In the Studio...

[Sebastian]

I don't know if it's been discussed before but I'd like to know more about the more technical side of their records... does anybody know anything about that or can point me in the right direction?

All I know is what I've read on Felder's book, about them doing take after take after take of the guitar solos and the vocal parts until they were virtually flawless, etc., but I'm sure there's a lot more to be discovered, such as:

* How did they synchronise? Did they use a live backing track as guide (like Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, etc.) or did they use a click track?

* Did they always record backing vocals in a way that could be reproduced on stage and, if so, does it mean they stayed away from the 'self-backing-vocalist' trick?

* Anything related to session musicians (orchestras and the such) and the way they recorded with them, who took care of that, etc.

I appreciate anyone who can give me a hand with *any* of that :D

[Ive always been a dreamer]

Sebastian - I am far from being a 'techie' so I can't shed any light on most any of this. There isn't a lot of info available that I can recall in terms of interviews from the band that addresses your questions either.

If I had to guess, I'd wouldn't be surprised if there were occasions where they used the self-backing vocalist technique in songs with very full harmonies. But, who knows. :?: :?: :?:

The only thing I know of regarding session musicians is what is listed on the credits for each album.

[Sebastian]

Thank you for the prompt reply.


If I had to guess, I'd wouldn't be surprised if there were occasions where they used the self-backing vocalist technique in songs with very full harmonies.

And which songs would those be? I suspect maybe 'The Last Resort' and, generally those with big 'oooh's and 'aaaah's in the background (another one could be 'Desperado', of course). Any other idea?

[UndertheWire]

The closest I've found is Glenn talking about the recording of his first solo album in detail. You may be able to glean something about the Eagles from what he says he's done differently when solo.
http://tttan.com/HT/boards/P.hunterkiller/1233799394.html

[WalshFan88]

No clue, other than I can pretty much tell you the exact guitar rig for every song, especially On The Border and forward for Felder and Walsh's rigs. There isn't much out there on Bernie's gear other than just the Tele's he played.

Already Gone - Glenn used his Old Black Gibson Les Paul Jr, and a Fender Nonreverb Blackface Deluxe which he still uses live. Don Felder played a Gibson Les Paul Jr (according to Felder, it might have even been Glenn's since I never seen Felder with a LP Jr) into the same Blackface Deluxe which has a Vox Silver Bell speaker in it.

One Of These Nights - Don Felder used a Gibson Les Paul Standard (from '59) into a mid 50's Fender Deluxe Tweed amp straight in and cranked loud and proud. Not sure about Glenn's rig but since Old Black was still in use, maybe that but that is just a guess.

Hotel California - Don Felder used a Martin 12-string with a DeArmond soundhole pickup into a leslie and EMT units for the acoustic parts. Don used the same '59 Les Paul as on OOTN for Hotel, with the same 50s Fender Deluxe. He used a BOSS Chorus and Echo units and that was it. No other pedals or amps. Glenn used a Takamine 12-string for his acoustic parts. Joe Walsh used a 70s Fender Telecaster into a Tweed Deluxe as well, with an MXR Phase 90 for some phase effect, which is really subtle but audible with headphones.

Life In The Fast Lane - Joe Walsh used a 50s Fender Stratocaster into a Fender Deluxe again. Don Felder used the 59 Les Paul into a Deluxe as well. (Seeing a pattern here?)

The Long Run - Joe Walsh used a Les Paul into a Roland Micro Cube (of all things!) for slide on The Long Run as well as Heartache Tonight. Don Felder used a Les Paul (not sure if it was his '59) into a Blackface Fender for his parts. Glenn used a 70s Telecaster modified with a humbucker in the neck position into a Fender Tweed for his rhythm part.

I Can't Tell You Why - Glenn Frey used a Gibson 335 into his Blackface Deluxe for the solo in ICTYW. Not sure about Joe and Felder.

Those are just the main songs, if there is a song in particular you'd want to know, I can search my documents and see if there is info on it. A lot of it comes from interviews and pictures.

[Sebastian]

Thanks, that's great. What about basses, drums and keyboards? I suppose for piano, they'd play whatever was available in the studios, which would be a Steinway at Olympic and a Yamaha at the Record Plant.

[WalshFan88]

When Randy was in the band it was mainly Fender Precision Basses, and a couple other cool basses like Rickenbackers and such.

With Timothy it's always been Fender Jazz Basses for the studio. It's of my opinion that they are 100 percent more versatile and you can make a Jazz sound like a Precision, but not the other way around. P Basses are one trick ponies. They have a lot of punch and real straightforward sound, the J Basses are more sculpt-able and can sound a bit more mild, for lack of a better word. So he could get Randy's Precision bass tone plus have a new sound for Long Run and forward.

I'm not a bass player, but I keep a Fender Jazz around for jamming whenever people come into my little guitar studio and sometimes I play it, it's fun.

Not a clue on other instruments. Sorry, I'm just a rock n' roll guitar player. :hilarious:

[TimothyBFan]

I haven't been on here for several days and I just want to say, Austin--you're freaking me out with the Glenn avi! I keep having to scroll back up to see who it is because I'm just not use to you being associated with a Glenn avi.:hilarious:

[WalshFan88]

I haven't been on here for several days and I just want to say, Austin--you're freaking me out with the Glenn avi! I keep having to scroll back up to see who it is because I'm just not use to you being associated with a Glenn avi.:hilarious:

Hahaha... 9 times out of 10 I pick an av because of the guitar in it. This was the case. I love that Sunburst Gibson 330 of his.

[Ive always been a dreamer]

Thank you for the prompt reply.



And which songs would those be? I suspect maybe 'The Last Resort' and, generally those with big 'oooh's and 'aaaah's in the background (another one could be 'Desperado', of course). Any other idea?

I really don't know anything for sure, but, if I have to guess, a few likely choices could be Witchy Woman, Doolin-Dalton/Desperado Reprise, or One of These Nights.

[Sebastian]

Here's my (temporary) breakdown of Hotel California:

Basic track: drums, bass and twelve-string rhythm (by Felder, I reckon).

Guitar overdubs:


Another twelve-string electric (doubling the first one), most lilely by Felder although it could've also been Joe... or Glenn... but most likely Felder.
Felder's acoustic on the second part of the intro: bass-doubling and some arpeggios. Definitely his style.
Glenn's acoustic: strummed chords from the first chorus onwards. He double-tracked it from the fourth verse onwards.
The reggae staccatos, which reportedly Glenn recorded at first but then Joe replaced.
A clean Strat (or maybe Tele) doubling the bass one octave higher at some points. Most likely Felder.
A two-part harmony playing throughout. Possibly Felder played both (Don and Joe would do it on stage for practical reasons).
Another two-part harmony, entering on the fourth verse and playing some antiphonies with the previous one. Felder did both IMO.
Don Felder's lead, playing some licks (e.g. on the secod chorus) and then the famous solo.
Joe's lead, doing the second part of the solo and then harmonising with Felder's lead.


All of that means the original recording has thirteen guitars (or perhaps even more if the harmonies were double-tracked to give them a fatter sound, in which case there are seventeen guitars), of which Glenn and Joe played two each, and Felder did the rest.

There are also some keyboards: an organ and a piano, both playing softly in the background. The piano's a bit more noticeable on the first verse (just when Don sings 'hair') and on the fourth (when Don sings 'night'). I'd suppose Glenn played both, but it could've been virtually anyone in the group... most likely, whoever came up with the idea of adding them... but most likely Glenn considering his story of ever so subtly overdubbing keyboards. Those two overdubs aren't too noticeable but if you take them out the song loses some of its magic.

Despite what happened on stage, harmonies didn't include Joe or Felder at all. Choruses are Randy and Glenn (plus Don's lead of course) and the 'and still thsoe voices are calling from far away' line is just Don + Don (so yeah, they did do self-backing vocalist).

[Freypower]

How can you tell that 'and still those voices' is just Don? Why would you harmonise with yourself when you have these other great harmony singers? I always thought it was Glenn harmonising there.

[Sebastian]

There are some multitracks in the i-net where you can listen to just the bass, just the drums, just the vocals, etc. I listened closely and am 99% sure it's Don + Don. Live, it'd be a different story, of course. As for why he did it, it could be that he wanted that kind of sound or that he sang it better than the others. It's quite a tough range, that backing vocal, as it's quite high and not what an amateur singer would do. Glenn's not an amateur by any stretch, and his voice on that song is fantastic (the four lines he sings, but four great lines, same for Randy) but on that particular bit Don sounds better IMO, just like Don doing New Kid in Town or Girl from Yesterday wouldn't make as much sense as having Glenn on them.

[Freypower]

If Glenn is able to sing that part live, which he does, then I can't see why he wouldn't have done it in the studio; sorry. You seem to have more technical knowledge than I do but I can't see that much difference between singing it the studio & singing it live. :shrug: Perhaps if you could give me a link to this multitrack I could listen for myself.

[Shadowland07]

Please post the isolated tracks I'd love to hear the vocals by themselves and the piano and organ

[Prettymaid]

Me too.

[Sebastian]

What's the legality of that? I'm honestly asking, I don't know the rules of regulations of the forum regarding mp3 and all that.

Edit: BTW, AFAIR, Glenn sings a different part live, one that's not on the record. Don's backing vocal (the high one) is done by Randy or Tim live. I'm absolutely sure Glenn (and by extension Randy and perhaps even the guitarists) could sing the line in question, but maybe Don was the one who did the best take of it. The Don+Don combo there sounds fantastic.

[Ive always been a dreamer]

I'm not familiar with the site, but unless I'm missing something, if you don't want to post the mp3s, then I don't think it would be a problem to link to them.

I'd like to hear more about this too. I always assumed the back-up harmonies for the "and still those voices ..." line on the studio version were Randy and Glenn. However, it certainly is possible that it's Don doing the self-backing thing. Even though we can't know for sure, it would be fun to listen and speculate about it.

[Sebastian]

Hotel California:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/90661089/Hotel%20California/Bass.mp3
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/90661089/Hotel%20California/Drums1.mp3
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/90661089/Hotel%20California/Drums2.mp3
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/90661089/Hotel%20California/Drums3.mp3
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/90661089/Hotel%20California/Drums4.mp3
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/90661089/Hotel%20California/Guitars1.mp3
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/90661089/Hotel%20California/Guitars2.mp3
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/90661089/Hotel%20California/Vocals.mp3

Take It Easy:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/90661089/Take%20It%20Easy/Acoustic1.mp3
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/90661089/Take%20It%20Easy/Acoustic2.mp3
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/90661089/Take%20It%20Easy/Backing_Vocals1.mp3
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/90661089/Take%20It%20Easy/Backing_Vocals2.mp3
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/90661089/Take%20It%20Easy/Bass.mp3
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/90661089/Take%20It%20Easy/Drums1.mp3
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/90661089/Take%20It%20Easy/Drums2.mp3
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/90661089/Take%20It%20Easy/Electric_Guitar.mp3
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/90661089/Take%20It%20Easy/Lead_Vocal.mp3

[Brooke]

No luck with these links. Can you fix them?

[Sebastian]

Fixed. They should work now.

[Ive always been a dreamer]

Thanks for the links, Sebastian. They are very interesting to listen to. I only listened to the vocals, but will listen to all of them when I get a chance.

After listening very closely to the "and still those voices ..." line, it does sound like it is only two voices, IMO. It could be Don doing a voice over or it may be Randy - I can't decide for sure, but I agree it doesn't sound much like Glenn. It'll be interesting to hear others thoughts about this ... let the debate begin!

Now, as far as the lead vocal in Take It Easy - what version of the song it that? To these ears, that lead vocal doesn't even sound like Glenn at all.

[Shadowland07]

That's definitely Don with a double tracked vocal on the "and still those voices" line.

[WalshFan88]

Thanks for posting the guitars on Hotel California! I'm hearing a lot of tidbits I didn't before. Still sounds like LP + Tele to me. You can hear the phaser on Joe's part a lot easier too. And Joe's part is much brighter/treblier than Felder's. But the guitar tone on that record is ridiculously good and the playing even more so.

[Shadowland07]

Which one of the tracks for HC has the organ and piano parts?

[WalshFan88]

I've only listened to the guitars so far, but listening to the others now.

[Shadowland07]

Sebastian you wouldn't have the isolated tracks to "One of These Nights" would you?

[Brooke]

Now, as far as the lead vocal in Take It Easy - what version of the song it that? To these ears, that lead vocal doesn't even sound like Glenn at all.

It does in certain parts, but not in others. To me anyway!

Thanks for the links; very interesting! I haven't had a chance to listen to all of them yet either, but will.

[Sebastian]

Piano + organ are in one of the guitar tracks, they're in the background but you can spot them at some points. They're just an extra layer anyway.

That version of 'Take It Easy' is not the one on the album (obviously), so it may be a test pressing or something, but I'm sure it's 'authentic' (i.e., those are the Eagles).

And no, I don't have more Eagles multi's, at least not at the moment. Have loads of Queen and Beatles though :D ... and a couple of Muse, Police, The Who and others.

[GlennLover]

Now, as far as the lead vocal in Take It Easy - what version of the song it that? To these ears, that lead vocal doesn't even sound like Glenn at all.

Dreamer, I think it sounds like Glenn. Funny how people hear things differently, isn't it. :smile:

[GlennLover]

That's definitely Don with a double tracked vocal on the "and still those voices" line.

I believe it is too.

[Sebastian]

If you're used to 2013 Glenn it's obviously gonna be different as it's been four decades.

[RebeccaLovesEagles]

Thanks Sebastian,
I loved hearing the songs broken up. I sounds so different and it gives me a new appreciation for what goes into making a song

[Prettymaid]

I like that you can hear the breaths they take at the beginning of every line.

[Sebastian]

You can also pretend you're Johns or Szymczyk and make your own mix. An a cappella version, an unplugged version, a drums + vox remix, etc.

[Freypower]

Yes, I agree that is Don doing both 'and still those voices' parts.

[Ive always been a dreamer]

I actually misspoke earlier. What I meant to say is that the lead vocal in Take It Easy didn't sound at all like Glenn in the original studio version. I agree that it is Glenn, but it is definitely not the original recorded version.

And I also enjoyed listening to the different breakdowns of the vocals and instrumentation. It definitely helps you pick up on different things that you normally wouldn't notice and gives you an appreciation of how complex it can all get.

[Sebastian]

Lyrics are also different, as instrumentation itself (no banjo, for instance).

[MaryCalifornia]

These are so cool, Sebastian - thank you!! They actually freak me out a little - the guys seem so vulnerable...You must find all of the Eagles' songs for us - all of them, I say!!

Now, we can take a moment to pay respect to the voice that is Randy Meisner's? Wow...

[Sebastian]

I decided to play producer and do some Take It Easy mixes:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/90661089/Take%20It%20Easy%20Mixes/ACappella.mp3
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/90661089/Take%20It%20Easy%20Mixes/All.mp3
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/90661089/Take%20It%20Easy%20Mixes/Instrumental.mp3
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/90661089/Take%20It%20Easy%20Mixes/JustGlenn.mp3

[shunlvswx]

Actually I have seen on a few albums(where they tell you who sings on that particular song) where you could hear the singer's voice in the background. So its not unusual.

[yekrut]

The component pieces are really cool to hear and so are your mixes. Really does give you more of an idea of what goes into making a song. Always thought they were/are really good but gives you even more respect for their work when you can hear some of the pieces independently and realize all the options they have for the mixes and the decisions that had to go into the final product.

Thanks a bunch!