I Am The Walrus radio tuner

[[email protected]]

This has to be one of the most ingenious transitions in all of
recording. Where the song sounds like it is being tuned out to another
radio station (classical strings) and it starts again with Lennon's
phased vocals (sitting in an English garden etc....)

How did George Martin and company do that radio tuning effect?

[DC]

wrote:

> This has to be one of the most ingenious transitions in all of
> recording. Where the song sounds like it is being tuned out to another
> radio station (classical strings) and it starts again with Lennon's
> phased vocals (sitting in an English garden etc....)
>
> How did George Martin and company do that radio tuning effect?


They turned on the radio, and patched it into the console while mixing.

[Richard Crowley]

"DC" > wrote ...
> wrote:
>
>> This has to be one of the most ingenious transitions in all of
>> recording. Where the song sounds like it is being tuned out to another
>> radio station (classical strings) and it starts again with Lennon's
>> phased vocals (sitting in an English garden etc....)
>>
>> How did George Martin and company do that radio tuning effect?
>
>
> They turned on the radio, and patched it into the console while mixing.

Perhaps one of the earliest recorded uses of "samples"? :-)

[Mike Rivers]

On Apr 4, 11:31 pm, DC > wrote:

> > How did George Martin and company do that radio tuning effect?
> They turned on the radio, and patched it into the console while mixing.

If they tried that today, there would be a team of lawyers at work
looking for a copyright infringement lawsuit for the music publisher,
the publisher of the recording played on the radio, the artist or
orchestra, and the radio station.

[[email protected]]

On Apr 4, 9:52 pm, wrote:
> This has to be one of the most ingenious transitions in all of
> recording. Where the song sounds like it is being tuned out to another
> radio station (classical strings) and it starts again with Lennon's
> phased vocals (sitting in an English garden etc....)
>
> How did George Martin and company do that radio tuning effect?

While they were mixing the 4-track (itself containing submixes) down
to a mono master, they had a radio receiver patched into the console.
Lennon was amusing himself by twiddling the dial, getting heterodynes,
and going back and forth to a presentation of "King Lear" on the BBC.
This was mixed LIVE into the mono master.

When the time came to do a stereo master, it was realized that they
couldn't replicate this, so the first half of the stereo master was
edited onto the second half of a copy of the mono master, but
"reprocessed for stereo."

When they went back to the multitrack masters in the 1990s to remix
the song to surround for the Beatles Anthology (and later used in
"Love"), they obtained a tape of the 1967 production of King Lear from
the BBC, and synched it with the first ever fully-stereo (and
surround) mix of the song. To complete the effect, the sounds of a
radio receiver (complete with heterodyne noises) were added. It is not
EXACTLY as it was in the 1967 mono master (for example, King Lear was
mixed at a lower level, the heterodynes sometimes sound while King
Lear is heard, and the synch is close but not spot-on), but close
enough for rock and roll.

A brilliant idea for the time. I am very used to hearing:
I am the eggman ("Are you, sir?)
They are the eggmen ("A man may take you for what you are")
I am the Walrus

BTW, the comparison between the raw tracks (on Anthology, very
humdrum) and the finished master (in mono, stereo or surround) is a
textbook example of how production values can add excitement to a song.

[DC]

wrote:

> A brilliant idea for the time. I am very used to hearing:
> I am the eggman ("Are you, sir?)
> They are the eggmen ("A man may take you for what you are")
> I am the Walrus


Yes. There is a certain magic in that timing after hearing it hundreds
of times.

[Nil]

On 05 Apr 2007, " > wrote in
rec.audio.pro:

> A brilliant idea for the time. I am very used to hearing:
> I am the eggman ("Are you, sir?)
> They are the eggmen ("A man may take you for what you are")
> I am the Walrus

Glad to know that someone else hears it that way, too! I think of them
as being part of the lyric.

I've always heard that second line above as being "The man maintained a
fortune." Obviously, I've never read the play.

I think it's cool and ingenious the way they've manufactured a complete
stereo mix of IATW for the Love project, the radio dialog isn't in the
same place (is it even the same performance?) and so just doesn't sound
right to me.

[[email protected]]

On Apr 5, 2:52 pm, Nil > wrote:
> On 05 Apr 2007, " > wrote in
> rec.audio.pro:
>
> > A brilliant idea for the time. I am very used to hearing:
> > I am the eggman ("Are you, sir?)
> > They are the eggmen ("A man may take you for what you are")
> > I am the Walrus
>
> Glad to know that someone else hears it that way, too! I think of them
> as being part of the lyric.
>
> I've always heard that second line above as being "The man maintained a
> fortune." Obviously, I've never read the play.

I THINK that's what it says...

>
> I think it's cool and ingenious the way they've manufactured a complete
> stereo mix of IATW for the Love project, the radio dialog isn't in the
> same place (is it even the same performance?) and so just doesn't sound
> right to me.

I'm pretty sure it's the same performance, but 1) It didn't exactly
sync (differing speed of tape decks, etc.) and 2) I suspect someone
(George M?) wanted it a bit lower in the mix. A shame.

One other audio difference between the Anthology DVD version and the
Love version. On the original, there was a bass note that boomed
"kicking Edgar Allen Poe...". It didn't boom on the Anthology version,
but they fixed it on the Love version.

[Agent 86]

On Wed, 04 Apr 2007 18:52:32 -0700, emin9th wrote:

> This has to be one of the most ingenious transitions in all of recording.
> Where the song sounds like it is being tuned out to another radio station
> (classical strings) and it starts again with Lennon's phased vocals
> (sitting in an English garden etc....)
>
> How did George Martin and company do that radio tuning effect?

With a radio. It was 1964, remember.

[DC]

Agent 86 wrote:

>>How did George Martin and company do that radio tuning effect?
>
>
> With a radio. It was 1964, remember.


1967, actually.

[[email protected]]

Blackburs...great detailed response.

These guys were definitely pushing the envelope of what a 4 track
analog machine could do.
It still amazes me, the clarity of their mixes with so much layering
going on.

joob joob

[Agent 86]

On Thu, 05 Apr 2007 21:25:49 -0400, DC wrote:

> Agent 86 wrote:
>
>>>How did George Martin and company do that radio tuning effect?
>>
>>
>> With a radio. It was 1964, remember.
>
>
> 1967, actually.

Right you are.

I'll claim having been alive at the time as a reasonable excuse for a bad
memory.

[Nil]

On 05 Apr 2007, " > wrote in
rec.audio.pro:

> I THINK that's what it says...

OK, I just listened to the MMT stereo and Love versions. The radio bits
came from Act IV of King Lear. The little interjections that you
mentioned before, at the "I am the eggman" part, seem to be from this
passage, but faded in and out quickly so you only get a couple of words
here and there. These bits ARE on the Love mix, and they sound like the
original voices:

GLOUCESTER
Now, good sir, what are you?

EDGAR
A most poor man, made tame to fortune's blows;
Who, by the art of known and feeling sorrows,
Am pregnant to good pity. Give me your hand,
I'll lead you to some biding.


Then the static-y radio bit at the end is this:

OSWALD
Slave, thou hast slain me: villain, take my purse:
If ever thou wilt thrive, bury my body;
And give the letters which thou find'st about me
To Edmund earl of Gloucester; seek him out
Upon the British party: O, untimely death! (he dies)

EDGAR
I know thee well: a serviceable villain;
As duteous to the vices of thy mistress
As badness would desire.

GLOUCESTER
What, is he dead?

EDGAR
Sit you down, father; rest you


> I'm pretty sure it's the same performance, but 1) It didn't
> exactly sync (differing speed of tape decks, etc.) and 2) I
> suspect someone (George M?) wanted it a bit lower in the mix. A
> shame.

I just compared them. And I'm pretty sure they're different
performances. The actor's voices sound different to me, and the timing
seems different. I think I also hear what sounds like a newscast, and
some radio music, which I never heard on the original

[Dave Morrison]

I took the liberty of copying the first post in this thread over on the
stevehoffman.tv music site because I knew all the Beatles fanatics over
there would love this topic. My apologies for not getting the original
author's name into the thread. Interestingly enough, Ken Scott, who was one
of the engineers present for these mixing sessions, got involved in the
resulting discussion:
http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=110338&highlight=Beatles+Walrus%22

dave




"Nil" > wrote in message
...
> On 05 Apr 2007, " > wrote in
> rec.audio.pro:
>
>> I THINK that's what it says...
>
> OK, I just listened to the MMT stereo and Love versions. The radio bits
> came from Act IV of King Lear. The little interjections that you
> mentioned before, at the "I am the eggman" part, seem to be from this
> passage, but faded in and out quickly so you only get a couple of words
> here and there. These bits ARE on the Love mix, and they sound like the
> original voices:
>
> GLOUCESTER
> Now, good sir, what are you?
>
> EDGAR
> A most poor man, made tame to fortune's blows;
> Who, by the art of known and feeling sorrows,
> Am pregnant to good pity. Give me your hand,
> I'll lead you to some biding.
>
>
> Then the static-y radio bit at the end is this:
>
> OSWALD
> Slave, thou hast slain me: villain, take my purse:
> If ever thou wilt thrive, bury my body;
> And give the letters which thou find'st about me
> To Edmund earl of Gloucester; seek him out
> Upon the British party: O, untimely death! (he dies)
>
> EDGAR
> I know thee well: a serviceable villain;
> As duteous to the vices of thy mistress
> As badness would desire.
>
> GLOUCESTER
> What, is he dead?
>
> EDGAR
> Sit you down, father; rest you
>
>
>> I'm pretty sure it's the same performance, but 1) It didn't
>> exactly sync (differing speed of tape decks, etc.) and 2) I
>> suspect someone (George M?) wanted it a bit lower in the mix. A
>> shame.
>
> I just compared them. And I'm pretty sure they're different
> performances. The actor's voices sound different to me, and the timing
> seems different. I think I also hear what sounds like a newscast, and
> some radio music, which I never heard on the original

[[email protected]]

Apparently Ringo was twisting the radio knob.

Yo soy el hombre del juevos

[HKC]

These guys were definitely pushing the envelope of what a 4 track
analog machine could do.


It's the Beatles, they were pushing everything (looking back on it it's
amazing how rarely they pushed to hard)but weren't they using two 4 tracks
at that time which would give them 6 tracks. They did for Pepper and this is
made just after so one would think they used the same technology but I don't
know.

[Scott Fraser]

<< weren't they using two 4 tracks at that time which would give them
6 tracks. >>

Yes & no. There were 2 Studer J37 four tracks (1" tape) but there was
no means at that time to accurately syncronize analog tape decks.
SMPTE time code & synchronization hardware would come much later. The
approach used up until the White Album was to fill four tracks, then
mix those four to one track on the second machine, which would then be
filled with three new overdubs. So, although that's 7 tracks, they
could not alter the balance on the first 4 during the final mix.

Scott Fraser

[MJFrost]

They stuck a microphone in front of a broadcast feed (BBC 2, I believe) in
the next studio. Nothing hi-tech about it....


> wrote in message
oups.com...
> This has to be one of the most ingenious transitions in all of
> recording. Where the song sounds like it is being tuned out to another
> radio station (classical strings) and it starts again with Lennon's
> phased vocals (sitting in an English garden etc....)
>
> How did George Martin and company do that radio tuning effect?
>

[Tobiah]

> mix those four to one track on the second machine, which would then be
> filled with three new overdubs. So, although that's 7 tracks

You would only get six if you wanted to maintain a stereo image
from the first four. I would have recorded into the mix during
the transfer between machines though, adding one more stereo
layer.



--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

[Tobiah]

wrote:
> This has to be one of the most ingenious transitions in all of
> recording. Where the song sounds like it is being tuned out to another
> radio station (classical strings) and it starts again with Lennon's
> phased vocals (sitting in an English garden etc....)

Reminds me of Pink Floyd's "Wish you were here". A guy can be heard
snorting while he tunes the radio between stations. One of the stations
has a single guitar strumming some cords. It sounds really midrangy,
like an old AM radio. Then the guy picks up his own guitar, an
'improvises' a solo over the radio station. The contrast in fidelity
is surprising. This blends on into the rest of the song.

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

[Scott Fraser]

> You would only get six if you wanted to maintain a stereo image
> from the first four. I would have recorded into the mix during
> the transfer between machines though, adding one more stereo
> layer.>>

Stereo was not a concern at that time. They put all their effort into
the mono mixes & often had an assistant run off a stereo mix after
everybody had gone home. And, yes, often they mixed in an extra part
of Ringo playing maracas or tambourine live while doing the inital 4
track reduction to the second tape deck.

Scott Fraser

[Paul Stamler]

I suspect both the Beatles' and Floyd's use of the radio tuning across the
dial was inspired by a John Cage piece that incorporates the performer
tuning the radio and blowing bubbles in a glass of water. Forget the name at
the moment.

Peace,
Paul