ADT and the Beatles

  • Thread starter Thread starter Fab4ever
  • Start date Start date
Fab4ever

Fab4ever

Getting better
Hello all.

In 1965 or 66, an engineer working with the Beatles invented something called automatic double tracking, or ADT. Because so many of the Beatles' lead vocal tracks were double-tracked, the hope was this effect would cut down on the time it took them to record.

While THAT didn't exactly happen (the Beatles actually took longer and longer to record, up to the Let it Be mess, but that's another story), ADT did lend a certain period sound to many Beatles tracks.

I know the general theory of ADT, that a machine copied the track and it was "wobbled" so as to be slightly out of phase with the original, but my question is this:

What modern effect, i.e., plug-in, might most closely mimic ADT? I have a good assortment of plugs I use in Sonar.

Thanks for any and all replies.

Fab
 
Closest effect to that would be very light, slow "flanging". "Strawberry Fields" would be a good example of it.
 
Excellent Harvey! Thanks a lot. I intend to do some experiments anyway, and I had considered flanging and chorus....

Fab
 
Now if I could JUST land a couple U47s, a Fairchild limiter, a '65 Casino, the greatest songwriting talent ever.....
 
Don't forget that you also need another writer to help keep you challenged... Paul has had... well... some issues since not having John around :)

I just heard "Spies Like Us" at a restaurant the other day... shame shame :)

Velvet Elvis
 
Sadly Velvet, I must agree.

I thought Paul was into some really interesting stuff with Elvis Costello round about 1988 and 1989, but they didn't keep it up. Still, on balance the man is still incredible. If you took his Top 10 solo records and forgot about the Beatles you'd still have a pretty solid solo career....

However, your larger point is extremely well taken. Paul and John were really perfect foils.

Fab
 
Yep... I'd of course still love to cowrite something with him... but I'm not exactly John Lennon :)

Velvet Elvis
 
If you want to hear the ADT effect it is probably most heavily used on Rubber Soul and Revolver. The song "Rain" comes to mind
 
and to give credit where credit is due, the guy who invented it was an Abbey Road engineer by the name of Ken Townshend.
 
vocals

Could the lead vocal be compressed, then ADT applied? I went back and listened to "Revolver" last night and heard a more processed vocal than previous times I've listened. Then you hear the smooth harmonies and great lyrics. It never ends with their songs.
 
Velvet Elvis said:
Don't forget that you also need another writer to help keep you challenged... Paul has had... well... some issues since not having John around :)

I just heard "Spies Like Us" at a restaurant the other day... shame shame :)

Velvet Elvis
Click to expand...

One of his newer albums, Flaming Pie, is one of the best solo Beatle records ever. Came out right before Lind died. I'll be the first Beatles fan to admit I don't like the commerciality of much of his 80's work, but then there is good stuff. Just wasn't always plaid on the radio hit.
 
Yup, Flaming Pie was great. And George Harrison's postumously released last album has some awesome stuff on it as well.

Fab
 
What most people don't realize is that probably 98% of the songs credited to the team "Lennon-McCartney" after 1964 were actually written solo by one or the other. And the key is usually in who is singing the lead.
So Paul, the supposedly soppy sentimentalist who was once ridiculed by John for writing "granny music," wrote such out and out rockers as "I'm Down," "Helter Skelter," and "Back in the USSR". And John, the supposedly cynical rocker wrote such soppy pap as "Julia," "Good Night," and "Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)."
Other misconceptions abound as well. John had the reputation as the political radical while Paul was seen as wimping out. Yet Paul wrote and issued the stinging pro-IRA anthem "Give Ireland Back to the Irish" while John was simply mouthing platitudes such as "Imagine" and "Happy Xmas, War Is Over (If You Want It)."
So in truth, the categories tend to be somewhat meaningless. Whether we look at their writings as a team or as soloists, it is evident that each had an influence on the other and each was/is one of the greatest songwriters to emerge in the last half of the twentieth century.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top