"Killer Queen" Multitrack

[gearboy]

Has anyone on here heard or obtained this??? Let me tell you, it's a lot of fun to play with. I spent time seeking it out on Google and got my hands on it this afternoon. Spent this evening loading it into Digital Performer, isolating tracks, and mixing it up a bit. It's an adventure.

The Beatles 4-Track stuff is amazingly cool, but having an entire 24-Track mix to play with is something else. Really incredible the things that I've stumbled upon so far in 2008.

Not sure if posting a link to the thread on another board where I found it will be frowned upon, however, doing a Google for it with Killer Queen Multitrack will indeed give you results.

Jeff

[builder]

The "Pauls" played that for me at a mastering session along with Marvin Gaye's "Ain't No Mountain High Enough"

Truly unbelievable.

I am searching now

[gearboy]

I must have spent 6 or 7 hours playing and tweaking "Killer Queen" last night. Truly unbelievable.

The vocal performance is perfect are pristinely recorded, and playing the track a cappella with all of the harmonies involved is a lot of fun. The three piano tracks (tacked, upright 1 and upright 2) are all scary perfectly in time. The bass and drums sound great solo'd, too. Drums are just 5 tracks, kick, snare, tom 1, tom 2, and a mono "room" or overhead. Bass is direct and mic'd, with a separate track for the quick bass run in the middle of the song.

Guitars... Holy crap, Brian May has great tone. These tracks were the last stuff recorded as Brian was sick (as in very ill) at the time of the recording. His parts were written after the rest of the song was laid down. I'm still getting through the 6 tracks of guitar, but it seems that some of the parts were wither bounced to a single track to keep things in the 24-track framework, or that he is using a lot of delay and weaving lines. Or maybe a combination of the two.

Good stuff. Who else has heard this!?

Jeff

[gavspen]

doing a Google for it with Killer Queen Multitrack will indeed give you results.

Jeff

I'm not finding it,,,

Closest I got was some invalid thread at Gearslutz and a torrent site that wanted me to sign up for porn first. I'd do it if I though it was a sure thing

Wanna give us a clue?

Gavin

[Mr_Clifford]

Now I'm confused. I could have sworn that 'Sheer Heart Attack' & 'Night at the Opera' were recorded on 16 track.

Anyway, I'm off to find the link.

[Shooshie]

Haven't heard it, but I always thought the group was in a league of their own in terms of musicianship.

[stephentayler]

Now I'm confused. I could have sworn that 'Sheer Heart Attack' & 'Night at the Opera' were recorded on 16 track.

I was making tea for that mix session, and I am pretty sure that we still had only 16 track at Trident at that point..... but I can't be too sure when the 24 track machines came in... it is such a long time ago!!!:shock:

kind regards

Stephen

[monkey man]

Haven't heard it, but I always thought the group was in a league of their own in terms of musicianship.

... and creativity, at least where pop bands (of all genres) are concerned, IMHO.

Good call Shoosh.

[gearboy]

Trust me, the multitrack that I have is 24 individual tracks, some of which seem to have been comp'd down (guitars, vox), though this may just be May's delay thing on the guitars and live three part harmonies vox around one mic. Regardless, definitely 24 tracks.

Jeff

[stephentayler]

So it must have been around the time when a 24 track machine would have been brought in specially for those sessions. Trident had always been early adopters of new technology, having been the first London studio with 8-track, and then 16-track. I remember the 3M machines well, they were really unreliable. The heads used to wear down very unevenly because of the Isoloop design. Eventually when 24 track became the norm all the machines were replaced with Studers.

I wish I had witnessed the Queen mix sessions a bit more, but as a 'teaboy' I wasn't really allowed in the room unless I was bringing food or drinks! (although I did some mixing for Roy Thomas Baker many, many years later!!)

At the end of the day they used to throw away the tapes that had been used for delays or delaying the plates, I remember pulling some out of the trash to take home. Usually just odd bits of vocal.......

kind regards

Stephen

[gearboy]

Stephen, I imagine that you saw some amazing stuff over at Trident in the 1970s. Wasn't Trident the studio that the Beatles used for it's 8-track capabilities before Abbey Road had an 8-track? I recall a few Beatles sessions at Trident in 1969 mentioned in the Geoff Emerick book.

BTW, I had the opportunity to visit Bath, UK last March. Beautiful place. I'd love to spend more time out there.

Jeff

[stephentayler]

Yes some crazy stuff did go on at Trident in the 70's! I missed the crucial Beatles, Bowie and Elton John sessions by a couple of years, but caught another interesting wave of artists.....(many of whom not around any more.....)

I recently met a colleague from Trident (he went on to become the eventual owner) and we semi-seriously considered making a DVD interviewing many of the engineers and producers of the that era.... we shall see....

The area around Bath is amazing, and there is quite an artistic community round here, I am loving it.

Stephen

[Shooshie]

Could someone with more experience in the pop-recording industry explain to me how Queen (or anyone) created those tight 3-part (?) vocals, that sound like a single instrument, with some sort of edge to them? Are they hyper-compressed? What gear goes into making that happen? I've always been fascinated with that, and figured someday I'd figure it out, but not yet. Someone enlighten me, please!

Shooshie

[monkey man]

I'm no expert on this, Shoosh, but I do know that placing the singers as a trio around a mono mike, recording two passes and panning them well apart to taste produces a mighty, phase-coherent result.
It's an old-school technique, it would seem.

My guess is room excitement and impact are smudged and lost during multiple single-voiced passes, as well as a degree of mono compatibility, judging by how the results sound.
If I could sing three parts at once, I'd surely do it this way.

[Shooshie]

Well, I've been reading about Queen, Mercury, and the gang since I left that message, and I've learned that they overdubbed not just once or twice, but hundreds of times, to create that massive, tight vocal sound. Mercury was particularly adept at it, doing all the vocals in some of the songs, such as Love of My Life, in which his overdubs were astonishing, considering that he does not read music and had no musical training, utilizing complex chords laid down symphonically through his voice. Being able to hold a laser-like pitch is another factor, being able to overdub the same line precisely, making it fatter without losing the pitch. I suppose you could add chorus effects to that, and I'm not convinced that they didn't use choruses, but I don't know what was available then. But whatever the technology, sheer talent and ability, along with tenacity, surely was a huge part of those famous harmonies in much of Queen's work.

Shooshie