How do I get that Jeff Lynne sound?

It's the exact same thing but they put two channels in one box.

BTW, don't let anyone sway you on the reissues. They're very accurate to the originals and they sound like the originals but with more consistency from unit to unit. No more searching for a "good" one... they're all good.

 

Yeah, they make a whole line of plug-ins. They're actually some of the very best ones out there. If you can put up with their proprietary processor (which is slow and pointless) you can actually get the sound the real units on your recordings.

Take a look at them HERE. Quite an impressive list.

 

Ahhh! Actually, if I could get Jeff Lynne for $2799, I'd be pretty motivated to scrape the money up! I'm imagining Lynne taking out ads "Production Work - Now only $2799, Lynne-approved studio gear included!" Does it cost extra to add the timpani?

 

I know you're kidding, but jeez, I don't think Jeff Lynne would answer the phone for $2799. He's probably got $100 million in the bank, between record royalties, songwriting royalties, and publishing. And let's not forget selling ELO songs to commercials and movies over the past 15 years.

 

Wrong I'm afraid Balzzy.

Definitely some Lynne on FAAB solo backing vocal section.

T.

 

Jared,
You should listen to the album being discussed here:

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=97530&highlight=Alpacas+Orgling

--Dan

 

Yes I definitely hear Jeff there.

Evan

 

Do you have any interview source or other form of evidence of this? I'm certainly open to the possibility, but I've listened to the isolated 5.1 channels and the OOPS'ed stereo mix a gazillion times, both of which very clearly reveal those backing vocals, and while Jeff is able to sound enough like George (and even Paul) to be buried somewhere in there, my ears tell me that those harmonies are stacked Pauls and Georges. It's certainly Paul doing all of the high parts. I can pick out George in there as well.

The politics of the whole project, especially at the earlier stage when they first got together for "Free As A Bird" and McCartney was working with Lynne for the first time, were such that I'm not convinced Paul would have been comfortable having Jeff Lynne sing on it.

 

I know I've read a quote somewhere of George saying that Jeff did sing on it.
After listening to certain channels of the 5.1 mix isolated, I'm still not too sure what to think. Perhaps they had Jeff sing the part that John would've done (in the three-part harmony "ah"'s during the solo).

 

Yeah, I dunno. As I said, I'm open to the possibility. I too vaguely recall a direct or indirect quote/comment from George, but for some reason my recollection is a comment about Jeff singing or playing on "Real Love." For some reason I have this vague recollection of Jeff supposedly playing a bit of guitar at the very end of the song or something, almost like just having Jeff do some blip or bloop on the song just so he could say he's on a Beatles record, like George just talked Paul into letting Jeff do a little something on it. I could be totally misremembering this. If somebody can dig up a quote from George or anybody else about Jeff's contributions to either "Threetles" song, that would be interesting to read.

 

Okay, I actually did find a mention by Paul of having Jeff on "Free As A Bird", but it doesn't really indicate precisely or specificially what Jeff added or where it might be found on the song. From this website: http://reunionsessions.tripod.com/al/faabsessions/1994a.html

Paul: It came to the backing harmonies and George said to me ' Jeff is such a big Beatles fan, he'd love to get on this record, he'd just die! Even if he goes 'hey!' he can then say he was on it'. And I was a little bit reluctant. I'm a bit sort of precious, a bit private about who's in the Beatles and we didn't do too badly on that philosophy. Even when Billy Preston came in I was in two minds. The others were so definite that I went with their thinking, as I always did, because I knew they had right-on opinions. Well Ringo says 'You know why ELO broke up? They ran out of Beatles riffs.' One off Jeff's great prides is that he met John once - obviously a huge fan of John's - and John said 'I really like all that ELO stuff man.' That was the highspot of Jeff's life! He was vindicated. John said it was alright! So we got Jeff on Free As A Bird.

The website has a bunch of sources listed, but doesn't mention which source this quote comes from. The comment from Paul could at least be interpreted as suggesting Jeff did just add sort of a blip to the song just so he could be on it. But Paul does start the comment off by mentioning that this came about when they got to the backing harmonies, so that would suggest whatever Jeff did, whether a little blip or a "hey" or a full contribution, is found somewhere in the backing vocals. I'm still a bit apprehensive about assuming that Jeff is doing full backing vocals on the entire bridge with George and Paul. Don't get me wrong. I love the idea of Jeff, Paul, and George singing together. If Jeff is on it, I think that's great. I'm just not sure he is singing full harmonies throughout the bridge.

 

He isn't. It's only during the guitar solo. I'm surprised you can't hear him clearly, as I sure can. It's that extra high harmony. He is there for sure. Don't hear him in "Real Love" though.

Evan

 

Sorry, I was for whatever reason calling the guitar solo section the "bridge"; there aren't really any backing vocals during either of what I guess would the bridges as sung by Paul and George solo.

The backing vocals under the guitar solo are definitely the most likely place where Jeff would be. It sounds like there are more than three voices there, so I'm wondering if perhaps Paul and George are each doubled at least and maybe Jeff only added a third part with one "set" of Paul and George. As I said before, Jeff is pretty able to sound relatively like, well, any of the Beatles when doing backing vocals. I've studied this song every which way (I was OOPS'ing the track in the 36 hours or whatever it was in between when it aired on ABC and when the "Anthology 1" CD was released!), and I've listened to pretty much every post-ELO Lynne production and most of Lynne's work in general (certainly all of Lynne's own music and his Beatles or Wilburys-related work), and I don't hear any single voice in those "FAAB" harmonies that just blatantly sticks out as Jeff and not Paul or George. I hear parts that could be him; I could easily pick out what is most likely to be his voice.

But I'll give those backing vocals another listen with a Lynne sort of mindset and find out what I hear. Now I'm starting to wonder if that lone, stray voice doing a little vocal run near the end of the solo (which is heard, I believe, isolated in the center channel of the 5.1 mix) may actually be Lynne and not Paul, as I always thought the way it was sung was very Lynne-esque.

As for "Real Love", most of the song features less heavy backing vocals, as in during the chorus, and that sounds like Paul and George, just as some of the parts of "FAAB" sound like just a single Paul and George singing. The only place there are more voices on "Real Love" would be, again, during the guitar solo. I wouldn't be surprised if they got Lynne on there as well given that they added him to "FAAB", but I dunno.

 

That "oo-oo-oo-oo-oo" heard very low in the mix right before the "end"(false end actually--one of the Beatles' favorite tricks. I knew the song wasn't really over when Anthology firist aired)is surely Macca.

Evan

 

Oh, that's definitely McCartney. I'm talking about a stray lone voice that can be heard singing among the group harmonies at the end of the guitar solo section, right before it goes back into "free...as a bird." I think this can only be heard isolated in the 5.1 mix. It sounds like it's just another voice among the harmonies, but for whatever reason, it was sung by itself and apparently put on its own track and, for some reason, was isolated on its own in one of the channels (the center channel I believe) of the 5.1 mix. I would guess the folks doing the 5.1 mix liked that little extra vocal bit and chose to isolate it a bit. Either that, or for some reason they sort of pre-designated where all of the 48 or 96 or whatever tracks were sent to in the 5.1 mix, and the little vocal bit was somehow added to the "lead vocal track" of the multitrack, or some other track that was then sent to the center channel in the 5.1 mix.

 

The section I hear the man himself Balzackerley is from 02.53 and most notably at 03.08 approx.

Actually will you check out something for me Balzac? I've got the usual stacks of boots of 5.1/Centre this and oopsadaisy that but I just played an acoustic only OOPs mix and I've just heard THE most subtle 'Bird' response vocal beginning at 03.34/03.40 and 03.47.....!!

Sounds like it could be subtle Jeff to me.....(Gosh I'm quite excited!!)

T.

 

The backing vocals from 2:53 to 3:08 undernearth the guitar solo are definitely the most likely spots for Jeff to be in. The other two sections you have highlighted are also indeed the other likely spots where there are enough massed backing vocals that Jeff could be in there.

Again, whether it's because Paul and George sound like Jeff or Jeff sounds like Paul and George, or just because the voices are layered and processed in that Jeff Lynne-tastic sound that we all love, there's no point in which I can hear a bit where I can scream out "hey, that's not Paul or George; that's definitely Jeff!". I just hear a mass of Beatlesque backing vocals that largely sound like Paul and George with enough masses of voices and production and sound design that Jeff certainly could be in there singing along.

The only reason I'm hesitant to say that Jeff is as prominent in those backing vocals as Paul and George is that if you listen to, say, the "Flaming Pie" tracks that Jeff co-produced, you can hear the difference between a layered stack of Paul voices, and a layered strack of Paul and Jeff singing together. Same thing with multiple Georges versus George and Jeff, or multiple Jeffs versus Jeff with somebody else. But Lynne's production style, and the general timbre of his voice, especially when singing backing vocals, is such that I have no problem believing he's in the mix there somewhere on "FAAB." We pretty much have confirmation from that Paul interview segment that Jeff is singing something somewhere. So assuming he isn't just literally saying "hey" somewhere buried in there, the spots we've been looking at likley have Jeff in the mix somewhere. But I would still guess that it's sort of a 2-to-1 ratio of Paul/George to Jeff, perhaps two each of Paul and George and one Jeff, or something like that.

 

Is it possible they let him play some guitar? The only spot I think I hear him singing is the very first part of the echoey "free" right before the uke ending. If he's there its only right at the beginning like they let him say one word... "free."

 

I talked to Richard Dodd a few weeks ago (forum member Chris C. was there too). He said Jeff called him during those sessions and said he was somewhat disappointed he didn't get to play on the tracks. Nothing was mentioned about him singing.

 

Maybe he wanted to play but they made him sing instead?

 

Regarding Lynne's tracking preferences, I believe he likes to start with a drum machine pattern for a click, then the basics begin with mutiple acoustics laying down the foundation for the track. From there he replaces the drum-machine with 'real' drums (something Stan Lynch was not happy about) with the rest to follow. I'm trying to find the interview where he discusses this, will post when I do.

(edited)

 

Even that seems odd to me. There he was producing the thing what is there to be disappointed in? I can't believe he though he was going to play. Oh well. All of this is speculation anyway.

 

McCartney's story seems to specifically lay out that Lynne did sing somewhere. Maybe Lynne wanted to play more than sing? That seems weird too, though. I suppose we would also have to define what "frustrated" is. It could have just been a case of saying offhandedly that it was too bad he didn't get to play on the song. It may not have neccesarily been a huge deal.

The only strange thing I see about Dodd's comment is that Lynne supposedly was sworn to secrecy about the sessions other than to those who were involved (I remember an interview with engineer Marc Mann about his work on "Real Love" and "Now and Then", and Mann talked about how he couldn't even tell his wife about the work he was doing), so I would wonder if perhaps Lynne mentioned details about the sessions sometime *after* the sessions, or at least after the initial sessions prior to when word broke of the "reunion." The previous post mentions that he called "during those sessions", so it would be interesting to know if we're talking February 1994, or June 1994, or February 1995, or some other date. I'd be kind of surprised if Lynne was calling at the very beginning of the February 1994 sessions, but I dunno.

Interesting stuff, though. If we could get more details about this from Richard Dodd, that would be really interesting.

 

I have heard that he has done this in the post-ELO days when working with other drummers.

But I have also heard claims that on stuff like "Zoom" where Lynne plays the drums himself, that he records small sections/measures of drumming, and then loops those sections in ProTools, and then adds cymbal crashes, etc. I suppose he may have done with with Petty's drumming on "Highway Companion" as well, but I dunno.

 

I can maybe, just maybe buy that explaination. It's hard to imagine Lynne saying anything. As a Beatles fan he knew that getting the gig and it actually happening was a billion, trillion D ) odds.