So, do you see what I’ve done here ? This video is:
About a classic piece of music
A little Christmassy (Although “Do They Know It’s Christmas Time” has to be one of the least Christmassy tunes ever)
About recording and production (At least, it includes some footage of people in SARM studios)
Thought-provoking (I think), and
Includes loads of footage of eighties pop stars with ridiculous haircuts !
I’m feeling quite smug
More seriously though, I was really pleased to find this. Band Aid and Live Aid had huge impact on me when I was growing up – I believe the idea of pop music being used selflessly for the good of others is an inspirational one, regardless of how effective they were at achieving their goals with hindsight. There are many people who are cynical about this kind of thing – I’m not one of them.
Lots of people have asked me for albums I think sound great – so, here are some that spring instantly to mind. I should say upfront, this isn’t intended to be some kind of “top 12 best sounding albums ever” list, just some from my own collection that I love the sound of, for whatever reason.
If you take a listen, you’ll probably notice some pretty clear recurring themes – suggestions in the comments, please ! I’ve included the Amazon affiliate widget above so you can hear the songs, but if you live in Europe this Spotify playlist will be even better since you can listen to complete songs.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – if you’re not using Twitter yet, you need to be.
Today @popsong3_0 sent me a link to the fantastic video above. Links like this are what Twitter is all about, for me, and I thought some of you would love to see it, too.
Watching the video reminded me of some of my own favourite Chapman Stick moments – but before that, in case you’re new to this particular instrument, here’s the one and only Tony Levin (surely the world’s coolest bass player ?) introducing it himself:
If this video doesn’t make you want to own your own analogue synthesiser, nothing will !
David Vorhaus will forever be part of my own musical history for creating the album “An Electric Storm” as part of legendary band The White Noise – along with Delia Derbyshire, of “Doctor Who Theme” fame. This mad, tuneful collage of tape loops, analogue synths and sound effects was released in 1969, and provides proof, if you needed it, that the Beatles weren’t nearly as cutting edge as they thought they were.
Taken from the fantastic DVD “Classic Albums: The Making of The Dark Side of the Moon“, this clip has loads of great things for audio geeks like me to enjoy, including (probably) the first time a band ever played to a tape loop (and how the loop was made), another great example of double-tracking (this time on a guitar solo) and a superb illustration of how quite extreme-sounding delay and reverb (on Gilmour’s vocal) sound great in the context of the whole mix.
The DVD has been in the Production Advice Bookstore since I first set up the site, and is strongly recommended viewing for anyone interested in writing, recording and mixing.
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“, this clip has loads of great things for audio geeks like me to enjoy, including (probably) the first time a band ever played to a tape loop (and how the loop was made), another great example of 
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