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First vid of 2023! And my first "Byrds" video. RIP Croz...
FEB 8th: Blocked for royalties because KZbin's algorithm thinks this is the original record!! I guess that's a compliment? :D
CROSBY'S TECHNIQUE: What a lot of people don't realize is that David Crosby plays in drop-D tuning on this song, allowing him to play 5ths and emphasize the descending bass progression. He cleverly plays normally during the verses ("a time to gain, a time to lose" etc) and switches back to drop-D emphasis on the chorus. One can do this by muting effectively or selectively playing certain strings, as he does in live performances (and shown here). During the intro and outro, he also emphasizes Roger's B-minor to A chord riff by playing open strings and jumping to the A. There's a lot going on here.
McGUINN'S TECHNIQUE: Contrary to popular belief, there ARE in fact overdubs on the original record. The Bm-A chord stabs are overdubs, and thanks to the stereo backing track @lypilapa provided, it's 100% clear that McGuinn does NOT play these as part of his "main" 12-string track on the record. Which brings me to an important point - my goal was to recreate how this was played in 1965, NOT how he plays it now. The solo is also overdubbed on the record, as is his "banjo track" but it IS live as part of the solo - Roger is doing this with fingerpicks playing the solo AND the banjo picking at the same time (as seen live). I do not have this skill, so I played the "banjo" picking during the solo as an overdub. By the way...this video is proof you can get an identical sound with a regular pick if you practice enough. ;)
DRUMS/BASS: Chris Hillman and Michael Clarke. The drums are pretty interesting, and Clarke goes for a sidestick and hi-hat rhythm during the choruses before switching to ride, snare, and toms during verses. It's mostly a fairly patterned drum track with some minor variations on the fills. Hillman's bass is the same, and it shares many of the same notes as Crosby's guitar. I tried to mix my bass a little louder than the record so you can hear it (I may have spiced it up a tiny bit). Oh, and there is also an ever-so-essential tambourine track as percussion.
VOCALS: Three people - Gene, Roger, David. What's sort of interesting about "Byrds harmonies" is that they are usually 2-part. David's voice is so amazing that his high harmonies are enough to compliment Gene and Roger singing in unison while still cutting through the mix. The only 3-part harmonies in this song are the refrains of all the verses - "a time for peace, I swear it's not too late" etc. I also used the tape-speed technique I've mentioned in recent videos, where I record some vocal tracks at slightly different speeds so that when they're all played together it doesn't sound like "all Nick." In total, you're hearing 6 vocal tracks here - 3 parts, all doubled.
MIXING: Did my best to recreate the sound of 1965. I'm not going to lie, this took a LOT of takes - hence the lighting changes throughout the video. I believe The Byrds took 5 days and 78 takes for this song, so I don't feel too bad about it! Ironically, Crosby's guitar and the bass were take 1 - it was the 12-string that took forever! I absolutely love the Danelectro 59X12 I'm playing here - the bridge pickup allows coil tapping so I'm getting TWO lipstick pickups at once in a humbucker formation. It sounds VERY close to a treble boosted Rickenbacker in my opinion - but you be the judge! Dano oughta be paying me for advertising at this point :D
On a personal note, I've lost about 50 pounds now so I figured it'd be time to grab a new suit!
GEAR
Audio Interface: Motu M4
Microphone: Audio-Technica AT2035, Shure Beta 57A
Electric Rhythm: Gretsch Tennessee Rose
Electric Lead Guitar: Danelectro 59X12
Bass Guitar: Hofner H500/1-62
Amplifier: Vox AC-15
Drums: Toontrack EZdrummer Ludwig with "Nick Ringo Settings"
Tambourine: CP380
Additional Plugins: Waves "Abbey Road" suite, Izotope Ozone
Software: Reaper
SONGWRITERS: Pete Seeger / The Bible (Book of Ecclesiastes)
DISCLAIMER: Absolutely no audio from the original recording has been used in this video. This video is for educational purposes ONLY under fair use. No copyright infringement is intended. My videos are provided as INSTRUCTION to help you learn how to play and sing these songs yourself. For this reason, many of my videos feature footage of a song's construction (both instrumentally and vocally) to aid you in this learning process. All audio tracks are intentionally mixed with louder instrument levels and further channel separation than the original recordings to help isolate sections when learning. They should NOT be sold, duplicated, or distributed without the original copyright holder's permission. If you enjoy this music, support the original artists and BUY the officially released versions.