cerberus wrote on Wed, 25 January 2006 23:32 |
would you please offer some comments about how you approached "Blue Train" with Page-Plant?
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It was recorded live in Studio 2 of Abbey Road. Beautiful, beautiful room. I don't recall there being any reverb added other than the room sound on this one. Maybe a little plate on the vocal. I won't remember without listening, and I don't have a copy at hand. Jimmy did the electric 12-string (including the solo) live, and I don't recall if there is any other guitar on it.
Jimmy, Robert and the band are responsible for everything you hear, and though it's nice to be complimented, I honestly don't think I can take any credit for you liking that song, other than not doing anything stupid.
The whole album was recorded (save a couple of tracks from an API at RAK studio) and mixed on a Neve VR. Not my first choice sonically, but if you don't use any of the "convenience" features, the sound to tape is fine.
The only compressor in the studio other than the desk VCAs (which I won't use except with a gun to my head), was an 1178. One side was on the bass guitar (well, on one mic of the two) in tracking, the other was on the bass drum. Robert's vocal was recorded on a Josephson C700, with a couple of dB gain reduction from a Manley Elop that I brought-in.
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I find this album to be very uneven, I really don't find the engineering on even other good tracks to stand out.. if anything, the hard panning draws attention to the mixing decisons and to my own speaker placement.
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I can't disagree there, though I don't think any of it is embarrassing. There were a couple of tracks that stood-out as sounding really nice in the end, and this was one of them. I also liked "Shining in the Light" and "Heart in Your Hand."
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Why is it a special recording to me?
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I can't tell you. I know the feeling. There are a few recordings that I have always listened-to in awe. "Hospital" by the Modern Lovers, and the whole "Fun House" album by the Stooges, for example. I sometimes feel like I've spent the last 24 years trying to make those records again, in one way or another.
If you scratch a dog's back, you occasionally find a spot where the dog seems overwhelmed by the experience and starts kicking his leg in the air, completely unconsciously, unable to contain himself with how good it feels. Sometimes what you're listening to finds that spot on you, and you can't get enough of it.