Les Girls

[Fenderman]

This morning on the train i was listening to Les Girls on my mp3 (as you do) whilst going to work (in stereo).
At one point one of the earpieces fell out my ear and i thought 'hang on a minute' i compared both left and right earpieces and realised that Hank was playing the main medody slightly higher on one channel, for years i believed it was simply double tracked, well it was double tracked but at two dfferent keys.
How did he manage to get that so precise? Not one note on either track was out of place. It must have been really difficult to do.

[Iain Purdon]

I have just listened carefully to Les Girls and it is certainly double-tracked in parts. Where there is a second part it is in harmony with the first. Is that what you are saying or is there more to it?

By the way, I also listened to The Girls in case you meant that, although I don't think you did, and heard a spurious note just before the end. Never noticed it before! (It's one of a number of bum notes in early Shadows recordings which could have been fixed but weren't. In some cases, we even deliberately reproduce them!)

[Fenderman]

It seems that Hank is playing the same melody line on the recording but one is in a slightly higher key. This is only audible on the stereo version.
If you compare it through seperate speakers you can hear the difference in key so it must have been manually double tracked, It must have been very tricky to do, i've never mastered that track!
And it was definately LES GIRLS from Summer Holiday.

[JimN]

Different key?

It's all in one key, but Hank's overdubbed guitar on the right channel is playing a harmony line for most of the song, though in parts, it produces a unison line.

Offhand it sounds a major third higher than the main melody.

[GoldenStreet]

Definitely all in the key of C... I've just been listening to it again on YouTube, seriously attempting to concentrate on the music, whilst not being overly distracted by the accompanying images of youthful female flesh on view!!

Bill

[Uncle Fiesta]

Well it starts in c, the last verse goes up to C#, then D and ends on D#.

And i have to say Bill, that your reference to female flesh is a bit cruel if you don't include the link.

[Fenderman]

Well. it does sound very difficult to play, and all done on a 2 track tape machine!
I'll listen again later through proper earphones, when it's quieter.