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ivan@stellysee.de
| From | Al Quaglieri <al@alcue.com> |
| Subject | EQing Motown |
| Date | Thu, 19 Aug 2004 11:33:07 -0400 |
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>Yeah "Jimmy Mack" is a H-D-H production, but its never been issued in true
>stereo before - and I now know know why. This multi-track version is lacking
>extra handlaps and other little overdubs that proably were added onto a mono
>mixdown. Theres a alternate stereo mix that is an earler, slower, inferior
>take that has popped up on many compilations.
Back in 96 when I was still doing some Motown compilations, I went nuts
looking for stereo "Jimmy Mack," of which there probably exist half a dozen
markedly different versions/mixes, none of them correct. I do believe,
though, that Harry Weinger either found or created a true stereo version on
one of his more recent compilations, you should check.
As for EQ'ing Motown, it's doubly tough because their engineer manufactured
outboard EQ's specifically for their studio(s). You can glimpse a front
panel template at:
http://www.transeuropa.it/html_pages/Templates/pages/Motown_eq.html
Note there were no "Q" (bandwidth) settings, I imagine Q was likely around
2 or 3 may, quite broad, and when you use such an EQ a lot of what comes
out depends on interaction between individual bands rather than pinpoint
tweaks.
A handful of these Motown EQ's have survived and are now in the hands of
studios and mix engineers.
I have a good example of just how important this EQ was to the Motown
"sound": I had dug out the 3-track multi for Jr. Walker's "Shotgun." On it,
Jr. kept on blowing for about 30 seconds past the familiar fade. I wanted
to make a "long" version to use, so I brought it into a mix room at Sony
Studios. Three tracks, the mix itself came together quickly, but we spent
all afternoon plugging in every outboard box known to modern man trying to
duplicate the EQ and compression from the original stereo mix, and finally
gave up.
They also did something interesting that became part of the signature
Motown sound. The vocal- and overdub-less snake pit instrumental workouts
were done to 8 tracks, then submixed to 2 or 3 tracks, leaving 1 or 2 open
tracks for vocals. While the 8-tracks sounded fantastic, the 3- 4-tracks
were crunchy and pleasantly distorted. Inevitably, the drum track was
squashed and pushed into the red on the bouncedown. I dare anyone to try
that nowadays!
Al Q.
NY
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