The Smiley Smile Message Board

Smiley Smile Stuff => General On Topic Discussions => Topic started by: Pretty Funky on March 23, 2011, 07:32:46 PM



Title: Hal Blaine Story
Post by: Pretty Funky on March 23, 2011, 07:32:46 PM
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703858404576214574291829718.html


Title: Re: Hal Blaine Story
Post by: Chris Brown on March 23, 2011, 08:24:51 PM
Nice to see an article about Hal, and he certainly deserves the recognition, but unfortunately it spreads a lot of the same misinformation that has been promulgated for years regarding how much the Beach Boys played on their own records, i.e. that after 1963 they did nothing but sing.  I guess the truth doesn't tie in very neatly with the story they want to tell.


Title: Re: Hal Blaine Story
Post by: Jay on March 23, 2011, 08:53:55 PM
Sorry, but I think he comes off as an obnoxious egomaniac in this article. Yes, what Brian wrote was only notes on the paper. But I guess it was good enough to get his picture on the album cover.  ;)


Title: Re: Hal Blaine Story
Post by: Jon Stebbins on March 23, 2011, 11:34:26 PM
Its unlikely that Hal played the drums on the song Little Deuce Coupe as he claims in this article. I know a lot of people have written it that way, including me, but the latest evidence suggests that it was probably Dennis on that particular song.


Title: Re: Hal Blaine Story
Post by: Andrew G. Doe on March 24, 2011, 12:17:52 AM
Its unlikely that Hal played the drums on the song Little Deuce Coupe as he claims in this article. I know a lot of people have written it that way, including me, but the latest evidence suggests that it was probably Dennis on that particular song.

The AFM contract would agree with you.


Title: Re: Hal Blaine Story
Post by: Micha on March 24, 2011, 02:43:57 AM
I remember though that Brian claimed he had to replace Dennis' drum track for LDC because it wasn't good enough. So even if the AFM contract rightfully says he laid down a drum track, this doesn't mean it was the one that got used.

Anyway, from countless listenings to the BB recordings, I tend to think that into the mid-60s Dennis was a rather insecure studio drummer. His live drumming though was as driving and energetic as Hal Blaine's could ever be.

On the Live at Sacramento bootleg there is a version of Don't Back Down that starts with a pretty long bass drum part, much longer than on the record, as if Dennis was trying to deliver the tempo Brian wants. But when the other instruments and the singing join in, Dennis speeds up instantly, giving the song the tempo that his intuition tells him. The others have to catch up with him for a few bars, they play the song in Dennis' tempo, and it makes a much more energetic version than the studio version. Same goes for I Get Around from those concerts. Dennis rocks! 8)


Title: Re: Hal Blaine Story
Post by: Joshilyn Hoisington on March 24, 2011, 05:19:12 AM
I remember though that Brian claimed he had to replace Dennis' drum track for LDC because it wasn't good enough. So even if the AFM contract rightfully says he laid down a drum track, this doesn't mean it was the one that got used.

3-track recording doesn't allow for select replacement of individual instruments, and even if it did, an O.D. Session would generate its own AFM sheet.  If Brian deemed it not good enough, they'd have to rerecord the whole thing.


Title: Re: Hal Blaine Story
Post by: Andrew G. Doe on March 24, 2011, 05:42:15 AM
I remember though that Brian claimed he had to replace Dennis' drum track for LDC because it wasn't good enough. So even if the AFM contract rightfully says he laid down a drum track, this doesn't mean it was the one that got used.

The earliest mention of that claim I've come across was in David Leaf's 1978 BW bio.  Nothing was said in the intervening 15 years. More, there is no AFM for a further "LDC" session.


Title: Re: Hal Blaine Story
Post by: Andrew G. Doe on March 24, 2011, 05:44:07 AM
Same goes for I Get Around from those concerts. Dennis rocks! 8)

The 'live" "I Get Around" from 1964 is nothing of the sort, as has been established for over a decade.


Title: Re: Hal Blaine Story
Post by: PongHit on March 24, 2011, 08:16:53 AM
the latest evidence suggests that it was probably Dennis on that particular song.

Sounds like Dennis's style too, when compared to the live recordings/footage.


Title: Re: Hal Blaine Story
Post by: Wirestone on March 24, 2011, 08:38:12 AM
Hal has had a great part to play in rock history. I think it's fine to let him have that -- what's more, he was clearly an important guy in Brian's life for a time, and an important presence on BB records.

That said, I also really appreciate the work of Jon and some of the archivists here. I've told this story before, but the first big BB purchase I made was the 93 box. And when you hear it, it seemed petty clear that up until Pet Sounds (and maybe some singles before), that a lot of the band was on the records. I mean, there's a Carl guitar break on a lot of stuff. There's that pounding, chordal piano that sounds just like Brian.

But a couple of years later, with the PS sessions box, the "Everything I Need" quasi reunion and Carol Kaye popping up, what I originally thought I was hearing was said to be wrong. Those are all session musicians! Everything after the first couple of albums was studio pros.

It's made me very happy to know that all of that was wrong. Yes, Brian picked up studio guys, but it just makes me happy to know that the band is on stuff like DWB. Warms the heart.

But that doesn't mean the session guys weren't important. I mean, if you're into PS or Smile, that was their thing. And Brian clearly wanted a more polished, "adult" sound. Those are both components of what made the band great -- the ability to shift between low, middle and high.


Title: Re: Hal Blaine Story
Post by: Jon Stebbins on March 24, 2011, 08:46:45 AM
I remember though that Brian claimed he had to replace Dennis' drum track for LDC because it wasn't good enough. So even if the AFM contract rightfully says he laid down a drum track, this doesn't mean it was the one that got used.

Anyway, from countless listenings to the BB recordings, I tend to think that into the mid-60s Dennis was a rather insecure studio drummer. His live drumming though was as driving and energetic as Hal Blaine's could ever be.

On the Live at Sacramento bootleg there is a version of Don't Back Down that starts with a pretty long bass drum part, much longer than on the record, as if Dennis was trying to deliver the tempo Brian wants. But when the other instruments and the singing join in, Dennis speeds up instantly, giving the song the tempo that his intuition tells him. The others have to catch up with him for a few bars, they play the song in Dennis' tempo, and it makes a much more energetic version than the studio version. Same goes for I Get Around from those concerts. Dennis rocks! 8)
Brian tends to say things in error, er, occasionally ::)

FYI...Dennis was the studio drummer on both Don't Back Down and I Get Around, Hal added a drum overdub to the former and timbales played with brushes to the latter. (Thanks to C-man for major research)


Title: Re: Hal Blaine Story
Post by: Jon Stebbins on March 24, 2011, 08:59:49 AM
Hal has had a great part to play in rock history. I think it's fine to let him have that -- what's more, he was clearly an important guy in Brian's life for a time, and an important presence on BB records.

That said, I also really appreciate the work of Jon and some of the archivists here. I've told this story before, but the first big BB purchase I made was the 93 box. And when you hear it, it seemed petty clear that up until Pet Sounds (and maybe some singles before), that a lot of the band was on the records. I mean, there's a Carl guitar break on a lot of stuff. There's that pounding, chordal piano that sounds just like Brian.

But a couple of years later, with the PS sessions box, the "Everything I Need" quasi reunion and Carol Kaye popping up, what I originally thought I was hearing was said to be wrong. Those are all session musicians! Everything after the first couple of albums was studio pros.

It's made me very happy to know that all of that was wrong. Yes, Brian picked up studio guys, but it just makes me happy to know that the band is on stuff like DWB. Warms the heart.

But that doesn't mean the session guys weren't important. I mean, if you're into PS or Smile, that was their thing. And Brian clearly wanted a more polished, "adult" sound. Those are both components of what made the band great -- the ability to shift between low, middle and high.
I completely agree. Hal should be highly praised and credited for the great BB's records he played drums on...and many of them are classics, "Do You Wanna Dance", "Help Me Rhonda", "Kiss Me Baby", "California Girls", "Sloop John B", "Wouldn't It Be Nice", "Good Vibrations"...what a list! He also augmented Dennis with percussion on more classics like "I Get Around", and "Dance Dance Dance". There is no reason for these pros to assume credit for more than what they actually did. It ends up turning their greatness into a negative thing. Credit where credit is due...to both the session players, and to the Beach Boys when warranted. I think its important stuff.


Title: Re: Hal Blaine Story
Post by: DonnyL on March 24, 2011, 09:19:12 AM
i always thought that Brian was using "Little Deuce Coupe" as an arbitrary example of a hit BB song that Hal played on in that quote ... I think it was something like, "I didn't have the heart to tell Dennis that's not him on "Little Deuce Coupe" or something like that.  he could have used any song to convey the point.


Title: Re: Hal Blaine Story
Post by: Rocker on March 24, 2011, 09:57:33 AM
Same goes for I Get Around from those concerts. Dennis rocks! 8)

The 'live" "I Get Around" from 1964 is nothing of the sort, as has been established for over a decade.



There are real recordings though on bootleg. And they show that it would've been better to release them instead of the fake-ones imo


Like someone said in another thread, Hal might remember a coverversion of "Little deuce coupe" that he might have played on. Anyway the live recordings of LDC show that Dennis was perfectly capable playing the drums on that one.


Title: Re: Hal Blaine Story
Post by: joe_blow on March 24, 2011, 10:09:39 AM
"My playing took the pressure off of him. Besides, while I made $65 for an afternoon in the studio, he'd make $65,000 that night in concert."

I seem to recall Hal staing that is was $30 for an afternoon and $30,000 for that nights concerts. Just an example of of how the truth gets stretched.



Title: Re: Hal Blaine Story
Post by: Andrew G. Doe on March 24, 2011, 10:17:33 AM
"My playing took the pressure off of him. Besides, while I made $65 for an afternoon in the studio, he'd make $65,000 that night in concert."

I seem to recall Hal staing that is was $30 for an afternoon and $30,000 for that nights concerts. Just an example of of how the truth gets stretched.

The "LDC/Surfer Girl" session, which seems to have been a standard three hour one, would have paid Hal $56 at union scale.


Title: Re: Hal Blaine Story
Post by: Joshilyn Hoisington on March 24, 2011, 10:40:20 AM
An interesting "what if" situation that I've toyed with is imagining what Pet Sounds would have been like if it was recorded with the "core band plus" so to speak, rather than heavily Wrecking Crewed.  That is to say, what if every track was like "That's Not Me" or even "Dance, Dance, Dance" which is the Boys with Hal/Ray/Glen.  Perhaps I'll record some covers in that mode someday.


Title: Re: Hal Blaine Story
Post by: HighOnLife on March 24, 2011, 03:14:14 PM
An interesting "what if" situation that I've toyed with is imagining what Pet Sounds would have been like if it was recorded with the "core band plus" so to speak, rather than heavily Wrecking Crewed.  That is to say, what if every track was like "That's Not Me" or even "Dance, Dance, Dance" which is the Boys with Hal/Ray/Glen.  Perhaps I'll record some covers in that mode someday.

I don't think Pet Sounds would have sounded as "clean", if that's the right word, if the Boys were the primary players.


Title: Re: Hal Blaine Story
Post by: Shady on March 24, 2011, 03:57:17 PM
Hal's got loose lips


Title: Re: Hal Blaine Story
Post by: A Million Units In Jan! on March 24, 2011, 04:22:38 PM
Ok, so I'm not really up on the technicalities of these things, so let me ask a question that I'm sure everyone knows the answer to but me; Since the session musicians belonged to a union, did that mean that they didn't receive royalties from albums they played on? If that's the case, then why would they belong to a union, anyway? Wouldn't it have been better for them to be 'freelance'?


Title: Re: Hal Blaine Story
Post by: bgas on March 24, 2011, 04:24:51 PM
Ok, so I'm not really up on the technicalities of these things, so let me ask a question that I'm sure everyone knows the answer to but me; Since the session musicians belonged to a union, did that mean that they didn't receive royalties from albums they played on? If that's the case, then why would they belong to a union, anyway? Wouldn't it have been better for them to be 'freelance'?

Most studios/artists didn't hire freelancers.


Title: Re: Hal Blaine Story
Post by: Andrew G. Doe on March 25, 2011, 01:16:24 AM
Ok, so I'm not really up on the technicalities of these things, so let me ask a question that I'm sure everyone knows the answer to but me; Since the session musicians belonged to a union, did that mean that they didn't receive royalties from albums they played on? If that's the case, then why would they belong to a union, anyway? Wouldn't it have been better for them to be 'freelance'?

Nope, no royalties - only the artist gets those.

As for freelance, the session players were all exactly that - guns for hire. There was no equivalent of Central Casting, it was pretty much down to word of mouth, who you knew and later, if you were any good, reputation.


Title: Re: Hal Blaine Story
Post by: Roger Ryan on March 25, 2011, 05:56:50 AM
Yes, freelance and union members are not mutually exclusive. The session players were freelancers who marketed themselves (and earned good reputations) in order to keep working; as a member of the musicians' union, they were allowed access to union jobs and were able to make sure they were paid an appropriate wage for their freelance work.

While session musicians are largely a thing of the past, this same approach continues to apply to film crews today. Union shoots will guarantee a base rate of pay, safe working conditions, a specifically-scheduled lunch break and overtime pay when applicable; it does not guarantee employment.


Title: Re: Hal Blaine Story
Post by: guitarfool2002 on March 25, 2011, 08:14:47 AM
There actually was a "central casting" in the form of the musicians' answering services, in the case of Hal it was "Arlyn's Answering Service" who the contractor for the session would call and have them contact all of the musicians that contractor thought would work best on a particular date. It removes the image of Hal Blaine or Steve Douglas sitting at a phone calling people when they had a group of people on call specifically to make those calls and get the players together.

It was a freelance operation with the musicians themselves, but it was actually more like a freelance within a core group that had outlets like the AFM, the answering service, the cartage companies to get the gear to and from the studios, etc. Like a corporation without the corporate part.


Title: Re: Hal Blaine Story
Post by: Micha on March 27, 2011, 03:26:45 AM
Same goes for I Get Around from those concerts. Dennis rocks! 8)

The 'live" "I Get Around" from 1964 is nothing of the sort, as has been established for over a decade.

Um... I don't think I get what you mean, Andrew. I may have badly constructed my sentences, so that they could be misunderstood. My point was that the 1964 live in Sacramento "I Get Around" - the booted real live version, not the one from the Live LP - was a more energetic version than the studio version. It is in a slightly faster tempo, that's a fact.

Andrew, I'm not trying to argue, but what exactly has been established for over a decade? :-\ Thank you for your countless insightful posts.  :)


Title: Re: Hal Blaine Story
Post by: Andrew G. Doe on March 27, 2011, 04:10:19 AM
Same goes for I Get Around from those concerts. Dennis rocks! 8)

The 'live" "I Get Around" from 1964 is nothing of the sort, as has been established for over a decade.

Um... I don't think I get what you mean, Andrew. I may have badly constructed my sentences, so that they could be misunderstood. My point was that the 1964 live in Sacramento "I Get Around" - the booted real live version, not the one from the Live LP - was a more energetic version than the studio version. It is in a slightly faster tempo, that's a fact.

Andrew, I'm not trying to argue, but what exactly has been established for over a decade? :-\ Thank you for your countless insightful posts.  :)

Oh, for sure - the SOT version is energetic. And technically, awful. I was referring to the version on the LP. :-)


Title: Re: Hal Blaine Story
Post by: cutterschoice on March 28, 2011, 08:43:07 AM
In Hal's defense, I don't think he's lying, even if it is misinformation. He's played so many sessions and he's over 80 years old - you're gonna confuse some song titles along the way.

And based on that interview alone, Hal didn't say Little Deuce Coupe, the interviewer did. It could have been bad research on his part. Hal's following statement could be explaining his approach to drumming on any number of Beach Boys songs.


Title: Re: Hal Blaine Story
Post by: guitarfool2002 on March 28, 2011, 09:01:03 AM
In Hal's defense, I don't think he's lying, even if it is misinformation. He's played so many sessions and he's over 80 years old - you're gonna confuse some song titles along the way.

And based on that interview alone, Hal didn't say Little Deuce Coupe, the interviewer did. It could have been bad research on his part. Hal's following statement could be explaining his approach to drumming on any number of Beach Boys songs.

It tends to blur together once you've logged hundreds if not thousands of individual dates, and without actually playing the song for someone like Hal and having him comment on what he heard, he is only human with a human memory. I think we forget that aspect in the research sometimes, and assume one session stands out as a sharp memory over a few hundred others he did that year. I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt for sure, as Hal has no reason to distort that kind of thing and he's been nothing but complimentary of Dennis as a musician in nearly every interview where the topic came up.


Title: Re: Hal Blaine Story
Post by: Andrew G. Doe on March 28, 2011, 09:36:26 AM
In Hal's defense, I don't think he's lying, even if it is misinformation. He's played so many sessions and he's over 80 years old - you're gonna confuse some song titles along the way.

And based on that interview alone, Hal didn't say Little Deuce Coupe, the interviewer did. It could have been bad research on his part. Hal's following statement could be explaining his approach to drumming on any number of Beach Boys songs.

It tends to blur together once you've logged hundreds if not thousands of individual dates, and without actually playing the song for someone like Hal and having him comment on what he heard, he is only human with a human memory. I think we forget that aspect in the research sometimes, and assume one session stands out as a sharp memory over a few hundred others he did that year. I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt for sure, as Hal has no reason to distort that kind of thing and he's been nothing but complimentary of Dennis as a musician in nearly every interview where the topic came up.

Entirely fair point as once the BB hit big there were knockoff bands coming out of the woodwork (thank you, Gary Usher) like you wouldn't believe, which woudl explain Hal's claim and also that of a certain well-known bass player to have played guitar on "SUSA" (I've looked into this, and the session was almost certainly for The Hot Doggers cover). Three, four sessions a day for 15, 20 years is going to run together.


Title: Re: Hal Blaine Story
Post by: Jon Stebbins on March 28, 2011, 09:52:06 AM
The problem is the meme among writers and journalists veered so strongly into the "wrecking crew played on all the Beach Boys hits" realm that Hal and others came to accept it because they've been told that, and asked about that in a leading way for decades. He assumes if he played on Help Me Rhonda, Cal Girls, Good Vibes, Pet Sounds then he must have played on all the other classics too. Not because he remembers or wants to grab credit, but because that is what the conventional wisdom or general consensus has been for so long. I've had long conversations with Hal, some of them more than a decade ago, and he pointedly told me that he and Dennis NEVER played on a session together. Of course we know this is untrue as the session tapes reveal a multitude of times that they were on the same session. I think that's revealing. Hal whips out the story about Dennis ruining his drums when he borrowed them (because they were already set up in the studio) but he makes a point to say Dennis borrowed them to play on a "demo"...that's how he described it. He couldn't admit that it might have been on an actual master session. Hal also likes to say how Dennis hired him to play the drums on POB, giving the impression that Dennis didn't even play on his OWN LP. But we come to learn that Hal was probably only on one or maybe two POB tracks, while Dennis played drums on five. Its a pattern, and its deeply ingrained, and its not because Hal is a bad guy, or needs to get more credit. Its just because "Hal played on all the BB's stuff, and Dennis didn't" is one of those things everybody thinks they know, that isn't really true...like Mama Cass choking on a ham sandwich.


Title: Re: Hal Blaine Story
Post by: bgas on March 28, 2011, 10:39:41 AM
The problem is the meme among writers and journalists veered so strongly into the "wrecking crew played on all the Beach Boys hits" realm that Hal and others came to accept it because they've been told that, and asked about that in a leading way for decades. He assumes if he played on Help Me Rhonda, Cal Girls, Good Vibes, Pet Sounds then he must have played on all the other classics too. Not because he remembers or wants to grab credit, but because that is what the conventional wisdom or general consensus has been for so long. I've had long conversations with Hal, some of them more than a decade ago, and he pointedly told me that he and Dennis NEVER played on a session together. Of course we know this is untrue as the session tapes reveal a multitude of times that they were on the same session. I think that's revealing. Hal whips out the story about Dennis ruining his drums when he borrowed them (because they were already set up in the studio) but he makes a point to say Dennis borrowed them to play on a "demo"...that's how he described it. He couldn't admit that it might have been on an actual master session. Hal also likes to say how Dennis hired him to play the drums on POB, giving the impression that Dennis didn't even play on his OWN LP. But we come to learn that Hal was probably only on one or maybe two POB tracks, while Dennis played drums on five. Its a pattern, and its deeply ingrained, and its not because Hal is a bad guy, or needs to get more credit. Its just because "Hal played on all the BB's stuff, and Dennis didn't" is one of those things everybody thinks they know, that isn't really true...like Mama Cass choking on a ham sandwich.

But I'm certain I heard she did choke, at some point.  Tho that was probably not what killed her


Title: Re: Hal Blaine Story
Post by: cutterschoice on March 28, 2011, 12:38:55 PM
I heard she tried to snort a ham sandwich


Title: Re: Hal Blaine Story
Post by: Micha on March 31, 2011, 03:37:28 AM
I remember though that Brian claimed he had to replace Dennis' drum track for LDC because it wasn't good enough. So even if the AFM contract rightfully says he laid down a drum track, this doesn't mean it was the one that got used.

3-track recording doesn't allow for select replacement of individual instruments, and even if it did, an O.D. Session would generate its own AFM sheet.  If Brian deemed it not good enough, they'd have to rerecord the whole thing.

Yes, that's something that always puzzled me about that whole thing. I always figured they'd record live all playing together, so even it there was a seperate mic for the drums with it being recorded on one track, you'd hear at least its reverb on the other tracks. And even if it had been recorded seperately, I'd think it would be very hard to rerecord the drum track of all things because the other instruments follow the drums.

But then, at the "Lost Concert" they "explain how the Beach Boys make a record" and say they start off with Denny on the drums, then add Al on rhythm guitar, then add Carl on lead guitar and so on, as if they'd record each instrument seperately. So how did they do it? Does anybody know for sure? The song they explain it on actually IS LDC, but of course on the studio version there is no Al and no lead guitar, either.

However: The day after the LDC recording session there actually was a session with Hal Blaine at which they laid down a basic track for "Back Home", so theoretically Brian could have said, "Hal, listen to this, the drums on this track aren't that good, is there anything you could do about it?" If the musicians were paid per hour, he'd get his money by the Back Home AFM sheet anyway.

I tried to compare the sound of the drums on "Surfer Girl" (recorded the same day as LDC), "Little Deuce Coupe" and the booted "Back Home" to see which resembles which. Had the LDC drum track been rerecorded the next day, the sound should be rather like on BH than on SG I couldn't tell though, as the drum parts of those three recordings are so different. SG uses the cymbal, LDC the hi-hat, and BH combines the snare with the floor tom, so even the snare sounds different on all three recordings.


Title: Re: Hal Blaine Story
Post by: Roger Ryan on March 31, 2011, 04:43:19 AM
As late as the SMiLE sessions (and perhaps beyond), Brian was adding instrumental overdubs during the mixing stage. This is telling because it is not an ideal situation, but one that became a neccessity when Brian felt he needed another track for instrumentation and didn't have one available (a similar thing happened with vocals). Working with three and four track throughout this period, Brian's approach would be to record the musicians live to two-track (or three-track), then mix the results to one track allowing for two or three tracks of vocals. You could continue to do reduction mixes to free up more tracks, but the generation loss would result in increasingly muddy-sounding recordings. Given this situation, I can't imagine that the drums would ever be "replaced" on these early recordings. More-than-likely the entire backing track would be re-recorded.

The "Little Deuce Coupe" story on "Lost Concert" is not accurate to how the track was actually recorded in the studio; it's more of a cool way to intro the song in concert.


Title: Re: Hal Blaine Story
Post by: Joshilyn Hoisington on March 31, 2011, 05:23:09 AM
Quote
"Hal, listen to this, the drums on this track aren't that good, is there anything you could do about it?"

Hal would say, "Sure, book a session and we'll re-cut the track."


Title: Re: Hal Blaine Story
Post by: Micha on March 31, 2011, 06:29:53 AM
Quote
"Hal, listen to this, the drums on this track aren't that good, is there anything you could do about it?"

Hal would say, "Sure, book a session and we'll re-cut the track."

How do you know that?


Title: Re: Hal Blaine Story
Post by: guitarfool2002 on March 31, 2011, 07:15:50 AM
Quote
"Hal, listen to this, the drums on this track aren't that good, is there anything you could do about it?"

Hal would say, "Sure, book a session and we'll re-cut the track."

How do you know that?

It's just humor. But there is an element of truth to that. In the 60's, especially before 8-track, groups of musicians recorded together, if not for the full track than mostly for the basics: i.e. drums, bass, rhythm guitar, etc. Spector and Brian and their counterparts in NYC would groove on the sound of a large group of musicians creating an overall *sound* in the studio, in a specific room and with specific characteristics of those rooms.

If you do that, whatever happens on that recording session is locked in for good, because the whole band is operating as one. You could not "fix" what was recorded as part of an 11 piece studio band any more than you could fix an errant note played by the 2nd cello in a full string orchestra. Even if you overdub, the mistake will still be there. 

The availability of extra tracks changed all that.

The Little Deuce Coupe live thing is just for show, it was more to point out the different components of the record and what role each member had in the overall sound of that record instead of showing how they actually recorded.


Title: Re: Hal Blaine Story
Post by: Joshilyn Hoisington on March 31, 2011, 05:30:17 PM
Yeah, of course I can't know what Hal actually would have said, but LDC was recorded in a world before multi-tracking as we know it today.  The track itself might have even been recorded in mono.  Does anybody recall that?  With such a simple line-up instrumentally, they may have prefered to record the backing track in mono to save a generation--I'm not sure.  But if that was the case, forget about fixing anything post hoc.

That's the way to record, in my opinion--as live as possible.

And I do think the idea of subtracting drums from a mix and OD-ing new ones would have been fairly foreign to them--not that they would never have thought it possible, because there were 8-tracks around and it surely dawned on people what new possibilities this opened, but I think the reasons for doing that would be hazy.


Title: Re: Hal Blaine Story
Post by: bgas on March 31, 2011, 05:33:07 PM
A picture postcard of one of Hal's Pals, prpobably meant for AGD, but signed to "Lori" instead: 
http://cgi.ebay.com/Authentic-Autographed-Carol-Kaye-Promo-Photo-/330548776562