Lynyrd Skynyrd "Free Bird" Isolated Bass And Drums

A while back I wrote a post about the isolated guitar tracks from Lynyrd Skynyrd classic "Free Bird," but now it's time to give a listen to the isolated bass and drums, which are equally interesting.

At 9:22, this is a long one, but sit back and have a listen to some things I bet you never heard on the  song before. Just for the record, guitarist Ed King plays bass (the original bass player Leon Wilkerson have temporarily left the band) and Bob Burns is on drums.

1. The intro is kind of shaky time-wise, but falls into the pocket as soon the groove begins.

2. Listen to the the nice sounding short reverb on the snare. There's a lot of it here but you hardly hear it in the mix.

3. The bass is played with a pick but has a nice round sound. Sometimes you'll hear play two notes at a time, almost like a chord, especially at the stops around 6:30.

4. When the song kicks into the outro solo at 4:36, listen to how instrumental the bass is developing the song and increasing the excitement. A little on top of the beat sometimes but it works in the track.

5. Be sure to listen all the way to the end to hear the ending that never appears on the final mix on the record.

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Metallica "Enter Sandman" Isolated Drums And Bass

"Enter Sandman," the single off their huge Black Album, broke Metallica to an international previously only touched by pop stars. The song was the first song written and mixed for the album, which set the tone for the rest of the songs.

Here are the isolated bass and drums from "Enter Sandman." Keep in mind that the drum track was cobbled together by section from 50 takes, which was necessary to keep the same intensity between the sections. Here's what to listen for.

1. I think this came from the Rock Band game, which might help to explain why the kick is only on the left and snare on the right channels respectively.

2. There's a huge amount of reverb on the drums. You don't notice it when you hear the entire mix, but its much more than many engineers are comfortable adding.

3. The bass lags behind the drums in spots, especially during the first half of the song. Of course, this was made in the days before DAWs, so what would be an easy fix today required re-recording then.

4. Speaking of the bass, you can hear the amp noise whenever there's a break in the song. Again, that's something that would be cleaned up in the DAW today.

5. Both the drums and bass are playing very disciplined parts, one of the reasons that the band was able to crossover with a hit single. In other words, the song is made like a hit single.

6. If you listen on small computer speakers both the bass and drums speak well thanks to the EQ points selected for the kick and the fact that the bass has a lot of top end.

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Boston "Rock And Roll Band" Isolated Drums and Bass

It's fun to go back and listen to the hits from when rock was in its infancy to hear what the recording and production techniques were like back then. Here's a good example of one of the turning points in music production - it's "Rock and Roll Band" from Boston's first album.

This is really the song that started it all for the band as it's the one that first got the attention of both the band's managers and the record label. What you'll hear is Jim Masdea on drums and Boston leader Tom Scholz on bass. Here's what to listen for:

1. Listen to how tight the bass and drums are, and how near perfect both tracks are performed. The bass is sometimes ever so slightly ahead of the drums, but both are about perfect in their execution. That was a big departure in 1975 (when the song was recorded) when most songs still had a much looser feel, and it was a taste of what production would become a decade later.

2. The drums are in mono. They're very well-balanced (especially the ride cymbal, which is usually lost on most recordings) and have a nice medium dark reverb on them that doesn't get in the way.

3. The sound of the bass is interesting. Leave it to Scholz to not record a bass as a bass. There's some sort of very short delay or modulation on it, so the midrange is mostly in the middle but the extreme low end is puffed out to the sides. Of course, you need to listen on headphones to really hear this.

Above all, this track still really holds up because it was made so well, and as always, a great song is always remembered.

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Steely Dan "Bodhisttahva" Isolated Bass And Drums

Steely Dan has always been known for their almost perfect tracks, even before the days that could easily be done via a DAW. Here's a great example of just how great those tracks could be with the isolated bass and drums from "Bodhisttahva" from the band's second album Countdown To Ecstasy.

This album still featured what amounted to the Steely Dan band before it became just Donald Fagen and Walter Becker, but you can still hear hints of the perfection that would come later with the studio bands they used for all their subsequent recordings. On this track, Jim Hodder was the drummer and Walter Becker played bass. Here are some things to listen for.

1. The drums are spot on and feel great. This has been a Becker-Fagen trademark in that they got drum machine-like time from their drummers well before such a machine existed.

2. There's a nice reverb on the snare. Elliot Scheiner, who mixed most of Steely Dan's records (although not this one) once told me that Becker and Fagen disliked reverb and he had to discretely sneak it in where he thought it was needed. That's not the case here, and it stands out and sounds most appropriate.

3. Becker's a great bass player. While the band used a studio bass player on most tracks on their subsequent albums and on tour, Becker plays the heck out of this difficult part. There are a couple of minor faults that would never be left in during later recordings at 0:41 and 3:07, but you never hear them in the track with the other mix elements.

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The Beatles "Hello Goodbye" Isolated Bass And Drums

It's always good to get a Beatles fix and here's a great one with the isolated bass and drums from "Hello, Goodbye" off of the band's Magical Mystery Tour album. This one's a lot of fun to listen to because you just hear the stripped down rhythm section (except for the leakage), spread with the drums to the left and the bass to right, without any of the many overdubs on the song. Here's what to listen for:

1. The drums are extremely compressed and distorted. The various Beatle engineers used to use a Fairchild 660 on the drums, but on this song it was really cranked.

2. Take notice that Ringo actually doesn't play a lot in the song except for the kick drum, as the motion is mostly carried by a shaker. Despite that, this song is a perfect illustration of his excellent time and showcases his very unique tom fills.

3. The bass is pretty spot on and ever so slightly ahead of the beat. By this time, Sir Paul was overdubbing his bass towards the end of the production so he could better tailor the part to fit the song. This is a perfect illustration of that technique.

4. Listen to the bass part on the outro after about the 3:00 mark. This is something that I hadn't heard on the record before.

5. It's interesting to hear the piano, organ and percussion leakage on the left and the vocal on the right.

This video will no doubt be taken down soon, so enjoy it while you can.

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Wings "Band On The Run" Isolated Bass and Drums

There's nothing like listening to the isolated bass and drums of a track to really feel its essence. The essence of Wings' "Band On The Run" (from the album of the same name) is totally Paul McCartney, as he played both bass and drums on the track.

Most of the album was recorded at the EMI studios in Lagos, Nigeria after Sir Paul decided he wanted to try recording in a more exotic place than England. Just prior to departing for Nigeria, both lead guitarist Henry McCollough and drummer Denny Seiwell left the band. Paul and band members Linda McCartney and Denny Laine decided to carry on anyway, with Paul now taking on drum and lead guitar duties as well as bass. Here are some things to listen for.

1. The drums are amazingly solid for someone who doesn't spend most of his time playing drums. Listen especially to the ride cymbal work in the first part of the song, which is like a metronome.

2. While Paul can lay down a drum beat, he has a little trouble with fills. Listen to the one at 3:08 and at 4:50, both of which are a bit lazy and late.

3. Paul's bass playing is mostly behind the beat and sometimes even flams with the drums. This happens throughout the song, but especially in the first section of the song. Today this all would have been fixed if not during the recording, then in editing afterward.

4. He is one of the most innovative bass players ever though. McCartney is noted for coming up with melodic parts that most other bass players or arrangers would never think of. Listen to the bass part of the last section (the "Band on the run" part). Few players would come up with something similar.

5. The recording is great, even though it was done on an 8 track machine in less than ideal conditions. Geoff Emerick provides one of his best engineering jobs.

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Van Halen "Beautiful Girls" Isolated Bass And Drums

There's noting like listening to a great rhythm section and the original Van Halen duo of drummer Alex Van Halen and bassist Michael Anthony has proven to be one of the best in rock. Listen to them do their thing in isolation on "Beautiful Girls" from 1979's Van Halen II.

The song, which was originally titled "Bring On The Girls" on the band's 25 song demo, was produced by the great Ted Templeman, engineered by Don Landee, and recorded at the famous Sunset Sound in Hollywood. Like most albums from that era, it was completed in only 3 weeks. Here are some things to listen for.

1. Listen to how forward the snare drum is compared to the rest of the kit. Pretty beefy sound too, as well as a touch of some very smooth reverb.

2. The cymbals are very prominent in the mix to mostly fill in those upper frequencies since the band was a power trio. Their early albums were mostly guitar, bass and drums plus a guitar solo overdub with not much sweetening.

3. Michael Anthony's playing is a little behind the drums, rather than the other way around. This gives the band a sense of urgency.

4. Anthony's playing is far from perfect, not that you ever heard any of the very slight mistakes in the track. There is a pretty big one at 1:47 that wouldn't be left in today.

5. Alex VH has a couple of slow fills as well, like the ones at 3:28 and 3:40. In those days of analog tape and relatively quick recording, perfection was something that was rarely attained (except perhaps for Steely Dan albums, but they also cost a lot more to make and took much more time).

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David Bowie's "Space Oddity" Isolated Bass and Drums

Here's a fascinating piece of music history. It's the isolated bass and drums from David Bowie's first hit, the classic "Space Oddity."

The song features a completely different lineup from future Bowie albums, and included session drummer Terry Cox, legendary bass player Herbie Flowers (also responsible for the famous bass lines on Lou Reed's "Walk On The Wild Side"), Mick Wayne on lead guitar, and Rick Wakeman on Mellotron (who did play on subsequent Bowie records), was produced by Gus Dudgeon, and engineered by Trident Studios staff engineer Robin Cable.

This was quite a controversial song in its day since the BBC claimed that it poked fun at the British space program and kept it off its playlists until after the return of Apollo 11. Here are some things to listen for:

1. The rhythm section seems to get lost when listening to the full track, as we focus more on the vocal and lyrics, but the playing is very interesting all the same. The bass plays no distinguishable part, and the drums play very free for the verses of the song, almost like something you'd hear in be bop.

2. That said, the drum part plays very straight in the choruses and bridges, with the snare played quite forcefully. Check out the long plate reverb (sounds great) which only appears on the snare.

3. The kick isn't heard much although it's actually played a lot. It's not featured in the mix and is actually mixed down in the track. It's not the kind of song that relies on the power of the kick though.

4. The bass sound is great. but so is the drum sound (except for the kick). The drums are also in mono.

5. Listen through to the end if the video for the ending you don't hear on the record.

You can hear the leakage in the distance as the video begins, but the bass doesn't enter until about 0:23.

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