Orchestra on "A Day in the Life", what do they play at the end?

[cordura21]

anybody has the arrangement or know how to get that kind of sound? I just know is a forty-one piece orchestra. Do you have a good link?

Cheers, Andrés

[sjjohnston]

Assuming you mean the big crescendo and final chord, supposedly each player was told "here's where to start, and here's the note to wind up on after x measures, get to it however you want."

Like most Beatles stories, this might be accurate, or it might be story that somebody thought sounded good and has survived for all these years because it does sound good. Getting the absolute truth about anything relating to the Beatles is more tricky than you might expect, for a number of reasons, including (i) they have been so popular for so long that myths just naturally follow them and (ii) John, in particular, had a flexible perception of reality (a good story can be more "true" than a completely accurate one).

[TexRoadkill]

I believe that's the part where they cut up the tape into a bunch of small chunks then randomly put it back together.

[c7sus]

The cut & splice piece I'm most familier with is the "organ" solo in "Mr Kite". I understand they recorded a carousel and cut the tape, let it fall to the floor, then randomly spliced it back together.

As for the end of "ADITL"........ all I know is the piano chord at the very end is 3 grand pianos overdubed 3 times.

[cordura21]

I mean that orchestra crescendo that happens two times in the song, and at the ends goes growing and growing, just to break in that final chord.

It sounded to me something like Tchaikovsky or dodecaphonic music, but what do I know?

[Tom Hicks]

In George Martin's book "All You Need Is Ears" he relates the story above that the start and end note were given and then it was every man for himself.

[C Williams]

He said it was interesting how each group of instrumentalists approached this very unorthodox task. The strings guys would all look at each other sheepishly and hesitantly like, "we're... going... up..."

whereas the more "brassy" horn players boldly climbed their range.

I understand they recorded four passes of the orchestra doing this, and combined all four takes onto the final version for maximum randomness.

Can you imagine being a pro musician and being asked to "start here, and make it to here in x number of bars, from as soft to as as loud as you can muster?" They must have thought our Beatles were blinkin' mad.

[betelgeuse]

"BeatleSongs" by William J. Dowlding:

McCartney
(quoted from It was Twenty Years Ago Today" by Derek Taylor):

"I suggested that what we should do was write all but fifteen bars properly so that the orchestra could read it, but where the fifteen bars began we would give the musician a simple direction:'Start on your lowest note and eventually, at the end of fifteen bars, be at your highest note.' How they got there was up to them, but it resulted in a crazy crescendo. It was interesting because the trumpet players, always famous for their fondness for lubricating substances, didn't care, so they'd be there at the note ahead of everyone. The strings all watched each other like little sheep:'Are you going up?' Yes. 'So am I.' And they'd go up. 'A little more?' Yes. And they'd go up a little more, all very delicate and cozy, all going up together. You listen to those trumpets. They're just freaking out."

"BeatleSongs" is a neat book. Each chapter represents a different album and has commentary on the album. There is also commentary on each songs, as well as notes or comments by the Beatles on the song. Finally, it lists who played what on the song. I never get tired or reading it...

[Richard Monroe]

As with many Beatle's stories (not unlike the Gospel), the versions of witnesses present differ somewhat, but the sources seem to agree that the orchestra was told to play from their lowest note to their highest note in the allotted time (apparently 15 measures). Having the greatest range in the orchestra, the french horn doesn't quite make it on cue and finishes last.-Richie

[ozraves]

I think the very end of the song is George Martin and a couple Beatles pounding a chord on pianos and dubbing it to form a super chord.

Steve
http://www.piemusic.com

[Bass Master "K"]

Originally posted by ozraves
I think the very end of the song is George Martin and a couple Beatles pounding a chord on pianos and dubbing it to form a super chord.

I think the very end of the song is George Martin and a couple Beatles pounding a few ales over the recording console knowing that they had done something genious