Customer Reviews

Good Vibrations -- A History of Record Production

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There are two basic types of music fans: (1) people who like to read quotes from the members of Pink Floyd explaining how they actually put together their records and (2) people who think Pink Floyd are, whoa, a trip. People in the first category will love this book. Unlike other similar books, this is an actual history of record production in chronological order. Cunningham is a talented writer. He's also a respected producer and player himself, which means he knows just about everyone who is anyone behind the scenes of record making, and they all seem to have agreed to talk to him! The book is worth buying just for all the little anecdotes, such as the time the trumpet soloist on "Penny Lane" inadvertently offended John Lennon at the session, or the time one of the world's top producers, Chris Thomas, was beat up by thugs while recording the Sex Pistols. But it's also full of important, hard facts. The section on Motown, for example, cuts through all the usual mythology about everything being recorded in Detroit, and provides quote after quote from actual participants explaining how Los Angeles session musicians (Carol Kaye, Earl Palmer, Hal Blaine, etc.) played on many of the biggest mid-'60s Motown hits. That's typical of the book: Cunningham does his homework. While most writers have a hard time even explaining what a Mellotron is, he gives a detailed history of the instrument, and its use on particular hit records, and provides an interesting quote from George Martin about the instrument, and figures out where the actual Mellotron the Beatles used on "Strawberry Fields Forever" is today. This is not the sort of simplistic hero-worship PR that entertains the average person in the average magazine. It's a thick, accurate, intelligent book, full of authentic, little-known stories, told from the inside, and they're fascinating.

When I first got a look at the contents and sampled a few pages, I was eager to read this book. Ultimately, I too came to the conclusion that it is too biased towards the British Pop scene.

Not to fault Mark Cunningham, after all he's British, but a lot of the artists he spends time on, have had little impact on the history of record production, at least on this side of the pond.

Ron and Russell Mael? Chris Rea? Slik? Interesting to read about, perhaps, but hardly of the same caliber as Trevor Horn, The Police, Peter Gabriel and U2.

Mainstream American artists such as Fleetwood Mac (yes, American!), Prince, Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Springsteen, Toto and The Cars are largely ignored if mentioned at all. Equally absent are prominent American producers, such as Phil Ramone, Russ Titelman, Richard Perry, Jam & Lewis, Reid & Babyface, Nile Rogers and the like.

Still, what it does discuss is interesting. There are whole chapters on The Beatles, Brian Eno and the making of "Bohemian Rhapsody." There are substantial sections devoted to The Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations," Jeff Lynne, Leiber and Stoller, Motown and Carol Kaye, Joe Meek, "Heroes," and Flood.

There are interesting discussions of the specific technologies used in producing the records. But unfortunately, beyond a certain time period in the book, just at the point where the use of technology gets really interesting in music production, the book fails to explain its influence. For example, one might assume that an Anglophilic book might wax poetic about how automated mixing changed the way records were made and how it was introduced by British mixing desk manufacturers Solid State Logic (SSL) and Neve. Not a word.

I think it would be most useful as a companion to a book that focused mostly on what was happening in the States. But as a general history of Record Production, it is somewhat weak.

I used it as a textbook for a course I teach in Record Production Techniques here at Mercy, but after one semester, I am looking for a replacement text. Perhaps the Wadhams....

Stephen B. Ward
Mecry College, White Plains, NY

First of all, I'd like to share a few comments about the previous reviews. Although I agree this book is really geared towards the rock/pop scene, I do believe the bias is justified. Even today, classical and jazz recording techniques don't really employ the more radical innovations in production approach generated by the demands of rock/pop projects. Let's remember that multitrack classical recordings are a relatively new thing (The Zappa LSO recordings in the 80s are a fine example), and moreover, the role of the record producer is not so proeminent in such enterprises. Also, another complain points to the greater coverage of the UK scene. The book deals with the early days of multitrack recordings (Les Paul), then moves on to Phil Spector's 'wall of sound', Motown, Muscle Shoals and stops at Brian Wilson's efforts. Of course it's an incomplete US panorama, but then again the book does justice to important (and sometimes overlooked) names of the trade, like Joe Meek, Gus Dudgeon, Tony Visconti and David Hentschel. The idea of centering the chapters around a particular studio is nothing short of brilliant, giving the author the opportunity to comment on the evolution of recording technology and techniques, generated by the demands of their particular clients. Another fine addition to this book (in comparision to Buskin's book 'Inside Tracks') is the abundance of historic photographs and the presence of 'real-life' cases, where a particular producer shows the approach he used to achieve a particular result. Add a wealth of anecdotes and behind-the-scenes stuff aplenty and you get a sure winner.

Like most reviewers here, I agree that this book is a bit unballanced. It is indeed biased to rock/pop. More so, though, it is biased to British rock/pop. Very little is said about US record production except when various Brit producers head to the US to "learn American tricks". Uhhhh... like what, exactly, guys? Nonetheless, this book is full of great info about the (very influential) Anglo music scene. More than anything else, it chronicals the increasing influence of studio technology on the way music is made and the rise of the studio itself as a musical instrument, and not simply as a passive tool for recording music.

Cunningham's extensive use of quotes from interviews keep this entertaining, but don't look for focus or a truly comprehensive history of the subject. Also, poor punctuation, grammar, and the typically confusing syntax common to the British pop press render many sentences nearly meaningless. For example, the first sentence of chapter eleven: "And so the Nineties, or rather the effect that current musical principles and technology will have on record production in the future." Say what? Fortunately, most of the producers and musicians interviewed speak better than the author writes (not his fault, really- where was the editor?). In the end, though, anyone interested in a behind-the-scenes look at the recording of many classic records should have fun.

This book is truely an amazing work. It covers so so very much in history of Production and it covers not only whom, what, where but with all the microphones used, names of studios, artists and time, and what happened behind closed doors and why, and so very much more. I highly suggest this to anyone going into recording and into anyone with a love for music. It tells you all the things you want to know!!

Blame Mr. Cunningham's editors. It's hard to say who Cunningham's intended audience was. If it was (rock) music fans, this book will either be interesting, boring, or redundant, depending on how much you've read. It spends inordinate amounts of time on overblown groups like Yes and several thoroughly unimportant 80's groups. You get the idea that these are buddies of the author. It follows Sir George Martin's career all the way up to the present, though his most important work was with the Beatles, and he has his own book about his career! If you are at all interested in classical or jazz, skip it--though both genres don't really involve much of what we now call production. Now, if the audience was recording enthusiasts, well, again, it's all right, but doesn't get into nearly enough technical info other than detailing the hugely expensive consoles and who bought them and how they got moved around. What about the microphones? What about the experimentation, the techniques? The signal processing? This book claims to be a history, yet it begins in the 50s and doesn't touch on the previous decades of recording. Yes, Les Paul is the daddy of multitracking and delay, but he is not the first to cut a record! This book never comes into focus. Yet, if you fall somewhat between the two categories listed above, you may find this book an interesting compendium of anecdotes and ephemera about your favorite classic rock groups. I enjoyed it. While his editors could have done a much better job of focusing this book, I do not regret buying it!

This book is a well-written history of record production. I was impressed at the amount of content for the price. The writing style is solid and enjoyable. Some Americans might find that too much focus is on British record production.

The book offers an anecdotal view on record production and engineering from Les Paul and Buddy Holly in the fifties to Phil Spector, Motown and The Beach Boys in the sixties. The Beatles sessions @ EMI/Abbey Road was extremely interesting. The coverage of the seventies includes The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, The Who, Queen and Led Zepellin. It starts to thin out a bit at the end concentrating primarily on the UK scene. Definitely get out your old Albums and CDs while reading this book