Good Vibrations — A History of Record Production

The records we buy are as much about the quality and techniques of recording as the music itself. ‘Heartbreak Hotel’, ‘Telstar’, Pet Sounds, Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Dark Side Of The Moon, Tubular Bells, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, ‘Anarchy In The UK’, ‘Heroes’, ‘Vienna”, Two Tribes’, ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’, Zooropa and George Michael’s most recent album, Older… the making of these and many other landmark albums and singles is described in entertaining detail in Good Vibrations – A History of Record Production.

A perfect blend of the creative, the technical and the human anecdote, Good Vibrations – A History of Record Production chronicles the development of recording techniques and its enabling technology, from Les Paul’s invention of multitracking in 1949, through the exotic instrumentation and experiments of the Sixties, to the dramatic advances in the miniaturisation and affordability of equipment which has given streetwise kids the tools to create hits in their bedrooms.

Leading producers, engineers, artists and equipment designers discuss their contributions to the development of the recording art and draw comparisons between studio life today and yesteryear. Industry figures comment on the changing responsibilities of the producer and engineer, as well as exposing the artist/producer/songwriter relationship which has changed in so many ways since the height of the Tin Pan Alley/Brill Building era of the Sixties.

And the actual people behind some of the most influential and acclaimed rock and pop recordings of the last half century talk openly and warmly about the sessions: among them George Martin, Brian Wilson, Tom Dowd, Tony Visconti, Chris Thomas, Roy Thomas Baker, Midge Ure, Richard James Burgess, Trevor Horn, Hugh Padgham, Pete Waterman and the BRIT Award-winning producer of 1996, Brian Eno.

The first of its kind, this book includes around 100 photographs, many rare and previously unseen, as well as an extensive reference section.