My wife and I went to see The Alan Parsons Project back in 2018, and we got to meet Alan after the show. He's a very laid-back, humble gentleman who's super easy to talk to. I talked to him a few minutes about production styles and what we can do to stop the loudness war. He told me the way to stop it was, "We make records that don't have it." It was an honor to get to talk with him, and I'll remember that conversation vividly for the rest of my life. I think it's really cool that he actually went to your studio in person for the interview, Rick.
Sadly, there's NOTHING we can do to stop the Loudness Wars; music is largely consumed by youth and they have no issue when the latest Taylor Swift album has a whole 10 dB of dynamic range.
@VideoArchiveGuy That was the first part of what he said to me. With that iconic Alan Parsons chuckle and grin, he said, "I'm afraid there's no solution to that, my friend; no solution." Then he thought about it for a bit, and that's when he said, "We make records that don't have it."
I saw the Dark Side of the Moon tour in 1973. It was the most incredible show I'd ever seen. Afterwards, I went over to the sound crew and talked with them a few minutes. Seeing Alan Parsons here, I just realized it was him I was talking to! I had no idea at the time.
Very cool that you saw them on that tour. I saw them on A Momentary Lapse of Reason tour the same year year I saw Roger Waters on the Radio KAOS tour. Hands down, Roger blew “Floyd” away. My friend and I burned our PF ticket stubs in effigy, we were so disappointed.
Let's please not forget Rick Wright. Roger's 1st appearance is in Brain Damage but it's not everything by David up until that point. Rick sings the bridge in Time, which is to me one of the most memorable and beautiful moments in the album and also does harmonies in Us and Them.
@@jessebumann good point! His jazz influence is essential to that song, and there's that famous clip where he explains how he incorporated a chord from So What which gives the progression that distinct flavor
roger legit sings on biding my time, If, careful with that axe eugene, free four and more, rick sings on on songs like summer '68, paintbox, and stay, all this before dark side, i dont know why that comment came from Alan.
And what about the very first "Alan Parsons Project" scene with the studio stuff workers playing the Beatles' instruments while the band is dining? 😂😅😆👍
My dad was a Disc Jockey in Rochester and he used to give me and my sister all kinds of albums that were stamped "PROMOTIONAL COPY Not For Resale" on them...all kinds of stuff, KISS A TASTE OF PLATINUM, AZTEC 2, MANHATTAN TRANSFER, but especially ALAN PARSON PROJECT "PYRAMID". That record sealed Alan into my soul I swear. THANK YOU MR PARSONS
Would be nice - that is, of course, if his overbearing overpresent wife allows him out of the house alone and doesn't make it a point that she is present for the interview and possibly on camera, too. 🤷🏼♂️🤦🏼♂️ I say this with great sadness, as a lifelong fan of Gilmour and Pink Floyd: she's all over the place, basically can't have a video of his nowadays without several shots of her, and with very few exceptions it's really, really baffling to read the word salad stuff she writes for his or let alone Pink Floyd lyrics... yet somehow he says yes to it all.
@@PrantoKoX Rick could have a translator there and ask David to do it in French. He speaks it quite well but I don't think Polly does so maybe that would give him a chance to speak more freely.
Dark Side of the Moon is still amazing sounding, to this day. I listen to it in its entirety maybe every couple of years, and also when I get new monitors, and everything sounds great and comes across effortlessly - compared to most other albums, where I'm always adjusting for a little more (or less) bottom end. It's an astounding work of audio engineering.
Can I just take a moment to say how beautifully produced this Video is? The lighting, sound and camera setup is perfect, and creates a wonderful ambience. These things don't just happen, just like producing a great record doesn't just happen. A lot of thought, time and effort, went into setting up Rick's studio. I'd be interested to learn about the Video production technicalities.
All due respect to Alan, it's not just David Gilmour singing everything up to Brain Damage. Rick Wright also sang on Time and Us and Them. It's unfortunate Rick's contributions keep getting written out of Pink Floyd's history...
Of course JT is here fanboying over Rick again. Rick sings like 20 seconds on Time (Roger's melody and lyrics) and only backing on Us and Them. Hardly a travesty to forget that in a conversation. He's not exactly a great singer, either. Nowhere near the level of Roger or David.
While Rick is nowhere near the singer David was, it's always fascinating for Dark Side fans to discover Rick sang at all on these iconic songs. Time has always been one of my all-time favs, and it blew me away to discover after decades of listens, that David wasn't the only PF voice on it.
@@bluemoon-20 Not at all sure how you or anyone couldn't tell that that wasn't Gilmour or Waters singing during Rick's sections... All their voices sound different.
@@nectarinedreams7208 You're the first person I've ever seen say anything positive about Roger's singing voice. Floyd is my favorite band ever, never really cared for his vocals at all.
One thing about DSOTM that has stood out to me over all these years related to sound engineering, is how clean and crisp and present the cymbal ride in Us and Them sounds. It's right there unavoidable, but does not overpower the mix. It compliments the song masterfully, and that is something I have ALWAYS tried to duplicate in my own recordings.
Rick its great to hear this style of interview, no hype or BS. I don't understand anything about music production but it was fascinating to listen too, without descending into relationship issues etc.
I am so grateful for this interview with Alan Parsons! Such depth of knowledge being shared, so many details of how he created the music we love. Thank you Alan and Rick Beato !
They spent 7 months recording this masterpiece. Then first time I heard it (on headphones) in 1974 you just knew it was something really special. At one time I had an 8-track, cassette, vinyl, cd, Mobile Fidelity CD, Mobile Fidelity vinyl pressing, and a newly remastered vinyl version. Still have all the vinyl and MF cd. Wish I had them all back.
Glyn Johns told me during a session once...that historically he added a ton of high end to his drum sound because he had to compensate for the inevitable loss of high frequency due to bouncing tracks.
Whenever I purchased new audio gear back in the day I typically took a copy of Eye In the Sky to test the speakers, headphones, etc. Always been a big fan of APP and have the majority of his releases on cassette & CD. I put him in the same category as Mutt Lange, David Foster and Bob Clearmountain - maybe even more so 'cuz he's done so much solo work on top of his Abbey Road work with others. Great interview Rick.
By producing DSOTM Alan had huge influence on how I write songs on the piano. (In a manner of speaking) Richard Wright is my favorite piano/key player. Him and Scott Joplin.
I hope Rick has another part of this just talking about the Project. As much of a Floyd fan as i am the Project has loomed large in my life for decades and would love to hear about Alan and Eric and how they made those records. But just wonderful as always.
The 8-track version of the Animals album was remixed, with the song Pigs On the Wing pts 1&2. The order was changed, and a guitar solo was added to make the 8-track versoin into an endless loop. The solo was played by Snowy White.
Is it not weird that Alan Parsons looks so young? This guy is almost 80 years old, not a single white hair. Great talent of course and his own discography is great (Alan Parsons Project).
At 75, it's probably dye. Then again, I'm 55 and still have brown hair....but my crows feet and forehead wrinkles make it obvious how old I really am. Maybe hair color (and loss) isn't as much of a "set in stone" indicator of age as many believe?
There are plenty of gray and white hairs on Alan's head. His hairdresser "blended" them in as "highlights". Mr Parsons used to have more gray and white in his beard - it is all colored. No shame on Alan, he is still a working "performing artist".
Than you mr. Beato for yoir energy and enthusiastic videos and brilliant interviews yoi help to make my dsy brighter whilr enduring my long recovery hope to meet you one day
The drums sound sooo good on that particular album. Haunting. I wonder if that was the only one where they had them completely uncompressed. Must be a rarity in rock music in general.
Alan had a very successful run with his own albums with Pyramid, I Robot, Turn of a friendly card etc. Without Alan Pink Floyd wouldn't have been as successful and he should be credited with that fact
I had an amazing opportunity being able to work on one of my bands songs with Joey stuckey as our producer and engineer who was also an engineer for the Alan parsons project!
Many of my favorite albums are related to Alan Parsons though the bands are not related to each other. Abbey Road- Let it be by The Beatles, Dark side of the Moon by Pink Floyd, and Modern times-Year of the cat-Time passages, by Al Stewart. Not to mention his own stuff with the APP. As a producer and as sound engineer as well, the man is the KING.
Hey Rick, you ended up in my feed a few weeks ago and now I’m subscribed, amazing content. I’d love to watch YOU give a crash course on what everything is in the production of an album for laymen like me. Like what exactly is (was?) the mixer doing, how did they do it in the analog only days, what does it look like now with pro-tools and the like, etc… I don’t even know enough to ask the right questions but I’m absolutely fascinated by your world and content
True legends like Alan and are just real and humble, even though they have resumes they could brag about for ages. And the people he worked with over the years are some of the finest artists and musicians of the late 20th century.
@@dust4magnet He's fairly rightfully getting sick of interviews, but this would be the show for him to avoid the 'drama' questions. And he's got to sell albums right, so he's got to do SOME press:)
@@mikearchibald744 yes, Rick is super aware of how to interview these guys. His approach is not like the press or journalistic. he isnt exploiting people he wants to teach young musicians how it was all done in hopes that music one day will be Better
5:29 Everything else was David and Rick (Wright, not Beato), unless I'm very mistaken. I've heard David and Rick sing Breathe & Time together live, and their live vocal harmonies sound like the album, so I always assumed it was both of them singing on the album too.
Gilmore played all Rogers bass parts on the albums as well and wrote most of them I know Roger wrote money and another brick but it's about the jist of it bass wise
Who else thinks Parson's mix is the best? I also like Guthrie but Parsons is just masterful as both engineer and musician. He cared enough to release a good deal of the Alan Parson's Project in hires and it sounds great. I must confess that when I saw the title "Stereotomy" it made me think of the removal of real stereo systems in the US. Kids from the '70s remember that everyone had a stereo with at least a receiver, turntable, and a couple of bookshelves if not floor standers. But then the Walkman and later MP3 and it has devolved into something so much less satisfying.
I love the Abbey Rd recording of Golden Hair on the Syd Barrett LP. You can hear the mic pick up the resonating guitar strings and perhaps even the dust shown up by a shaft of sunlight... you never know!
I would love to know how Wish You Were Here would have sounded if Mr. Parsons had stayed on board for its recording.Its probably the coldest sounding album I've ever heard as it is now (which may have been intentional).At the same time he and Eric gave us Tales of Mystery and Imagination in its place so the trade off worked out well and I have zero complaints.
Interesting comment regarding avoidance of compression on drums. The difference between live drums ... obviously uncompressed ... and most recorded drums is what always stands out to me. When I was a youngster I remember going to live music for the first time and feeling the excitement and dynamic force of the drums ... it was like taking a sniff of smelling salts ... it gives you a jolt and lifts your heart-rate! Quite different to the sometimes sanitised sounds of carefully recorded drums sitting beautifully in a mix.
Im Subscribed ta Listen 2,Ricks,more than CooL,Vibes!😊Take care Rick!❤ Dark Side of The Moon!I have Albums,Cassettes,CDs,still of this Print!So TimeLess!
By the way that quadraphonic mix is available for download everywhere. Alan released it for free when he heard an SACD surround mix for Dark Side was being made, and yet he wasn’t invited! It can be burned to DVD and plays on DTS 4 channel.
This is useful information from the source. I think this channel is better than the other one though I still get no notifications and there is no bell to ring. If there was it would not take me a month to hear this. I found the bell it is highlighted but still no notifications for me anyway.
I believe there was a release of DSOTM where the two 16 tracks were synced so the sound was first generation throughout. I don't know how popular the release was or if it sounded any better.
Great content, really enjoyed it. Actually, Roger Waters had already sung lead vocal on many previous PF songs (If, San Tropez, Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun, etc.), as opposed to Parsons' suggestion that Brain Damage was his first vocal contribution. I imagine Rick knew this but was kind enough not to correct him in the middle of the interview.
I am 66 years and started digesting Pink Floyd when 13 or 14 years old! Every day I had Pink Floyd playing!a come up in music playing bass guitar listening to Pink Floyd! I retired from playing about 7 years ago but when I hear one of these Fender P or J basses played makes me want to pick a bass guitar up again!!! Forty to 50 years later and these songs still go to my soul! Today's musicians don't have a clue what quality music is all about!!! Current generational songs have gone to the dogs! To all musicians in today's generation(s) this was music that was phenomenally written produced and performed 😡😡😡
You're lucky. That tour was so popular they had a lottery for tickets. You had to send in a letter (1973) and hoped they liked it. I never heard back. One of the only bands I wasn't able to see live back then.
I was surprised when Rick told us ( @ 3:57 ) that 87% of us regular listeners were not subscribed. I had to check, and noticed that I was one of those not subscribed. Haha, 87% minus one now!!!😊
I always wondered about what the catalog of just voices were. Wondered if Syd Barrett's voice was towards the end of Brain Damage? I noticed that voice always taken off on some mixes. Although the AAD recording is fantastic is there an ADD recording?
It's interesting how one record can haunt an engineer for the rest of his life. I bet 99% of the questions Mr. Parsons gets are about Dark Side of the Moon.
Here's some trivia that most people don't know. Rick sang two harmonies with Dave on Comfortably Numb... the parts which start ... "when I was a child..."
Why he does never mention that there are two versions of Dark Side Of The Moon? There is a early version with several different mixdowns. I have both versions in my collection. I'm not sure if the early version was ever released on vinyl.
My wife and I went to see The Alan Parsons Project back in 2018, and we got to meet Alan after the show. He's a very laid-back, humble gentleman who's super easy to talk to. I talked to him a few minutes about production styles and what we can do to stop the loudness war. He told me the way to stop it was, "We make records that don't have it." It was an honor to get to talk with him, and I'll remember that conversation vividly for the rest of my life. I think it's really cool that he actually went to your studio in person for the interview, Rick.
Cant you just turn it down?
@@mikearchibald744 oh it doesnt help, overblown and compressed sounds are still overblown and compressed at low volumes
@@nuisanceguru Really? You would think Chris Thomas would at least know that.
Sadly, there's NOTHING we can do to stop the Loudness Wars; music is largely consumed by youth and they have no issue when the latest Taylor Swift album has a whole 10 dB of dynamic range.
@VideoArchiveGuy That was the first part of what he said to me. With that iconic Alan Parsons chuckle and grin, he said, "I'm afraid there's no solution to that, my friend; no solution." Then he thought about it for a bit, and that's when he said, "We make records that don't have it."
I saw the Dark Side of the Moon tour in 1973. It was the most incredible show I'd ever seen. Afterwards, I went over to the sound crew and talked with them a few minutes. Seeing Alan Parsons here, I just realized it was him I was talking to! I had no idea at the time.
That’s awesome
I can only imagine how awesome that was. I was fortunate to see the division bell tour and that's still the greatest concert I've ever seen.
@@christopherspearman7820 Anyone who's ever seen a Pink Floyd concert can count themselves fortunate. There's nothing else like it.
Alan Parsons Project has some great tunes.
Very cool that you saw them on that tour. I saw them on A Momentary Lapse of Reason tour the same year year I saw Roger Waters on the Radio KAOS tour. Hands down, Roger blew “Floyd” away. My friend and I burned our PF ticket stubs in effigy, we were so disappointed.
Let's please not forget Rick Wright. Roger's 1st appearance is in Brain Damage but it's not everything by David up until that point. Rick sings the bridge in Time, which is to me one of the most memorable and beautiful moments in the album and also does harmonies in Us and Them.
And never forget Syd. Without him, there would have never been a Pink Floyd let alone Dark Side.
Saw PF post Waters in '87 and '94 stadium tours. Some of the best shows I've ever seen. The '87 MLOR tour was a bit better imho than DB tour.
Not only that, but I’d argue that he’s really present on The Great Gig In The Sky (he did, after all, write the song) and he sings on Us And Them
@@jessebumann good point! His jazz influence is essential to that song, and there's that famous clip where he explains how he incorporated a chord from So What which gives the progression that distinct flavor
roger legit sings on biding my time, If, careful with that axe eugene, free four and more, rick sings on on songs like summer '68, paintbox, and stay, all this before dark side, i dont know why that comment came from Alan.
Was Alan Parsons 8-years-old when he started in the business? The man never ages! 😃
Goat blood is underrated
Boy is he ever handsome! I saw him perform in Georgia several years ago. So good!
he looks like someone in his early 50s.
its a Parsons thing...
@@GeoffParsons1469 Ah! Well played. : )
I just saw Get Back again and Alan Parson's baby face recording with the Beatles was amazing!
And what about the very first "Alan Parsons Project" scene with the studio stuff workers playing the Beatles' instruments while the band is dining? 😂😅😆👍
My dad was a Disc Jockey in Rochester and he used to give me and my sister all kinds of albums that were stamped "PROMOTIONAL COPY Not For Resale" on them...all kinds of stuff, KISS A TASTE OF PLATINUM, AZTEC 2, MANHATTAN TRANSFER, but especially ALAN PARSON PROJECT "PYRAMID".
That record sealed Alan into my soul I swear.
THANK YOU MR PARSONS
I hope Rick gets to interview Gilmour next.
That would be amazing. I can’t wait to see Gilmour at the Hollywood Bowl in October. ❤
He does have a new album coming out. Maybe he’d be more likely to do an interview with rick with that
That is truly the one and only interview that I really have hoped for. May, Matheny, etc. are nice, but Gilmour is the one I want to hear.
Would be nice - that is, of course, if his overbearing overpresent wife allows him out of the house alone and doesn't make it a point that she is present for the interview and possibly on camera, too.
🤷🏼♂️🤦🏼♂️
I say this with great sadness, as a lifelong fan of Gilmour and Pink Floyd: she's all over the place, basically can't have a video of his nowadays without several shots of her, and with very few exceptions it's really, really baffling to read the word salad stuff she writes for his or let alone Pink Floyd lyrics... yet somehow he says yes to it all.
@@PrantoKoX Rick could have a translator there and ask David to do it in French. He speaks it quite well but I don't think Polly does so maybe that would give him a chance to speak more freely.
Dark Side of the Moon is still amazing sounding, to this day. I listen to it in its entirety maybe every couple of years, and also when I get new monitors, and everything sounds great and comes across effortlessly - compared to most other albums, where I'm always adjusting for a little more (or less) bottom end. It's an astounding work of audio engineering.
Can I just take a moment to say how beautifully produced this Video is? The lighting, sound and camera setup is perfect, and creates a wonderful ambience.
These things don't just happen, just like producing a great record doesn't just happen. A lot of thought, time and effort, went into setting up Rick's studio.
I'd be interested to learn about the Video production technicalities.
All due respect to Alan, it's not just David Gilmour singing everything up to Brain Damage. Rick Wright also sang on Time and Us and Them. It's unfortunate Rick's contributions keep getting written out of Pink Floyd's history...
Of course JT is here fanboying over Rick again. Rick sings like 20 seconds on Time (Roger's melody and lyrics) and only backing on Us and Them. Hardly a travesty to forget that in a conversation. He's not exactly a great singer, either. Nowhere near the level of Roger or David.
@@nectarinedreams7208have you heard him on Echoes?
While Rick is nowhere near the singer David was, it's always fascinating for Dark Side fans to discover Rick sang at all on these iconic songs. Time has always been one of my all-time favs, and it blew me away to discover after decades of listens, that David wasn't the only PF voice on it.
@@bluemoon-20 Not at all sure how you or anyone couldn't tell that that wasn't Gilmour or Waters singing during Rick's sections... All their voices sound different.
@@nectarinedreams7208 You're the first person I've ever seen say anything positive about Roger's singing voice. Floyd is my favorite band ever, never really cared for his vocals at all.
This was so great . Two craftsmen talking about a subject they love. So enjoyable 🤘🏽🤘🏽🤘🏽🤘🏽
Alan Parsons is a very humble and unassuming man.
Yeah, i've got to find some APP, I remember a 'phase' when I listened to all of them, its a bit of a mixed bag, but pretty good stuff innit.
People like that tend to age well (he's 75 years old!!!).
We won't talk about _Eve,_ though.
One thing about DSOTM that has stood out to me over all these years related to sound engineering, is how clean and crisp and present the cymbal ride in Us and Them sounds. It's right there unavoidable, but does not overpower the mix. It compliments the song masterfully, and that is something I have ALWAYS tried to duplicate in my own recordings.
Rick its great to hear this style of interview, no hype or BS. I don't understand anything about music production but it was fascinating to listen too, without descending into relationship issues etc.
Also, Rick. Don't forget that Rick sang on Time and Us & Them.
Rick sang, or Alan sang?
@@davidg3944 Rick Wright.
nope thats david singing on us and them... think you should listen again
@@eliassther4819Rick sang the harmonies along with David
@@eliassther4819 no it's Rick on the bridges. Watch the live videos to confirm.
I would have loved to hear Allen talk about Clare Torry. Another great interview, Rick! Thank You!
I was at the concert in Phoenix on 8-18, loved the show, Alan is a legend!!
I am so grateful for this interview with Alan Parsons! Such depth of knowledge being shared, so many details of how he created the music we love. Thank you Alan and Rick Beato !
They spent 7 months recording this masterpiece. Then first time I heard it (on headphones) in 1974 you just knew it was something really special. At one time I had an 8-track, cassette, vinyl, cd, Mobile Fidelity CD, Mobile Fidelity vinyl pressing, and a newly remastered vinyl version. Still have all the vinyl and MF cd. Wish I had them all back.
A hero of mine, Alan came in to my life via Edgar Allen Poe. A fan since 1977, when i was 14.
Fascinating take on compression, especially excluding the drums!
Thank you for your time mr. Parsons
Alan Parsons is The Goat in terms of sound engineering. I was listening to his work when I was 15 and now I am 55.
Yes!!!
Legendary music figure Alan Parsons, interviewed by Rick Beato, talking Dark Side of the Moon.
Win, win and win.
Glyn Johns told me during a session once...that historically he added a ton of high end to his drum sound because he had to compensate for the inevitable loss of high frequency due to bouncing tracks.
One interview. Two absolute legends.
Love Alan Parsons Talent,vision....great solo albums and genuis getting floyd to be timeless and magical.Thank you Alan.
The full interview is great. I love hearing about the technical aspects of recording. Great stuff here.
Whenever I purchased new audio gear back in the day I typically took a copy of Eye In the Sky to test the speakers, headphones, etc. Always been a big fan of APP and have the majority of his releases on cassette & CD. I put him in the same category as Mutt Lange, David Foster and Bob Clearmountain - maybe even more so 'cuz he's done so much solo work on top of his Abbey Road work with others. Great interview Rick.
By producing DSOTM Alan had huge influence on how I write songs on the piano. (In a manner of speaking) Richard Wright is my favorite piano/key player. Him and Scott Joplin.
I hope Rick has another part of this just talking about the Project. As much of a Floyd fan as i am the Project has loomed large in my life for decades and would love to hear about Alan and Eric and how they made those records. But just wonderful as always.
The 8-track version of the Animals album was remixed, with the song Pigs On the Wing pts 1&2. The order was changed, and a guitar solo was added to make the 8-track versoin into an endless loop. The solo was played by Snowy White.
Is it not weird that Alan Parsons looks so young? This guy is almost 80 years old, not a single white hair. Great talent of course and his own discography is great (Alan Parsons Project).
Only his hairdresser knows for sure
Hair colour?
At 75, it's probably dye. Then again, I'm 55 and still have brown hair....but my crows feet and forehead wrinkles make it obvious how old I really am. Maybe hair color (and loss) isn't as much of a "set in stone" indicator of age as many believe?
Just For Men
There are plenty of gray and white hairs on Alan's head. His hairdresser "blended" them in as "highlights". Mr Parsons used to have more gray and white in his beard - it is all colored. No shame on Alan, he is still a working "performing artist".
Imagine having Alan Parsons doing the FOH mix for your live show. Holy cow. 😳
I would love to hear from Eddy Offord and his time with Yes..
Me too!
And ELP!
Than you mr. Beato for yoir energy and enthusiastic videos and brilliant interviews yoi help to make my dsy brighter whilr enduring my long recovery hope to meet you one day
The drums sound sooo good on that particular album. Haunting. I wonder if that was the only one where they had them completely uncompressed. Must be a rarity in rock music in general.
Beatles Let it Be. Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon. Keep swinging Alan, you’ll get there some day!
Alan had a very successful run with his own albums with Pyramid, I Robot, Turn of a friendly card etc. Without Alan Pink Floyd wouldn't have been as successful and he should be credited with that fact
Alan makes my speakers feel fulfilled in their lives.
I can't believe the interviews you're getting! Great channel. Best of luck!
I had an amazing opportunity being able to work on one of my bands songs with Joey stuckey as our producer and engineer who was also an engineer for the Alan parsons project!
One of the best interviews Rick ❤
Many of my favorite albums are related to Alan Parsons though the bands are not related to each other. Abbey Road- Let it be by The Beatles, Dark side of the Moon by Pink Floyd, and Modern times-Year of the cat-Time passages, by Al Stewart. Not to mention his own stuff with the APP. As a producer and as sound engineer as well, the man is the KING.
I could listen to Alan Parson's velvet voice and the delicious accent speaking for hours! 😊
Oddly I find it almost the same as David Gilmour's. Really really close
@@rodolpheponthus2948 Yeah, totally! 😄
This channel should be called “Rick Bea-two”
😂
very clever
Hey Rick, you ended up in my feed a few weeks ago and now I’m subscribed, amazing content. I’d love to watch YOU give a crash course on what everything is in the production of an album for laymen like me. Like what exactly is (was?) the mixer doing, how did they do it in the analog only days, what does it look like now with pro-tools and the like, etc… I don’t even know enough to ask the right questions but I’m absolutely fascinated by your world and content
Met Alan in 1999- very nice man!
True legends like Alan and are just real and humble, even though they have resumes they could brag about for ages. And the people he worked with over the years are some of the finest artists and musicians of the late 20th century.
I've always thought that "Time" by Alan Parsons Project" and "Us and Them" by Pink Floyd sound extraordinarily similar
Just listened to Time again ... yeah it's got the same vibe ... but not quite close enough to end up in court, I think.
I have a quad pressing of Dark side of the moon. Awesome.
Alan's voice sounds EXACTLY like David Gilmour! You should try to get David on for an interview for his new album in September!
David would do a fantastic interview. Plus, let's face it, our heroes are aging, and it's getting urgent to capture their words now.
@@dust4magnet He's fairly rightfully getting sick of interviews, but this would be the show for him to avoid the 'drama' questions. And he's got to sell albums right, so he's got to do SOME press:)
He really does sound a lot like him
@@mikearchibald744 yes, Rick is super aware of how to interview these guys. His approach is not like the press or journalistic. he isnt exploiting people he wants to teach young musicians how it was all done in hopes that music one day will be Better
Still blows my mind that there are two of you!
5:29 Everything else was David and Rick (Wright, not Beato), unless I'm very mistaken. I've heard David and Rick sing Breathe & Time together live, and their live vocal harmonies sound like the album, so I always assumed it was both of them singing on the album too.
How does Alan really think that no one realizes Roger doesn't sing until the last 2 songs on the album? Such a weird thing for him to say
@@BenWillyums Roger probably doesn't. He probably thinks he played all the instruments too.
Gilmore played all Rogers bass parts on the albums as well and wrote most of them I know Roger wrote money and another brick but it's about the jist of it bass wise
Who else thinks Parson's mix is the best? I also like Guthrie but Parsons is just masterful as both engineer and musician. He cared enough to release a good deal of the Alan Parson's Project in hires and it sounds great. I must confess that when I saw the title "Stereotomy" it made me think of the removal of real stereo systems in the US. Kids from the '70s remember that everyone had a stereo with at least a receiver, turntable, and a couple of bookshelves if not floor standers. But then the Walkman and later MP3 and it has devolved into something so much less satisfying.
Alan is a master of sounds. Awesome discussion.
I love the Abbey Rd recording of Golden Hair on the Syd Barrett LP. You can hear the mic pick up the resonating guitar strings and perhaps even the dust shown up by a shaft of sunlight... you never know!
I would love to know how Wish You Were Here would have sounded if Mr. Parsons had stayed on board for its recording.Its probably the coldest sounding album I've ever heard as it is now (which may have been intentional).At the same time he and Eric gave us Tales of Mystery and Imagination in its place so the trade off worked out well and I have zero complaints.
Interesting comment regarding avoidance of compression on drums. The difference between live drums ... obviously uncompressed ... and most recorded drums is what always stands out to me. When I was a youngster I remember going to live music for the first time and feeling the excitement and dynamic force of the drums ... it was like taking a sniff of smelling salts ... it gives you a jolt and lifts your heart-rate! Quite different to the sometimes sanitised sounds of carefully recorded drums sitting beautifully in a mix.
I remember seeing my first live (big) indoor concert (whitesnake)
I was floored by the drum sounds
Later I seen Maiden, Rush, Metallica etc ❤
Love those Ribbons on drums. EQ was necessary but compression bring out the sticks ! Never Give up !
This is how real music is produced.
He was part of one of the most important musical events of all the times !!!
Im Subscribed ta Listen 2,Ricks,more than CooL,Vibes!😊Take care Rick!❤ Dark Side of The Moon!I have Albums,Cassettes,CDs,still of this Print!So TimeLess!
Have all of his albums. The first one was "Tales of Imagination and Mystery. Came in this cool translucent yellow.
Alan Parsons Quad mix of dark side of the moon is still the best mix of this album ever made !
Alan parsons looks pretty good for being almost 80 years old...
Alan looks taller than I expected. Rick must be
So happy to have Alan and the other guests in his home studio 😊
You should see him in person. I think he's 6 ft 3 or 4
Amazing how young Alan looks
Off the charts nerdery. Soothing. 👍🏻
Dude knows everything about recording. Genius
Genius is a way over-rated term. "Highly skilled" is what I would say.
@@David-iv6jeHe's a savant.
@@David-iv6jeMore so over-used than over-rated.
I'm amazed that he remembers so many details half a century after the recording.
By the way that quadraphonic mix is available for download everywhere. Alan released it for free when he heard an SACD surround mix for Dark Side was being made, and yet he wasn’t invited! It can be burned to DVD and plays on DTS 4 channel.
I haven't seen that but it was released in the Immersion Edition.
@@jyutzler oh really? I downloaded it like 20 years ago from the interwebs :)
@@pinkace I probably did too!
If there is a world-wide archive, can we add this? It is important.
I finally remembered to subscribe!!! : )
This is useful information from the source. I think this channel is better than the other one though I still get no notifications and there is no bell to ring. If there was it would not take me a month to hear this. I found the bell it is highlighted but still no notifications for me anyway.
I 'm a big fan of Allan Parson's sound and his projects too.
I believe there was a release of DSOTM where the two 16 tracks were synced so the sound was first generation throughout.
I don't know how popular the release was or if it sounded any better.
I know nothing of the specs on which you’re both speaking but, as a non musician, I still find it fascinating!
Fantastic insight into those heady groundbreaking days.
Great content, really enjoyed it.
Actually, Roger Waters had already sung lead vocal on many previous PF songs (If, San Tropez, Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun, etc.), as opposed to Parsons' suggestion that Brain Damage was his first vocal contribution. I imagine Rick knew this but was kind enough not to correct him in the middle of the interview.
What a chill dude
Pleaseeee interview david gilmour
❤❤❤ MY ENGINEER OF CHOICE
Please excuse my ignorance but what is the difference between Rick Beato I & II ?
I am 66 years and started digesting Pink Floyd when 13 or 14 years old! Every day I had Pink Floyd playing!a come up in music playing bass guitar listening to Pink Floyd! I retired from playing about 7 years ago but when I hear one of these Fender P or J basses played makes me want to pick a bass guitar up again!!! Forty to 50 years later and these songs still go to my soul! Today's musicians don't have a clue what quality music is all about!!! Current generational songs have gone to the dogs! To all musicians in today's generation(s) this was music that was phenomenally written produced and performed 😡😡😡
Great interview.
So Alan Parsons is simply a genius in all aspects of music.
You're lucky. That tour was so popular they had a lottery for tickets. You had to send in a letter (1973) and hoped they liked it. I never heard back. One of the only bands I wasn't able to see live back then.
I'd still like to hear Alans version of how Clare Torry got to sing on Dark Side.
I was surprised when Rick told us ( @ 3:57 ) that 87% of us regular listeners were not subscribed.
I had to check, and noticed that I was one of those not subscribed.
Haha, 87% minus one now!!!😊
Oh, how I'd love to hear Alan's example from Dark Side of a track that was not compressed to the version that went on the album,
Wasn't it Roger's lead vocal on Set the Controls, If, Free Four, Careful With That Axe Eugene?
Is it true that in the 60s, in Britain, you had to fill in a form just to move a microphone to a different part of a recording room?
We need David gilmour in ricks studio now. No other way to top this. Epic conversation.
Gilmore, Page, and Blackmore interviews would be incredible.
I always wondered about what the catalog of just voices were. Wondered if Syd Barrett's voice was towards the end of Brain Damage? I noticed that voice always taken off on some mixes. Although the AAD recording is fantastic is there an ADD recording?
Analog tape compresses in a very nice way. Less compression was needed.
Definitely
It's interesting how one record can haunt an engineer for the rest of his life. I bet 99% of the questions Mr. Parsons gets are about Dark Side of the Moon.
Yes, I’m sure he doesn’t get a lot of questions about how Eye in the Sky was mixed.
@@dooleyfan I'm sure he answers NO questions about _Eve._
10db boost at 10K to brighten the ribbon mics on cymbals? Okay. He's the man!
That’s a big boost. Likely a really wide q shelf which would become almost like a Tilt EQ at that point.
Here's some trivia that most people don't know. Rick sang two harmonies with Dave on Comfortably Numb... the parts which start ... "when I was a child..."
Why he does never mention that there are two versions of Dark Side Of The Moon? There is a early version with several different mixdowns. I have both versions in my collection. I'm not sure if the early version was ever released on vinyl.
Not a fan of compression?
Now I appreciate AP even more!