Wonderful Land (minus strings)

[JimN]

Incidentally, the "Hits From The Young Ones" EP, dutifully released by EMI in April 1962, did not at first bear a publication date on either side of the disc. But the sleeve contained a "RECORDING FIRST PUBLISHED 1962" notice, which was not correct for any of the tracks. They were all exactly the same as had been released on the soundtrack LP (December) - so the year was wrong.

When EMI standardised their label designs in late 1962, the new (black / kingfisher blue) EP bore the same incorrect date as the sleeve: 1962.

I'll... er... get me coat...







Credits: all images referenced from the wonderful www.45cat.com, which cannot be recommended highly enough.

[negninegaw]

How did they add the orchestra? Was there an extra empty track or was it ping ponged?

[Didier]

How did they add the orchestra? Was there an extra empty track or was it ping ponged?

There was no multitrack recorders in Abbey Road at this time (they came in 1964), it was done with overdubbing.

Didier

[iefje]

You probably mean superimposition: recording to another tape recorder, while the backing track is played back from the original tape. Overdubbing is the practice of recording on another track of a multi-track tape.

[UlrichS]

From Wikipedia: "Superimposition during sound recording and reproduction (commonly called overdubbing) is the process of adding new sounds over existing without completely erasing or masking the existing sound."

[cockroach]

deleted

[cockroach]

Didn't it used to be called 'sound on sound' when using a single 2 track recorder which had separate record and playback heads for each track?

IIRC, if without a multitrack recorder, it has to be done by using two mono tape recorders connected together..that's how I did it at home in the late '60's /early '70's..

[negninegaw]

So, the sound quality of the original recording must have suffered because of the re-recording.
Did they add the orchestra live to the original recording?

[RayL]

the sound quality of the original recording must have suffered because of the re-recording.

A tape speed of 30 inches per second was common in professional studios at that time. Using that speed, and keeping the recording levels high for best signal/noise ratio meant any quality loss would have been very, very small.

Not far from Abbey Road was Lansdowne Studios in Notting Hill. The story of Lansdowne Studios in the 1960s is told in a recent book by Adrian Kerridge called tape's rolling, TAKE ONE!. Adrian joined Lansdowne as tape assistant on January 5th 1959 and rose to become owner of the studios. For anyone interested in studio techniques at IBC in the 1950s and Lansdowne in the 1960s this book is an essential read. The techniques used were the same as at EMI and Decca and in some instances the results were superior. For example, Abbey Road would have been tied to using tape by EMI. Lansdowne were able to compare brands and opted for a better tape from AGFA.

Alas, Adrian died last November just as the book was about to be published. Copies aren't easy to come by (I bought the last one on the shelf at Waterstones in Notting Hill) but for anyone interested, the ISBN is 978-1-911124-22-1.

[Didier]

You probably mean superimposition: recording to another tape recorder, while the backing track is played back from the original tape. Overdubbing is the practice of recording on another track of a multi-track tape.

I thought that at this time overdubbing was what you call superimposition, this is what was used for Wonderful land.

Didier