"Hot For Teacher Guitar" Van Halen Isolated Guitar

Today we take a listen to Eddie Van Halen's smoking isolated guitar on "Hot For Teacher." For many guitar players this song is the ultimate in guitar dexterity, and even isolated, Edward does not disappoint.
The song was part of Van Halen's "1984" that was recorded at Eddie's 5150 home studio. It was voted the 39th greatest rock song by VH1. Here are a few things to listen to:

1) What can you say about Eddie's playing except "mind blowing." He's one of the true innovators of modern rock guitar and this song is an excellent example of why.

2) Eddie seamlessly goes between rhythm and lead during the song. Since this was done at home with presumably as much time as needed, I suspect that we're hearing a lot of takes comped into one. It wouldn't surprise me at all if this was one entire performance though.

3) The sound of the guitar is great for both the rhythm and lead parts. I'm not sure exactly what gear he used (I suspect it was his "Frakenstrat" and "brown sound" Marshall), but it's the sound that guitar players have obsessed over for years afterwards.

4) The studio sound of the isolated track is different from the original record (the video is at the bottom), in that it's in stereo with a short reverb and long delay timed to the track. While it's basically the same effects setup on the record, the dry sound is panned left while the effects are panned right, which is the same on most of the early Van Halen albums. It's also interesting how low in the mix the guitar is on the final version.

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My Appearance On AudioNowCast

I had the great pleasure of appearing on the excellent AudioNowCast, a bi-weekly podcast about all things audio and the music industry. The show is hosted by Mike Rodriguez and features industry vets Rob Arbittier, Scot Gershin, Andrew Shoeps and Gary Mraz in a lively roundtable discussion.

This is the 91st episode of the show, and much of it was focused on Music 3.0. You can listen to audioNowcast here, and take a look at their Facebook page here.

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Apple To Introduce New Smaller Audio Jack

Every pro audio person hates small audio jacks. While no one has any problem with 1/4 inch guitar jacks, the 1/8th inch "mini-jacks" are usually a sign of portable consumer hardware and something an audio pro generally doesn't want to touch.

But in an effort to shrink the models in their iPod line ever smaller, Apple has applied for a patent for a new smaller jack using a technology called "pogo-pins." All this was discovered by the ever vigilant Appleinsider website. Here's Neil Hughes post on the subject.

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In its continuous pursuit to create smaller, more compact devices, Apple has shown interest in creating headphone jacks for iPods and iPhones that will take up even less space inside a device.

A new patent application from Apple was revealed this week by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and discovered by AppleInsider. Entitled "Audio Jack with Pogo Pins for Conductive Contacts," it describes an audio headphone jack that depends on deflectable Pogo pins to conserve space.

The application notes that audio jacks include several conductive pads in order to create contact with a standard 1/8-inch audio cable when plugged in. Through these cables, audio, power and data can be transferred.

Current audio jacks typically depend on "cantilever beams," which extend into the cavity and deflect away when an audio plug is inserted. The cantilever beam, however, can take up a large amount of space.

"In particular, a cantilever beam can require a substantial minimum length for ensuring that the force generated by the beam deflection is sufficient to maintain the beam in contact with an audio plug contact portion," the application reads. "In addition, the cantilever beam requires space in at least two dimensions, which can prevent the size of an electronic device from being reduced."

"This can especially be an issue for electronic devices so small that the audio jack size effectively determines the size of the device."

The application has become public as Apple has introduced its latest and smallest line of iPod players ever. Design considerations for the size of the headphone jack can be seen in the latest iPod nano, which employs a tiny 1.54-inch display.

In its teardown of the new iPod nano, iFixit found that the front glass on the sixth-generation device sticks up about .3mm from the flat face of the outer case. The solutions provider said that decision was likely made because of the size of the headphone jack.

"Apple wanted to keep the device as thin as possible, and the curvature of the edges would have forced the case to be thicker for a completely flush glass panel," they said. "A thicker case was ditched in favor of the glass sticking out slightly."

Apple's solution would rely on Pogo pins embedded the audio jack cavity, which would extend to create contact with an audio plug. Upon insertion of an audio plug, the retractable portion of the pins would become depressed and would meet the contacts on the plug.

The use of Pogo pins would allow the size of an audio jack to be "greatly reduced in two dimensions," the application reads, including along the axis of the cavity and in one direction perpendicular to the axis of the cavity.

"The contact mechanism for the audio jack only needs to extend in one direction (e.g., in one direction perpendicular to the axis of the cavity, or y)," it states. "This may allow an electronic device in which the electronic device housing follows the dimensions of the audio jack for around at least one half of the periphery of the audio jack (e.g., all of the audio jack conductive pads and the movement of the audio jack conductive pads remains in a plane that includes the central axis of the cavity)."

Pogo pins are a registered trademark of Everett Charles Technologies. Its name came due to a comparison with a pogo stick toy. Pogo pins are typically formed as a slender cylinder with two sharp, spring-loaded pins. Made public this week, the application was first filed for on June 10, 2009. It is credited to Sean Murphy and John Difonzo.

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The Verve's "Bittersweet Symphony" Clearance Problems

The following is one of those rare times when a cross-post between my Music 3.0 blog seems appropriate.

Copyright can be a double-edged sword. On the one hand it protects artists and makes sure they get paid for their work, and on another it can stifle creativity and suck a revenue stream dry. The latter is what happened to The Verve with their still much loved 1998 hit "Bittersweet Symphony."

It's hard to believe that Rolling Stone's Mick Jagger and Keith Richards get all the publishing income from that song, but that's what's happened. The reason why is that "Bittersweet Symphony" is closely based on the Stone's 1965 hit "The Last Time." Hard to believe if you know the song, I know, because I didn't hear it at first either.

"Bittersweet Symphony" is actually based on the Andrew Loog Oldham Orchestra's (the Stone's original producer) version of the "The Last Time" (listen below) rather than the Stone's version. The Verve acknowledged this and actually got a license from Jagger/Richards to use a sample of the song, so they thought they were in the clear.

But when Bittersweet Symphony came out, the Stone's representatives were immediately on the phone saying, "We want 100 percent of the song, or take it out of the stores!" The reason was that The Verve didn't just use a sample, they lifted virtually the entire song and just put new lyrics to it.

This nastiness probably could've been avoided with some shrewd negotiation up front, but that era of the Stones catalog is represented by the notorious Allen Klein, who was one of the hardest and most hated negotiators in the business while he was alive. It seems sure that the exact use of the song wasn't revealed until after the song became a hit, and The Verve thought they were in the clear.

What can you learn from this? If you're going to use a sample, remember that there are 2 licenses that you must get - one from the publisher and another from the record label for the recording. And remember that the length of the sample may become an issue so specify how much of the song you're using in advance.

Below are 2 videos. One of "Bittersweet Symphony," and the second from the version of the song that the music was lifted. You'll be amazed how similar they are.

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"Uprising" - Muse Isolated Guitar

Last week we listened to the bass and drum tracks for Muse's "Uprising." Today we'll listen to the guitar tracks, although there are a number of additional overdubbed tracks also on this track.

1) The tom fills and handclaps that everyone missed from the backing track last week are on this track.

2) The vocal in the chorus is the delay-only signal. It's pretty long and timed to the track.

3) There are a variety of guitar sounds that really makes the song. One of the things that most young bands do when they first record is use the same guitar sound for every part in every song. Muse is obviously not a young band and you can tell just from the way they layer the different guitar parts and sounds (among other things).

4) The guitar drops out during the solo. I suspect that this track is a couple of the channels of a 5.1 mix and that the guitar drops out because it's being panned.

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6 Tips For Editing Your Timing

I have a new book that just came out called "Mixing And Mastering With IK-Multimedia T-Racks: The Official Guide." I usually don't write books that are specifically about a single product, but I find T-Racks particularly useful, especially the stand-alone version. Although you can never beat a pro mastering engineer, there are those times when you have to do it yourself and T-Racks works great. It also has some excellent metering functions that I now find hard to live without during mixing.

Here's an excerpt from Chapter 1 of the book, which is about prepping for a mix. This section provides some editing tips that can come in handy the next time you're in "cut and paste world."

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No matter how great the players on the session are, there’s always some portion of a player’s recording that doesn’t feel quite right. The exception being that you have enough time to have the musician play their part until it’s perfect, or you punch in all the suspect parts as you go along.

Usually, the timing of the basic tracks will be tweaked right after your tracking session so you have a solid rhythm section to overdub against, but if you’ve not done that or you’re just now discovering some sections that don’t feel right (which happens a lot), prepare for the joys of slipping and sliding time.

Here’s a list of some of the do’s and don’ts for tweaking timing:

• Don’t edit by eye - You can’t edit successfully by just trying to line everything up to the kick and snare. Often times, tracks that look perfectly lined up don’t sound or feel right. That’s why listening is more important than looking. Turn your head away from the monitor and just listen before and after you move anything.

• Every beat doesn’t have to be perfect - In fact, if it’s too perfect, you’ll suck the life out of the performance. Unless something really jumps out as being out of time, you might get away with leaving it as is. Another way is to just line up downbeats and any major accents. That gives you the best of both worlds. A loose feel that still sounds tight.

• Copy and paste another section - If you have to make too many edits to a particular section, chances are it won’t sound as good when you’re finished as just finding a similar section in another part of the song and pasting it in over the area that’s suspect. It’s a lot faster and easier to do, and will probably sound cleaner and groove better as well.

• Be careful with the bass - Many times the bass will speak better if it’s a few milliseconds behind the kick drum rather than right with it. It still sounds tight, but both the kick and bass will be more distinct.

• Listen against the drums - If you listen to the track that you’re editing all by itself, you can be fooled into thinking that the timing is corrected, especially if you’re editing to a grid. The real proof though, is when you listen against the drums. If the instrument sounds great by itself and great with the drums, you’re home free.

• Trim the releases - This is one of the best things you can do to tighten up a track. Everyone is hip to tightening up the attacks, but it’s the releases that really make the difference. Regardless if it’s an accent played by the full band, the song ending, or a vocal or guitar phrase, make sure that the releases are pretty much the same length. If one is longer than the rest, trim it back and fade it so it sounds natural. If one is a lot shorter than the rest, use a time correction plug-in the lengthen it a bit (see figure 1.2).

Of course, if you’re using loops or MIDI instruments, you’ve probably quantized things to the track by now. If you haven’t, now’s the time.

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"Tears Of A Clown" Isolated Vocals

Here's another piece of Motown history as we listen to the isolated vocals from Smokey Robinson and the Miracles big hit, "Tears Of A Clown."

1) When you isolate most tracks from the songs from the original Motown in Detroit, you find that they're usually pretty distorted. That's not the case here, as the vocals for Tears Of A Clown are much cleaner than other tracks we've listened to from that era.

2) The reverb sounds really good. It's short and dark, but it's perfect for the song.

3) The background vocal arrangement is superb. Not only do the Miracles blend so well together, but the counterpoint lines to Smokey's lead vocal fit the song perfectly.

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Capturing Overdub Lightening In A Bottle

Here's an excerpt from my latest book, The Music Producer's Handbook, about what happens when the brilliantly unexpected happens during an overdub session. Depending upon how you handle the moment, it can be a huge time suck or an efficiently played overdub that makes the song.

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It always happens at least once in the overdub phase. A player plays something by mistake or during warm-ups that lights up the whole studio and the producer says, “Can you play that again, but do something different on the end?” Or “Can you play it like that in this section instead?” And then the chase is on to capture that lightening in a bottle and pour it over a part or section that was lacking before.

But things are usually never as simple as they seem, as the once brilliant part is changed to fit the new section or tweaked to better serve the song. A quick pass turns into hours and before you know it, you’ve spent the entire day working up this single part. That’s usually the way these things go during overdubs. By the time everyone has worked out the perfect part, the player is too tired to perform it in a convincing manner.

During these times when an entirely new part is being worked out, I’ve found that it sometimes takes 2 sessions to really make it happen. The first day you take that brilliant  seed of an idea and work it out, and the second day is when the idea really flowers when you can properly execute it. Keeping this in mind can save you countless extra hours at the end of a long day. Leave it alone and come back tomorrow when everyone is fresh. It’ll probably be performed perfectly on the first take.

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Mixing Techniques For John Mayer

Here's a video where multi-platinum mixing engineer Manny Marroquin reveals a few of the mixing techniques he used for John Mayer's "I Don't Trust Myself". Manny is one of the most respected mixers around these days, and he's still one of the few that doesn't want for work despite tighter and fewer budgets (there's not many mixers that can say that).

In this video he talks about one of the main points that I stressed in the Mixing Engineer's Handbook, which is to "find the direction of the song, and build the song around it." One of the best pieces of advice he gives is "it's not how much you do, but when to leave it alone," which is usually something that only comes with experience.

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The Wrecking Crew Movie

I've written about the Wrecking Crew movie before, but it really needs to be brought up again because it's such an important historical document as well as a totally fun watch. For those of you who don't know, the Wrecking Crew was a group of Los Angeles studio musicians during the 60's and 70's that played on so many of the hits of the time that's it's hard to believe they all came from just one group of people.

The group played on almost every style of recording, including television theme songs, film scores, advertising jingles and almost every genre of music, with artists that included The Monkees, Bing Crosby, Nancy Sinatra, Bobby Vee, The Partridge Family, The Mamas & the Papas, The Carpenters, John Denver, Simon & Garfunkel and many more.

They helped Phil Spector create his famous "Wall of Sound," and realized Brian Wilson's vision for Beach Boy hits like "Good Vibrations", "California Girls", the acclaimed album Pet Sounds, and the original recordings for Smile.

Unfortunately, despite widespread praise, the excellent film about the band can still only be seen in private showings and film festivals since producer Denny Tedesco (the son of the late Wrecking Crew guitar player Tommy Tedesco) can't find a distributor. Why? Because the Crew played on so many hits that the licensing fees to get them in the movie would be enormous, and that scares them away. Of course, the fees aren't that much for a major studio tentpole movie, but that's not what this documentary is.

The movie is exceptional whether you're in the music business or not. Hopefully you'll get a chance to see it on the big screen or a DVD soon. If not, be on the lookout at your local film festival. You won't be disappointed.

Below is the trailer for the film. You can find out more on the Wrecking Crew movie website, and you can check out some excellent outtakes from the movie as well.

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"Sunshine Of Your Love" Backing Track

Yesterday we listened to the isolated guitar track from Cream's seminal single "Sunshine Of Your Love." Today we'll listen to the other tracks, minus the guitar. Here's what to listen for.

1) Jack Bruce's bass is pretty distorted and the amp is obviously miked. There was no such thing as "going direct" back in those days. In fact, direct boxes didn't even come on the scene for another 10 years or so. I must admit, I think that miking the amp is a better way of doing things as it gives the bass player's tone some character. Direct bass tends to all sound the same.

2) Bruce's vocal is also distorted, especially when he really opens up on the B section. It has just a touch of reverb, and you can hear the compressor grabbing a bit, but it's not a bad sound in general. Also listen to all the breath noise in the vocal. If the song was recorded today, that would probably be eliminated, but it does give the vocal a sense of realism and character.

3) Bruce's and Eric Clapton's vocals are slightly split in the stereo field during the choruses

4) Ginger Backer's drums are interesting in that the pattern is built completely around the toms. You only hear a few crash cymbals in the choruses until the solo through the outro, where you also hear him play the snare with the crashes.

5) Make sure you listen through to the end, where you'll hear the songs real ending that never made the record.

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"Sunshine Of Your Love" - Clapton's Isolated Guitar

Here's a real classic. It's Eric Clapton's isolated guitar track from "Sunshine Of Your Love," the song that broke Cream in America in 1967. The song was part of the Disraeli Gears album produced by Felix Papalardi and engineered by the esteemed Tom Dowd at Atlantic Record's own studio in New York City.

1) This is a guitar sound that you don't hear much anymore. It's the front pickup of a 1964 Gibson SG Standard with some of the tone control dialed back, played through a Marshall Plexi. The distortion of the song was a prototype for guitarists for years to come, as is still sought after.

2) The sound of the guitar solo is reported to be what Clapton called his "Women Tone," which was a very early Clyde McCoy model Vox Wah pedal placed in the bass position. I'm not so sure that it's not just the same sound as the rhythm guitar with more of the tone control dialed in. Notice how the rhythm and solo get panned in stereo during the solo section.

3) Clapton gets a bit ahead of the beat that you can hear in the leakage in the B-sections. He also hits a couple of "extra strings" during the final chorus. I never heard either of these before in the track (probably no one else has either), but if were done today you can be sure it would be perfect. Sometimes, all the character is produced right out of records today by going for that perfection, but as we've seen over and over in this blog, perfection simply doesn't matter in a hit. It has to be a solid performance, but not perfect.

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