Get This Free Cheat Sheet Guaranteed To Help Your Next Mix

Thursday, October 23, 2014

The Beatles "Something" Isolated Vocal

The Beatle's "Something" is one of the most covered songs ever, and may be George Harrison's best song. That's why it's so cool to go back and have a listen to the isolated vocal track from this song from the iconic Abbey Road album. Here's what to listen for:

1. The vocal is very in tune, which can't always be said for vocals from this era.

2. You'll hear the nice Abbey Road Studios reverb all around the vocal, which is very mellow sounding due to the EQ they used.

3. The vocal double on the B section isn't too close. This could have been because it was either another take, or they just didn't care much about getting it close.

4. Listen for Harrison singing the guitar solo almost note for note. Doesn't this contradict a passage in engineer Geoff Emerick's book that states that Harrison played both the guitar solo and the vocal at the same time on the last track available? You can hear the guitar solo was already recorded from the headphone leakage.

5. The harmonies, as with all Beatle harmonies, is gorgeous even though it's only two part. Sometimes it's with Harrison himself, sometimes with Paul McCartney.



----------------------------------

You should follow me on Twitter and Facebook for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Don't forget to check out my Music 3.0 blog for tips and tricks on navigating social media and the new music business.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think that's Paul singing the solo. bi

Popcat said...

I believe it's Paul who sings the solo, not George.

Unknown said...

i think its Paul singing the solo... dont think george got to that higher range quite like Paul did.

Malcolm said...

Pretty sure that's Paul singing over the solo . . may explain the discrepancy?

Anonymous said...

I think that's paul singing the guitar solo?

Ryan said...

Love it, thanks for posting! One comment... that sounded like Paul vocalizing the guitar solo, not George, no? That would be a nice little tidbit since it would show how excited Paul was about the song--he certainly lauded it back in the day as maybe the best song on the album, if memory serves.

Andy F said...

Might be Paul singing/mimicking the guitar solo after it had already cut by George. Sounds more like Paul, and would've been his way of expressing approval and encouragement to George.

Pete M. said...

That's McCartney scatting the guitar solo.

chris said...

Isn't that Paul singing along with the solo?

Unknown said...

Pretty sure that's Ringo singing over the solo.

Rand said...

The Beatles, absolute magic every single time and George's best song while with them.

Yes, Geoff Emerick is still correct (if anyone would know for certain, who else would it be?) it's definitely Paul vocalizing George's guitar solo because one can clearly hear Paul's vibrato on some ending notes. George never sang with vibrato.

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...