Recreating The Beatles Tones with Clay Blair at Boulevard Recording
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- Опубліковано 11 бер 2018
- ➡️➡️Learn more about recreating the Beatles here: producelikeapro.com/blog/recr...
➡️➡️Watch / Listen to the finished song here: bit.ly/2IlQouL
➡️➡️Check out the J37 Tape emulator: bit.ly/2DvsZ6F
➡️➡️Get Re-Recording The Beatles 'Abbey Road' with Clay Blair here: promixacademy.com/course/re-r...
➡️➡️Get Re-Recording the Beatles 'Let It Be' with Clay Blair Volume 2 here: promixacademy.com/course/re-r...
➡️➡️Check out Boulevard Recording: boulevardrecording.com/
➡️➡️Check out Boulevard Recording on Facebook: / boulevardrecording
Clay Blair is the head engineer and owner of Boulevard Recording in Hollywood-and a huge Beatles fan.
In this video, Clay set out to capture the tones heard on The Beatles’ Abbey Road; more specifically, those found on “Come Together.” He did so using many of the original instruments, microphones, mic preamps, and miking techniques, like AKG D19s and Chandler REDD.47 valve preamps. The Chandler amps are faithful reproductions of the 47s found in EMI REDD.51 consoles at Abbey Road Studios!
Unusual by today’s standards, Clay recreated engineer Geoff Emerick’s drum miking techniques which were used on nearly everything from Sgt. Pepper’s to Abbey Road. The setup consisted of a modest 7 microphones: five AKG D19s, a D20, and a Neumann KM 56 (a 54 was used here). One D19 served as an overhead; one was used on the hi-hat; and the remainder were positioned on the bottom of the toms. The D20 was placed on the kick, and the KM 56 miked the snare-also on the bottom! Who are we to argue with Geoff Emerick?
While the recording setup varied slightly from song to song on Abbey Road, “Come Together” was recorded on a 4-track tape machine. The 7 drum tracks would have been summed to a single track with a Fairchild on it, and that was that! There weren’t even any room mics used for the drums. Any room tone heard was actually bleed from the guitar, bass, or vocal microphones. The Beatles, like many great bands of the era, tended to record live as a band, with each member baffled off from the other…far from the isolated performances we tend to capture these days, and yet it sounded incredible! Now, we’ve come to associate the sound of bleed with bands like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, whether we’re consciously aware of it or not.
Watch / Listen to the finished song here: bit.ly/2IlQouL
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Produce Like A Pro is a website which features great tips to help the beginning recordist make incredible sounding home recordings on a budget.
Hey Guys ! Just a comment about the REDD Preamps and the TG desk misconception. From Recording The Beatles "Geoff Emerick also notes that the solid-state TG desk simply didn't allow him to record the drums the same way; he recalls being particularly frustrated at not being able to capture the same bass and drum sound as he had in the past. In fact, large portions of the album (Abbey Road) were tracked on the REDD.51 desk in Studio Three, but the TG certainly had an effect when mixing" Come Together was indeed recorded in studio 3 and ACTUALLY the famous 3M 8 track machines used on this album were not available so it was also recorded on the J37 tape machine. It was then dumped to the 8 track machine in studio 2 for the guitar solo, hand claps and the Rhodes piano solo. Hope this answers any misgivings ! Happy to answer any other questions I can as well regarding this session.
Thanks for making this video, and showing us all the different settings on the amps...very cool!
AMAZING bass sound you captured during this session!! Question: is that a modern Rickenbacker or a vintage bass? I have re-read Geoff Emerick's book many times, and it's important to let people know of his contribution to The Beatles' sound. Great video all round - well done to everyone involved.
It's a Rickenbacker 4001C64 which is their reissue of the Rick bass that McCartney had. The 64 vintage Rickenbacker basses are VERY rare.
Thanks for the info.
Assume these clips include all the bleed channels - correct?
The engineer has his shirt inside out. That confirms the guy knows his shit.
Haha I can't remember if he had a logo on it? But, yes, he does really know his schnitzel!
definitely knows his shit, but does he know his shirt?
Maybe Dirty on the other Side 😜
priorities!!
He wears it one week the right way and then the next week inside out. Saves laundry.
I didn't understand this video at first, so I turned my t-shirt inside out and watched it again. Everything makes sense now. Thank you.
The irony is that the Beatles thought the REDD consoles looked awful, old, like a RAF bomber...they were actually into modern looking stuff, and would have been happy recording with an iphone. Now we have the iphone and of course we like vintage...those REDDs look so cool to us.
It's about the sound.
I love how they look Fer Abra! I'm not sure they disliked how they looked!
Agreed! It is ALL about the sound Timothy!
The "RAF bomber" quote is from a Paul McCartney interview on the "Complete Beatles Recording Sessions" book (off the top of my head). They probably thought they looked great in 62, and it is about the sounds, of course.@@Producelikeapro
paul said "we liked quality loss" (about overdub on a tape)
So, I don't think so, they would like to have more tracks and stuff, but they liked analog sound, preamps valves ecc
The nerd level of this video is seriously off the charts. I dig it though :)
Haha I love a high level of nerdiness! I relate to that wholeheartedly! Haha
hahahaha. Thanks for the laugh.
Fully agree) much respect
B.B. King and Doris Day, Matt Busby .... dig it 😉
Oh yeah, you can’t help but nerd out
RIP, Geoff Emerick.
Yes, terrible news!! RIP Geoff Emerick!
Glyn John's underestimated genius
I am SO pleased you covered this particular track. I LOVE the production (especially the drums) on this track
I watched this twice!
Absolutely outstanding content!
Keep up the marvelous work, Warren and let's not forget the CREW.
Man, you are one of the most pleasant people on earth - it's such a treat to hear you talk about this stuff because of the genuine enthusiasm you clearly have for the craft. Thank you for taking the time to explain this information!
Jesse Smith tanks ever so much my friend!!
And once again, thank you Warren and Clay for sharing this with us. Marvelous as always
You're very welcome! Special thanks to Clay and Chandler for providing the equipment!
I absolutely love this level of detail, and the knowledge and passion you guys have is fantastic.
And of course I'm a Beatles fan.
An excellent video.
17:09 "I've never PERSONALLY had a good time with twins"
Wtf is that guy on
You gotta have someone else carrying them. Much better then!
I had a regular gig that I had to fly to once a month. The soundman had a twin for me as backline. He often asked me to turn down which was almost impossible without it becoming painfully clean. It had so much headroom.
Phenomenal! Great video and the Clay Blair recording sounded superb!
Some fantastic talent involved in every aspect of this video. Thanks so much!
Thx Warren! Just watched the video of Clay's performance. Wow! Such a talented musician! So well done. Thanks both for the tour and mic techniques as well. Very informative and educational.
Fantastic Ken! I'm so glad you enjoyed it! Clay did an amazing job!!
"Look at all the pretty colors!". I just want to be in that room man! This is the Kings gold, Warren. You are a very hard working but fortunate man.
Thank you ever so much! Yes, so much fun being able to do this with Clay! He's a great guy!
It was really awesome you guys could come together right now to do this. Really interesting... cheers!!
Thanks ever so much Jonas! You Rock!
Went and watched the finished product on Vimeo. Its amazing how close the audio quality is to the original. Great job
What a bass sound... Sound so autentic and good amazing
That was Fab! (Sorry couldn't resist). The play-through via link, just amazing. Clay and you guys nailed it.
Haha thanks ever so much Chris!!
Love this Beatles stuff. So glad I found your channel
Thanks ever so much
Amazing as always! Clay, thank you for the history and education!
Hi Scott Myers yes! Clay did an amazing job!!
Omg, that guitar sound is SPOT ON! Love this video!
Talks ever so much Ben! Yes, Clay did an amazing job!!
I would have liked to see something on the guitar solo. Doesn't sound like a Gibson. George's Strat or the rosewood Tele
Maybe with some delay?
@@doitnowvideosyeah5841 Lennons Casino perhaps? I had thought all the guitar work could have been just John?
Thanks guys. This was crazy good. Very insightful. Loved it.
This is amazing!!! Gorgeous post!!! Thank you for this
I just geeked out massively watching this.
Incredible! Such knowledgeable people! Thanks Warren and Clay!
Thanks ever so much!!
Wow - hats off! The work, not to mention the research that went into this is really impressive. The final product is really quite amazing.
Thanks ever so much Justin!! You Rock!
Ringo was/is a left hand guy but plays a right handed kit, the drum pattern on the toms was played from right to left, starting on the floor tom.
Yeah I noticed that too, it kind of bothers me when people play it left to right even though I know its probably natural to play that way, but y'know
Yep, I have seen Ringo show how he played it in a video.
No way. Listen to the original. I know Ringo tells another story😊Anyway it’s the high pitch tom first. On UA-cam you can hear the isolated drums.
Best Regards
Bjarne
That was super nice! Thanks both of you! :-D
Thanks ever so much Claudius!!
You guys (and gals) probably have the best, most fun jobs in the world! Massively interesting/entertaining/informative video too. Enjoyed it immensely, thanks.
Thanks ever so much! Yes, we are a collection of guys and gals! Not quite 50/50 but getting close! Haha
Fascinating stuff, thanks for posting and keep up the great work.
A labour of love. This is great. Thanks so much.
loved that clay talked about the compression and how it affected the kick and cymbal. its a sound ivebeen hearing for ever but have never been able to put my finger on
I second the J37 tape emulation plugin! The first time I ever used one I was in love (mainly for the saturation).
Also, his mic bleed idea for people recording on their own is genius!
Great video with some wonderful insights. Great performance too from Clay, talented guy. The J37 is a great plug in too, I also blast it over everything, it adds so much warmth and body.
Thanks ever so much my friend! Yes, Clay is a wonderful guy, great insight and humility! Yes, I love that plug in!
I do actually prefer the J37 to the Kramer or Slate tape emus. They have a pretty much binary tone apart from tape speed. The tonality on the J37 is so much more user-friendly. Plus the saturation is lovely on bass and drum busses
Really interesting and given the limitation of a single player recording, and the size of the room the results were remarkably good. Great job!
Fantastic watch and fascinating lesson. The end result is superb!
Thanks ever so much!!
Very well done. Awesome equipment you have there.
Awesome feature, super in depth. The moment spent talking about the bass recording approach was Incredibly enlightening after 20 to 30 years of hearing that come together bass line, learning it as a term and wondering how it is exactly recorded and played.
You all made Mark Lewisohn proud even!
Well
The cover is so good. Really well played. A true homage to the people, the time, the equipment, and the place.
Thanks a lot keep up the good work I can’t get enough of this
he really nailed that song!
Yes, Skylar, agreed! Clay did an amazing job!
Oh Boy !!!! Thank You Warren !!!!!!
Hi Ricky, thank YOU!!
Great video :D and the track sounds amazing, thanks!
Brilliant! Thank you for this!
Great interview and secrets!!!
Thanks ever so much!
Absolutely loved that !
Thanks ever so much Kenny!!
Really great video! Clay is talented and you guys pulled it off!...I'd swear I WAS LISTENING TO ABBEY ROAD!
Fascinating ! Thanks !
that was awesome, great video
Very very nice indeed. Marvellous job.
Thanks ever so much Andy!!
Just watched the Video....Totally outstanding!!!!!! blown away
I listened to your full recording. Wow, it's amazingly similar to the beatles recording. Well done!
I agree! Clay did a wonderful job!
wow another great video ,thank u Warren
Loved this, thank you! 👍
Great job guys!!!!
The video I've always wanted!
Thanks ever so much Calero!! Glad to be able to help!
Hats off to Mr Blair there mind, talk about attention to detail, he’s absolutely nailed on every single part and nuance of the song. How fantastic!
Perfect episode - could listen tio Clay talk about The Beatles for ever. Privilege to see inside the studio too.
Thanks ever so much Richard!!
And doesn't that Princeton Reverb sounds absolutely incredible :-)
Excellent video, bravo!
Thanks ever so much Jacob!!
Wow! This is absolutely incredible! Warren, how could you forget that mic!!! haha
Thanks ever so much Matthew!
Fascinating... thanx guys!
Hi Kahlid!! Thanks ever so much my friend!!
Wow the video is fantastic. It sounds incredible.
Just had a look at the Vid, well done Mate, Bang on!
Thanks ever so much my friend!!
Incredible stuff. Scary how close that is.
Quote from Steve Jones: "It was all [recorded] on a Fender Twin as far as I remember. It was a special Twin that had Gauss speakers in there that made it very middy and not so trebly. I had a couple of Gibson Les Pauls as well: there was a black [1954] Les Paul [Custom] and my white [1974] Les Paul.”
I'm honestly genuinely frightened by the reality of how hard Jones had to push that Twin to get those tones. Poor Paul Cook must be fully deaf in his left ear.
nice info thanks warren and clay
I love these plugins and I really love the user interfaces and how they look aged slightly. As a graphic designer I wish I had some resources on how to create these types of graphics, the knobs the sliders the housing and vu meters and such
Awesome Video Dudes!!!
Thanks ever so much my friend!
fabulous video and information, thanks.
Wow! Thanks ever so much!!
Great tip about keeping the other mics live for a bleed sound. Thanks Warren.
KILLIN' IT!!!!
Just listened to the track on Vimeo... Clay totally SLAY'D IT!! Dude is totally Lennonesque. That was beautiful, thanks for sharing it with all of us :)
Thanks Jonas !!
I agree Jonas! Clay did an amazing job!!
WOWOWOWOWOWOWOW Damn I just watched the finished video, SO GOOD! rock on :)
The guitar tones are uncannily close to the original, however the drums need more of that high mid crunchiness.
Thanks for sharing Czszy!!
Yes! The glyn johns-esque over heads with a mic on the bottom of the snare. Love it. Especially with the Abbey Road filter plugin on it.
If you cut drums, and set up other mics such as the gtr amp mic, the bass amp mic, piano mic, just to get the bleed, or the “cheap bleed”, then you need to process those tracks just as you would if those tracks were “real”. Meaning you would have to process the gtr amp bleed mic the same as you would process the gtr. And pan it as such. Your options are incredible with the “cheap bleed” (as far as panning, eq, compression, volume, reverb) but the beauty about bleed is your stuck with it on there (after you’ve gone through lengths to minimize it) and then the bleed falls where it may. (Once you process and pan and place the other tracks). This to me that is the true beauty of bleed. There’s is much haphazardness involved that the lack of control, after recording, is special. Great video. Cheers
First CD I ever bought was the Beatles 1967-1970, always get goosebumps listening to those songs
I have the same approach as Clay on t-shirts too, before I change it I’ll just turn it inside out for another day of use. Great video again Warren.
Glad someone caught that :) Actually had split some coffee but hey flip it around, its a white shirt, its still there !!
That guitar tone is SO useable. Wonderful stuff.
I was an intern at this studio back when it was called Westbeach. Awesome room!
Very informative! Thanks for sharing.
Outstanding!
jammin6816 thanks ever so much!!
One word. Great! :-) There is a real art to using restraint and not over-playing or over-producing an old classic using today's knowledge and skills.
awesome thank you for doing this :)
Thanks ever so much Daniel!!
You guys are recreating legends
Thanks ever so much
Wow, great video! Love the beatles. That bass sound is dead on :-)
Thanks ever so much Martin! Agreed 100%! Great sound!
Great video, pretty much nailed it! Those Fender amps do have a certain sound when they break up even without any pedals.
Songs from Abbey Road that were recorded in Studio 3 at Abbey Road using the REDD.51 Desk NOT the TG Desk : Come Together, Oh Darling, Octopus's Garden, Something, The End.... "20 of the 36 tracking days were done in Studio 3 during Abbey Road." So even overdubs were done on the REDD desk on some songs as well. The only song NOT MIXED on the TG desk on Abbey Road was "She's So Heavy" Which was actually recorded at Trident but MIXED on the REDD.51 desk in studio 3.
Thanks ever so much fro the great detail and clarification Clay! You Rock my friend!
My mistake. I know that Brian Epstein had done a deal with VOX in the very early days that was an exclusive while he was still their manager, that's what influenced my comment.
I've had a few conversations with Richard Lush who was one of the Beatles engineers, he now lives in Sydney and has done since coming here to set up EMI Sydney.
abbey road was the first album with the tg solid state desk but i think the only one was in studio two so all the songs done not in studio two would have still been the redd desks the mixing was mostly done on the tg but alot of that sound from the redd desks are still in there i have a question also which redd desk from waves would be more beatles time period and more used by them the 37 or the 51 and for a beatles vibe would you reccomend using the redd or the tg?
Id say the REDD for Beatles vibe as 95% of their records were tracked on them. The 37 and 51 were used a lot. If you mean the REDD 17 plugin, that desk was only used on the first LP Please Please Me and used V72's instead of the REDD.47 preamp and lineamps, bit of a softer sound.
i ment did they use the 37 or the 51 more because one the wave version both are in the same plugin but u can toggle back and forth and i was wondering should which one was more authentic
another quick thing is Ringo played all 3 toms on this song, you can hear it especially on the new mixes. and they were defiantly full tea toweled on top, not hanging off. I've messed so much with both those techniques, you can def hear they are all the way on But thank you so much for this its so so cool!
Awesome! So informative.
Hi Marco, thank you ever so much!!
THANKS Warren!
Thank you very much!!
Anyone else notice the neck on the Rickenbacker 4001? Dot fret markers, reverse headstock, and truss rod cover. Super cool, super rare bass!
Nice dudes, congtats to the video and the final result, you got it really close and nicely done. One thing I missed on it is that you didn't mentioned anything about the keys, witch gives a completely different vibe in the mood of this music. You could show him doing/recording the electric piano with more details, if it was microphoned, how you did it, etc.. but anyway, congrats to the job and you got a new fan from Brazil. Cheers!
9:00 now thats a nice bass tone. Great video! thanks for sharing.
I've read and watched a lot about the RS 124 but have never heard the tidbit about the serial numbers and attack and release times. That's an amazing idea by Chandler Limited and only adds to the authenticity of the product
Hi Friends, The Beatles, like many great bands of the era, tended to record live as a band, with each member baffled off from the other…far from the isolated performances we tend to capture these days, and yet it sounded incredible! Clay Blair, the head engineer and owner of Boulevard Recording, recreated engineer Geoff Emerick’s drum miking techniques which were used on nearly everything from Sgt. Pepper’s to Abbey Road. There weren’t even any room mics used for the drums! Any room tone heard was actually bleed from the guitar, bass, or vocal microphones. Check the video and let us know what you think!
Thank you ever so much for that MARVELLOUS video, Warren!
Thanks Reverend Eslam! I loved being able to do this!
'...and yet it sounded incredible'.... 'And yet'? Or 'therefore'? Great live performances have unbeatable vibe.
Exactly snippletrap! That's the exact point, not matter how you record it an amazing performance will always win!!
One of the best sounds I ever got on a hard rock band was in a 1000 square foot studio, with about a 30 foot ceiling in San Francisco. It was a studio built for the video game company Sega to record their video game music. It was all concrete and live as hell. I put the drummer in a corner, and the Bass and Guitar amps off to either side, baffled off from the drums. Btw, all I had were dynamic mic's. I had SM57's for the guitar amp, snare, toms, and overheads, and Sennheiser MD-421's for the Bass amp, and kick. Massive sound. Bleed in you're recordings is a marvelous thing, at least for the basic tracks. Thanks for the great video Warren.
love this audio geek out ! great
For future reference, you are allowed by law to play up to 15 seconds of any copyrighted recording and you are allowed to do your own full cover versions of copyrighted material.
Thanks ever so much for the comment! Unfortunately it’s a strike first and then appeal afterwards situation! However, we have worked around this now and for future videos I don’t expect there to be an issue. Many thanks Warren
Just gotta say -- I just finished listening to the finished track and you guys absolutely NAILED IT. Your next challenge: can you duplicate your success entirely IN THE BOX using virtual drums, amp sims, and plug-ins??
Aw shucks! Thanks ever so much Gordon! You Rock my friend!! Yes, Clay did an amazing job here!!
I always use the J37 on my master fader, it really ties everything together well, the best thing is I got it in sale for $29!