Abbey Road Blog

Keane Live in 3D

2009-11-11T10:00:38+00:00

On 2nd April BSkyB teamed up with Keane, Island Records and Abbey Road to stage the world�s first live 3D webcast. Sky have been working to develop a new system to broadcast in 3D for a while now, as they see it as the future of television. In order to test the new system and promote it, Sky enlisted the help of production company Nineteen Fifteen and technology company Inition to produce and transmit the first live gig broadcast in 3D.Funnily enough, 3D or Stereoscopy was invented in 1840 by British scientist and inventor Sir Charles Wheatstone, who also developed the stereoscope and the concertina, and was involved in telegraphy too. By using two cameras he was able to capture two different images of the same source, which in turn creates the illusion of depth. So the idea of 3D has been around for some time but never really taken off in the domestic world, or at least not on the grand scale where everyone is able to watch 3D television in their living room. Anyway, Sky are about to make this a reality.The system is already being installed on its SKY+HD boxes and most new HD screens are also ready to play films, shows, and gigs etc in 3D. Rather than the old green and red flimsy plastic ones, the new glasses you use are polarised, which give you a much better image without the use of the two colours to create the depth. Sky are planning on bringing 3D to the masses and to show this they decided to film the first ever live 3D gig in Abbey Road�s Studio One with chart toppers Keane. The band known for hits like Everybody�s Changing and Is It Any Wonder, also gave thousands of fans the opportunity to watch the gig via a webcast. Glasses were distributed through London�s free morning paper, Metro. The gig was also attended by a small select audience of prize winners, fans and industry people.Throughout the day there was an element of excitement and optimism, as many people working on the session didn�t really know what to expect from it. The event wasn�t fully confirmed until 4 days before so information was restricted and, combined with the complex technologies used to capture the show in a broadcast environment, many factors could have prevented the show from going ahead.  Nonetheless all teams involved in the event, from camera crew, sound engineers (Live and Studio), VJ (Video Performance Artists), stage designers etc, came together and made it happen. The actual broadcast lasted about 20 minutes but Keane played an extra set of songs to please the fans in the studio. The opening sequence for the broadcast was an amazing visual composition by VJ pioneers De-Fuse, with Keane�s first title backing track playing. The broadcast then cut to the band in Studio One for all watching to see them in funky 3D. At the studios we were lucky to have a selection of new HD screens to watch the broadcast in 3D, with the polarised glasses resembling the kitsch shades worn by the Blues Brothers.Abbey Road Studios engineers Chris Bolster, Andrew Kitchen, Roxy Pope, Patrick Philips and I were on hand to make sure the session went smoothly � and of course sound great.   The Keane Live 3D broadcast was a mainly used as a testing ground for Sky�s new system but also for future advertising campaigns. Sky will be venturing into many different areas with this technology so 3D is looking like the future for us all. That is for people who like wearing polarised Blues Brothers style shades, like Sam Okell of Abbey Road Studios.Kris Burton

Hits Blog

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Since before Xmas, I've been flavour of the month up here in Mastering Room 5, working on some interesting & successful projects.In February I achieved a first in three years of being at Abbey Road, having mastered a No.1 double with Lily Allen, for the album "It's Not Me It's You" and single �The Fear� (I have managed the same feat before with The Spice Girls, but that was before joining Abbey Road).The Glasvegas Xmas EP �A Snowflake Fell (And It Felt Like A Kiss)�, which I mastered at the end of 2008, charted in January.Also in the top five was Alesha Dixon�s "Breathe Slow"."Paper Planes" from XL's MIA remained in the Top 40 for a long time after appearing on the soundtrack to Slumdog Millionaire.Interesting new albums from Patrick Wolf and William Orbit, and a new Warchild compilation album, to name but a few, have also kept us on our toes through the winter.All the hits & more, from the second floor! 

Chris Blair

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Former Abbey Road mastering engineer Chris Blair received a well-deserved posthumous Special Recognition award at the inaugural Music Producers Guild Awards recently. Before his death in 2005, Chris had an illustrious 35-year career at Abbey Road, working with everyone from Queen and Pink Floyd to Oasis and Radiohead, and was much loved by everyone at the studios. At the awards on 12th February, his wife Catherine and son Ollie collected the award, a gold plated microphone, from Abbey Road alumnus Ken Townsend. Another Abbey Road alumnus, Haydn Bendall, wrote a lovely piece about Chris for the awards, which we thought was well worth repeating here:�The MPG Special Recognition Award is an occasional award and is given to a special person who has contributed much to the music industry but could not be nominated in any of the other award categories. This inaugural year of the awards it could not be conferred on a more deserving person who not only gave much in his work as a mastering engineer at Abbey Road but who also contributed much joy to the lives of his colleagues. My first meeting with Chris was on the steps of Abbey Road Studios.I was a brand new employee at the studio and felt rather overawed and nervous. Chris said to me, �I�d like to buy you a nice big gin and tonic at The Alma.� I was so grateful, not only for the drink but for the warmth of his offered friendship and welcome.We went on to have a huge amount of fun over the years and I always had and still have a great fondness for the man. Of course we all know that his work was outstanding but the man was even more so.�

�Throw those curtains wide. One day like this a year�d see me right�

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If someone had asked me, �Sam, which album of 2008 would you most like to hear performed with an orchestra, live in Abbey Road Studio One?� I would definitely have said The Seldom Seen Kid by Elbow. Luckily someone from the BBC had the same idea, so on January 16th Elbow and The BBC Concert Orchestra came together at Abbey Road to rehearse and perform an orchestral version of their Mercury Prize-winning album The Seldom Seen Kid. For some people, the idea of combining a band and orchestra brings to mind the over-blown bombastic experiments of 70s rock groups. But few could accuse Elbow of bombast. From the huge blocks of sound that punctuate the emotive lyrics of 'Starlings', through the muted trumpet of Gershwin�s 'Summertime' that close 'Bones Of You', to the rolling anthemic chorus that builds through 'One Day Like This', Elbow are a band that draw upon a subtle and varied palette of sounds, and the orchestral arrangements of Nick Ingman only served to augment that palette.During the first rehearsal it was obvious from the grins on the faces of the band how much they were enjoying themselves.Speaking to the The Music Week programme on 6 Music after the show, frontman Guy Garvey said:�If you�d given me an acoustic guitar and asked me to bash out an Elbow tune I would have been very proud, but to have such an amazing orchestra and a choir backing you on your songs: it was all the band could do not to blub all the way through. "It was just the most amazing thing that�s ever happened. I think I said that about the Mercury so it�s the other most amazing thing that�s ever happened to us.�The live show was recorded in front of a small invited audience and will be broadcast on BBC Radio 2 on Saturday 31st January. It�ll also be broadcast via the Red Button on BBC television from 10pm that day and will available to watch all week. A CD & DVD will be available exclusively from www.elbow.co.uk in early March.

Tools of the Trade

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A poor workman always blames his tools.  Nonetheless, a dull saw will make a ragged edge for even the most skilled craftsman.  Good tools count.  For musicians their tool is their instrument and the best musicians keep their instruments in top shape.One of the first pit stops along my musical road was to work during the late 1960s & early 70s for Levitt & Elrod, a musical instrument sales and repair shop on NYC's Upper West Side.  Sad, perhaps, but my idea of fun as a 13 year old was hanging around L&E looking at music folios and guitars for hours on end - almost every day.  I'm not sure of his motives (perhaps it was just to get me the hell out of the store) but one day Syd Elrod, who handled selling out front, offered me fifty cents to deliver a French horn to the public school down the block - which I did.  Shortly thereafter I had a regular job working after school and on Saturdays.  It started with sweeping, deliveries and other mundane tasks, but it wasn't long before I was entrusted with selling accessories - and soon instruments as well.Syd was the ebullient, friendly outward face of L&E, selling and renting instruments.  But hidden in the back was Al Levitt, the repairman, a musical surgeon who never emerged unless a repair job was so serious that only a personal consultation with the frantic musician would suffice.  Al was very highly respected, and was relied upon by many of the top jazz and orchestra players in NYC including Michael Kamen, Julius Baker and Lee Konitz among many others. He specialised in wind and reeds but, really, he could repair anything (except electric guitars and amplifiers. Hah!  A niche for me perhaps?).  At any one time there would be literally dozens of instruments - from flutes and saxophones to tubas and double bases - lying in bits in the midst of valve replacement or some other surgery. It was from Al that I learned about the guts of musical instruments and what was involved with keeping them aliveAl was a thin, angular, sharp faced man who wore, along with fearsomely distorting horn rimmed spectacles, a magnifier head visor which he kept perpetually perched on his brow, sliding it down over his glasses to inspect the patient.   Al's workshop, in the back of the store, seemed to always be pitch dark except for a Bunsen burner and variety of small but very bright lights branching like tentacles from his workbench. His workbench - a huge, long thick slab of wood like a mediaeval castle door - was completely customised by Al to suit his own needs,  festooned with all manner of shelves, storage drawers, trays, clips, loops, hooks and holders to hold parts and tools.  Every tool had an official place and was positioned so that it could be reached without him having to budge an inch from his chair. Wind and reed instruments - such as flutes and saxophones - employ pads which are raised and lowered by keys.  The enemies of wind and reed instruments are sticky keys and pads that leak air - no matter how tiny the leak.  Al found air leaks not by blowing, but with light.  Attaching a light-bulb to the end of a long, stiff but flexible wire, he could snake the light through the instrument, press the pad down and expose even the most infinitesimal leakage as the peep of light would show through - sort of an alto sax colonoscopy.  With his vast array of pivot screwdrivers, needle-nose pliers and other tools Al could bring practically any instrument back to life.And woe betide you if you tried to touch or looked like you were even thinking of touching his tools.  And don't dare ask to borrow Al's tools.  "DON'T TOUCH MY TOOLS!!"  Righteous anger - and no joke.  "My tools are my bread and butter."  Bread and butter.  Indeed.  I came to understand how tools - which include musical instruments, hammers, fountain pens and bicycles - when used by a serious artisan, mould and adapt to their user's unique technique and feel. The pressure and balance are just so.  And, if used by someone else - even a skilled user (let alone a clumsy dolt) - these delicate nuances can be compromised.  Or the tool might get damaged.  Or lost.  They will be sorry - but you will be sorrier.  Hence, I would not be insulted if someone wouldn't let me "try his guitar" - and similarly I hope he won't be insulted if I don't let him "try mine".  You may imagine my pride then when, some years later - when I had begun repairing electric guitars for L&E - and I really needed to borrow a tool of his, that Al trusted me enough to lend it to me.  The look in his eye made the weight of my responsibility crystal clear and you may be sure it was returned in immaculate condition immediately upon my finishing with it. It was a bit of an event when a repaired or overhauled instrument was returned to its owner - particularly when that owner was someone famous.  The really big stars were invited back to Al's workshop, but other times Al would emerge from the gloom of his catacomb with the newly restored instrument gleaming in his hands to personally present it to its owner.  He would explain in detail the intricate work that had been done and if he had run into unexpected difficulties he would relate, as if a tale of adventure, the daring do required to rescue their instrument from the shadow of death. The honest gratitude on the owner's face was inevitably quite humbling.  Al would then quickly double check the instrument by playing a flurry of scales - lest the repair had mysteriously vanished while waiting in the case - and then would hand it over to the grateful musician who would road test it for themselves by treating us to an impromptu performance right there in the shop. My impression then and my memory now of Al was this gnarled old man in his workshop, hunched in the dark over an open flame, peering through those bizarre head visors, surrounded by his tools, soldering a joint or delicately adjusting a screw to rescue another musical instrument.  It certainly had something gothic about it, like Dr Frankenstein's lab. Al was fierce and sometimes I felt like Igor or Mickey Mouse.  However, I was not an apprentice and Al never gave me any lessons. But just by observing him I learned not only how to build a workbench and many techniques for fixing instruments, but the workman's ethic.  I now realise that many of the qualities that I admire and aspire to, I learned from Al: his approach to problem solving, his diligence and patience, his intense dedication to quality, the consistent quality of his work, his integrity and honesty (he never gouged anyone - his prices were always fair).   I can't say that I am always successful in achieving all of these qualities but I can't think of a better role model for a young boy regarding what it takes to be a good workman than Al Levitt.Since those days at Levitt & Elrod I have had a few workbenches of my own, both personally and professionally.  Guess what?  I built them exactly the same way Al did.  I now have a magnifying head visor of my own - Russian, purchased for �5 in Brighton no less - which I use to repair B's jewellery (a never ending career).  These days I no longer work professionally with screwdrivers and needle-nose pliers, but with a keyboard and a mouse.  But my office is dark, and everything I need is within easy reach. My colleagues sometimes comment on the cave like quality of my office - "Wayne, it's so dark in here".  Well - now you know.  It may look like just an office desk with a computer to you, but to me, this is my workbench - Al Levitt style.Blog by Wayne Shevlin19 December 2008

TICK TOCK, DING DONG, SCRATCH!

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What is music?For some people it is a Beatles track, for others it�s a Beethoven Symphony.  But what about electronic music, where sounds are recorded to tape and the performance of a piece consists of playing back that tape, perhaps alongside some live instrumental elements, and where the pre-recorded sounds include ticking clocks, church bells and insects?I have just been to the launch of a new audio-only DVD called �Recovery � Discovery�, promoted by the British Council�s Sound and Music department.  The disc features a cross-section of British electronic compositions from the last 40 years and I had the pleasure of remastering the recordings back in April.  Even for someone who is familiar with a very wide range of different musical styles, it was an extraordinary revelation for me to hear these strange pieces of music.  They are either entirely pre-recorded, or are a mixture of tape and live performance and what makes this DVD unique is that all four works are reproduced in their original surround sound formats for the first time.  Like most new experiences, it took me a while to appreciate what I was hearing, but once I understood how they had been composed I was able to enjoy them on different levels.  Firstly, as a musical experience, albeit a type of music alien to most people, and secondly, as brilliant technical achievements.The earliest piece on the disc is Chronometer (1971), Sir Harrison Birtwistle�s only purely electronic composition.  Conceived as a quadraphonic piece at a time when more than two-channel stereo was considered very experimental, it has been hailed as among the most important works to have been produced in a British electronic studio.  Created in collaboration with Peter Zinovieff at Peter�s EMS studio in London, Chronometer made use of the EMS equipment as the world�s first digital music sampler.  The computers were absolutely miniscule by today�s standards � 12KB of memory between the two of them, backed up by a hard drive of 32KB.  They were used to control the world�s first digital studio and the piece�s creation must be one of the most complex electronic music endeavours of all time.  Transferring the original �-inch analogue 4-track tape was made difficult because we did not know the correct speed to play it at.  As it turned out, we guessed wrong, but were able to correct this after the composer had heard our first attempt!The title of the piece gives a clue as to its contents � Chronometer consists of a sampled electronic orchestra of percussive and ostinato samples constructed from recordings of Big Ben and the Wells clock at the Science Museum.  Often hypnotic in its effect, the soundworld is both primitive and modern, for you can hear how musicians since the 1970s have taken this way of composing and transformed it into today�s sample-rich musical landscape.Jonathan Harvey�s purely electroacoustic piece, Mortuos plango, vivos voco (I lament the dead, I call the living to prayer), was made at the Paris IRCAM studios in 1980.  It was inspired by the sounds of the choir and the bells in Winchester Cathedral, where Harvey�s son sang in the choir: it is entirely based on the boy�s voice and that of the largest bell.  The title comes from an inscription on this huge black bell.  The bell counts time: it is itself a �dead� sound, for all its richness of sonority: the boy represents the living element.  The bell surrounds the audience; they are, as it were, inside it: the boy �flies� around like a free spirit.  The sounds were recorded and taken to IRCAM in Paris where they were manipulated by computer and cross-bred with synthetic simulations of the same sounds.  The extraordinary result is captivating to listen to.  Because the digital samples could be transformed to an amazing degree, Harvey was able to morph seamlessly from a vowel sung by the boy to the complex bell spectrum consisting of many partials.  His description of the boy flying around like a free spirit is born out on listening to the finished piece: being a quadraphonic creation, the boy�s voice comes at you from all sides.  The bell sounds are myriad and lend a truly magical element to the whole work.  So simple in its idea, yet hugely complicated in its construction, the result is just a beautiful piece of music.So, if you�re still reading, what about those insects I mentioned at the start?  With the increasing power of computers in the last decade, it has become possible to mix both live and prefab acoustic and electronic sounds freely, intuitively and in real time.  Mixing electronic sound creation and live sound processing has become a natural progression for today�s contemporary artists and composers.  Mira Calix�s piece, Nunu, uses the sounds of the London Sinfonietta players and live insects to create a delicate yet refreshing live+electronics surround soundscape that has received worldwide public acclaim since its 2003 premiere.  The insects included moths beating their wings and crickets rubbing their legs.  Despite one imagining swarms of insects flying around a concert hall, the animals were always kept in a miked-up glass box and filmed by video artists, with giant projections on a vast screen: Mira Calix describes people cowering in their seats at the sight of a 15ft locust on the screen and admits it hadn�t occurred to her that they would give some people the creeps!Javier Alvarez�s Temazcal makes up the disc.  A live+electronics work including live maracas, the piece was written in 1984 while Alvarex was still a student at the Royal College of Music.  Born in Mexico, his basic premise was to pit a primeval instrument (the maracas) against a complex electroacoustic soundscape.  It all ends with a beautiful old record of a traditional Mexican folk tune played on a harp, which seems to drift into the soundscape from nowhere, underneath the ever-present maracas.  It is one of those pieces that makes you smile, because you just cannot anticipate the introduction of this quiet, happy folk tune after the preceding music.  The piece has become part of the solo percussion repertoire and has been performed hundreds of times around the world.People�s definitions of music are often too narrow and fail to include works like these, simply because of ignorance.  This sort of music will never appeal to the majority, but who is to say that it is not just as valid as any other?Simon GibsonNovember 2008

The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus - mixing in 1.0

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Terrific fun on Tuesday night recording the final music for Terry Gilliam's new film. We needed to recreate the sound of Paul Whiteman's 1920's dance band comprising of violin, banjo, 3 saxes, 2 trumpets, 1 bone, piano, drums and, of course, a sousaphone. Nick Ingman had arranged the charts, briefing everyone on the style of playing and the mouthpieces they should bring. To get a good mono baIance I placed everyone around a single ribbon microphone (an AEA R44C) - and obviously if someone was too loud they had to be moved - the violinist ended up standing very close to the mic. Simon Gibson supplied me with authentic 78 surface noise and the rest of the hiss and colour came by sending the signal through a half-inch analogue machine with the signal-noise ratio tweaked in favour of the noise. With plenty of additional EQ and compression the results were charming and fabulously played. Amazing how much technology was employed to go back in time - more mono I say...elegant and true......really looking forward to seeing the film...

It's never been easier to get the music to us at Abbey Road

2009-11-11T10:00:38+00:00

Clients from overseas have always featured during my mastering career, but not as much as right now. I've worked on projects from every member of the European Union and, more recently, Iran, Turkey and South Africa.Since the birth of the internet & the ftp site, it's never been easier to get the music to us at Abbey Road. A client can simply send the tracks to me, and I send the mastered versions back. Sometimes they have a CD-R returned by courier or, if time is an issue, mastered wav files are sent to an ftp site. If the clients do want to pay for flights & hotel rooms, which is often the case, they book the day out and come and have a look over my shoulder.Once we have built up a rapport, they have no hesitation in sending files if unable to attend the next visit. London has always been a great city to visit, so the clients often combine a weekend in town with some mastering included.A recent project from the Lebanese artist Eileen Khatchadourian was mastered on a Friday, approved Saturday and production parts collected Sunday. Her producer/engineer attended the session and wrote to us with these kind words:"SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HAPPY. The ears here are so pleased listening to �Midan� over and over. I came home safe as you notice, and my 4-day experience I must say was invaluable! Thank you for having us! Salam (peace in Lebanese)"

In The City 2008

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A few weeks ago I headed up to Manchester for the annual �festival� InThe City. I�ve been up before but I was yet to attend the daytime sideof the festival.Forthe uninitiated In the City was the brainchild of the legendry TonyWilson - the chap behind Factory records who released Joy Division, NewOrder, Happy Mondays and more whilst building the Hacienda, Britainsfirst �superclub� of sorts. A few years back Steve Coogan played outhis life in the film 24 hour party people. The idea of the festival is to bring the UK music industry away from London for a few days. Byday the music industry gathers in conference rooms in a hotel inManchester and by night bands, in the knowledge that the music industryhas decamped to Manchester for the weekend, play anywhere they can inthe hope A and R will stumble into their venue. 50 bands are alsochosen by a panel to play as part of the official �unsigned� bill. Ofthe lectures/conferences/panels I attended they were all good andcovered many different topics. In what we all know is not a good timefor record labels I guess these days the conference has a more heatedand some might say anxious aspect to them.The digitalconference was separated into 3 parts. Covering the high, middling andlow end of purchasing music digitally. I opted to go the conclusivefinal debate.The panel seemed to be made up of the future bigplayers in the sale of music digitally. Nokia, Vodaphone and myspaceall seem set to play a massive part in the future of music salesdigitally. A couple of ex EMI staff were also on the panel also. Sadlythe quality of music being sold to mobile phones never seemed to bebrought up as a topic and it was more a case of how are we going to getpeople to purchase music digitally in the future.Companies likeVodaphone were behind their �Al A Carte� idea. Basically the idea ofsubscription monthly and then choosing the music you want. Itseems phone companies are in a strong position as they have access to amassive customer base. It will be possible for them to advertise andsell music straight to their customers. They have a massivehead start into untapped territories, for many labels, like China wherethe country�s population is already in ownership of mobile phones fromthese big companies. It�s going to mean a sad loss in the qualityof music as smaller files with poor quality audio will replace CDquality digital files. In the attempt to survive and appeal tothe younger download consumers there may not be a choice for anindustry still with serious problems. I think it�s tragic that we�reall trying to get involved with creating high quality great soundingmusic but alas the main point to take is that the next generation ofconsumer may not necessarily care and opt for the most convenient.Ona slightly lighter if not just as serious note I went to Jarvis Cockerslecture on the art of lyric writing. With lecturing baton in hand, hewas at times hilarious. It also had serious undertones and was mostlyaided by archive footage of his lyrical heroes and kept the heavingroom laughing throughout. From his Karaoke rendition of Des�ree�Life� for which he derided her as falling into the trap of being a�rhyme whore� to getting smitten over the good state of lyrics today itwas fun and insightful. Andrew Loog Oldham (manager of RollingStones) was the host for the weekend taking the healm from ITC creatorand sadly deceased Tony Wilson. The managers� forum was very heated attimes taking swipes at lawyers and discussing how the role has got busyfor management and how the financial income now requires more intiativefrom management in trying to earn from merchandise and most importantlytouring. By night my favourite band by a long shot was �FenechSoler�. Epic and live dance music. I also saw Josh Weller and Molotovswho were both really impressive. I did see some other tame bands but noneed to list them.From all the forums it seems that the musicindustry is healthier than ever for musical output but the source ofincome for the industry is changing.

ESCA Conference 2008, Prague

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I�ve just returned from a busy, but very productive, 2 days at the 4th annual Entertainment Supply Chain Academy or ESCA. The event, held in Prague, brought together the great and the good from major Hollywood studios, Indies and record companies. Yours truly was participating in a panel debate about getting products into the digital supply chain, something Abbey Road has been doing for several years. This is an area that is now beginning to emerge as the future for film and broadcast content delivery.A few things struck me as significant as the discussion went around the room. The first is the ongoing debate between the various parties involved about �digital rights management� or DRM. It is pretty clear that at the moment there are many different strategies in play resulting in content being compatible on some players but not on others.  All of which makes it very confusing for the most important party involved - the consumer. History tells us that a product sold without DRM is less confusing (just look at digital music trends in the last few years) - and less confusion for the consumer generally leads to more sales!Blu-ray was of course among the other topics of conversation, with most of the big studios admitting the format is nowhere near as successful as DVD, yet. However Blu-ray is expected to make a big impact and become one of the key growth drivers for the Home Entertainment industry over the next few years.The end of the conference was rounded off with a historic tram tour around the city. The schnapps and music were freeflowing, almost as much as the conversation between delegates - the perfect way to meet some new friendly faces in the industry!