The BEATLES "Can't Buy Me Love" drum overdub

I think Geoff Emerick's book has solved this mystery, although the story he tells isn't quite right in the details.

Emerick says that when the multi-track arrived from Paris and was played back at Abbey Road, they noticed a defect in the tape which damaged the high frequencies, requiring the hi-hat to be redone. With The Beatles busy "touring", it fell to Norman Smith to overdub hi-hat on "selected sections of the song" via a two-track to two-track copy, with Emerick engineering.

The only problem with this is that The Beatles did their own overdubs to the song February 25th, and would have been able to fix the drums then. So I think the defect was not something that happened in Paris, but during the March 10th mixing session, while The Beatles were busy filming at Twickenham.

Mark Lewisohn uncovered a document detailing a drum overdub on that day (Norman was paid a session fee!), and since the mono mix had already been done (the single was only a week away from release at that point), the overdub must only be on the stereo mix.

Listening to the released mixes seems to bear this out - in mono, the cymbals absolutely sizzle and shimmer, while in stereo, they are a bit flat. You can also hear cymbal in the center, despite the drums being mixed left, although that could just be leakage onto Paul's vocal mic.

- John

 

Details?

 

What part of it ain't so? It seems like an awfully specific (and pointless) memory for Geoff to have invented out of thin air. And there is that Musician's Union payment for a drummer on CBML which needs to be explained.

Just so I'm clear, I'm not suggesting Norman replaced the drum track altogether a la Bernard Purdie. It sounds like they had Norman add a bit of cymbal during a live 4-track to 2-track copy in order to create the stereo mix. So Ringo's original drumming is still there.

- John

 

It could be that it was unused, true, although I do hear that cymbal popping up in the middle between lines of Paul's vocal (so does Joseph Brennan, see http://www.columbia.edu/~brennan/beatles/var-1964.html).

But Geoff's story just might explain why it sounds worse on the stereo. The "good" drum track was there when they did the mono mix, and got damaged before they got around to doing the stereo mix.

- John

 

While what Steve is saying sounds true, my ears do detect a slight difference in the drum tracks between the mono and stereo version. The mono version has a more "bashy" sound in the hi hat, and the stereo sounds more "swingy"(sorry, the only way I could describe it).


Who knows?

Evan

 

I did listen to both before posting. The drumming on the rhythm track (mixed left in stereo) has way more high frequencies in mono than stereo, which matches up with Geoff's story.

In stereo, I can hear some extra drumming mixed center - listen especially after Paul sings "say you'll love me too" and "what I got I'll give to you".

- John

 

Interesting. FWIW according to Nick Mason Norman Smith drums on Remember a Day!

 

I haven't listened for this, but I'm wondering how the two parts wouldn't just flam together and sound terrible. And if it was flown in, even more so. It's hard enough to double-track a drum part.


Dan

 

That could be, I guess. I just compared the two stereo remixes of "Can't Buy Me Love" from the 90's (Ron Furmanek's for Making of AHDN, and the Anthology DVD). Unfortunately, both are incomplete and buried under dialogue somewhat, but they seem to be somewhere in-between: not as much cymbal as the mono mix, but more than the original stereo mix.

It sounds like if there is damage to the multitrack, it's only on the early part of the song, as the cymbals get louder after the first minute or so (whereas they stay loud through the mono mix right from the first verse).

- John

 

I agree with Steve. I just listened to take 2 in STEREO off of the Ultra Rare Track cds.
I listened to the high hat and acoustic guitar and then listened to the version on the UK
Apple Hey Jude album. That has the cleanest version I've heard. I can hear the high hat
pumping up and down slightly in level. Thats what you would get with the Altec compressor.

 

I noticed many years ago that on the stereo mix of "Can't Buy Me Love" (on UK vinyl version of A Hard Day's Night and the UK and US vinyl versions of The Beatles/1962-1966) the hi-hat cuts out briefly on the line "I'll buy you a diamond ring my friend." By contrast, the hi-hat remains steady on the mono mix. What's the story behind that?

Paul

 

I'm listening to the stereo from the Red Album CD. I think, specifically, that could be Ringo's cymbals bleeding from the vocal track. Since the vocals are mixed center and super- compressed, when Paul stops singing the cymbals on that track get yanked up in the mix.

Same kind of thing happens on the stereo "Please Please Me." The instruments seem to pan from the instrument channel toward the vocal channel when people stop singing....It's the limiter sucking the instruments up off the vocal mics.

 

Can I just say that this discussion thread alone is why the SH Forum is the BEST?!?! I'll stop gushing now.

 

A long time back I postulated that the March 10th stereo mix of "Cant Buy Me Love"
was released in Germany on THE BEATLES BEAT album in May of 64 (a month before it
was remixed for stereo again).

Only problem with that postulate was I believe it was proven that the stereo
version of THE BEATLES BEAT album came out a few years AFTER the mono release.
So my initial assumption (a stereo record pre-dates June 64) was invalid.

Checking Lewisohn - his notes indicate that the 3/10/64 session was "experimental"
and "never used"... given the new information in Emericks book - it sounds
like the note reported by Lewisohn probably corresponds to a failed attempt
to "double track" the cymbals...

I believe whoever said that cymbals can't be double tracked is correct.

But that doesn't mean Emerick didn't try

 

I've tried overdubbing cymbals in home studio on a few occasions..not exactly "double tracking", but close. Basically trying to bolster poorly recorded cymbals on the first pass. Sometimes the results were okay, but usually just turned into a wash of sound. I thought it was cool though!

 

I'm pretty sure it was I. What I meant was: it is difficult to double-track drums with the same feel and ebb and flow of a live in-studio performance....and for another drummer to do the overdub, it would be even more precarious. To add a cymbal hit or crash is easy; to re-do a Ringo hi-hat part? I would think it impossible.


Dan

 

Yeah, I was probably trying too hard to hear another hi-hat in stereo, and will gladly concede the overdub was never used. And according to John Barrett's notes, the stereo mix done March 10th was scrapped in March 1966, so I guess we'll never get to hear Norman's drumming.

Geoff seems to think it was used, though. The book says, "Thanks to Norman's considerable skills as a drummer, the repair was made quickly and seamlessly, and I doubt if even the Beatles themselves ever realized that their performance had been surreptitiously augmented. Certainly it didn't affect the popularity of the record, which shot straight to the top of the charts..."

- John

 

I was going to mention this. The compressor is working overtime on 'Can't Buy Me Love' and it's always bothered me a bit.

 

I thought the drum overdub was the floor tom bashing heard during the end of the song??? Ron