The Beatles definitely would have experimented with technology, but they wouldn't have used it all the time.

Yes, you can see that with Abbey Road.  Some groups would have and did overuse the synthesizer in the late 60's early 70's.  The Beatles used it to enhance a few songs, not to dominate them.

I will say that the technology has opened up the recording process to a lot more people, so those of us who like to participate as a hobby now have the opportunity.

Whether the recordings would have been so creative if it had been easier to do so, though, is another matter. Certainly I hear a lot more experimentation in some 1960s music than in a lot of stuff put out today.

Got to agree with you there. There's just something about actual problem solving that sparks creativity. Back in the '60s, they had to think, "Right, I want it to sound like X... so, what can I use to create that sound? Hmmm..." NOW, anybody with a decent ear for music can manipulate sounds on a computer keyboard.

I'm sure if the technology had been around in the 1960s the music would have been quite different. The celebrated edit of two version of Strawberry Fields Forever, for example, could have been done far more easily in Pro Tools than by varispeeding two recordings in different keys and tempos to make them work together. Whether the recordings ...]]> Mon, 19 Apr 2010 14:45:43 +0100 http://www.beatlesbible.com/forum/recording-and-musicology/revolution-1-and-the-edited-in-extra-beats/#p3000 Recording and musicology http://www.beatlesbible.com/forum/recording-and-musicology/revolution-1-and-the-edited-in-extra-beats/#p3000 With the technology of today, The Martins, father and son , did a heckova job on LOVE, I think. Possibly a little insight on what the fabs might have done with it themselves.

Don't write off new technology though! The Beatles would have been the first to use it had it been around. Imagine what it would have been like if they'd been able to trigger samples and perform live versions of Tomorrow Never Knows… As for computerising vocals, well autotune may be old-hat now, but experimenting with new digital sounds is only a continuation of analogue experimentation in the 1960s (eg using Leslie speakers from Hammond organs). If it sounds bad it's often the fault of the person who chose it, rather than the effect itself.

Computerised vocals sound all ...]]> Sun, 21 Mar 2010 02:18:03 +0000 http://www.beatlesbible.com/forum/recording-and-musicology/revolution-1-and-the-edited-in-extra-beats/#p2373 Recording and musicology http://www.beatlesbible.com/forum/recording-and-musicology/revolution-1-and-the-edited-in-extra-beats/#p2373 I used to do a bit of reel-to-reel editing when I was younger. It's not so hard to do – you rotate the tape heads manually, slowly, so you know exactly where you want to make the cut, mark it on the tape (I used a white chinagraph pencil), and repeat the process for when you want the edit to end. Then unspool the tape a little so it's on a flat surface, take a razor blade to the two marks, then splice them together with tape, reel up the tape again and play it back. It's quite fun getting ...]]> Fri, 19 Mar 2010 12:56:27 +0000 http://www.beatlesbible.com/forum/recording-and-musicology/revolution-1-and-the-edited-in-extra-beats/#p2367 Recording and musicology http://www.beatlesbible.com/forum/recording-and-musicology/revolution-1-and-the-edited-in-extra-beats/#p2367 I would never have picked it for a mistake. That's really interesting. I've never understood how they managed to edit tape so accurately and not have choppy edits all over the place. I'm currently studying to be an audio engineer but I guess I'll never have the pleasure to work with tape. If I ever do continue my study into a profession, I refuse to add naff digital effects and computerise everyone's voice. I much preferred the old simply way of doing things that wasn't actually that simple. They had to experiment with tape to get the right effects, not ...]]> Fri, 19 Mar 2010 11:15:10 +0000 http://www.beatlesbible.com/forum/recording-and-musicology/revolution-1-and-the-edited-in-extra-beats/#p2363 Recording and musicology http://www.beatlesbible.com/forum/recording-and-musicology/revolution-1-and-the-edited-in-extra-beats/#p2363 Here's something I never knew before. It's from a short interview with Ken Scott, one of The Beatles' former sound engineers.

http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Li.....cott-0318/

Learn from your mistakes! Today, it’s all cut and paste, on the grid, mistakes aren’t allowed. With The Beatles, mistakes would happen and they became a vital part of the recordings. Making decisions — that’s why so many acts have a hit album and it takes them two years until their next album. We did an album every six months, on tape, cutting it with the razor blade. I miss that so much! I used ...]]> Fri, 19 Mar 2010 10:00:32 +0000