Interviews

Veteran Recording Engineer Roy Halee On Recording Simon and Garfunkel and Others

Michael Fremer | Jul 01, 2005 | 0 comments

You won't find Roy Halee's name on many great sounding records. Not because the veteran recording engineer hasn't made them, but because Columbia Records' policy for many years was to not credit the engineer on the jacket. So, aside from the few that do credit him, the others require you to know who they are. That's one reason I tracked Roy down through Sterling Sound's Greg Calbi who has mastered many of Halee's recent projects. But more importantly, as with Bill Porter, I just wanted to sit down face to face with someone who has consistently provided us with great sound, and find out why and how he managed to do it, when so many others failed.

Some of Halee's recording credits are well known:all of Simon and Garfunkel's records, the best sounding Byrds albums (Notorious Byrd Brothers and Sweetheart of the Rodeo), and of course, Paul Simon's two fascinating and extremely successful projects (both commercially and artistically) Graceland and Rhythm of the Saints.

Interviews

Veteran Recording Engineer Roy Halee On Recording Simon and Garfunkel and Others-Part II

Michael Fremer | Jun 30, 2005 | 0 comments

MF: Sonically, the 3 CD set (issued by Columbia in 1991) is a real disappointment.

RH: Yea, well hey! It's fourth and fifth generation tapes! They lose tapes now. They had a foolproof filing system at one time. I don't know what happened. Anyway, here come these things in the studio, what am I supposed to do with this stuff? So my first reaction is send it back! I call CBS. I say “Hey, give me a break! Let's get the originals. I'll remix it. I'll do anything. Anything you want! I don't care. It's history, I want to do it right.

Interviews

Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips Realizes the Magic of Listening Is Found on Vinyl, and He Reveals How His Band’s New Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots 180g 5LP Box Set Takes You There

Mike Mettler | Apr 13, 2023 | 4 comments

The Flaming Lips are one of those bands that have always endeavored to create their own sonic universe, and we almost never know exactly what planet we’ll be on when we drop the needle on their latest vinyl venture and/or most recent archival collection. Case in point — the 180g 5LP baby-pink vinyl box set for July 2002’s Yoshimi Battle the Pink Robots being released (finally!) on April 14, a collection that includes the remastered core album, demos, non-album tracks, live radio sessions, and many other live tracks galore. In a recent Zoom interview with AP editor Mike Mettler, Flaming Lips visionary vocalist Wayne Coyne discusses the ins and outs of the making of the Yoshimi vinyl box set, how the word “realize” became such an integral part of the band’s songwriting, and how a few hundred test tapes fueled the beginning and the end of one of the album’s most enduring songs. Read on to realize all the LP-related Yoshimi details. . .

Interviews

We Caught a Rising Star

Michael Fremer | Apr 30, 2006 | 0 comments

Back in 1987, I interviewed the young up and coming and not particularly well-known Warner Brothers recording artist Chris Isaak. Thanks to a reasonably successful recording career, an effective and consistent live show, and an unusual “reality”-type comedy series on Showtime, Isaak divides his celebrity between being a respected recording artist, and a campy “celebrity,” known in some quarters simply for being known.

With his swept-back ‘50’s hair and Eddie Cochrane-like haberdashery, Chet Baker-ish schnozz, hollow body electric guitar and especially his shiver-inducing, close-to-the-microphone intimate wail, Isaak was heralded as both a musical throwback and a “new” Roy Orbison at a time when “New Wave,” synth-based “hair bands” still dominated radio airplay.

Interviews

Why Sixties British Rock Is Still the Benchmark

Mike McGill | Apr 30, 2007 | 0 comments

… or, why does it make sense for musicangle and other perceptive writers and sites to still be discussing and rating this stuff 40 years later?

Interviews

ZZ Top’s Billy F Gibbons Wants to Take Us All Back to a Period When There Was Nothing Else But Vinyl

Mike Mettler | Aug 04, 2022 | 4 comments

ZZ Top’s RAW – That Little Ol’ Band From Texas’ Original Soundtrack is a 180g 1LP release born and bred from an intimate performance that took place for the band’s June 2019 documentary. ZZ Top guitarist/vocalist Billy F Gibbons exclusively tells Analog Planet how RAW came to pass, why physical proximity can lead to better performances, and what records are never too far from his vintage Thorens turntable. Read on for the full ZZ story. . .

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