| The sound engineers at OEM Inc. have spent thousands of hours with the original masters of the most
famous songs ever recorded. They use them to create products like Jammit, an iPhone app that allows
you to remix and play along with those original tracks. There are many, many things to learn from
those original tracks. Through a partnership with Gearhead Communications, OEM Inc. engineers are
sharing their discoveries exclusively with Premier Guitar readers in what we like to call Secrets of the Masters |
"I'm Eighteen" by Alice Cooper
From the album,
Love It To Death (1971 Warner Bros.)
Produced by: Bob Ezrin and Jack Richardson
Engineered by: Brian Christian
Recorded at: RCA Mid-American Recording Center (Chicago, IL)
Available in the JAMMIT “Classic Rock Vol.1” application
Alice Cooper has always been best known
for his outrageous stage persona, and he
practically invented the genre of shock-rock,
but it’s the clever, yet hooky songs that
have kept Alice in the forefront of the music
industry for over 40 years. Love It To Death
was the band’s third album and would signify
the change to more hard rock and anthem-based
songs, thanks in large part to their
new producer, Bob Ezrin. Ezrin is well known
for co-writing and arranging many of the
songs that he produced, and his involvement
on this record definitely shaped the way the
world would eventually come to know Alice
Cooper’s music. “I’m Eighteen” was the song
that would bring Alice into the mainstream.
Having spent many days in a recording studio
reminiscing about the sound and vibe of
older, classic albums—which seems so hard
to achieve in a world of modern equipment
and recording techniques—my interest was
definitely piqued when I got my hands on
the original master multi-track for this timeless
song. Unlike most recording sessions
of the last 10 to 15 years, this track actually
had documentation: a properly labeled tape
box, a typed track sheet and a handwritten
track sheet… a very nice surprise to start off
with. The handwritten track sheet confirmed
that the song had been tracked at RCA Mid-
American Recording Center in Chicago, and
although some of the other songs on the
album had been recorded at 30 IPS, “I’m
Eighteen” was marked as being tracked
to the 16-track 2" tape at 15 IPS without
any noise reduction. The track layout was
marked as follows:
1. Bass Drum
2. Drums
3. Drums
4. O/A Drums
5. O/A Drums
6.
7. Guit.
8. Guit.
9. Bass
10. Acc. Guit.
11. Acc. Guit.
12. Vocal & Harp
13. Lead Guit
14. Harp & Organ
15. Tom Tom Back Beat
16. X
Track six wasn’t labeled as having anything on
it, but when I played the tape back there was
another guitar that was a double to the guitar
found on track 8 but slightly more overdriven.
I listened very carefully to the original mix,
and it didn’t sound like the unlabeled guitar
part had been used, but it was definitely cool
to hear a slightly heavier guitar sound that
may have thickened up the guitars in the mix
if it had been used.
One of my favorite things about mixing
songs for Jammit that were recorded in
the seventies is being able to observe the
many different practices of recording drums.
Some engineers would have a kick, snare
and stereo overhead setup; others a kick,
snare and mono room. What I found interesting
about “I’m Eighteen” is that it had a
mono kick track, two stereo pairs of drum kit
tracks (one being overheads and the other
being an overall room/kit sound), but no
snare track. The main drum sound in the mix
was derived from the stereo pair on tracks
4 and 5, which had a great overall balance
of kick, snare, toms and cymbals. Although I
mixed in the kick drum track for a little more
punch and the other stereo drum pair for
ambience, the original mix could have very
easily sounded great with only this single
stereo pair of tracks. Drum recordings from
this era aren’t nearly as full-spectrum as
they are today, but when mixed in with the
rest of the track, they sound big and full.
The one anomaly that I didn’t notice in the
original mix (until dissecting the multi) was
that there was an overdub of a tom-tom on
the backbeat (beats 2 and 4) of the intro and
choruses. This had an effect of fattening up
the snare drum that also played on beats 2
and 4, a unique idea that would be a precursor
to triggering and layering samples in
the upcoming decade.
The guitar tracks in this song were equally
exciting to hear. Glenn Buxton and Michael
Bruce played similar parts throughout the
choruses, but with a nice interplay between
the two that created a bigger and wider
effect than if one player had doubled his
own part. The lead guitar solo sounded
amazing, with an ambient mic’ing technique
that made the sound pop out from the rest
of the mix. The lead guitar licks that accent
certain parts throughout the song shared
the single track with the solo part, but with
a much more dry and cutting sound. Again
with most songs I’ve come across, there is a
pleasant surprise hidden in the multi-tracks
that goes somewhat unnoticed on the album
mix. The guitar part in the verse of “I’m
Eighteen” is two acoustic guitars, one being
fed through a rotating Leslie cabinet, which
gives it a completely unique sound—half
acoustic, half electric. The acoustic guitars
were panned hard left and hard right, which
created a lush landscape for the simple
arpeggiated pattern. This is definitely one
of those parts I wish was turned up louder in
the final mix.
The bass in this song (as well as many other
Bob Ezrin arrangements) is used almost as a
counter melody instead of a simple root to
the guitar tracks. It is so effective in creating
movement, much like in an orchestra or
piano part. The actual sound is pretty clean
and dry, which initially led me to believe the
bass was plugged into a DI, but in certain
sections of the song you can hear slight leakage,
so it was most likely a good-sounding,
well-recorded amp. The lack of leakage in
certain parts of the song indicates that some
of the bass was overdubbed, while other
parts (like the outro and ending accents)
were played live off the floor.
Alice’s vocal in this song is one single voice
throughout the entire track: no doubles, no
harmonies, etc. The vocal was tracked dry
(unlike some other Cooper songs that we’ve
used in Jammit that have been printed with
reverb and/or delay), but had some reverb
added in the mix to create a little more
size and depth. Another thing I love about
recordings from this era is the simplicity and
raw emotion the shines through each and
every line of lyrics, unlike some of the overproduced
vocals of today. While listening to
the vocal track on its own, I heard and felt
every little squeak, snarl and crack that came
out of Alice’s convincing performance.
With the exception of a harmonica overdub
in the intro, doubling the lead guitar, and
a single chord of an organ on the very last
hit of the song, the production value in this
song is really the arrangement and melody,
more so than the actual recording. It
becomes quickly obvious that the most time
spent on “I’m Eighteen” was the crafting of
the song and getting great (but not necessarily
perfect) live performances. The sonic
significance of the recording doesn’t seem
to have nearly as much of an impact when
all the pieces work together cohesively and
you’ve got great musicians playing a great
song. Everything from the main opening
riff to the simple yet effective verse guitar
part has made this song a personal favorite
from Alice Cooper’s vast and impressive
catalogue—and one that still holds up as if it
were 1971 all over again.
To see/hear how you can play along to (with
tab) and make new mixes of “I'm Eighteen” and other
songs from the original multi-track masters,
check out www.jammit.com
Chris Baseford is a Canadian-born
recording engineer/
mixer/producer who has
worked with some of the
top names in the rock music
world. Having spent many
years mixing on large format analog consoles, Chris
has made the transition to mixing “in-the-box” and
continues to push the boundaries of what is possible
in the all-digital domain of music production.