I wish I had engineered this song ....

[Drumstruck]

Perhaps a topic worth a thread? There must be songs you love the recording / engineering of and wish you were there......... if I had recorded this one I'd call myself an engineer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... AuoNa5g6i8


Man, what a voice!!

[ChrisW]

Nightmare session though.
This was the kind of bread and butter work for guys like Geoff Emerick.
Massive ensemble, no time to set up, four tracks to play with, everything played live.
Three hour Cilla Black/Bacharach session from 9am, then The Beatles from 2pm well into the night.

Fabulous song, fabulous performances, and magic, spine tingling session.

[Chris H]

...........not to mention riding the fader on the vox channel and nailing it!

[Wiz]

really impressive.

remember we were discussing a while back, the vocal of freddie mercury, and I was asking about compression. Watch Cilla's distance from the U67, think of inverse square law....then wonder about what I said about compression, vs mic technique... 8)


and as I posted this, someone posted fader riding...and there is the answer... 8)

The level control is so good, and I cant really hear significant compression, and yet its controlled...


fader riding

bingo!


now, If only I could do that, and sing at the same time...


8)

[The Tasmanian]

Yes - if had been done today by most engineers they would have strapped a few compressors over the lead vocal, making her sound smaller when she was going for bigger dynamics.

Also - for those who noticed, she does NOT pull back from the big notes.
This is never really talked about in our game.
If she had of pulled back from the mic then the high and loud notes would have sounded shrill (more distance is less fatness - when you need the low end the most).
The lesson's here is (as wiz say's) Fader riding, staying right on the mic, use compression as a final safety device, and have a copy of the lyric in front of you so that you know where and when to work the fader.

No headphones - you gotta love that.

[Wiz]

Yes - if had been done today by most engineers they would have strapped a few compressors over the lead vocal, making her sound smaller when she was going for bigger dynamics.

Also - for those who noticed, she does NOT pull back from the big notes.
This is never really talked about in our game.
If she had of pulled back from the mic then the high and loud notes would have sounded shrill (more distance is less fatness - when you need the low end the most).
The lesson's here is (as wiz say's) Fader riding, staying right on the mic, use compression as a final safety device, and have a copy of the lyric in front of you so that you know where and when to work the fader.

No headphones - you gotta love that.

and also, I guess this leads us to why headroom is important, in all things, mic, preamp,A-D , Compressor, etc


really enjoyed the clip

[Kurt]

There is a lot of fader movement going on but I think you're giving Miss Black less credit for her performance than she deserves. She does actually change distances a fair bit, she also drops her head down and left or tips her head up, directing her voice away from the mic. There's some clipping at around 1:45 though, the engineer missed one

Looking at the distance the back up singers are from their mic, it must have been a very quiet live room!

Sir George Martin produced it at Abbey road, so I'm sure they had access to some great compression too.

Yes - if had been done today by most engineers they would have strapped a few compressors over the lead vocal, making her sound smaller when she was going for bigger dynamics.

Also - for those who noticed, she does NOT pull back from the big notes.
This is never really talked about in our game.
If she had of pulled back from the mic then the high and loud notes would have sounded shrill (more distance is less fatness - when you need the low end the most).
The lesson's here is (as wiz say's) Fader riding, staying right on the mic, use compression as a final safety device, and have a copy of the lyric in front of you so that you know where and when to work the fader.

No headphones - you gotta love that.

[Drumstruck]

I noticed that little clipping too Kurt, and the way Cilla directs her voice over the mic for some of the big notes - a class act that lady.

See the nicely positioned baffles too - and the back wall looks like it's made of brick - I assume quite live.

The room 'verb at the very end is beautiful - it just falls like a curtain.

[The Tasmanian]

She's moving her head - not stepping back which a lot of singers do these days.
Singers were trained to move the head for plosives and control big notes with their own dynamic - not pull back.
I give her all of the credit

[toddd]

Nightmare session though.
This was the kind of bread and butter work for guys like Geoff Emerick.
Massive ensemble, no time to set up, four tracks to play with, everything played live.
Three hour Cilla Black/Bacharach session from 9am, then The Beatles from 2pm well into the night.

Sounds more like a dream than a nightmare!

[ChrisW]

Both.
Definitely the kind of work one aspires to. But you've got to be able to handle the pressure.

[Kurt]

Not these days, who records a whole song in one session?! OMG, you must be kidding! Can't we play some sloppy drums, go away while you spend hours editing them, someone has to program the orchestral parts.....

Both.
Definitely the kind of work one aspires to. But you've got to be able to handle the pressure.

[Engininja]

Spotted some of this footage in a newish BBC George Martin doco.
Thought I'd post the link for you all.

http://veehd.com/video/4639715_BBC-Aren ... he-Beatles