Loved this! One question- at the beginning of the video you were talking about the high amounts of ambient noise on the roof, and at the end you were saying that recording outside is “like a sound booth.” What made the difference? Just all the wind screens? Catching a recording between planes? Turning everything up louder than the sounds of the city?
Honestly the biggest thing I think was probably noise diffusion, the instruments drowned out the AC units for sure, but if you listen carefully you'll hear that yellow plane in the background (ayo its like the Yellow Submarine hahaha). But the lack of reverberation meant for the most part, every mic placed off axis to other instruments got a pretty minimal amount of bleed. The exceptions were the Epi Casino and the vocal mics. The Epi bc it was sandwiched between a kit and a louder guitar (the Tele), and the vocals bc they were facing the kit ofc. Ideally, if this weren't a recreation where I also mimicked their stage positions, placing the singers FACING the kit would have probably led to the cleanest possible vocal. To summarize my answer, the lack of reverb led to minimal bleed as long as the mic placement was placed off axis from other sources and environmental noise, the wind protection worked shockingly well, and the shear volume of the source being recorded drowned out MOST environmental noise. Except for that Spirit Airline flight lol
@@samuelwiggins7248 A shorter version is: most indoor recordings that suck, suck because of the room rather than because of background noise. When you record outside, there is no room.
One thing to consider is that The Beatles recorded this in 1969 in London. That means less people, less traffic noise, fewer airplanes. Also bleed is less of a problem in open air.
January 30 1969 iirc, it was around lunchtime, so quite a number of people were outside, also it was wet winter, so it was also quite cold at the time.
Also where they are situated isn't a particularly busy street. It's near Regent Street which is busy but I used to walk past there on my way home from work and I chose that way because it was quieter during rush hour than some of the surrounding roads
@@merlinoner ... though the planes in the 1960s were actually louder than modern commercial planes due to design changes and regulations ... but if they're not too close it's not going to matter.
heh... for sure! I had one (Twin Reverb silver face) and at home... even a tad over 1 (like 1.1, or 1.2) was loud for being home!, at 3-4 the windows would vibrate, and I got scared!... at small venue though..4-6 was great (read: veeeery loud)
What a gift. For those who grew up with the Beatles, this exercise was amazing. I thought you were going to prove something, but we all know the Beatles and the engineers were God sent. No magic tricks back in 1969, just pure greatness! 👏 👏👏👏👏
Awesome to see you embrace bleeding in this recording. It’s such an awesome creative tool, people try so hard to isolate everything to try and make every sound perfect, but having some bleeding in the mics brings so much live to a recording. It kind of glues the different sounds together in a way that it’s hard to do if you isolate everything. Great video! :)
It is amusing to think of all the recordings with super isolated, no bleed tracking that will be entirely forgotten while the rooftop concert is made with good enough recording equipment for the time, ambient noise, and excellent performances by The Beatles.
@ Yes, people don’t care too much about the performance side anymore since you can fix it in post and just re-do it a thousand times until it’s picture perfect. I think it’s ridiculous, mistakes are human and help give live to a song, artists that focus on freezing a performance in time instead of “faking” a perfect painting sound a lot more human to my ears. I would hope history agrees with me :)
Yeah I thought oh god another tuber trying to fake controversy.... Seemed like it was mostly sponsored by Sweetwater so good for the content creators I hope. I still found it very interesting, if not very accurate :).
The Let It Be album and the rooftop session was a testament to not just the Beatles' musicianship, but also the engineers and personnel involved. Glyn Johns (who also worked with Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Eagles, tons of others) was the main recording engineer on the sessions, and I think that's partly why the drums were recorded like that. He liked to record drums with a three-mic setup -- kick, single overhead and a second "overhead" off to the floor tom side (though usually not pointed directly at the floor tom like it is here, it's usually pointed across the tom towards the snare), and that mic setup is commonly referred to as the Glyn Johns setup for fairly obvious reasons. The other person involved was Alan Parsons (the guy in the orange shirt and black tie in the rooftop photos), who was working as a tape operator, and would go on to engineer the Abbey Road album, and Pink Floyd's Dark Side of The Moon, along with the stellar albums with his own band the Alan Parsons Project, and other artists like Al Stewart. The practise of favouring large diaphragm condensers for guitars, and then mic'ing them from a distance, is evident on his work since the Let It Be and rooftop sessions, as Parsons also prefers the mics being pulled back from the amps anywhere from 9" to 18", as that gives you the sound of the amp and cabinet as a whole, rather than just a small section of the speaker cone. Parsons' work in that period is to me the gold standard of how recorded music can sound.
Backing off amps was pretty much standard practice for everyone that era. The GJ drum miking technique is from later than this, (not by much) and stems from the tom mic not being in placed down to the drum yet and accidentally pan’ed. Drums in stereo was a new thing right then. According to his own words. (The Beatles did drums in stereo only on abbey road half a year later.)
@@hepphepps8356 on the let it be (super deluxe) album you can find Glyn Johns mix where the drums are definitely in Stereo and it sounds like his setup. Check it out…
I commented something similar. Plus Alan Parsons as your Tape Op, plus George Martin supervising. And equipment like the Fairchild compressor which costs vintage or new around $60 grand!!!!
John's guitar wasn't a blonde Casino. It was a starburst Casino with the finish sanded off. John and George were convinced by Donovan that removing the finish would open up the sound.
Aww thanks man!! Maybe one day, but I'm honestly equally happy being able to support the size of community I already have, got a sick group of watchers :)
You will find that the sooner you stop talking like a valley girl, the sooner your life will improve significantly. No intelligent person says based@@yungstreichholz
The influence of bleed on the recording is so educational. The vocal mics basically double as room mics! I imagine the panning of these vocal mics also creates some width to the otherwise mono drum sound (you may have already said that in the video, so apologies if I'm repeating anything). We've all heard or read older engineers saying that bleed is your friend if wielded skillfully, and that having musicians playing together in the same space is essential to getting a vintage sound. It does lend a lot of presence and liveliness to the duller sounding close mics in your video for sure. It seems like the outdoor environment of a rooftop also circumvents a lot of the bass buildup and acoustic nastiness that can happen when recording indoors, which probably adds to the overall treble-y, sweetening quality of the mic bleed. It almost reminded me of the Dolby A trick in character.
this is insane. such effort and production quality for a niche topic and your growth as a creator (and as a mixer!) shows. can’t wait to see where else you’ll go
@@AudioHaze I hope you know that we recognize how much effort you put into this video. In this platform where we have so many low-effort rant videos, productions like this stand out from the rest.
Great version by Juice! But I gotta say, the 1969 performance shows just how crazy good the Beatles voices blended together. Reminds me of a clip I saw of David Crosby being asked the perennial question: "Beatles or Stones?" Without hesitation he said the Beatles were better. "It's the harmonies."
A couple of observations about the ambient noise you refer to on the NY rooftop: There was absolutely no chance of having air conditioner noise during January in London in 1969; there would be no airplanes either, given that the flight paths to Heathrow airport NEVER go across central London; not then, not now - so those aspects would not have been a problem. The wind obviously WAS a factor to consider and you resolved it very well indeed, congratulations! Overall you succeeded in your experiment. Also, George Martin had a significant hand in the production/mixing side of things, plus the extraordinary George Emerick handling the mikes - no small matter!
Glyn Johns assisted by Alan Parsons were the engineers. Parsons can be seen on the rooftop to the left behind a camera in a bright orange shirt. It was his first job, 3 or 4 years later he would be back as engineer on Dark Side Of The Moon!
As a Londoner, I am in complete agreement. Even in Summer it would be very rare at that time for there to be ac. When I moved to the USA I was amazed to see all the ac and central heating.
This sounds so DAMN GOOD! No, they don't "sound" like the Beatles, but they are a tough group and their musicianship just shines through. And great job AudioHaze on the mix! Brilliant! It makes me LOVE the Beatles even more.
And let me add more color. I presume that most all viewers are musicians here. My twin brother (drummer) and me have been musicians (professional) since we were about 15 yo. We were minted in 1963, which means that we lived part of Beatle Mania in realtime. Our mum (Welsh) bought our Dad (Bolivian, and a musician) Sgt. Pepper as a gift. We soon commandeered that LP and I still have possession of it. Our parents took us to see the Let It Be film in theatre when we were about 10 years old. I left the theatre dazed from watching my idols break up before my very eyes. We already knew the story by then, but to see it with your own eyes was still jarring. So to experience the Get Back series and to see the young kids embrace makes me proud. Modern production techniques offer endless sloppiness in recording studios. Fellow musicians know just how hard The Beatles grafted to produce the work that they left us. RUclips videos never show us all the countless takes that were discarded. The Beatles certainly had to put their work to just lay down the basic rhythm tracks. Hats off to these young mates!
The engineers on the original had spent their years or their apprenticeship mixing primarily to mono. They monitored on large studio speakers and on tiny transistor radio sized ones to ensure sound compatibility with whatever the customer listened on. Their awareness for removing any and all phasing mics cannot be underestimated. When all mics are working in harmony without cancellations or sloshing, it really doesn’t matter how much one instrument bleeds into another’s track. We take gates and plugins for granted these days but a live recording back then could still be perfected by a well pushed fader at the right time. This was a great video. I’d like to have seen a decent post-mortem on the final recording that took so much effort to create.
Engineers at that time were also using tools like oscilloscopes, and were generally more knowledgeable about the technical aspects of their recording equipment, especially microphones.
Glyn Johns was a master of mic placement. The drum mic technique he pioneered that now bears his name stipulates that the centrally placed overhead and the other “overhead” placed above the floor tom both be equidistant from the snare as well as each other, in a perfect isosceles triangle, eliminating any potential phase issues with the snare. I think there was a lot of care and careful measurement that went into all of the mic placement all the time.
I am lost for words, it is and has been one of my favorite songs for some time and I loved that roof top gig. I have actually played on a rooftop with one of my bands and it is a lot of fun. Big up to everyone involved.
Your note about creating not being isolating anymore is so awesome to hear, really glad you found your way through! The level to which this project was done by you and all involved is incredible.
Have been following your work for a while and it's so awesome to be along for the journey and learn so much. Your videos are truly inspiring, and helped me a lot with my production process. Thank you not only for the monumental work and effort but also for sharing it and inspiring us ! Cheers from Portugal ❤✌ !
Fantastic video; first one of yours I've seen and a belter. It really brings home how lucky we were to have the Beatles' catalogue, and the videos of this performance. Their skill level, and that of their teams around them was truly mind blowing. You did an fab job with this recreation. Thanks!
Yet another amazing incredible video. Your content is incredibly comprised and created. It’s so clear you’re passionate for these projects. Keep on pushing man! Great stuff!
Fantastic video! Love this series, and you really knocked it out of the park with this one. 1 detail I think you'd find interesting to note - and hopefully discovered after watching the Peter Jackson documentary - is the drum mic'ing technique on the original being the aptly named 'Glynn Johns' technique, named after the engineer who recorded all those sessions. The only difference between your setup and his is the floor-tom mic being used more as a 'side kit' mic than specifically for the tom itself, so is placed further from the drumhead and is pointed towards the snare (placed roughly the same distance to the snare drum as the centered overhead mic is to it). Would be cool to do a video on the technique and experiment with it - works great both in mono & stereo. Either way, great video and great tribute to the original recording. Can't wait for the next one!
I had no idea, thank you for letting me know! I didn't see that mic position in the rooftop performance but I may have missed it, I'll go back and review. May also try a similar technique for some videos I have coming up :)
@@AudioHaze Another thing about Glyn Johns' drum mic setup is that, for the most part, these recordings were actually intended to have stereo panned drums. Listen to the single version of Don't Let Me Down, and especially the "Glyn Johns Mix" version from the unreleased Get Back album, and you'll hear the wide stereo drum placement. Overhead on the right, kick and floor tom on the left. The drum kit has a much greater presence in the mix that way.
This sounded pretty awesome. The unprocessed mix was interesting too, but the final version was accurate. What a masterpiece tune by the Beatles, and your team performed flawlessly. Peace.
Incredible video! Your journey on this channel has been so fantastic to watch. This video feels like a big mix of all of the things you've learned and showed us through the years. It's really interesting to get into 60s- and 70s recordings because they often sound SO good with simple routing and mixing. Personally, I would like to see more of these recreations. Greetings from Sweden!
If you weren't alive back in the 60's, it may be hard to imagine how much trust there was in live televised broadcasts. All network news programs were thoroughly vetted long before they premiered on national news programs, every word of the script stringently reviewed for accuracy. Although most television appearances by musicians were widely known to be lip-synced, any suspicion that a band as reknowned as The Beatles would prerecord any part of their live performance was simply unthinkable. The difference between the sound of live versus studio performance was so dramatically distinct, there was absolutely no question in anyone's mind that we were watching an authentic impromptu Beatles concert on a rooftop in downtown London.
Love your mix but there’s also some undeniable charm in the raw tracks for this one. Lots of people have a frame of reference for recording outside that’s based on dialogue recording, which SNR wise is WAYY tougher than even singing let alone guitars and drums. I’m not surprised this worked out well. Excellent work.
One thing to note that you didn't bring up about the drum micing: I'm pretty sure they're using the Glyn Johns technique, but with a snare mic. It's where you have one mic above the snare and one over the floor tom, measured so the snare is in phase, plus a kick mic. Was incredibly common in the 70s. Notably, Glyn Johns did work with the Beatles.
I think a large part of that was also the volume we played at! In my room normally a distant tone on a pretty quiet bedroom volume probably invites a thinner tone with more room noise
@@AudioHaze oh yeah for sure, ive been using ribbons lately on guitar so i tend to back them away just out of concern for breaking the ribbon, i was quite surprised by how natural sounding it is a first when i decided to use said mic, though i think a lot of it is from the more pronounced proximity effect of figure 8 polar pattern and of course the fairly loud volume i have the amps at deffo makes sense that you lose some low end the less youre cranked for whatever reason (i think) and i can definitely see that being an issue the further you move the mic, i guess it scales really, very interesting either way, i can imagine that bleed is for sure a tricky thing to work with in this kind of live environment, youd deffo be playing around with the nulls of the mics and weird positioning, but thats also the fun of it lowkey
in fairness, The Beatles did overdubs for Shea Stadium before the film was released, and possibly also for Hollywood Bowl. Wings did some overdubbing for Over America etc etc. It's not unusual. There is audio of Harrison's guitar from street level that sounds absolutely awful but I can't recall where I heard that. I'd be surprised if there wasn't at least some tidying up/editing done and there would be no shame in that at all.
@@FiremanSam60 Isn't overdubbing for mistakes, mixes, etc pretty common on most live recordings? It's my understanding is that happens on most live albums. One of the rare exceptions was Running On Empty according to many of those that played on it including Leland Sklar
Herculean effort and fantastic video! Love the fact that the "bleed" (the thing so many younger producers seem nervous about) was discovered to be the very thing that gives great character and depth to all the cool recordings or the 60/70/80s. Great job!
The unmixed version sounds more up close and personal, I think I prefer that version as it is a little closer to the mono styling of the 60s… great cover and a great band
I'm no audio or electrical engineer but I highly doubt it has much to do with voltage. The reason balanced cables are used in pro audio is because the introduced noise gets nullified by the cable phaseing it out. They probably had a XLR Snake somewhere and ran it down.. 15-20 meters estimated with the help of Google Gemini AI. That ain't long considering they use this same tech to mic up stages with the mixer table 100-300 meters away on open air concerts
In the video, he was referencing the run lf the power cables, not the audio signal cables. Everything you stated is spot on... I do not know enough about power cable runs to be able to confirm or deny what is stated in the video.
@@charliekrengel1344 as a person that lives in a land with 220-230 volts 50hz, I can say that a 15 meter cable reel to power two silverface amps is no problem, adding the 100 watt, all tube, bass head might trigger the relay to switch off depending on the amp rating. I have NO IDEA what rating the audio mixer is, it could be three phase 230 Wolt or 400 Wolt but the reason they didn't move the mixer/recording gear is because how ludicrously large and heavy that stuff was back then.
wow. i'm blown away. The INSANE amount of dedication you put into these videos is incredible!! It's a joy to watch 'em. And the soundscape is so similar to the real rooftop performance!
Brilliant job on the recording! The band and cover was excellent! Loved the musicians and the vocals (props for using your own spin on the inflections)!!
Outstanding job to everyone involved! You mentioned some ambient noise leaking through but I didn’t notice it, even when the plane flew over. I thought the band and recording quality sounded great. It’s interesting how so many things the Beatles did as an afterthought have taken on a life of their own. The rooftop concert, as I’m sure everyone knows, was in lieu of a live concert that never happened. So they were like, “oh let’s just go up on the roof.” But the end product was amazing and and here we are 55 years later still talking about it. This project was a great idea. Thanks for posting it.
Guitar Player magazine asked Frank Zappa how come there wasn't loud audience sounds in some of his live recordings. Stunned at the complete ignorance of the interviewer, Zappa proceeded to explain what he thought would be common sense to, even the family dog. How loud would the audience have to be, 50 feet away from the microphone, to compete with a 50 watt amplifier 3" away from a microphone.
Great job! One of my favorite songs by The Beatles, and one of my favorite songs in general. You all KILLED the Rooftop Session recreation! And No Cops Were Called!! LOL
you are absolutely correct about recording out side because you dont have the normal reflections from floor and walls it can have that effect, also one of the ways of measuring studio monitors is open air with a directional mic a few feet away
Man, you are crushing these videos. Hands down my favourite audio channel - going to have to sign up to the patreon to check out the mix. Lots of love from Australia.
I dove recently into French singers of the 50/60/70’s and I was blown away by how accurate the voices sounded. Crisp, delicate and articulate: I couldn’t believe my ears! It was almost a trippy experience. Gave me goosebumps and maybe a tear or two 😊
@@facundorodriguez288 Sure thing Facu! Here's a list of my favs, in no particular order: Serge Gainsbourg Juliette Gréco Françoise Hardy France Gall Renaud Georges Brassens Jacques Brel Léo Ferré Bobby Lapointe Raoul de Godewarsvelde Michel Polnareff Jacques Dutronc Rita Mitsouko Niagara Claude Nougaro Barbara Jeanne Moreau Alain Souchon Véronique Sanson Georges Moustaki Boris Vian Charles Aznavour Henri Salvador Maxime Le Forestier Gilbert Bécaud I could go on, but that's already quite a chunk :) You'll find some gems in there I'm sure, both lyrically and musically. I mostly covered the 60's-80's era. Enjoy!
@@facundorodriguez288 With pleasure my dude! You know what: why don't you share the 20 latest gems that you discovered recently? Any genre, fire at will! I am also expanding my musical culture rn :)
LOL- As usual, the RUclips comment section has it all figured out- everyone is an expert. Great video man, and a great job- sounded amazing. The band was tight- they pulled it off beautifully- vocals were great- well done all the way around.
A really great video displaying the combination of world class musicians and engineers who have thoroughly researched and understand the practical applications of recording technology. It helps to know what you're doing but if you stuck a single mic in front of that group, it would still sound fantastic! Huge respect to all involved in this project.
I am so happy I found your channel. I have never been a fan of The Beatles but I must say seeing their 1969 recording and your rendition really sucked me in. I'm a convert and a new subscriber. I can't play an instrument or sing or anything but I have a good ear and know what I like. Seeing talented people perform really inspires you.
@AudioHaze - I’m not a production guy or do I pretend to know anything about what you did, but I found the whole process extremely interesting! My lifelong appreciation of the Beatles brought me here and the idea of recreating that moment in history was intriguing. Well done, I bet you learned a TON from the experience! How did it sound at street level?
You didn't comment on how you thought it came out. I thought the mixed version sounded just like the Beatles rooftop sound. And as such, you successfully recreated the Beatles rooftop performance for at least that one song, Don't Bring Me Down. BRAVO!! Totally job well done and thanks for how much effort went into making it happen!
That band is amazing! It's not easy to cover the Beatles, it's especially not easy to cover that song. They are spot on with the harmonics, the piano, everything. Amazing bass player, too. Perfect!
Bleed isn't as big a monster if you can be sure you don't need to completely remove anything from the mix, but good lord I do not know where to find that kind of confidence. Hats off to Juice for absolutely nailing it. I'm glad to see I'm not the only one obsessing over details about mic choice and placement in the rooftop concert-- it flies in the face of convention and sounds way too good doing it. I can totally understand why you thought it was fake.
Loved this! One question- at the beginning of the video you were talking about the high amounts of ambient noise on the roof, and at the end you were saying that recording outside is “like a sound booth.” What made the difference? Just all the wind screens? Catching a recording between planes? Turning everything up louder than the sounds of the city?
Honestly the biggest thing I think was probably noise diffusion, the instruments drowned out the AC units for sure, but if you listen carefully you'll hear that yellow plane in the background (ayo its like the Yellow Submarine hahaha). But the lack of reverberation meant for the most part, every mic placed off axis to other instruments got a pretty minimal amount of bleed. The exceptions were the Epi Casino and the vocal mics. The Epi bc it was sandwiched between a kit and a louder guitar (the Tele), and the vocals bc they were facing the kit ofc. Ideally, if this weren't a recreation where I also mimicked their stage positions, placing the singers FACING the kit would have probably led to the cleanest possible vocal.
To summarize my answer, the lack of reverb led to minimal bleed as long as the mic placement was placed off axis from other sources and environmental noise, the wind protection worked shockingly well, and the shear volume of the source being recorded drowned out MOST environmental noise. Except for that Spirit Airline flight lol
Makes a lot of sense, thank you!
@@samuelwiggins7248 A shorter version is: most indoor recordings that suck, suck because of the room rather than because of background noise. When you record outside, there is no room.
@@henryhill92 I'm sure it's similar to recording in that one room that's so insulated, you can hear your organs.
Wow this is an amazing video, loads of details I had never noticed and I have watched the rooftop performance about a thousand times
One thing to consider is that The Beatles recorded this in 1969 in London. That means less people, less traffic noise, fewer airplanes. Also bleed is less of a problem in open air.
January 30 1969 iirc, it was around lunchtime, so quite a number of people were outside, also it was wet winter, so it was also quite cold at the time.
Definitely no air conditioning units up there!!
@@cyeamaculture8486 Less people I don't know, less planes that's for sure.
Also where they are situated isn't a particularly busy street. It's near Regent Street which is busy but I used to walk past there on my way home from work and I chose that way because it was quieter during rush hour than some of the surrounding roads
@@merlinoner ... though the planes in the 1960s were actually louder than modern commercial planes due to design changes and regulations ... but if they're not too close it's not going to matter.
The second I saw two fender twins in the original footage I knew it was real. Those things can literally deafen.
heh... for sure! I had one (Twin Reverb silver face) and at home... even a tad over 1 (like 1.1, or 1.2) was loud for being home!, at 3-4 the windows would vibrate, and I got scared!... at small venue though..4-6 was great (read: veeeery loud)
What a gift. For those who grew up with the Beatles, this exercise was amazing. I thought you were going to prove something, but we all know the Beatles and the engineers were God sent.
No magic tricks back in 1969, just pure greatness! 👏 👏👏👏👏
Awesome to see you embrace bleeding in this recording. It’s such an awesome creative tool, people try so hard to isolate everything to try and make every sound perfect, but having some bleeding in the mics brings so much live to a recording. It kind of glues the different sounds together in a way that it’s hard to do if you isolate everything.
Great video! :)
It is amusing to think of all the recordings with super isolated, no bleed tracking that will be entirely forgotten while the rooftop concert is made with good enough recording equipment for the time, ambient noise, and excellent performances by The Beatles.
@ Yes, people don’t care too much about the performance side anymore since you can fix it in post and just re-do it a thousand times until it’s picture perfect. I think it’s ridiculous, mistakes are human and help give live to a song, artists that focus on freezing a performance in time instead of “faking” a perfect painting sound a lot more human to my ears. I would hope history agrees with me :)
Your first mistake was doubting the Beatles
Best answer !
^^this!
It was your first mistaaake
Yeah I thought oh god another tuber trying to fake controversy.... Seemed like it was mostly sponsored by Sweetwater so good for the content creators I hope. I still found it very interesting, if not very accurate :).
@@dynamohums Yeah it's still a well made video and entertaining. Just answering a question that nobody asked.
The Let It Be album and the rooftop session was a testament to not just the Beatles' musicianship, but also the engineers and personnel involved. Glyn Johns (who also worked with Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Eagles, tons of others) was the main recording engineer on the sessions, and I think that's partly why the drums were recorded like that. He liked to record drums with a three-mic setup -- kick, single overhead and a second "overhead" off to the floor tom side (though usually not pointed directly at the floor tom like it is here, it's usually pointed across the tom towards the snare), and that mic setup is commonly referred to as the Glyn Johns setup for fairly obvious reasons.
The other person involved was Alan Parsons (the guy in the orange shirt and black tie in the rooftop photos), who was working as a tape operator, and would go on to engineer the Abbey Road album, and Pink Floyd's Dark Side of The Moon, along with the stellar albums with his own band the Alan Parsons Project, and other artists like Al Stewart. The practise of favouring large diaphragm condensers for guitars, and then mic'ing them from a distance, is evident on his work since the Let It Be and rooftop sessions, as Parsons also prefers the mics being pulled back from the amps anywhere from 9" to 18", as that gives you the sound of the amp and cabinet as a whole, rather than just a small section of the speaker cone. Parsons' work in that period is to me the gold standard of how recorded music can sound.
Backing off amps was pretty much standard practice for everyone that era. The GJ drum miking technique is from later than this, (not by much) and stems from the tom mic not being in placed down to the drum yet and accidentally pan’ed. Drums in stereo was a new thing right then. According to his own words. (The Beatles did drums in stereo only on abbey road half a year later.)
@@hepphepps8356 Pan'ed??
@@hepphepps8356 on the let it be (super deluxe) album you can find Glyn Johns mix where the drums are definitely in Stereo and it sounds like his setup. Check it out…
@@DMSProduktions everyone knows what he means. It’s just a typo. Grow up.
I commented something similar. Plus Alan Parsons as your Tape Op, plus George Martin supervising. And equipment like the Fairchild compressor which costs vintage or new around $60 grand!!!!
Big thanks to AudioHaze and Juice for bringing us onto this project! Loved watching all the BTS hahaha
IT WAS SO MUCH FUN
John's guitar wasn't a blonde Casino. It was a starburst Casino with the finish sanded off. John and George were convinced by Donovan that removing the finish would open up the sound.
Fact👆🏼
Yes, the man is right!
sunburst
@@SHOGUNSTUDIOSpresents correct, my bad
Starburst were once called Opel fruits did you know that? 😉👍
Bro making the best content rn. Your videos should have millions of views.
Aww thanks man!! Maybe one day, but I'm honestly equally happy being able to support the size of community I already have, got a sick group of watchers :)
@@AudioHaze based
You will find that the sooner you stop talking like a valley girl, the sooner your life will improve significantly. No intelligent person says based@@yungstreichholz
The influence of bleed on the recording is so educational. The vocal mics basically double as room mics! I imagine the panning of these vocal mics also creates some width to the otherwise mono drum sound (you may have already said that in the video, so apologies if I'm repeating anything). We've all heard or read older engineers saying that bleed is your friend if wielded skillfully, and that having musicians playing together in the same space is essential to getting a vintage sound. It does lend a lot of presence and liveliness to the duller sounding close mics in your video for sure. It seems like the outdoor environment of a rooftop also circumvents a lot of the bass buildup and acoustic nastiness that can happen when recording indoors, which probably adds to the overall treble-y, sweetening quality of the mic bleed. It almost reminded me of the Dolby A trick in character.
this is insane. such effort and production quality for a niche topic and your growth as a creator (and as a mixer!) shows. can’t wait to see where else you’ll go
Thanks so much Michael! I've got some cool plans for the future, hope they come to fruition :)
Your efforts at capturing the details was absolutely worth it. The overall effort was superb!!! I’m amazed!
Dude this was incredible.
Thanks Michael :)
@@AudioHaze I hope you know that we recognize how much effort you put into this video. In this platform where we have so many low-effort rant videos, productions like this stand out from the rest.
Great version by Juice! But I gotta say, the 1969 performance shows just how crazy good the Beatles voices blended together. Reminds me of a clip I saw of David Crosby being asked the perennial question: "Beatles or Stones?" Without hesitation he said the Beatles were better. "It's the harmonies."
A couple of observations about the ambient noise you refer to on the NY rooftop: There was absolutely no chance of having air conditioner noise during January in London in 1969; there would be no airplanes either, given that the flight paths to Heathrow airport NEVER go across central London; not then, not now - so those aspects would not have been a problem. The wind obviously WAS a factor to consider and you resolved it very well indeed, congratulations! Overall you succeeded in your experiment. Also, George Martin had a significant hand in the production/mixing side of things, plus the extraordinary George Emerick handling the mikes - no small matter!
It's almost like he made a lot of assertions that he just pulled right out of his ass.
George Emerick?
Was he related to Geoff Emerick?
Glyn Johns assisted by Alan Parsons were the engineers. Parsons can be seen on the rooftop to the left behind a camera in a bright orange shirt. It was his first job, 3 or 4 years later he would be back as engineer on Dark Side Of The Moon!
@@Datanditto Oooops! Yes; Geoff.
As a Londoner, I am in complete agreement. Even in Summer it would be very rare at that time for there to be ac. When I moved to the USA I was amazed to see all the ac and central heating.
This sounds so DAMN GOOD! No, they don't "sound" like the Beatles, but they are a tough group and their musicianship just shines through. And great job AudioHaze on the mix! Brilliant! It makes me LOVE the Beatles even more.
And let me add more color. I presume that most all viewers are musicians here. My twin brother (drummer) and me have been musicians (professional) since we were about 15 yo. We were minted in 1963, which means that we lived part of Beatle Mania in realtime.
Our mum (Welsh) bought our Dad (Bolivian, and a musician) Sgt. Pepper as a gift. We soon commandeered that LP and I still have possession of it.
Our parents took us to see the Let It Be film in theatre when we were about 10 years old. I left the theatre dazed from watching my idols break up before my very eyes. We already knew the story by then, but to see it with your own eyes was still jarring. So to experience the Get Back series and to see the young kids embrace makes me proud. Modern production techniques offer endless sloppiness in recording studios.
Fellow musicians know just how hard The Beatles grafted to produce the work that they left us. RUclips videos never show us all the countless takes that were discarded. The Beatles certainly had to put their work to just lay down the basic rhythm tracks.
Hats off to these young mates!
Thanks dude! Yeah Juice is such a cool group, you didn't even get to see Christians insane violin skills like on their originals
With all due respect, NO ONE sounds like the Beatles. Just those 4 guys.
Oh man I was not expecting to get another one of these recreation videos so soon. Can't wait to watch this!
SURPRISE, hope this explains where I've been for a month lol
@@AudioHaze Haha, I'd say it does! Awesome video and production dude!
“Same weather conditions”, clearly said by someone who hasn’t experienced cloudy windy weather in the UK 😂
Great work! Love the commitment to getting answers.
Thanks dude! Love your channel :)
You hv just proved the greatness of the Beatles…
The engineers on the original had spent their years or their apprenticeship mixing primarily to mono. They monitored on large studio speakers and on tiny transistor radio sized ones to ensure sound compatibility with whatever the customer listened on. Their awareness for removing any and all phasing mics cannot be underestimated. When all mics are working in harmony without cancellations or sloshing, it really doesn’t matter how much one instrument bleeds into another’s track. We take gates and plugins for granted these days but a live recording back then could still be perfected by a well pushed fader at the right time.
This was a great video. I’d like to have seen a decent post-mortem on the final recording that took so much effort to create.
Engineers at that time were also using tools like oscilloscopes, and were generally more knowledgeable about the technical aspects of their recording equipment, especially microphones.
Glyn Johns was a master of mic placement. The drum mic technique he pioneered that now bears his name stipulates that the centrally placed overhead and the other “overhead” placed above the floor tom both be equidistant from the snare as well as each other, in a perfect isosceles triangle, eliminating any potential phase issues with the snare. I think there was a lot of care and careful measurement that went into all of the mic placement all the time.
I am lost for words, it is and has been one of my favorite songs for some time and I loved that roof top gig. I have actually played on a rooftop with one of my bands and it is a lot of fun. Big up to everyone involved.
Thanks Carl! Glad you liked it :)
I appreciate you documenting this entire process. The breakdown and your research was above and beyond. Great work!
The power of Pantyhoses... not to be underestimated! :D
Your note about creating not being isolating anymore is so awesome to hear, really glad you found your way through! The level to which this project was done by you and all involved is incredible.
Have been following your work for a while and it's so awesome to be along for the journey and learn so much. Your videos are truly inspiring, and helped me a lot with my production process. Thank you not only for the monumental work and effort but also for sharing it and inspiring us ! Cheers from Portugal ❤✌ !
Aw thank you Fred that means so much, glad to have you as a viewer! Cheers from Brooklyn!
THIS WAS FANTASTIC! WHAT A GREAT IDEA AND THANK YOU FOR EXISTING! MUCH LOVE AND MAD RESPECT FROM NEW ORLEANS BABY! ^..^⚜🎺🎷🪗🎸🎹🎻🪕🥁🪘🎭🥃🍺🦐🦞🦀🐊
These are the best production videos out there! Great job🎉
That means more than you'll ever know, thank you so much man :)
Fantastic video; first one of yours I've seen and a belter. It really brings home how lucky we were to have the Beatles' catalogue, and the videos of this performance. Their skill level, and that of their teams around them was truly mind blowing. You did an fab job with this recreation. Thanks!
Thanks for the video! Sounded great. Amazing quality videos as always. You are definitely up there with the best music RUclips creators
Thanks Diego that means a ton!!
Yet another amazing incredible video. Your content is incredibly comprised and created. It’s so clear you’re passionate for these projects. Keep on pushing man! Great stuff!
Fantastic video! Love this series, and you really knocked it out of the park with this one.
1 detail I think you'd find interesting to note - and hopefully discovered after watching the Peter Jackson documentary - is the drum mic'ing technique on the original being the aptly named 'Glynn Johns' technique, named after the engineer who recorded all those sessions. The only difference between your setup and his is the floor-tom mic being used more as a 'side kit' mic than specifically for the tom itself, so is placed further from the drumhead and is pointed towards the snare (placed roughly the same distance to the snare drum as the centered overhead mic is to it). Would be cool to do a video on the technique and experiment with it - works great both in mono & stereo.
Either way, great video and great tribute to the original recording. Can't wait for the next one!
I had no idea, thank you for letting me know! I didn't see that mic position in the rooftop performance but I may have missed it, I'll go back and review. May also try a similar technique for some videos I have coming up :)
@@AudioHaze Another thing about Glyn Johns' drum mic setup is that, for the most part, these recordings were actually intended to have stereo panned drums. Listen to the single version of Don't Let Me Down, and especially the "Glyn Johns Mix" version from the unreleased Get Back album, and you'll hear the wide stereo drum placement. Overhead on the right, kick and floor tom on the left. The drum kit has a much greater presence in the mix that way.
Why would you even doubt it at the first place? Insane 🤯
I think it’s a valid question as far as how much of it was studio and how much of it was rooftop
This sounded pretty awesome. The unprocessed mix was interesting too, but the final version was accurate. What a masterpiece tune by the Beatles, and your team performed flawlessly. Peace.
Incredible video! Your journey on this channel has been so fantastic to watch. This video feels like a big mix of all of the things you've learned and showed us through the years. It's really interesting to get into 60s- and 70s recordings because they often sound SO good with simple routing and mixing. Personally, I would like to see more of these recreations. Greetings from Sweden!
If you weren't alive back in the 60's, it may be hard to imagine how much trust there was in live televised broadcasts. All network news programs were thoroughly vetted long before they premiered on national news programs, every word of the script stringently reviewed for accuracy. Although most television appearances by musicians were widely known to be lip-synced, any suspicion that a band as reknowned as The Beatles would prerecord any part of their live performance was simply unthinkable. The difference between the sound of live versus studio performance was so dramatically distinct, there was absolutely no question in anyone's mind that we were watching an authentic impromptu Beatles concert on a rooftop in downtown London.
That was really impressive all round. Great video and great performance from the band.
I’ll be in NYC this week, and I’m hoping to see some incredible local musicians like this performing live.
Absolutely phenomenal job 🔥👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 seriously! You captured the energy and tonal quality of the original very, very well!
Love your mix but there’s also some undeniable charm in the raw tracks for this one.
Lots of people have a frame of reference for recording outside that’s based on dialogue recording, which SNR wise is WAYY tougher than even singing let alone guitars and drums. I’m not surprised this worked out well. Excellent work.
What an insanely ambitious and successfully accomplished venture! Awesome job man. Love the Beatles and love your vids.
One thing to note that you didn't bring up about the drum micing: I'm pretty sure they're using the Glyn Johns technique, but with a snare mic. It's where you have one mic above the snare and one over the floor tom, measured so the snare is in phase, plus a kick mic. Was incredibly common in the 70s.
Notably, Glyn Johns did work with the Beatles.
Yeah I heard that from another commenter ,thanks for the info! Would be cool to maybe do another video describing this technique in more detail
“incredibly common” is an unnecessarily dramatic thing to say. Just say it was common in the 70s.
Wow, I got the chills when listening to your version. Amazing work from all parties involved!
18:02 ive found that with certain mics, placing them further from a guitar amp honestly sounds better, especially with figure 8 ones
I think a large part of that was also the volume we played at! In my room normally a distant tone on a pretty quiet bedroom volume probably invites a thinner tone with more room noise
@@AudioHaze oh yeah for sure, ive been using ribbons lately on guitar so i tend to back them away just out of concern for breaking the ribbon, i was quite surprised by how natural sounding it is a first when i decided to use said mic, though i think a lot of it is from the more pronounced proximity effect of figure 8 polar pattern and of course the fairly loud volume i have the amps at
deffo makes sense that you lose some low end the less youre cranked for whatever reason (i think) and i can definitely see that being an issue the further you move the mic, i guess it scales really, very interesting either way, i can imagine that bleed is for sure a tricky thing to work with in this kind of live environment, youd deffo be playing around with the nulls of the mics and weird positioning, but thats also the fun of it lowkey
What a great job and awesome video! Thank you for sharing and big respect for putting all the effort!
To me, it's super weird that you would be skeptical about this recording.
in fairness, The Beatles did overdubs for Shea Stadium before the film was released, and possibly also for Hollywood Bowl. Wings did some overdubbing for Over America etc etc. It's not unusual. There is audio of Harrison's guitar from street level that sounds absolutely awful but I can't recall where I heard that. I'd be surprised if there wasn't at least some tidying up/editing done and there would be no shame in that at all.
@@FiremanSam60 Isn't overdubbing for mistakes, mixes, etc pretty common on most live recordings? It's my understanding is that happens on most live albums. One of the rare exceptions was Running On Empty according to many of those that played on it including Leland Sklar
This guy is an idiot ,most likely a Trump supporter...
@@billbitterman9487this was 1969. Not 2024. It wasn’t done back then.
@@nisar8009 It was being done in the 70s...
Herculean effort and fantastic video! Love the fact that the "bleed" (the thing so many younger producers seem nervous about) was discovered to be the very thing that gives great character and depth to all the cool recordings or the 60/70/80s. Great job!
The unmixed version sounds more up close and personal, I think I prefer that version as it is a little closer to the mono styling of the 60s… great cover and a great band
Honestly I'm honored! That means we got it right at the source :)
Mixed version is too bright.
Unmixed sounds much warmer. Closer to the original.
Great work to pull this off, excellent video as always sir. Never heard a band cover the Beatles so well.
Wow, what an amazing video! Thank you for everyone’s hard work. This was freaking fascinating!
John lyrics were not a mistake; just John being John.
dude, genuinely one of the best channels on youtube - your hard work is evident, and I'm so excited to see your channel grow!
You've been hitting home run after home run my dude!!!!
Thanks dude I hope so! Enjoy the vid :)
Massive respect for your production team and juice! Thank you for this great job!
As a wise man once said... "anoolereeshegoblebloojegoo"
so wise it convinced me the performance must've been real
A wise man once said " No more fanmails, i'm warning you with peace and love!"
I half expected that line to be repeated in this performance
Did you notice that Google translates that as " As a wise man once said... "there's a snowstorm" "
Could it be that John was 'channeling' Tibetan?
@@PaisleyPatchouli well it was cold and windy indeed
Honestly I'm amazed at the work you did, the results and conclusions are worderful. You are going places man
Never in my life did I ever hear anybody say or think that the rooftop performance was fake. Utterly ridiculous!
Anything for a click
I know right ....
you make me smile bro! amazing work as always. you are a hard working guy
I'm no audio or electrical engineer but I highly doubt it has much to do with voltage.
The reason balanced cables are used in pro audio is because the introduced noise gets nullified by the cable phaseing it out.
They probably had a XLR Snake somewhere and ran it down.. 15-20 meters estimated with the help of Google Gemini AI. That ain't long considering they use this same tech to mic up stages with the mixer table 100-300 meters away on open air concerts
In the video, he was referencing the run lf the power cables, not the audio signal cables. Everything you stated is spot on... I do not know enough about power cable runs to be able to confirm or deny what is stated in the video.
@@charliekrengel1344 as a person that lives in a land with 220-230 volts 50hz, I can say that a 15 meter cable reel to power two silverface amps is no problem, adding the 100 watt, all tube, bass head might trigger the relay to switch off depending on the amp rating.
I have NO IDEA what rating the audio mixer is, it could be three phase 230 Wolt or 400 Wolt but the reason they didn't move the mixer/recording gear is because how ludicrously large and heavy that stuff was back then.
wow. i'm blown away. The INSANE amount of dedication you put into these videos is incredible!! It's a joy to watch 'em. And the soundscape is so similar to the real rooftop performance!
Who knew TJ Miller could sing!
Ben is a BEAST, does a killer Robert Plant too
Brilliant job on the recording! The band and cover was excellent! Loved the musicians and the vocals (props for using your own spin on the inflections)!!
21:42 period
Outstanding job to everyone involved! You mentioned some ambient noise leaking through but I didn’t notice it, even when the plane flew over. I thought the band and recording quality sounded great. It’s interesting how so many things the Beatles did as an afterthought have taken on a life of their own. The rooftop concert, as I’m sure everyone knows, was in lieu of a live concert that never happened. So they were like, “oh let’s just go up on the roof.” But the end product was amazing and and here we are 55 years later still talking about it. This project was a great idea. Thanks for posting it.
The obvious thing? Different time. Less ambient noise, less traffic, less aircraft, less people.
This was awesome - great job. I will have to check out the rest of your stuff.
Guitar Player magazine asked Frank Zappa how come there wasn't loud audience sounds in some of his live recordings. Stunned at the complete ignorance of the interviewer, Zappa proceeded to explain what he thought would be common sense to, even the family dog. How loud would the audience have to be, 50 feet away from the microphone, to compete with a 50 watt amplifier 3" away from a microphone.
This is an insanely cool video, thanks for all the effort that went into it!
0:20 AC units? It’s like 50 degrees outside
Great job! One of my favorite songs by The Beatles, and one of my favorite songs in general. You all KILLED the Rooftop Session recreation! And No Cops Were Called!! LOL
This experiment is AWESOME, but the original doubts about the gig are absolutely ludicrous. Also, the unmixed version sounds much better.
Wow. This was the most underrated video I’ve seen in years! Keep up the good work man!
“To see if it was real” - people like you are hilarious 😂
you are absolutely correct about recording out side
because you dont have the normal reflections from floor and walls it can have that effect, also one of the ways of measuring studio monitors is open air with a directional mic a few feet away
This is crazy man! Great video and can't imagine the amount of work.
That was just as beautiful as the real thing.
13:51 america L
Man, you are crushing these videos. Hands down my favourite audio channel - going to have to sign up to the patreon to check out the mix. Lots of love from Australia.
Amazing video man, the quality deserves so much more attention fr
I dove recently into French singers of the 50/60/70’s and I was blown away by how accurate the voices sounded. Crisp, delicate and articulate: I couldn’t believe my ears! It was almost a trippy experience. Gave me goosebumps and maybe a tear or two 😊
Hey! Do you have any reccomendations? I've wanted to start listening different genres recently.
Thank you in advance!
@@facundorodriguez288 Sure thing Facu! Here's a list of my favs, in no particular order:
Serge Gainsbourg
Juliette Gréco
Françoise Hardy
France Gall
Renaud
Georges Brassens
Jacques Brel
Léo Ferré
Bobby Lapointe
Raoul de Godewarsvelde
Michel Polnareff
Jacques Dutronc
Rita Mitsouko
Niagara
Claude Nougaro
Barbara
Jeanne Moreau
Alain Souchon
Véronique Sanson
Georges Moustaki
Boris Vian
Charles Aznavour
Henri Salvador
Maxime Le Forestier
Gilbert Bécaud
I could go on, but that's already quite a chunk :) You'll find some gems in there I'm sure, both lyrically and musically. I mostly covered the 60's-80's era.
Enjoy!
@@NyctalopeDiurne You are awesome, thank you very much!!!
@@facundorodriguez288 With pleasure my dude! You know what: why don't you share the 20 latest gems that you discovered recently? Any genre, fire at will! I am also expanding my musical culture rn :)
Wow! This really was a marvelous, amazing adventure! Thank you
Agh it sounds INCREDIBLE!! Y’all absolutely nailed it.
LOL- As usual, the RUclips comment section has it all figured out- everyone is an expert. Great video man, and a great job- sounded amazing. The band was tight- they pulled it off beautifully- vocals were great- well done all the way around.
Wow! This was fantastic. What an introduction to your channel! Looking forward to digging into your back catalog. Well done Juice!
Awesome job on this whole project man!
A really great video displaying the combination of world class musicians and engineers who have thoroughly researched and understand the practical applications of recording technology. It helps to know what you're doing but if you stuck a single mic in front of that group, it would still sound fantastic! Huge respect to all involved in this project.
Really enjoyed this video! Well put together and got chills listening to the end result.
Glad you liked it!
I am so happy I found your channel. I have never been a fan of The Beatles but I must say seeing their 1969 recording and your rendition really sucked me in. I'm a convert and a new subscriber. I can't play an instrument or sing or anything but I have a good ear and know what I like. Seeing talented people perform really inspires you.
Man, you're my favorite channel (position shared with drumeo)
@AudioHaze - I’m not a production guy or do I pretend to know anything about what you did, but I found the whole process extremely interesting! My lifelong appreciation of the Beatles brought me here and the idea of recreating that moment in history was intriguing. Well done, I bet you learned a TON from the experience! How did it sound at street level?
So good, so interesting to learn about the Beatles kit and see how successfully you were able to recreate their last live performance. Well done!
Wow, that was amazing! The amount of sweat you guys put into this is astonishing and it came out just perfect. Awesome work!
Thanks so much glad you liked it!
Really, really excellent video. Watched the performance twice!
You didn't comment on how you thought it came out. I thought the mixed version sounded just like the Beatles rooftop sound. And as such, you successfully recreated the Beatles rooftop performance for at least that one song, Don't Bring Me Down. BRAVO!! Totally job well done and thanks for how much effort went into making it happen!
Absolutely amazing, thanks for all the work that went into this - incredible video
That was very educational. Thank you for the stems!
Awesome. I watched all the way til the end and I don’t usually that. great job. you have inspired me to more in my tiny beachy studio in Pismo Beach
Your best work yet. Thank you!
That band is amazing! It's not easy to cover the Beatles, it's especially not easy to cover that song. They are spot on with the harmonics, the piano, everything. Amazing bass player, too. Perfect!
Bleed isn't as big a monster if you can be sure you don't need to completely remove anything from the mix, but good lord I do not know where to find that kind of confidence. Hats off to Juice for absolutely nailing it.
I'm glad to see I'm not the only one obsessing over details about mic choice and placement in the rooftop concert-- it flies in the face of convention and sounds way too good doing it. I can totally understand why you thought it was fake.