[ Tom ] Everybody knows you from all your creative input into albums like Dark Side of the Moon . There ’ s so much going on there in terms of panning effects , sampling , tape cutting , and looping . Did you have all that in your imagination before you went in ? And did you originally envision all that in surround sound ?
[ Alan ] I was certainly thinking of ‘ quad ’ ( as it was called then ). For example , the loop on “ Money ” was designed to walk around the room in quad . And I recorded the clocks for “ Time ” at an antique shop on 4 separate tracks , so they would be in quad . We knew the day would come when technology would catch up with us .
[ Tom ] How many years did it take before that happened ? Quad never really materialized , but surround sound is basically the same thing ?
[ Alan ] For consumers , surround technology came many years later , and thank God , because all of the sounds were there on the multi-track tapes , ready for the ‘ Dark Side ’ remix .
[ Tom ] So … quad was 4 speakers but “ Money ” is in 7 / 4 time , so there are 7 elements in that loop , right ?
[ Alan ] Yes , and if I had the chance to remix it again , I would make it bounce around continuously instead of jumping to front left at the end of each cycle . I would have loved it to
continue to go around the room . Maybe we ’ ll do that for the 100th anniversary remix !
[ Tom ] And when we say “ loop ” we ’ re not talking digital ...
[ Alan ] No , digital didn ’ t exist . I had to measure out with a ruler and cut the tape with a razor blade for each cash register , each sound effect , and then splice them together so they were precisely in time . Then I had to pull the tape out of the tape machine , join the ends , and run it around a mic stand to create the continuous loop .
[ Tom ] I ’ ve often wondered about this . With 7
Alan at the Pink Floyd mixing desk
elements in the loop , when it comes back in at verse 2 , and you ’ re using analog tape … how did you get the loop to line up again ?
[ Alan ] When the loop comes back before verse 2 , it was just a happy coincidence that it happened to fit . I had faded out the loop when they started to play verse 1 and it just so happened that they were back in sync at verse 2 when the loop comes back in .
[ Tom ] Your journey in music has taken you through some epic moments in rock history . Any crazy “ Stories from the Studio ” you can share with us ?
[ Alan ] When I was recording Paul McCartney on “ The Long and Winding Road ”, at that time it was a fashionable thing to do a “ talking verse ” like the Everly Brothers did on “ Love is Strange ”. Paul tried it with the line “ Many times I ’ ve been alone , and many times I ’ ve cried ”, the spot which now has Richard Hewson ’ s soaring string line instead . Paul only tried the talking verse on that one take , but I remember thinking that it was brilliant !
Alan ’ s “ Art & Science of Sound Recording ” is available at ArtAndScienceOfSound . com
Alan Parsons Project
Tom Brooks : Grammy winning producer / engineer , studio owner , university professor , keyboardist for Alan Parsons , author of “ The Language of Music ”
TomBrooksMusic . com
26 Sep � Oct 2017 GearTechRec . com