Singing Beatles' Music Live

paul_yan · Post by **paul_yan** » Fri Jul 23, 2004 11:26 pm

As far as I know, Ken Townshend (engineer who worked, before Geoff Emerick, with George Martin on The Beatles' recordings before Revolver) came up with the ADT (Artificial/Auto Double Tracking) treatment for John who got tired of singing an actual "support" track that was required to follow the main track very closely, in the aspects of pitches and timings. The process was to re-record a recorded vocal track onto a separate machine which had been modified with a variable oscillator, causing the tape speed (and therefore the pitch) to fluctuate slightly up and down, playing 25-50 milli-seconds after the original tape. The "effect' track was then blended with the original vocal track in the mix. The oscillation caused slight variations of pitch and timing than the original making the sum sounds like John did the vocal twice. It's quite similar to the "chorus" effect but the latter has a shorter delay time, 10-25 milli-seconds.

Another way to do it is to playback the recorded vocal track with the tape machine in "Sync" mode, record the output from the sync head to another track on the same tape, vary the tape speed up and down a little while recording. After this is done mix the song with all tracks in "Sync" mode with the exception of the "dubbed" vocal track in "Repro" (or "Replay" on some machines) mode.

Most of the modern-day multi-effects processors(Lexicon, Eventide, Yamaha, Roland, Digitech, Boss, etc.) have the ADT program.

Lawton,
The most convenient way to get ADT is to add a mono chorus effect (in case your FX processor doesn't have an ADT program) to your vocal:
Delay time-----------20-50 ms.
Modulation range/depth-----------less than medium
Modulation rate/speed-------------slower than medium
Feedback/Regeneration------------none

In a 2002 MIX magazine interview, Geoff Emerick also talked about using the ADT. Here's the bit:

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MIX: I'm confused about how you were doing ADT — Automatic Double-Tracking — back then.

GE: It's funny you should say that, because not long ago, when I saw Jack Douglas, who had worked with John, he said to me, in a humorous kind of way, “How did you do that ADT? I could never get the copy tape to go fast enough to actually lie on top of the original voice like it was double-tracked.”

From his question, I got the feeling the tape was going so fast it was about to go up in smoke; John must have told him you could do it while you were recording, but actually you could only do it when you were remixing. You have to take the signal of the vocal from the sync head. So, you're mixing off the replay head. The sync is in advance, and you put it into another ¼-inch tape machine, then you put that on frequency control and you slow it down. You're not trying to advance it; it's already advanced. You're just slowing it down. The trick is taking it off the sync head.

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Here's the interview should anyone be interested:

http://mixonline.com/recording/interviews/audio_geoff_emerick/index.html

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"I want the ADT, Geoff!"

leftybass · Post by **leftybass** » Sat Jul 24, 2004 2:07 am

The Beatles when playing live had absolutely no vocal effects(delay,ADT etc..) they just played and sang. The technology simply did not exist outside of the studio.

Had it been around,I think they would have jumped all over it...just imagine how they would have sounded through a modern system with real-time pitch control and all the other goodies available today...

oreca · Post by **oreca** » Sat Jul 24, 2004 11:06 am

They just used to plug and play through their amps

For most part of their touring anyways...

lawton · Post by **lawton** » Sat Jul 24, 2004 12:32 pm

<quote>
Lawton,
The most convenient way to get ADT is to add a mono chorus effect (in case your FX processor doesn't have an ADT program) to your vocal:
Delay time-----------20-50 ms.
Modulation range/depth-----------less than medium
Modulation rate/speed-------------slower than medium
Feedback/Regeneration------------none
</quote>

Paul, Thanks for the suggestion. We have the capability to actually double our vocals live by splitting/jumpering the mic inputs into a second channel. Handling it that way (actually doubling), would you suggest using delay & flange rather than chorus?

paul_yan · Post by **paul_yan** » Sat Jul 24, 2004 1:42 pm

Lawton,
You're welcome.

IMHO, a mono chorus effect with very little modulation depth and moderate speed, no feedback, and 20-50 ms delay time is the closest thing to ADT.

Pure delay (0 or >0 feedback) with no modulation doesn't have that "2 identical, but not exactly the same, voices singing together" character but just a constant "sonic copy" behind the vocal.

The swooshing personality of the flange effect might be too colourful and metalic sounding. However, you can get some interesting "flanged double vocal" thing by flanging the vocal's delay (20-50ms, no feedback). Or you can replace the flange with a phaser which is like a compromise between chorus and flange.

Splitting/jumpering the mic inputs into a second channel doesn't yield a doubling effect but just increases the volume because the original mic signal and the split/jumped are totally in phase with each other if the latter is not altered/treated with effects, EQ, compression, etc.

Just my humble 2 cents.

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Sat Jul 24, 2004 7:50 pm

A singer I play with plays in another band with the keyboard player Bill Briggs from The Remains who toured with The Beatles on their final tour. (Boston band) and he said when they showed up the had Hanley sound from Boston doing their sound and it was a big system for the day, someone from The Beatles looked at the little PA they had (two voice of the theatres, haha!) and they hired Hanley sound right on the spot. Also The Remains couldn't use their Fender Amps they had to use The Beatles Vox Super Beatles and I guess they didn't like the sound of the transistorized amps. This was in a book that Barry Tashian wrote about the tour from their perspective. Actually the book is available on their website, I just checked.

admin · Post by **admin** » Sun Jul 25, 2004 3:35 am

Thanks Bob. It would be very interesting to hear what system Hanley Sound used and any effects if any.

admin · Post by **admin** » Sun Jul 25, 2004 3:36 am

Paul: Your recommendation on simulating ADT with the chorus, instead of the delay, works very well. The slightest addition of reverb doesn't hurt either.

shamustwin · Post by **shamustwin** » Mon Jul 26, 2004 7:59 am

I recall on some early Beatles' albums, they list the tracks and who is singing, and if the vocal was double tracked, it says so. I have always felt those involved didn't want people to think they were being "tricked". I wonder how many "artists" today would admit, in writing, the use of automatic pitch control (a computer actually corrects your off notes) on their CD's or concert programs?

wolfgang · Post by **wolfgang** » Mon Jul 26, 2004 9:06 am

hello Jerry,
a kind of ADT was used to raise the pitch of John Lennon's voice for a half tone in Good Morning, Good morning on the note when he sings "Nothing to do to SAVE his life call this wife in". As is heard on the Anthology -Version it was originally meant to sing a minor note on the word "save". This was "fixed" or altered to major by shifting the note electronically. You can hear the typical ADT sound on the first line of the song (on the Sgt. Pepper version). But this time not for voice doubling, but for shifting this single note.
Of course the rest of the song is double tracked,
two Johns singing.

paul_yan · Post by **paul_yan** » Thu Aug 05, 2004 5:31 pm

Very cool it works for you, Peter.

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Thu Aug 05, 2004 5:41 pm

I'll try to find out about Hanley sound Peter, it will probably be second ot third hand info as I don't know Bill Briggs myself, but I'll see what I can do.