Reply posted by lory
You could possibly have bad panning because the original recordings were mono and Capitol had it head up its ass when they signed off on a master that had all the drums on the left and all the singing on the right.

I'm terribly sorry to be the poster who plunged you in deepest darkest despair because I noted something that other earthlings also noticed. Please provide a list of other hot buttons so I can consult it before I post.

How nice of you to interject your warmth into a thread about the group who gave the world All You Need is Love.


Reply posted by phat-ass
Really, I'm sorry if I came off as hostile and mean, that wasn't what I was trying to do.

Having said that... Has anyone here really tried to mix something trying to get away from the stereo as stage image idea? It's something I've been obsessed with since I noticed that a huge chunk of the song disappeared when I disconnected one speaker when listening to Revolver.

phat

PS - I hadn't ever really thought of Paul as a backup singer in those terms. I might have to agree with you.


Reply posted by lory
Revolver was originally recorded in stereo. I don't believe anyone who point out the bizarre panning on Beatles albums is talking about Beatles albums that were intended to be stereo recordings. It's the older ones reconstituted from mono.

I would also consider it sacreligious to rag on anything done by George Martin, but these stereo aberrations were done by someone at a record company, not George Martin (I have to believe). In fact, I would pay good money to buy a drum sample CD called Abbey Road that has the sounds of the kit George produced for Come Together and also sounds like the kit on all the Badfinger records.

Hopefully we cleared that up and can go back to a Beatles discussion.


Reply posted by h_steve
I finally got around to picking up Anthology 3 a few weeks ago. While everyone talks about their creative use of production techniques, I feel that these "outtakes" and alternate versions makes all of the studio tricks seem almost a waste of time. What the Anthology series shows more than anything, is that the Beatles were an amazing live band, and that a good band usually sounds at its best when it is playing together live, even just "live in the studio."

Many of the most impressive moments on this CD set are live run-thrus of songs complete with live "scratch" vocals that sound just great. This was a band that hadn't played a live gig in years but they still recorded like a band. Reading through the CD notes and the Beatles Recording Sessions book, Lennon wouldn't lay down an acoustic guitar track and then come back and start trying to nail a vocal take. He would sing and play together (to tape!) until he got an overall performance that was up to their sky-high standards.

This was a band that made good use studio technology; but they never stopped playing and recording like a band. Even on songs with countless overdubs, the basic tracks often included the entire band playing live to tape, and the recorded performances are good proof of how important that is. Just say NO to building songs one track at a time!

Steve


Reply posted by nightshade
" I've grown tired of the stereo as stage image garbage. And I kind of wish everyone else would too. "

I'm obsessive about that approach when doing a realistic purist recording, where the instruments really are all set up like that in the room, and recorded in stereo. Often that is the background for whatever overdubs come (usually not many), and I can fit them in quasi-realistically or in surreal constrast as seems appropriate.

However I agree it's kind of weak to try to get there with panned mono tracks. Many miced drum tracks constructed that way are far from convincing, especially by the time some reverb on the snare puts it in another distant room than the rest of the kit.

I do believe I know what you mean, though. If we're going surreal let's do it up, and forget about make believe stage set ups.


Reply posted by phat-ass
I think that the medium should be approached in as many interesting ways as possible. I'm not necessarily convinced that a record should sound like that band sounds live. Yes, those outtakes are stunning. And your points about them being a great live band are well taken. But, is that all we should strive for with recorded music? Surrealism might be what I'm talking about. I love surreal film.

Some of this also depends on live where? Are they in a small basement practice room? Are they in a blues club in Chicago? Are they in a perfectly designed acoustic space? Or are they live from the planet Saturn?

phat