So, I recently saw Paul McCartney live and wept through much of the show. Yes, actual weeping. He closed with the second half of Abbey Road, and I couldn't handle it. Needless to say this has renewed my interest in his work. Anyway, a week ago a coworker who is an audio guy recommended Geoff Emerick's book Here, There and Everywhere. For those unfamiliar with him he engineered a lot of The Beatles' work. I'm about halfway through it, and am intrigued by it. Nothing terribly technical, but good insight into the huge advancements they were making in recording. I think it's almost impossible to overstate how influential these things were. Even things like John Lennon's technical incompetence were sources of inspiration. Apparently he didn't see or care about the difficulty in seamlessly splicing two takes of different tempo and pitch.
I thought I'd share in case anyone is looking for a good read.
Comments
So what University did Geoffrey go to the learn recordings?LOL.
So what University did Geoffrey go to the learn recordings?LOL. The University of EMI. Which didn't teach him how to record the Beatles. He should have been fired for the way he recorded the Beatles! It wasn't in the way that EMI dictated how things were, to be done. So, was he right or was he wrong? He wasn't even a high school dropout. He was dismissed at 15. They already knew he wasn't college material. So how smart is it for people to be spending $80,000 to learn how to move some volume control, today? That doesn't sound very smart? Am I supposed to be impressed? I'm not.
I did it like Geoffrey but on my own.
Mx. Remy Ann David
It was a very cool "fly on the wall" perspective of a place and
It was a very cool "fly on the wall" perspective of a place and time where everyone was prolific in what they had to do... from George Martin's musical relationship with the Fabs, to Emerick's innovation in pushing the gear that was available to new heights (it was Emerick who suggested running Lennon's vocal through a Leslie to get the effect for "Tomorrow Never Knows"), to Ken Townsend's brilliant technical know-how, actually building devices - from the crude to the refined - his most notable being ADT - all in an effort to make the Fabs sound the best that they could.
So while The Beatles were incredibly talented as performers and songwriters, they did have more than just a little help from their friends. ;)
I'm not shilling for Waves here, but this is a very good interview with Ken Townsend and the invention of ADT.
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A great read. I really enjoyed it.
A great read. I really enjoyed it.