Steve - breakfast bidness... The "sound" of Gold Star Studios

[indy mike]

Woof, I need a breakfast fix! Oatmeal - with or without raisins, did Hal Blaine give Larry Levine noogies for not sharing his bagel with a schmear, maybe Phil Spector dropped in and announced he'd like to start a new partnership with S&P Records and have you remaster his catalog??? - and no, I'm not hungry for food - we just ate supper a little bit ago - just wanting to be a little nosy! :cool:

[Steve Hoffman]

I shared one of Fred Darian's pancakes this morning and a piece of bacon, plus a piece of Michael Levine's french toast, not to mention my oatmeal.

Sigh. I was bad.

Stan Ross told me that when he engineered Sonny & Cher's "I Got You Babe" (in the middle of the night), the music was all live in one take, and they overdubbed the vocal in two takes, right on the three-track tape, no bouncing. If you've ever heard a proper stereo mix of that song, man it sounds great. Lyle Ritz's low F on the bass just makes that song for me.

The rest of the conversation was mainly about old movies, old music, old girlfriends and old jokes (mainly told by Hal Blaine). In other words, we had fun today!

[Michael]

Originally posted by Steve Hoffman
I shared one of Fred Darian's pancakes this morning and a piece of bacon, plus a piece of Michael Levine's french toast, not to mention my oatmeal.

Sigh. I was bad.

Stan Ross told me that when he engineered Sonny & Cher's "I Got You Babe" (in the middle of the night), the music was all live in one take, and they overdubbed the vocal in two takes, right on the three-track tape, no bouncing. If you've ever heard a proper stereo mix of that song, man it sounds great. Lyle Ritz's low F on the bass just makes that song for me.

The rest of the conversation was mainly about old movies, old music, old girlfriends and old jokes (mainly told by Hal Blaine). In other words, we had fun today!

Steve,
Any suggestions on where to obtain a Proper Stereo Mix of "I Got You Babe" On CD? Just love that song!
I have it on a a few compilations and I'm not really happy with them.

[Steve Hoffman]

No, Michael.

I'm afraid there isn't one.

The "Buster" soundtrack has a very tinny sounding stereo version. The Rhino stuff is all mono, right?

Anyone else know of a correctly mastered "I Got You Babe"?

[BradOlson]

There is a stereo mix on the ERIC Hard To Find 45's on CD Vol. 5 compilation. www.ericrecords.com has the info on their comps.

[Pat]

Originally posted by Steve Hoffman
No, Michael.

I'm afraid there isn't one.

The "Buster" soundtrack has a very tinny sounding stereo version. The Rhino stuff is all mono, right?

Anyone else know of a correctly mastered "I Got You Babe"?


Steve,

I like the STEREO version on Rock'N Roll Relix 1964-1965 (Polygram 64869-2). I think this whole series is very nice (for the most part). Hal Blaine really does a great assault on the drums!

Question: Baby Don't Go; will it ever see the STEREO "light of day"???? Are the multi track tapes lost & is there a stereo master?

[Steve Hoffman]

"Baby Don't Go"? No stereo master. That was a Gold Star $15.00 an hour "quickie". Mono to mono machine.

Sorry!

[John Oteri]

Did they charge more to use the three-track machine then?

And what did Phil Spector like about Gold Star Studio so much? He could have used any of the great L.A. studios of the time.

[Joel Cairo]

Sorry to bust in on this conversation.... :D

I feel sorry for you guys trying to eat while Hal Blaine was telling jokes-- there's a moment preserved on one of the Beach Boys boots where he tells a dead baby joke (very much in vogue at the time, I assure you) during a session that even **I** winced at, and I was listening to it 30 years later!!

But it was a good one, I have to admit....

-Kevin

BTW-- I **should** know this, I guess, but did someone say that Hal played the drums on Chris Montez's "Let's Dance"? I have to say whoever did was sure smackin' a good beat!!

[John Oteri]

No, not Hal on "Let's Dance". That was Jesse someone. Jesse Sailes?

It says on the DCC Chris Montez "Let's Dance" CD booklet, but I don't have it handy.

[Steve Hoffman]

Originally posted by John Oteri
Did they charge more to use the three-track machine then?

And what did Phil Spector like about Gold Star Studio so much? He could have used any of the great L.A. studios of the time.

No, Gold Star didn't charge more for the 3-track machine usage, but they only used the 3-track as a tool, not needed for the simple stuff. "Baby Don't Go" consists of the mono basic track, bounced to a two-track tape (long erased) with the vocals added, and then bounced back to the mono tape with the harmonica added. That's it!
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The reason Phil Spector liked to use Gold Star?

He got along with engineer Larry Levine very well. He also liked the "karma" at Gold Star, since it was mainly a demo studio, and not a high-power business, he felt more comfortable there. Cheap too!

The main thing is, Phil liked the SOUND of Gold Star. The echo chambers designed by Dave Gold, and the "double whammy" of twice the echo at one touch of a knob was amazing to him.

The best thing about the Gold Star Studio sound, is that there was no console EQ buttons to twiddle with. Larry and Phil got that sound by simply placing the microphones in the right spots, leaving them open, and "bingo". Either RCA Ribbon mics, or a few German mics were used on the orchestra, depending on what "tone" they wanted.

If you can ever find a photograph of the Gold Star recording console, you will see what I mean. The console at our college radio station had more controls on it. But the sound they got from their equipment has stood the test of time, eh?