Beatles Anthology

[jjb]

VH1 recently showed "The Beatles Anthology, Part 1". Regardless of the shameless commercial link to the Sept 9 release of The Beatles: Rockband, the anthology was both nostalgic and informative (I'd never seen it before). Got me thinking...am I the only one who enjoys the Beatles alot and still writes songs in that genre? I'm posting one I wrote about a month ago, trying to capture the energy and simplicity of their 1963-ish stuff. So, chime in. And post your own composition.

jjb

[garageband]

I love this. I would swap out the word "woman" for "girl" toward the front. I might EQ the master a bit differently and thin it out considerably, almost to the point of anorexia. Oh, and too mics on the kit. Still: awesome.

[jjb]

Thanks, Garageband. You're exactly right as to how I should have mixed/eq'ed. Did one version sort of like that, but the less anorexic/authentic version sounded sweeter. I'll post a more 1963-sounding mix. BTW, the drums are an electronic drum kit.

Now, where are you other Beatles fan-boys (or girls) and your tracks?

[jjb]

While waiting for the tsunami of posts to arrive, I re-mixed using the (free) Izotope Vinyl plugin. On the individual tracks, cranked down the vox volumes about 2db and the drum volume around 4db. Then processed it thru Izotope in the 2bus with these settings:
Input Gain -3db
Wear 10%
Dust -26db
Year 1960
RPM 45

On the version "with scratch" added 1 scratch at -50db.

jjb

[TheJoker]

Haha, wierd. I was listening to the 'white album' as I saw this thread.
I have actually been listening to all their stuff a lot lately, in fact it's pretty much all I've had on for the past month now that I think of it

Been pondering doing some writing in that vein but haven't had the time - hopefully soon.

By the way, really like your track, and the one processed with Vinyl sounds great. Gonna go take a look that plugin....

[shackman]

I got the new Beatles stuff at the start of September for my radio show. What AMAZES me about the digital remasters is that what I (as a kid learning usic) perceived to be tight-as harmonies and tight-as drumming are actaully looser than (fill in the gap).

Lennon and McCartney DON'T sing in perfectly phrased hamronies. One's ending a word as another gets half way through etc, or one of them comes in "late".

On one track (I don't recall which, the tom-toms (hand played - congas??) on the first verse are mixed as though they'd been put between the singer and the mic. Then, on verse two, they move to one side and way further back.

The entire remix has been done tatsefully and it's been allowed to expose the flaws.
Kinda set me to thinking maybe they were SO good because they were factory timed, click track perfect, automation edited like so much of the c**p we have to put up with today.

[garww]

I've yet to understand the point of a re-mix/re-master in many cases : ) Mobile Fidelity did pretty good in not messing with the enjoyment factor.

[OldDog]

JJB,

I liked it, but I have to say, your voice is pretty much perfect for early Neil Young material, I am envious! Mine has been favorably compared to a misfiring lawnmower.......

[NymphadoraHexx]

I really like your song, and feel you've quite captured that "Beatle" feel. Your first mix seems a wee bassy, but years of amplifiers has taken its toll on my high end hearing. Could be my headphones, as well. Your vinyl mixes are very enlightening as that is how we all had to listen to music back then. We only had two worries in the 60's....did the record skip, and which way do you hold your AM transistor radio...towards NYC, on it's side, surround sound...that meant the radio was surrounded with hair curlers..lol

[jjb]

Joker: Thanks, and yeah try it out. Its easy and does a good job.

OldDog: Never thought much of my voice; I always did backup singing. Thanks for the comment.

Nymph: Thanks. My high freq hearing went out with the constant barrage of my Fender Twin Reverb at 10 and me right in front of it at all those bars and clubs. Great insight into the 60's from one who was also there.

jjb