Originally published at: The Bee Gees' "Stayin' Alive" deconstructed and reconstructed from the original isolated tracks is revelatory | Boing Boing
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Still have the 45 that I bought as a kid in '78. Gawd what a good song.
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What a lot of filler in that production.
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I would argue there is zero filler in that production.
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OK but does he reveal how he came to get his mitts on such delightful original material to begin with? Is it available to anyone?
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Man, I bet if you played that isolated acoustic guitar track for most people, almost nobody would be able to identify what song it was from.
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Same thing with the bass part. Each piece is very simple to leave room for all the other stuff.
That’s what I’d like to know. Where are they getting these stems, especially from a production that was most likely 100% analog?
I feel like this is the acoustic Jim Halpert.
on the isolated vocal tracks, i find the sound of their gasping inhales so distracting. it’s cool that they were able to mask or hide them in the mix, but when it’s isolated, all i can think is “BREATHE, Barry, BREATHE!”
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Oh wow I love that it’s a really long video and spends time on like every track. I never realized the rhythm guitar had such an old folk kind of sound in that song. For some reason it reminds me of Judy Collins Masters of War which I definitely wouldn’t expect to think of in any part of Stayin Alive.
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De gustibus non est disputandum. Some people would be bored by a lot of music I like, no doubt. That’s the beauty of it.
I, too, was excited for this and yes, it is fun to hear the tracks. However, this guys commentary consists solely of “Cool!” and using incorrect music terminology. Juvenile, at best.
He also couldn’t identify the actual lead vocal track and constantly said there were “creative choices” being made. Um, no. They were simply giving themselves options. The “choices” were made in the mix. The rhythm section stuff was carefully rehearsed.
He moved the solo and mute buttons, that’s all.
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I’m no expert, but I’m very surprised that the drum tracks were already mixed down to stereo on the master tape.
Once they’re mixed down to stereo they’re essentially locked in and you can’t adjust anything (you can’t crank up the bass drum, for example). Considering that the drums are such an important component to that type of music, it seems surprising.
Maybe that’s just how they rolled in the 70s. I suppose it wasn’t until the 80s that mainstream producers started to really play around with drum sounds.
Edit: After reading some of the YouTube comments, it turns out the drums were taken from another song, slowed down slightly, and played on a loop. That would explain why they’re already mixed down.
Topic YouTube comment, pinned by Home Studio Simplified:
Question: Where are you getting these multitracks?
Answer: Some awesome people in our Facebook group!
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