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"musician uses GarageBand for songwriting (or even full production Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band (The Beatles' masterpiece, one of the most highly-r

"musician uses GarageBand for songwriting (or even full production Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band (The Beatles' masterpiece, one of the most highly-regarded and influential albums of all time) was recorded on an analog 4-track.

jkaptur 3y ago
At the time it was recorded, that was cutting edge tech, wasn't it?
- jauntywundrkind 3y ago
  >2 track recording is still a rare & deluxe feature in most consumer gear! Even in professional gear, it's usually a ridiculous jump in price - often double - to much fancier hardware to get more channels. It makes sense as few people do need it, but I do wish there were more assorted consumer electronics that would throw in more channel recording just because. Rather than as an upsell to way more expensive gear.
- jcrawfordor 3y ago
  Yes, in that everything was being recorded on analog tape in that era because it was the best quality recording format available. The album is a little unusual in that by 1967 tape recorders with larger channel counts were becoming more common, allowing separate recording of most of the original channels. But linear editing of audio was very difficult, recording engineers still did the mix as live, so there were recording studios that hadn't seen a reason to make the upgrade or were attached to older equipment that they were very familiar with. Especially with analog equipment prominent recording engineers were often averse to new equipment since they would learn how to get the best results out of their particulat setup - and things like frequency response could vary noticeably from one model to another.
ksherlock 3y ago
... and no amount of money or technology can make "Now and Then" a good song.
20after4 3y ago
An extremely high quality analog 4 track. Not to be confused with (not even in the same universe as) the cheap 1980s or 90s tascam 4-track cassette tape recorder that people are much more likely to have encountered.
- mixmastamyk 3y ago
  Not really if you compare it the 1969's Abbey road, which sounds quite a bit better. American productions were sounding much better though the mid to late 60s as well.
  - emchammer 3y ago
    Abbey Road sounds clearer because it was the first Beatles to be produced with a transistorized mixer. The mixer used in Sgt. Pepper had vacuum tubes.
    - mixmastamyk 3y ago
      It's less "tinny" sounding than the earlier albums. Interesting because tubes are the alleged choice for a warmer sound today. So there must be additional factors in the new equipment.
      - 20after4 3y ago
        By now solid state equipment can do everything tubes do, only better. I think only nostalgia and audiophile stupidity remain as reasons for tube equipment to continue existing. Certainly there is no reason to build new tube gear. Admittedly cheap solid state gear sounds worse than high quality tube gear but that has way more to do with good design and quality components than the tubes themselves.
- edmundsauto 3y ago
  Any idea how much the device cost at the time?

jkaptur 3y ago

At the time it was recorded, that was cutting edge tech, wasn't it?

jauntywundrkind 3y ago
>2 track recording is still a rare & deluxe feature in most consumer gear! Even in professional gear, it's usually a ridiculous jump in price - often double - to much fancier hardware to get more channels. It makes sense as few people do need it, but I do wish there were more assorted consumer electronics that would throw in more channel recording just because. Rather than as an upsell to way more expensive gear.
jcrawfordor 3y ago
Yes, in that everything was being recorded on analog tape in that era because it was the best quality recording format available. The album is a little unusual in that by 1967 tape recorders with larger channel counts were becoming more common, allowing separate recording of most of the original channels. But linear editing of audio was very difficult, recording engineers still did the mix as live, so there were recording studios that hadn't seen a reason to make the upgrade or were attached to older equipment that they were very familiar with. Especially with analog equipment prominent recording engineers were often averse to new equipment since they would learn how to get the best results out of their particulat setup - and things like frequency response could vary noticeably from one model to another.

ksherlock 3y ago

... and no amount of money or technology can make "Now and Then" a good song.

20after4 3y ago

An extremely high quality analog 4 track. Not to be confused with (not even in the same universe as) the cheap 1980s or 90s tascam 4-track cassette tape recorder that people are much more likely to have encountered.

mixmastamyk 3y ago
Not really if you compare it the 1969's Abbey road, which sounds quite a bit better. American productions were sounding much better though the mid to late 60s as well.
- emchammer 3y ago
  Abbey Road sounds clearer because it was the first Beatles to be produced with a transistorized mixer. The mixer used in Sgt. Pepper had vacuum tubes.
  - mixmastamyk 3y ago
    It's less "tinny" sounding than the earlier albums. Interesting because tubes are the alleged choice for a warmer sound today. So there must be additional factors in the new equipment.
    - 20after4 3y ago
      By now solid state equipment can do everything tubes do, only better. I think only nostalgia and audiophile stupidity remain as reasons for tube equipment to continue existing. Certainly there is no reason to build new tube gear. Admittedly cheap solid state gear sounds worse than high quality tube gear but that has way more to do with good design and quality components than the tubes themselves.
edmundsauto 3y ago
Any idea how much the device cost at the time?