Recording Ringo's Drums

kenindfw · Post by **kenindfw** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 7:22 am

I've been reading the "Recording the Beatles" book and it was pointed out that only one Beatles song has the drums recorded in Stereo. It actually turns out to be the last song they recoded for Abbey Road - "The End".

beefandbones · Post by **beefandbones** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 7:59 am

I read that in RTB, too, but I was listening to some 'Get Back' sessions this weekend on headphones, and the drums were also in stereo. Aahh, but which songs??? I'll have to go back and listen.

tennis_nick · Post by **tennis_nick** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 8:00 am

Do you mean the drums as an entity were panned left or right? or like, bass drum center, snare left, highhat right, toms fading left to right and so on?

325_fan · Post by **325_fan** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 10:27 am

In practically every shot of The Beatles in the studio, Ringo's drums have towels over the heads. I guess they didn't know how to get rid of the ring any other way.

beefandbones · Post by **beefandbones** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 10:27 am

I meant stereo as in drum fills going from ear to ear in the stereo spectrum. Maybe Glyn Johns used stereo overhead mics? That's kind of what it sounds like.

325_fan · Post by **325_fan** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 10:30 am

Maybe at the end they were able to pan the channels differently at the console.

soundmasterg · Post by **soundmasterg** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 10:33 am

They were able to pan differently at the console on the Abbey Road album because of the new TG board. It goes over this in RTB.

studiotwosession · Post by **studiotwosession** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 5:09 pm

The towels only appear in '68 (Hey Bulldog session?), the time at which Ringo said they were trying to get the sound Levon Helm had on Music from Big Pink ("the Weight" etc), which I think Levon said required no towels, only heads that had been played to death on a kit from the 20s.

http://theband.hiof.no/band_pictures/aerie/lh_71_2.html

kenindfw · Post by **kenindfw** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 6:13 pm

The drums were always given only one track - they were mono recordings. Although multiple mics were used, they all were recorded onto one track. The track can be panned to center (i.e you will hear it out of both speakers) however it is still a mono recording.

jamie · Post by **jamie** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 9:42 pm

Glenn, There were a bunch of Abbey Road Photos posted that awhile ago from the Abbey Road sessions I believe and Ringo's drums were again covered in towels so they must have continued the practice.

325_fan · Post by **325_fan** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 6:03 am

Ding ding! Right you are Jamie!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xra3UKhbG1o

studiotwosession · Post by **studiotwosession** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 6:51 am

Yes, well, Harrison and Clapton and I guess Ringo, too, were all said to be pretty into the Band at that point (Harrison, for that matter, was into them like he was into Dylan....forever.)

I think I read he said one time that when he gave his son a Walkman he made sure it had a copy of Stage Freight in it.

How loud could it have been, for Mal to seemingly be able to converse with the cops without having to shout?

What did the cops say? "We've been getting complaints...from the Stones."

When your boss sends you to stop the world's greatest band from performing their last show ever, free, it's time to get a new line of work.

expomick · Post by **expomick** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 7:58 am

Anyone ever interviewed the constables that had to stop the "concert" - are they even still alive?

beatlefreak · Post by **beatlefreak** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 8:45 am

In the movie, it looks like the cops really didn't want to stop the show - But they had a job to do. They let the Beatles finish one song, and even wait for them to play Get Back after that before forcing them to stop.

lyle_from_minneapolis · Mon Jan 15, 2007 8:52 am

Yoko didn't even get to play!