Get This Free Cheat Sheet Guaranteed To Help Your Next Mix

Monday, April 23, 2012

The Making Of "Bohemian Rhapsody"

Here's a great video where Queen guitarist Brian May takes us through the making of the bands seminal "Bohemian Rhapsody." It's really interesting to hear it all built up, especially the basic track with only Freddie Mercury's piano, John Deacon's bass and Roger Taylor's drums, which wasn't to a click but sounds incredibly in time. They're completely locked in together.

One of the interesting bits that came from this video is the way engineer/producer Roy Thomas Baker recorded the bass, using 3 tracks; direct from the bass, direct from the amp, and the miked amp, then playing with the phase switches on the desk to get the right sound.

One of the things that I talk about in The Music Producer's Handbook and The Ultimate Guitar Tone Handbook is about layering different guitar sounds using different guitars, pickup settings and amplifiers. Brian explains how he does just that in the song.

Then listen to how they stacked the vocals, with Freddie, Brian and Roger singing each line then tripling it. Finally, listen to the overdubbed percussion that everyone seems to miss when listening to the song, then how they miked the drum kit.




----------------------------------

You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Don't forget to check out my Music 3.0 blog for tips and tricks on navigating social media and the new music business.

1 comment:

Rand Bliss said...

Again, many thanks Bobby for sharing this. Love Queen more than I can say.

Apart from the remaining members, there isn't a band alive today that contains that elusive combination of high creativity married to musical skill and style.

Absolute magic! Long live Queen!

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...