How To Record Drums Like The Beatles In 1963
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 ก.ย. 2024
- This is a video describing how Norman Smith (engineer at Abbey Road who recorded The Beatles until 1966) mic'd Ringo's drum kit in the earlier days of The Beatles. The technique consists of an STC 4038 (Coles 4038) and an STC 4033A.
Mics used:
Coles 4038
Altec 639B Birdcage
Preamps-
Chandler Limited REDD47 Abbey Road Tube Preamps
Everything played, sung and recorded by Clay Blair.
Drums played by Brendan Peleo-Lazar
Video recording and editing by Scott Dittrich
Plugins-
www.softube.co... - Softube Brilliance Pack
www.waves.com/... Waves J37
Ringo was a left handed drummer with a right handed kit. That alone made him special, and creative in his movements.
Every drummer played right handed back then. Learning drums included marching & that means everyone in formation with a deep drum hanging off the left hip all playing right hand technique
@Wakanda stfu
Often wondered why he didn't just swap his hi hat, rack tom and floor tom positions and play naturally?
@Wakanda Commonly referred to at the time as the "luckiest bastard in Liverpool"
Travis Barker is also left handed
You guys are my favorite resource for Beatles recordings thus far. No gimmicks, no massive amounts of jump cuts, no corny voices and intros. Just solid info.
Hey it's Brendan from Ably House
that’s right! cheers!
My favorite drumming from any Beatles song has to be from “I want to hold your hand” Ringo did such a good job on it and it’s very catchy!
I love Ringos drum roll on the Day Tripper intro. 😉
Do "Tomorrow Never Knows" it's a great example! Awesome video!!
Extremely underrated ringo drumming
Love to see that one. Please people. 👍
@this is our house Shuuuuuut up man lol tomorrow never knows, rain, strawberry field forever, etc these are all songs that Ringo contributes greatly to. Clean out your ears
@this is our house no, peace and love
This video is pure gold. Please post more drums records from beatles! Its amazing. Thank you
100% agree with you!
Ringo using John’s costume is so cool while playing his drum
Interesting Breakdown Of The Recording Technic,On How The Beatles Recorded Thier Music.
Love your Beatles video series! Very cool! For the Ringo drums it's also important to use a slightly squeaky Ludwig Speedking ;-)
I know I’m late to this party but I just want you to know how much I love these videos.
These guys are incredibly knowledgeable!
This is so good. Of course you could chuck in a red herring like they used a 987654321/A and 99% of us wouldn't know but we all nod sagely like we've a hope of following you.
The premier drums he used were called Premier Mahogony Duroplastic finish.
The sizes were imperial, which was before the metric system came along. Great video, really interesting!
Yes! Apologies for the mixup... We may have one coming up for a Please Please Me video
Yes, he had a 14 x 4 Premier royal ace snare with that first kit.
This is total BS!!! They didn’t have “ICE” gum back then! Lol
We prefer to chew gum over a pack of smokes 😂
You don't know that.
@@TempoDrift1480 yeah I do. I don’t even think Dentine was a company back then. Lol
@@BoulevardRecording so do I ...
Very cool! Look forward to more !
Great job Clay!
I always thought the hi-hats on I wanna Hold Your Hand,,,well that whole Beatles album was neat. Played just a little open but I always felt it was 15 inch hats as well.
Well done on the education.....thanks
I want to know everything about "The Word." Cheers.
For Come Together/Hey Jude they threw a sheet over the kit, snare included and Ringo played on top of the sheet to get that muted vibe
yo man these videos kick ass. thanks so much for this awesomeness.
I really love this! MORE!!
Great drummer. A lefty man on a right handed kit was what Ringo was. Thanks.
thank you!
Great video, love the drum content! Keep it up!
Nice one! Love those vintage sounds. I started my own channel few months ago and came across yours. Just subbed
This was fantastic! More please and thank you!
The colour of Ringo’s first drum kit is a patterned celluloid finish called M Mahogany according to the old premier catalogs
Dude, you are easily as mad for Beatles recording and playing as I am :-) loved every video
Very insightful video Thanks
These gentlemen know their stuff.
God the tuning and everything is dead on. I love that punchy sound
Awesome 😎
I'd love to see you do a 'what-if' video on the theme of "what if Studer had made a whole suite of J37 machines, from a J37-4 to a J37-16?", exploring the implications of having a J37-4 for PPM and WTB, the J37-8 for AHDN, BFS, H!, RS and Revolver, and finally getting a J37-16 to do SPLHCB on! And everything being recorded in Abbey Road / EMI Studios No. 3.
Because that Waves plug-in suite will let you do that! :D
I have the same Premier kit but in grey oyster. The toms need pre-international heads - you're correct with the mounted tom - it's about 11 7/8", but the floor tom is also a little smaller than a 16 - probably 15 7/8 - very frustrating, but you can still order them through a reputable Remo dealer; "Pre-Int' heads. The bass can use a 20" standard head, but it fits real tight!
Great video the snare drum he used was a premier royal ace in mahogany duro plastic not root beer sparkle.
I love you sound engineer geeks. Thanks!
Rock solid drumming.
Can you please upload more of these drumvideos soon? So good. Thank you
Hey there ! Once we are back in business after the lockdown we are doing Beatles mid 60's !! And then we will do Sgt Peppers as well.
Forgot to mention that everything should be panned to left by 70%
Lol yeah, with -15 decibels.
Damn this guy is really excited isn’t he?
How about the white album?? That cracking snare on Everybody's Got Something To Hide is just out of this world!!
Great video!🤘🤘
This was great, thank you.
hoping for 67 beatles drums someday :) thanks for the channel
Ringo sat the highest on the kit of anybody I remember from that era.
Yes, that dreadful 3 legged Premier stool. It must have the most uncomfortable drum stool ever made. So unstable
I Use a AKG D12 on Kicker... and i found a lot of Photos with Ringo an the D12
Microphonology yes later about mid 1964 they switch to the D20 on kick and bass amp and AKG D19 on overhead. That video will come next ! Looks similar to the D12 but has a roll off circuit
Microphonology yes later about mid 1964 they switch to the D20 on kick and bass amp and AKG D19 on overhead. That video will come next ! Looks similar to the D12 but has a roll off circuit
Presently the compositions highlighted are. Notable for rec
You'll see the REDD 37 (or was it a 51?) throughout the Get Back series. It was 8 in but only 4 out. Interesting concept. I think they tied two of them together although Glyn Johns was only seen sitting behind one. The other was off to the side.
The Premier kit was mahogany duroplastic. It’s similar to an oyster tigers eye & cut diagonally, it does get called root beat but it’s not a sparkle finish. I own one
Great! I also like the video quality - May I ask which camera / lenses you used at around 4:06?
SINCE THE MASTER TAPE OF SHE LOVES YOU/I'LL GET YOU WERE RECORDED OVER OR LOST ,CAN YOU RECREATED THOSE TWO TRACK IN THE ORIGINAL FORM THE TWIN TRACK TAPE OR EARLY STEREO PATTERN ?
Thanks for this series. One request - Please solo the instruments/mics, etc. as on the Bass video, I only heard you playing in the mix. Cheers from Seattle!
Will do !
That's awesome
I love it when you know what ur tiktokkin’ about
Why would a studio have strict regulations on how much low end goes out?
At Abbey Road in the early 60’s and yes even in 1966 had rules on low end. They had lots of rules. But mostly because of vinyl since that was the medium. Cutting lathes were very primitive and were all cut manually so unwanted low end can easily push a groove out if it’s too much for the lathe, then they would have to scrap that whole side and start cutting again . Americans at the time (Motown) had looser protocols hence why McCartney wanted that “Motown” bass sound
Rellay good Drum Sounds
Why did record companies put restrictions on the low end? Was it because speakers couldn't handle it back then?
Step one: pan all drums to one ear
IMHO The STC overhead was over-EQ'd, with ribbon mics the richness of the sound, Ringo's High Hats for instance would be much thicker sounding as well as the other cymbals, (along with the way that velocity-mics pick up the 'shape' of the sound as well), is kind of what it’s all about and too much highs can cause you to mix to the highs therefore lowering the gain and masking out a lot of the richness of the sound.
Too many highs only kill the richness of the sound If there is a lot of phase shift. Those RS127 boxes were shelf’s so phase shift was very minimal. Richness was still there. They also cut a lot of lows in those days because of
Vinyl
Its cool
For the mid-period, can you do
"Im down", for its crisp sound, & "You wont see me", (limiter sound ?)
Thank you, great stuff 👍
What about during the rubber soul to abbey road period?
Isn't That Norman From TH-cam's Ably House ?, I'm A Fan Of His And Ably House Members.
brendan but yes
Haha maybe you are thinking of Normans Rare Guitars. Thanks! We are a fan of Clay and Boulevard Recording Studios
Good stuff man!...…. one other critical factor of the drum sound is, not playing hard ;-)
Sounds pretty legit to me ;-)
You put the waves tape plugin on the return and dial up the sends or do you put one on every channel?
Every channel ! The more the better, thats the idea of the plugin to get tape sound individually on everything. Thats whats recommended to get the "sound" from that plug
How do you tune the top and bottom heads on the toms for Ringo’s early sound?
the 12" tom is tuned very high, higher than one would think. 14" vintage ludwig floor toms almost always sound good, and I usually let them do their thing if the bottom is tuned a little higher than the top. maybe a 4th difference. get the batter side to have just enough of a low note and keep thinking "she loves you!"
please make one for drums from 1967-70
I’d love a beast of burden Rolling Stones episode.
Stones vids to come if we can get some more info on the recording process !
The drum wrap is officially called Mahogany Duroplastic not “root beer sparkle.” It isnt a sparkle finish. The shells were pre-international, meaning that they were actually metric, not undercut. Eventually drum companies standardized the head sizes. Remo still makes these metric heads with a part number, including “PR” for Premier/pre-international. He also had his beloved Swivomatic mount put into these drums.
Thanks for the info ! Root beer swirl was the color it was sometimes referred to. And yes the swivomatic came later, he installed it onto his 2nd Black Oyster kit. His first still had the rail consolette Mount. You can see McCartney using it on his first solo album.
The first Ringo kit got a swivomatic as well- www.ringosbeatlekits.com/ludwig-sets-1-and-2.html
Yes the 2nd downbeat kit has the swivomatic. First one did not. Here’s a shot of it at McCartney’s house when Ringo let him use it to make his first album images.app.goo.gl/KEfro7PsMQ9k8fGEA
yes true, I just meant "undercut" compared to the standard US measurements we are used to today. And yes, I meant rootbeer swirl or mahagony duroplast. For some reason, I had my first ever drum kit- a rootbeer sparkle ludwig club date, stuck in my head.
@@LazerBrendan Love this video and all that you are doing.
Do Ticket To Ride!
Curious as to what electronic drums/settings, would be a good solution to get the Ringo sound on a budget.
Are you available for production work?
Tell Me Why has some great drum parts.
Does anybody know the exact make of his cymbals?
Of Ringos or the one in the video ?
@@BoulevardRecording ringos in the early 60s?
Could have been Zyn or Super Zyn cymbals. There was also the cheap Ajax cymbals
Strawberry fields forever plis!!!!
Would need 2 J37 tape machines and a genius from 60’s abbey road to work that out
why lennon??
This retro vodcast with Liam Gallagher playing classic vintage, Ludwig Drums to a Beatles song...has caused a discontium of time & space, creating a time warp that
I inadvertently fell through and now I'm caught between the landslide in a Champaign Supernova lost in the void, 150 million light-years across... What era are we in?????
Note the Rogers Tom holder at 3:41
Its actually a rootbeer brown colored oyster pearl type finish
Great video, who's the drummer in this video
Brendan Lazar! Plays with Britain's Finest and Rocks Off.
@@BoulevardRecording Nice one
Is that Brendan from ably house
Astrosynical yes!!
what is the "beatles recording book" you reference at 6:10?
Was that a pack of ICE gum on the snare?
Oh yes, from 1963 !
@@BoulevardRecording wow! The year I was born! Cool!! Thanks and take care 🇨🇦
See sina-drums video on Ringo
Drummer is wearing authentic 'fab' 60's trousers. Theyre even in black and white
I DEFINITELY ENJOYED THIS
YOUR KNOWLEDGEABLE ASSESSMENTS STAND UP
THANK YOU FOR THIS VIDEO
NOW SUBSCRIBED MANG
CARLOS GUITARLOS 90042
Did they use the Fairchild pre or post EQ?
I've always been in love with the sound of With the Beatles and most of the vocal doubling on that record as well as A Hard Day's Night. Would love to see a breakdown on how vocals and other instruments were done on the limited tracking they used at the time for songs like It Won't Be Long and And I love her. I was thrilled to discover recently that the version of ANd I love Her on the mono-mastered stereo mix for United Artists label has no reverb on the vox. www.podomatic.com/podcasts/oldclevelandboy70429/episodes/2011-03-23T05_35_52-07_00
Yes, calfskin heads also would make a nice difference.
I think it was just on the snare !
@@BoulevardRecording Thanks for the info! Skin heads are so much more expressive, just a hassle in variable weather conditions. Have you played a bass drum on a kit with skin? Very cool! I have a very old Timpani head, probably from like 1930 or so (my dad was a percussionist born in 1917 and playing pro by 10 years or so, that's how I came to have it.) Playing it even off the shell is a revelation!
It’s really rad. Brendan has a calfskin on his jazz fest that we are gonna use for the Let It Be stuff
@@BoulevardRecording Also, does anyone ever address the stick used? It makes all the difference on cymbals for instance, not to mention heads probably too, but the density of the wood, shape of the tip and such, can really change the over all cymbal sound drastically.
I’m gonna get Brendan (drummer in this video) to reply he’s incredibly knowledgeable even has some NOS sticks like Ringo used himself
Can you guys do a video about chamber reverb?
Editing a mix video right now will be out by Thursday or Friday. Will include some explanation of the Abbey Road Chambers plugin plus a custom preset I made based on the early Beatles recordings.
@@BoulevardRecording AWESOME! I can't get enough of your material. All absolutely fascinating and I've learned so much!
Now all you gotta do is hard pan it all the way to one side lmao
Hahahaha yep
Beatles and George Martin were pretty unconcerned with stereo at the time (it was initially considered a "fad"). The first Album they recorded solely in stereo was their last, Abbey Road, and they never even started with stereo until '68. All the older stuff with the hard panning is because they were mono recordings later re-mixed as stereo without any real care.
Root Beer sparkle?....there's no sparkle in the wrap, it's a Mahogany Duro-plastic Swirl, now commonly known as the Ringo finish
"Birthday"
People don't understand how recording was tough back then in that the drummer played in the same Room with all the other musicians and amplifiers. If the drummer played too loud or hit the cymbals too hard it would screw up the levels of the recording. Drummers had to be very dynamic and understand the relationship between each cymbal and drums in order to "mix" the drums themselves as they played and not rely on producers or engineers or click tracks or beat detective or any other artificial garbage that crappy musicians use now days to sound good.
yes exactly! thanks for watching!
tasty!
Ringo never used wires on his drum?
thanks
Jose Murili wires ? I don’t know what you mean
@@BoulevardRecording strand wires from the bottom of the snare. Did he use it or take it out?
Jose Murili no always he did.
Except live when they did “Till There Was You”
Appreciate the effort....but Beatle drum sound was the weakest link of all those magical records until 'Abbey Road' eight track recording. True they used same format first for part of the White Album (1968) I was never satisfied with the overall mix of Ringo except for about a dozen tracks. But many
purist love the tone/timbre of 50's & 60's records that contain so much punch & spontaneity, who am i to argue? especially since I lost 25 % of my hearing to loud amplifiers in the 70's , 80's 90's.
Get a drum sound that cuts through on any record with 2 mics and get back to me ☺️
@@BoulevardRecording I've used three (Beta 52a & two SM-57's) and the sound was pretty sufficient. ideally four is the best natural balance for a basic kit. I forget that in 63' so many were still using three & four track recording.Ultimately it's Ringo's incredible feel that lifts those records up.But I like to hear drums left & right as oppossed to just one side.
Just to point out... Many of the U48's were actually U47's modified to U48's.
Here's some good reference materials...
www.beatlesrecordingreferencemanuals.com/
Indeed they were. I do not believe Abbey Road had a factory U48 but im so used to saying U48's i forgot to mention that tidbit. They were actually labeled U47/8 i believe on the serials at Abbey Road
Revolver used 815?
I think they switched tape formulas in the mid 60's yes. You can see a change in photos from the tape boxes with the track info.
So does this mean my Earthworks mic is fucked?
Let's be honest, you could probably get this sound with a phone.
No you can’t.
@@JohnAyala18 Okay. Just a joke really
@@jackkovar7806 You’re not far wrong though, imagine telling them that in 1963, or even 1993. Joe Soap in the street can have a computer-simulated version of the Abbey Road Redd 37 in his jacket pocket.
Clay Mor Joe Soap? I love that guy! Lol😂
@@claymor8241 Technology is scary that way. Don't get me wrong the Beatles sound on these albums is crazy good, and the remasters too, I'm sure. I much prefer the original recording techniques to plugins and things. Those kind of freak me out :D