Strawberry Fields Scoring

[Benreturns]

Does anyone know where I could find the cello notation for Strawberry fields forever? I ask because in between recording my own stuff i feel like recording this classic to see for fun how close i can get to the original recoridng. I have everything else and the basis of the track (inc trumpets), but I need to know the cellos. I can figure most of it out but need to know the fiddley bits (the funny scales they do in the 3rd verse especially). A long shot I know, but worth a try!

For anyone interested i plan to do it as follows

Tracks:
1: Lead vocal (recorded and slowed with slight distortion and heavy compression)
2: double tracked vocal
3: Harmony vocal on 3rd chorus (+ piano part for outro)
4: Mellotron (well a yamaha keyboard flute setting that has been put through an effects unit)
5: Fingerpicked Guitar
6: Bass
7: Maracas
8: Tambourine
9: Electric lead guitar for fills
10: Backward cymbals
11: Trumpet
12: Trumpet
13: Cello
14: Cello
15: Drum (Kick/snare/Hi Hat/Toms/Crash)
16: Heavy Floor tom playing the triplets in the later choruses
17: Heavy (reverb snare) (for fadeout)
18: Click track

The trak will be done on a Akai DPS24

Anyone got any comments on this (ambitious) project? It will make a nice break from recording my own stuff in persuit of stardom!

 

[nomsans]

i believe the music for the cellos is in the official beatles fake book. though...that is just me belief...i will see if i can find it online or in the fake book. will get back to ya on this.

 

[Hugo H]

A good reference is The Beatles Complete Scores, ISBN 0-7935-1832-6

 

[Benreturns]

Cheers guys. Ive actually got the complete scores. It is very helpfull (the trumpets are complete and most of the bass cello) but maybe due to book space the same scores are left on the each different verse while on the song the 2 change. While the general thrust of it is the same - the book unfortunately misses out some vital fills which i think are integral to the song overall. Especially the run up the scale on the last verse. Im actually sitting here listening to the stereo version panned right which is just vocals/trumpets/brass trying to tab it on my guitar ready for transpoing to the keyboard later. Quite difficult!

This will cause me more headache than trying to get my own songs right!

 

[Hugo H]

I'm sure you know that this is the most complex Beatles song altogether, at least in some folks opinion. Get it right and you deserve massive applause.

 

[Benreturns]

Ok well ive just spent some time on it and its not half bad:

I figured out the chorus and the verses for the cello/contra bass. Double tracked a cello/contra bass from my keyboard then overload duel trumpets playing in unison (no click track - done free time). I then sang a chorus and a verse at +5% speedand slowed back to 0.0%. Added hevay compression and some mild distortion. Double tracked the vocal (this time +2%) with some reverb and it sounds pretty good. Haha! Even added some backwards cymbals fo rfun courtesy of a preset on my sampler.

The only prob i have is the widley varying tempo's and the key starts in A and ends in Bb and for most the song is somewhere in between...hmmm. Also my contrabass/cello setting require more 'crunk' to them, but hte trumpets are pretty accurate.

I was inspired to do this by The Britins by the way! I'll post it when ive done.

 

[Cloneboy Studio]

I'm curious to see how you will resolve the "two takes spliced into one" thing, as well as the major pitch change from the varispeeding to put the seperate takes together.

I'd recommend getting the Gmedia MTron plugin for the mellotron parts. It has *THE* same flute sounds (taken from the MKII tapes) that they used. Essential IMHO.

 

[Benreturns]

Well first the issue of varispeeding, i have throught a couple of possibilities on this one. Firstly, record the whole thing somewhere just under Bb but not quite A. This would not be a problem with any guitar & bass work, but as soon as you hit any keyboard recorded parts (ie:cello) I will be having trouble using varispeed to get the right pitch. I would then manually control the recording to go between A and Bb on mixdown (around a 5% increase? not sure...)

Secondly, just record the whole thing in Bb and hope for the best. Again maybe take advantage of my recorders speed controls on mixdown to get some kind of progression from A - Bb. The problem lies (as with the last one) theat the tempo might vary too much and be too noticable.

Thirdly, record 2 songs. One in A (dreamy mellotron) and one in Bb (powerfull brass/strings). Speed one up slightly and drop one down so that neither part has noticable tempo changes and it might even just sound authentic at that. Unless I figure something out this will prob be my best option.

As for the mellotron I had planned to use the flute preset on my Yamaha Keyboard and run it through an oscillator or phaser/flanger and use reverb/tape delay on it. If THE correct samples are on a plug in i think that might have to be the best bet so thanks for that Cloneboy.

One thing Im not sure about is when playing the intro Paul used a speed control knob when leading into the first vocals on "going TO.." which didnt seem to change the key but the pitch or something (im not sure WHAT it did). That would be a potential problem, but it does certainly take you "DOWN" into the song.