The "Jeff Lynne drum sound"

J

jeremyball

New member
Hey all,
Have you ever noticed that all the music Jeff Lynne has produced has a similar sound on the drums. You could pretty much spot it a mile away... anybody have any idea on how he mics the drums, mixes, compresses, etc.?

I did a forum search, but couldn't find much...

Thanks,
Jeremy
 
Yes, I've noticed "that sound," too. I'm also interested in his techniques . . . if anyone out there has read anything about it.

In the ELO stuff, the drums seem to be centered in the mix -- not much stereo image. Otherwise, I'm not good enough to hear what went into the production.

He also seems to get a fairly unique vocal sound on most of his productions -- if anyone would care to digress.

Kevin
 
Bev Bevan, if I recall, was the ELO drummer, and a Slingerland artist.

The effects were listed on the record sleeve of New World Record (12" vinyl), so if you glimpse that list, you'll spot a few nice pieces of outboard gear and effects which might give some suggestions. Eventide Harmonizer comes to mind.
 
I've heard that it was alway difficult to get Jeff Lynne to lay off of hard limiters in general. He is rumored to compress as much as people would allow him to.
 
We were listening to the radio on the way to NY for a session and an ELO song came on the radio. My girlfriend (who is just starting to learn about sound engineering) said it sounded like there was some sort of very short delay on the drums.

I think she's on to something. It might be the distances between the close and ambient mics, or they might just be using a stereo delay under 50 ms (in addition to all that compression).
 
I've heard a few interviews with Bev Bevan. He's mentioned a few times that he almost always double tracked his drum parts on all the ELO albums. That is to say, he'd keep all the drum parts pretty simple and then overdub the same part again played exactly the same. Certainly that would contribute to the sound that you're hearing, at least to some degree.
 
Be Loveless said:
I've heard that it was alway difficult to get Jeff Lynne to lay off of hard limiters in general. He is rumored to compress as much as people would allow him to.
Click to expand...

That explains why I find ELO's mixes so boring all the time. Many (not all mind you) of elo's big hits (good example, that "Don't get me down, Brrrrrruce" song or whatever the lyrics are) have great overtracked parts and everything but are just boring boring boring with no dynamics or creativity in the rhythm sections parts.

Not a huge elo fan, but I do have immense respect for jeff lynne as an arranger and multitalented musician. I just wish he'd let his musicians be more inspired (or get more inspired musicians) and I wish he was a little more inspired. He's very inside the box.

I did always enjoy his beatle-esque vocal harmonizing techniques though, great great stuff that.

But he so obviously uses extreme limiters for many tracks that to me it goes too far, takes the energy out of the sound.

Of course, he makes a lot more money than I do LoL. This is all personal taste and opinion, it's not how I would do it if I were he, doesn't mean he's not a great musician and decent producer, he deserves all of his success definitely. Just not my cup of tea, and that compressor comment goes right along with that concept to me.

Cheers,
Don
 
note: I prefer and actually like his production of some other artist's work, I think he did some production for his work with george harrison, if that's true then I definitely like that work, but it may just be that I like the artist (harrison) far better (than lynne).
 
I read/heard an interview where he talked about using pro tools on Zoom, and he commented that one of the things that he could now do was mike the drums from far away in a big room and correct the delay. So I think this is at least one part of his drum sound. You can listen to the drums on something like 'Shangri La' on A New World Record and think that this is what he's doing to get that sound.

I also suspect the vocal approach where it's dry, compressed and up front is a bit of a throwback to the 30's and 40's. Listen to some old Frank Sinatra...There's a radio interview where he talks about being embarrassed by his voice, and having hidden it behind layers of effects until he learned to put the vocals at the front after producing other artists.

Jared
 
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