simon & garfunkel - blues run the game (studio-1965) this sounds f***ing INCREDIBLE for 1965

[mr_lebowski]

Strangely, I've never heard this tune before, it just came up on the spotify ... and I have to say I'm absolutely FLOORED this recording is from 1965. Why? Cause of how GREAT it sounds.

Most of my fellow music nerds can nail pretty closely when an older song was recorded just by the way it sounds ... dynamics, tape hiss, etc.

There were HUGE advancements in recording made between 1930 and ... well, now, really ... but I'd say around 1980 was when things started sounding fairly close to as good as they (can) sound nowadays, and most everything out there from pre-1980 'sounds like it's time', recording-wise ... but THIS?

Listen to this song ... 1965? Are you KIDDING ME? The clarity? The noise floor? The dynamic range? Holy balls this sounds amazing for 1965 ...

Oh, and it's also a brilliant song

[blm]

1. Do I recall correctly that Simon & Garfunkel were first to record 24 tracks?

Last edited Sun Oct 27, 2019, 04:04 PM - Edit history (1)

[Bongo Prophet]

3. I think it unlikely

Their last studio album was released in 1970, and the first 24 tracks came about 4 years later.

They probably worked in 4 or 8 track formats, though 16 got really popular in late 60s.

Considering their sparse arrangements most of the time, 4 track without bouncing would yield the best sound, partly because of wider track width. The example in OP was probably done this way.

/end geek mode

[blm]

4. It must have been 16 track then.

Halee was definitely an innovator.

[Bongo Prophet]

5. Now you've done it. (thank you) I got curious, and ended up rabbit trailing around the net

You are so right about him being an innovator. According to one interview, Columbia was using 8 tracks at the time of "The Boxer" sessions - but Roy knew he needed at least twice that, and pulled out enough tricks to get a wonderful final experience. As one who often used tape loops, flying in dialog or other snippets into a larger piece, I really related to that. It's a fascinating read.

The best record I ever made technically-and it still satisfies me sonically and every way, and I don't care what anybody says-was “The Boxer.” Unbelievable-I love to talk about that record-well, we made it, Paul and I. It's insane, the sounds that are on there. You talk about AMS reverbs? That sound is all over it, but done by opening and closing echo chambers by feel and hand-machines can't do it. There's a bass harmonica on that. It was an eight-track recording.

MF: One? Not two synched up?

RH: That's what I ended up having to create to fit all of those voices on there. I needed 16-tracks. I had to figure out a way to copy all of the first eight tracks onto the second for headphone feed. I figured it out. So we filled up the first eight tracks really quickly with music. Then I came up with the idea of making a big choral thing at the end. Artie says “Yea, it would be neat to go up to the chapel at Columbia University and do it” because Artie went to Columbia. Now we're talking about taking an eight-track with Dolby, remote, which has never been done before, and now CBS is saying “is this really necessary?”

MF: And from a studio that was putting microphones in set places!

RH: Exactly. And here we were adding voices, a big tuba, and a piccolo trumpet playing the melody over a previously recorded Nashville steel guitar to make it a very interesting sound. And here's that church sound, it's not in stereo, we had to do it in mono because we had a track problem. Then we go out and overdub Paul and Artie doing “lie la lie, lie la lie…”

MF: And then there's that big drum “kishhhhhh.”

RH: Well that was done in the elevator shaft at Columbia! So we go to the church, andd their voices with Dolby, and now we're out of tracks…Then we were going to do strings, so we decide to record it onto a two-track and wild track it into the final mix.

MF: You had to use a variable pitch control to keep it in synch with the rest?

RH: That's what I did. Not only that, there's a Dobro lick in it, that's a wild track. It took a long time [to mix and cut], but from a technical standpoint, man! Starting with the basic track done in Nashville with Fred Carter and Paul, just Travis picking-unbelievable! Then that great drummer Buddy Harmon added shaker. Then we built it up, adding the second eight. And I'm going to mix and I'm ending up with two eight-track Ampexes and two machines of wild tracks-“please God, make them run in synch” because as it gets hot, they drift. But it worked. It worked on The Byrds stuff too, because I took that to Hollywood to this producer Gary Usher and he saw it and went out of his mind!

But there's a follow up to this that's really going to kill you! Everybody else is getting 16 tracks (machines) but Columbia! And I have to go through all this hassle because I don't have 16 tracks! But I understand because they have a lot of studios and for them to gear up to 16 tracks would be very expensive.

So we go to the mix, and Artie is off doing his movie-which is the demise of Simon and Garfunkel and Paul and I are in the studio mixing, my daughter is born the night before, I'm up all day and night and I'm in great shape. It started to drift out after 12 hours, so I had to offset them and splice the big ending and the strings, which were completely wild. If that had to be mixed today, nobody could do it, guaranteed-and that includes me!

Read more at https://www.analogplanet.com/content/veteran-recording-engineer-roy-halee-recording-simon-and-garfunkel-and-otherspart-i-0#qZYPY82bPKZaCjIa.99

[blm]

6. Thanks for the article.

I hadn’t read it.

[BluesRunTheGame]

2. The song was written by Jackson C. Frank.

Paul Simon produced his first album. I think it was released in ‘65. It’s been covered quite a few times through the years.