"What's Goin' On" Marvin Gaye - Multitrack

Today we'll take a look at the individual tracks of the multitrack of Marvin Gaye's seminal hit "What's Goin' On." The song was recorded at a low point in Marvin's career. Depressed over his partner Tammi Terrell's death, he was about to quit music and try his hand at pro football with a tryout with the Detroit Lions, when Obie Benson (of the Four Tops) presented him with the germ for the song.

This is the song that has one of the greatest recording session stories ever. Marvin was anxious to record the song, and after gathering the other Funk Brothers in the studio, found legendary bassist James Jamerson drunk in a bar. Jamerson was so hammered, in fact, that he couldn't sit up without falling down. He would up playing the song laying on his back on the floor of the studio. What's even more amazing is that the part he played was written, and he read it down like the legend he was. Here are some things to listen for.

1) Marvin's vocal is, of course, great, but listen to how shaky the background vocals in the intro are. Marvin's football friends from the Detroit Lions were among the singers and participated in the crowd noise that occurs later in the song.

2) The kick, drum kit and congas are on three separate tracks, which was normal in 16 track recording at the time. The configuration provides just enough flexibility for the mix however.

3) Listen to how the two guitar interact with each other. A Motown trademark, each play a complimentary part and have different sounds, but when put together they make a single bigger sound.

4) The vibes played by Jack Ashton outline the chord changes, which is another Motown trademark.

5) Eli Fontaine's soprano sax part wasn't written into the arrangement, and was a first take run-through that Marvin liked so much he kept in, and it became the signature line of the song.

6) Marvin's two vocal takes were left in the song after the engineer misunderstood what he was asking for. Marvin liked the effect so much that he used it on many of the subsequent songs that he recorded.

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"Killer Queen" Queen Multitrack

"Killer Queen" by the band Queen was a 1974 hit off the band's Sheer Heart Attack album, and marks the best example of a record from that era using what we consider the modern technique of recording. What's the difference between the "classic" recording method of the 60's and 70's and the modern method? Take notice that the kick, snare and toms are on separate tracks, and the bass is recorded both direct and miked, to name just a couple of things. Here are some things to listen for.

1) Freddie Mercury plays two pianos on the song that give it a very full sound. The second piano was an upright that was credited as a "jangle piano."

2) Take notice to Roger Deacon's 2nd bass overdub at 1:17. The reason why it works and doesn't make the part muddy is the fact that it's is played high on the neck. Of course, it's short too.

3) Check out Brian May's guitar tones at 1:39. The tone of the 2nd answer guitar is so different from the first (actually all the guitar parts sound different) that they not only fit together well but stand out as unique too.

4) Queen's terrific harmony vocals are an excellent example of stacked vocals to make the sound fuller. Another technique that was quite forward thinking for the time.

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"Heard It Through The Grapevine" Marvin Gaye Multitrack

"Heard It Through The Grapevine" is one of the most covered songs ever but it all started with the Marvin Gaye version. A look at the multitrack from this song shows you exactly how the brilliance of Motown's arrangements worked.

1) This song was cut on an 8 track analog tape recorder, as were most of the Detroit Motown hits. The tracks were drums, congas and tambourine, bass, guitars, strings, electric piano, background vocals, and lead vocals.

2) Listen to the two drummers on track one. You can hear a little flaming but they're impressively precise for the most part.

3) Track two is dedicated to congas and tambourine. Jack Ashton's tambourine was actually one of the distinctive sounds of Motown records.

4) The three guitars that Motown usually used on most records was also unique. Usually each guitar was assigned a part and they didn't double much, but they do here on the verse.

5) The background vocals by The Andantes are sweet, but if you listen carefully, it sounds like the singers aren't exactly sure of their parts in the beginning of the song. It not the main parts of the the phrases, it's the intros that sometimes sound like they're searching.

6) Marvin's lead vocals are, as usual, spectacular. That said, producer and co-writer Norman Whitfield fought long and hard for Marvin to sing in the key that you hear, which was one of the reasons why the song came out about a year after it was recorded.

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"Genie In A Bottle" Christina Aguilera Multitrack

"Genie In A Bottle" was the first hit off of Christina Aquilera's first album ("Christina Aguilera") that not only held the #1 position on the top 100 for 5 weeks, but earned her a Grammy for Best Female Pop Performance. Produced by writers David Frank and Steve Kipner, the song is pure pop at its best. Here's a video featuring the various tracks from the multitrack of the song.

1) Genie In A Bottle is a good example of a manufactured track in that it's entirely programmed except for the vocals.

2) This is pop music arrangement at its finest. It's very simple yet very effective. Check out were the pad, piano and synth lines enter and exit in the chorus and interludes.

3) Christina's lead vocal is a great example of how a delay timed to the track adds ambience yet disappears when the other tracks are laid around it.

4) The background vocals are great. Christina sings well with herself (not all vocalists do) in 3 part harmony that's doubled.

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"Lively Up Yourself" Bob Marley Multitrack

After the great response to the multitrack of "No Women No Cry" last week, here's another multitrack from one of Bob Marley's most popular songs, "Lively Up Yourself." The song was the first song on Marley's seminal "Natty Dread" album, and was the first by Marley without his former Wailer bandmates.

1) The first thing you hear is the horn section, which is doubled on two tracks. The horns sound particularly tight and together.

2) Bob's lead vocals consist of two passes on different tracks, with the harmony background vocals of I-Threes doubled on two tracks.

3) The drums are interesting in that they're on three tracks consisting of kick, snare, and high-hat (instead of overhead). Listen to the intricate high-hat work, which is unusual for a reggae song.

4) The guitars consist of standard reggae layering on three tracks - one providing the rhythm backbeat "chucks," the second doing fills in between the lead vocal phrases, and the third doubling the bass.

5) The keyboards are interesting. The organ plays a form of the standard reggae "bubbling" with the bass line doubled on the left hand (bubbling normally requires both hands). The piano outlines the chords on beat 2 with the left hand while doubling the bass line with the right hand, which is very unusual.

6) Once again, the entire song was recorded on only 15 tracks!

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"Long Train Runnin'" Doobie Brothers Multitrack

Here's a look at the individual tracks from the multitrack of The Doobie Brothers 1973 top-10 hit "Long Train Runnin'." The song was originally a jam song that the band played during their time as a bar band, and they were reluctant to put it on their 3rd album, "The Captain And Me," which became their most popular album. Supposedly, singer Tom Johnson finished the lyrics at the last minute in the bathroom of Warner Brother's Amigo Studios right before the song was recorded.

I've always been a big fan of Doobies, especially of their vocals, and you'll hear some of the secret to their vocal sound on this video.

1) The first thing you notice is the guitar layers. There are two electric guitars that are doubled playing the main chordal phrase, and 3 different acoustic guitars that add both counterpoint and motion.

2) Even though the Doobies are known for their dual drum kit sound, this song has only one kit that's recorded very old school on only 3 tracks - kick, snare and overhead. The stereo spread comes from the 3 tracks of percussion - tambourine, and 2 different conga patterns.

3) Tommy Johnson's vocals are on a single track, while the chorus harmonies consist of two tracks of 3 part harmonies (their signature vocal sound) and a track of gang vocal on the lowest part.

4) The harmonica solo is track-shared on an empty section on two of the background vocal tracks, a practice that was almost standard back in the tape days. Take notice to the difference in levels. In the final mix, it sounds like they used most of the loud one with a few phrases from the quiet one.

5) The outro ad lib lead vocal lives on the lead vocal track, with a second pass on one of the background vocal tracks, again employing track-sharing.

6) Everything you hear was done on only 15 tracks!

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"No Women No Cry" - Bob Marley Multitrack

Bob Marley was a superstar that transcended stardom to become legend, even before he died, and 30 years later, his music is as fresh as it was back when he was at his peak. Today we take a listen to the bits and pieces of the multitrack to the song "No Women, No Cry" from the 1975 Natty Dread album. This version is pretty interesting, but the one that's more widely known came from a live album a year later.

It's believed that Marley wrote the song but gave the songwriting credit to his childhood friend Vincent Ford in order to help him sustain the soup kitchen that he ran in the Trenchtown ghetto. Regardless who wrote it, it's still powerful today. Here are a few things to listen for.

1) It's interesting that the track is built around a primitive drum machine. Considering how formidable Reggae rhythm sections are, you expect the full band to play on every song.

2) The low vocal parts by the Wailers are pleasing out of tune. These probably fall into the "close enough" category so prevalent at the time.

3) The number of keyboards used is also a surprise; 4 organ tracks, a piano, and clavinet.

4) There are two lead vocals, but you can't tell if they were eventually comped together from listening to just this single multitrack pass in the video.

5) The recording looks to be done on 23 tracks of a 24 track tape machine. Track 24 was usually reserved for timecode if needed, but sometimes the edge tracks of the tape were avoided altogether or used for bass and kick drum because they'd be damaged and have limited frequency response.

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"Superstition" Multitrack - Stevie Wonder

There was a great article today on ProSoundNews about the making of Stevie Wonder's classic hit "Superstition" so I thought that would be a good song to focus on today. You can take a look at the article here.

Here's a video that solo's the various tracks from the multitrack of the song.

1) Listen how the drums groove, especially the hi-hat. It appears that there are several drum tracks, but they all groove hard.

2) I'm not sure if there are 4 or 6 tracks of clavinet, but you can hear that some of them have a lot of processing on them (as indicated in the article). Some are almost a double but have a very different sound.

3) The bass is Stevie's signature synth sound, but also the way he plays it, which is nothing like a real bass player would play it (which, of course, he isn't, nor is trying to be).

4) The horns are really compressed, out of tune at times, and have a few rough edges, but they work in the track!

5) Like most hit songs, you can hear how the track almost mixes itself at the end of the song.

Since the clav parts have had keyboard players baffled since the song came out, the second video is somewhat of a breakdown of the parts.

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