Paul McCartney, loops and Studer 4-track

MarcoPogo · Post by **MarcoPogo** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 11:50 pm

***Say, here's some interesting video of Paul McCartney and Nigel Godrich in front of an audience at Abbey Road- interesting to see them use a tape loop with chords on it, and then PM overdubs on a 4-track 1" Studer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbvzXjK0 ... re=related

I'm looking forward to watching the rest of the video, as well.

Cheers!

-MR

drumsound · Post by **drumsound** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 11:21 am

Great,
now we'll have 2 weeks of "what's the best mic for a whine glass?" threads.

That special was really great.

RefD · Post by **RefD** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 11:47 am

wasn't that on Great Performances?

i never got to see it all the way thru, i hope it gets repeated yet again.

LeedyGuy · Post by **LeedyGuy** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 2:29 pm

This is turning out to be one of my fav afternoons ever.

wow.

This guy was already my hero!

-Ken

jckinnick · Post by **jckinnick** » Tue Mar 11, 2008 2:31 pm

Yeah thats from a whole show he did about recording at Abbey Road it aired on PBS more than a year ago.

the brill bedroom · Post by **the brill bedroom** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 9:19 pm

What I wonder is if Abbey Road has their old machines like that available for people who record there now. I'm sure Macca can have anything he wants brought out of storage, but i wonder about the average band working there.

drumsound · Post by **drumsound** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 10:06 pm

the brill bedroom wrote:What I wonder is if Abbey Road has their old machines like that available for people who record there now. I'm sure Macca can have anything he wants brought out of storage, but i wonder about the average band working there.

You can check on the Abbey Road website. Chris Garges told me the TG console is available for rent.

Or soon you could just use the J37 soon to be at the Fidelitorium...

the brill bedroom · Post by **the brill bedroom** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 5:00 am

Oh I have checked out the Abbey Road website many, many times and they are notably lacking in the "list of gear" department. As far as I can tell, thy don't own a guitar amp for bands to use or anything.

Marlowe · Post by **Marlowe** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 7:37 pm

I took a tour of Abbey Road last month and they had the TG console in the control room of studio three. The halls are lined with assorted tape machines they keep to handle anything that may come up.

Their mic room is completely surreal. They have so many of everything it's just overwhelming.

the brill bedroom wrote:What I wonder is if Abbey Road has their old machines like that available for people who record there now. I'm sure Macca can have anything he wants brought out of storage, but i wonder about the average band working there.

the brill bedroom · Post by **the brill bedroom** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 10:04 am

Tell us more! Like, honest to God, I really don't know if they own a guitar amp or a drum set. It's the only studio in the world that doesn't list that sort of stuff on their website. They don't even list those tape machines you mentioned. For the most famous studio in the world, with a whole book about what gear they used in the 60's, it's pretty hard to find out info about them now. I have a long shot of recording there this year (don't want to jinx it by talking about it) and I can't even figure out what I'd need to rent to do it. It's super, crazy expensive (as well it should be) and I think you just get the room, no engineer, no free CDR at the end of the session, no souvenir T-shirt.

Marlowe · Post by **Marlowe** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 1:31 pm

I had about an hours worth of tour and saw it all except 'The Penthouse'. We started with tea in the canteen which has significantly changed since those Beatles pictures you see of them eating in there... as well as the footage of Floyd eating in there from 'Live At Pompeii'. From there we made our way to Studio 1 passing the tape machines in the halls I mentioned (and the B-3 Billy Preston used for the Let It Be sessions). Studio 1 is the big one... and it's really big with a very high ceiling. It was being setup for a classical session (piano & orchestra). It really seems old in a good way and even has a cool old smell to it unlike the other rooms. The control room (on the same level as the studio) has been totally modernized from the old days. I don't really know what board they had in there but I think I saw Neves and SSLs in the three studios. Because people were working in there were setting up we didn't hang in the control rooms for too long. From there we went to Studio 2 (drool). First we went to the studio itself. What can I say, it looks like it does in the pictures. I guess I envisioned it to be bigger than it was but it's still big with high ceilings like Studio 1. Then it was upstairs to the control room of Studio 2 where the big window looking over the studio is. It was really trippy to look through that window and see that view and think about the history of that room. The console is oriented toward the right wall if you're looking through that window, so if you were recording you'd be looking over your left shoulder (& down) to see the musicians. It seemed like a small control room and I think I would say it's the smallest of the three. From there it was on to Studio 3 where Floyd's 'Wish You Were Here' was recorded. This room was redone (80s?) and looks modern compared to the others. It's very small. While I could see it being used during the White Album for individual Beatles to work on their own stuff while Studio 2 was used by another Beatle, I couldn't imagine Floyd doing a whole record in there. It seemed the size of a basement home studio or something. Anyway, this room has lower ceilings and it all done in wood. There is an adjoining room that is completely covered in mirrors that was designed to be a very live drum room (it's about that size) but apparently it doesn't see much use for that purpose. The control room of Studio 3 seemed as big as the studio itself. They had a big SSL in there, I think, and the awesome TG desk to the side (not the very same one used on Abbey Road and Dark Side but the same model).

As far as outboard, all I could remember that stuck was the Fairchild 660 in each studio. Outside of that I think the rest was standard high-end gear.

Lastly, we checked out the mic room where they have cabinets with pull out drawers that contain LOTS and LOTS of seemingly every kind of classic and modern mic you could ever covet. Their mic collection is ridiculously awesome. It was like a dream where you find yourself somewhere and find piles of u47s and u67s and you bug out. It was astonishing.

I don't remember seeing any amps or guitars but that doesn't mean they don't have them. I didn't see everything. But, they certainly had keyboards around.

As far as the tape machines go, they're there only to deal with old formats. I am not sure that they would need to put that on their website. Also, I got the feeling that they could get you whatever you wanted. It seemed like a limitless and serious operation that is used to catering to high level recording demands.

The place was bustling. The halls were busy with clients and employees and all of the studios were in use. I was happy to see such a classic studio still going very strong and still absolutely relevant today.

It was an honor to get a chance to see inside that truly legendary studio. It still blows me away every time I think of it.

-Marlowe

PS We also swung by Trident studios (at night) so we got to see the door of the place on our way to a pub. It's tucked away down a little alleyway. Also, we stopped by 3 Saville Row where Apple Studios was as well as the Apple offices (and where the rooftop concert happened).

the brill bedroom wrote:Tell us more! Like, honest to God, I really don't know if they own a guitar amp or a drum set. It's the only studio in the world that doesn't list that sort of stuff on their website. They don't even list those tape machines you mentioned. For the most famous studio in the world, with a whole book about what gear they used in the 60's, it's pretty hard to find out info about them now. I have a long shot of recording there this year (don't want to jinx it by talking about it) and I can't even figure out what I'd need to rent to do it. It's super, crazy expensive (as well it should be) and I think you just get the room, no engineer, no free CDR at the end of the session, no souvenir T-shirt.

the brill bedroom · Post by **the brill bedroom** » Sun Mar 23, 2008 7:14 am

Well, I've got studio 2 booked for April 2 so I suppose I'll find out what's available and report back. I'm so excited to actually record there. I borrowed a friend's copy of THE BOOK (thanks, Rog) and I've been reading it feverishly.

I only have one day (all I could afford and not really at that), so i think I'm mostly going to try to do things that utilize things specific to that room; drums, pianos, U-47s. Like, i could record my bass stuff there and it would be a thrill, but I've got a Hofner at home. I do not have a Fairdchild in the home studio, notably.

mjau · Post by **mjau** » Sun Mar 23, 2008 7:43 am

Man, that room (#2) gives me goosebumps.

lee · Post by **lee** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 6:02 am

im sorry guys, but that just did not work. ugh, that was bad. i had to stop that before it was done. Paul is just too old and too out of touch to be associated with that kind of "experimental" music. Paul even says it, "i wanted to have this jingle-jangle song, but then Nigel thought we should make it hip." oh dear, it's so bogus.

Paul is an ugly girl who thinks that wearing the most expensive fashion will make her beautiful. well it doesn't, it just makes her look silly. there's nothing wrong with being ugly, until you try to cover it up with tens of thousands of dollars worth of beauty products.

jeers.

red cross · Post by **red cross** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 6:46 am

Erm, it wasn't THAT bad. He does have a habit of telling the same old stories again and again though. The "bluesy" mellotron bit was a riot.

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Paul McCartney, loops and Studer 4-track

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