh yeah, and the small matter of the performances.

I honestly feel Paul McCartney is the best backup singer of all time, which is why I rate him the Number One Singer of All Time. The early Beatles were at their strongest with John singing lead and Paul on backup, and it wasn't because John was necessarily any better of a lead singer than Paul. Sure, The Elvises and Roy Orbisons were more operatic in their lead vocals, but who had the creativity and nail-it-the-first-time panache of Paul McCartney? No one. And when he sings his greatest ballads live, even in his fifties, it just defines what pop music is supposed to be.

I'll go one step further - when Paul McCartney sings duets with Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson, these hall of fame singers sound like they have speech impediments.

Well, maybe I've drifted off the subject, but to get back on topic, all you have to do is make sure you have a Paul McCartney available for your sessions and you too can create timeless classics!

PS - The George Martin book wastes way too much ink on all the novelty acts he recorded and doesn't go into a tenth of the Beatles gear and recording stuff we'd like to know. One book I don't believe anyone mentioned is the Paul McCartney autobiography.

What's great about this is that he actually gives you his songwriter's perspective. It made me feel a lot better to know a guy who's probably The Musician of the Twentieth Century sweated lyrics too. He also sweated his approach to lead vocals.

And even when he and John were writing apart, he always checked in with him for final approval. Maybe you don't have a John Lennon around for final approval, but the lesson is it's good to have someone you trust for final approval before committing to "tape."


Reply posted by rivers
The really amazing thing about the Beatles for me is how lighting seemed to strike not only few times but at exactly the right time,multiple times. What I mean is you had coming together all AT ONE TIME; great once in a lifetime songwriting, innovative/inspired sounds and engineering, forward looking production/arrangement, incredibly influential playing,

The technology to achieve the new sounds (but not get bogged down). At least 4 charismatic personalities and oh yeah they kept this up for like 7 years with barely a misstep. It blows the mind and I doubt will be repeated in our lifetime.

Beatles rant off...


Reply posted by themixfix
You're SO right!!

My theory is that The Beatles weren't REALLY only about the Music, but another chapter in the Social Evolution/Revoloution of the World, just like we have now, only, unfortunately, this time it's the evil, self destruction type, rather than the Peace, Love, and Understanding, thing!!

Bob Buontempo.


Reply posted by nightshade
There is a chapter in Steinbeck's East of Eden where the author has a little rant about how nothing original of value was ever created by committee, it was always the inspiration of one person alone.

The Beatles turned that on its ass. The solo careers served only to prove it.


Reply posted by drumsound
This is a bit off the subject, but I had an engineer tell me that he thinks the guitar on Beatles recordings is weak. I couldn't believe this! Let's look and the chain: George Harrison, John Lennon and Paul Mac--Rickenbacher, Gibson, Fender, Hofner--Vox--U47tube--EMI/Telefunken tube console--Studer J37. Yep that's a recipe for bad sound.

Tony
Oxide Lounge Recording/SanCastle Mastering


Reply posted by phat-ass
Yet another person mentions the "bad panning" in Beatles recordings. Now tell me this. How can you possibly have bad panning? That strikes me as one of the silliest comments I have heard about the Beatles. The fucking Beatles! I mean, no matter how those so-called odd stereo mixes got there they are still considered great. I've grown tired of the stereo as stage image garbage. And I kind of wish everyone else would too.

phat