Breaking Down Classic Rock
 

There was a series of videos a decade or so ago where the original producers - or the artists themselves - went back to the original multi-track recordings and showed how they "made" the finished music we heard on our LPs and CDs.

But for the last year or so a guy on our local FM station (yes, they do still exist!) did the same thing, as you can hear below.

How do he do this?

http://www.thesoundla.com/blogs/christian-james-hand/mitm-clips-breaking-down-police’s-“so-lonely”

Another - Steely Dan this time.

These "breakdowns" demonstrate (sometimes even better than the finished product) the great talent of the artists, but also the talents of the producers!

https://podfanatic.com/podcast/christian-hand-song-breakdowns/episode/steely-dan-do-it-again

There are sometimes individual instrument tracks "out there" to find. For example, I have quite a few mp3s of John Bonham banging the drums, a few of them you can hear very muted guitar or vocals, but not much.

Well I just blew through an hour and a half listening to some of these. I had heard the Steely Dan breakdown before and it is so telling how minimalist they were but produced such a huge sound. Zeppelin, Rush and the Who are huge too for different reasons.
I love how these tracks really highlight the artistry of these folks.

I hear them in the morning sometimes when I am flipping stations. Pretty cool I think.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ChONufP0FEs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I heard White Rabbit. That was cool

Here, try it yourself.
Download aprogram called Audacity.

Then download this.
https://mega.nz/#!gsYGXRKQ!KgEcHQ6ECxWWvWqHb9SUMiNB2KhsP9uctaMATTd 6sgw
and load it up.

Wanna break down some Doobie Brothers? Beatles? Jethro Tull? Rolling Stones?

I've got a collection of these over 100GB. From Alice Cooper to Zeppelin. 25 tracks Boston, 16 track Skynyrds, 60+ track Michael Jacksons... just got "Thriller" a couple weeks ago.

Have fun.

You will appreciate this

Yes!! That gave me chills when I heard it. Gave me newfound appreciation for that song.

to me it sounds like they may have gotten the original recordings in separate tracks. they are just to "clean".
I have played with some software that strips instruments/vox and it has never been as good as the police one, although what I have used was free stuff.

there is/was a TV show that went back in the studio with bands and broke down the original recordings of their albums. steely dan was one. I LOVED that show.

I have audacity already.
what is the program you suggest to load up?

More of a documentary about a classic album:
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jUBnS5G34IM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Fun!
Shows how clear a vision they had before they even set down the first note. Visualize the whole and then break it into it's components.
If I was on a desert island with only 2 artists discography it would be Steely Dan and Little Feat...

This is cool too. Gives some insight in to SD's process:
https://youtu.be/waIBA6_0GQc

There's a good Little Feat documentary on now at Netflix streaming.

(Fun Fact! Lowell used a Craftsman 11/16 sparkplug socket for a slide!)

"because you can go most anywhere and find a Sears store..."

Less and less true anymore....

I'm going to date myself here.... I saw PF at the Spectrum in Philly in '73 or thereabouts when they were touring Dark Side... To say it was epic would be an understatement. The Spectrum was the stadium where the '76'ers and the Flyers played - your typical 360º sports arena. They projected sound up and around the arena bouncing it off of the walls and ceiling.... was an early experience of "herb" for me too....

Used to visit George Martin's Caribbean recording studio "AIR Studio Montserrat" back in the 1980's until Hurricane Hugo destroyed it. Worked floating neutral current issues - funky power on the island. Listened to The Police, Jimmy Buffet and several more as they laid down tracks that George Martin then put together with his 58 channel/24-track +/- 15volt rail Neve mixing board to get a finished product. Even once got to help Sting fix his Spridget - stranded on the side of an island road on a Sunday morning.

Somewhere got a T-shirt George gave me. (Photobucket sux.)

YAY! Found it!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...d/IMG_0658.jpg

https://ichef-1.bbci.co.uk/news/660/...montserrat.jpg

https://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net...20140415045533

https://68.media.tumblr.com/93fcf638...fihao1_500.jpg

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ndPanwYW2Ug/maxresdefault.jpg

That's AWESOME! Every time I spin that album (which is quite often), that body of work never disappoints. It's such breathtaking collection of songs and production. I play it all the way through, nearly every time!