Giles Martin details Revolver Special Edition remixes
Recent articles in Louder and Sound and Vision offer deeper insight into the process of remixing Revolver from Giles Martin.
Geoff Emerick, The Beatles and my dad were pretty good to begin with, and the album sounds pretty good. And, you know, it is very compressed, and I’ve still respected that. But in order to have the band sound like they’re in a room, you kind of have to pull them apart to a certain extent and put some air between them. And on Revolver John Lennon never sings in the same voice. It’s different on every song. Same thing with the guitars and drums. Remixing it was like mixing eight different bands.
My dad would say this, and Geoff would have said this as well, I think – before he became too bitter. The sounds came from themselves and their willingness to innovate, especially with guitars. So the disappointing answer for everyone is: it’s the band. And the reason why it’s disappointing is because you’re looking for which knob you can turn [laughs]. And which box you can plug in to. Absolutely – to get that sound. And that’s the tricky thing.
You can hear them like kids in the back of a car saying: “We’re bored! We want to do something different.” That’s what’s going on with Revolver. It’s like a prog record – kind of like: “Look how many ideas we have!” And what I find fascinating is that they went from being this four-headed monster with Beatles suits on to being these four individuals going in different directions – but helping each other.
Like, no one’s saying: “Come on, John, change chords on Tomorrow Never Knows.” Or, you know: “Why are we doing Indian songs? We’re from Liverpool!” It’s like that pure confidence of jumping out of the plane without a parachute and knowing you’re going to land safely. Revolver is kind of a fearless record.
I sat with Paul and listened to the new mixes together, as we always do,” Martin explains. “And I think the biggest change in their writing was probably rhythmically. Their rhythm texture — they change gears. ‘She Said She Said’ and ‘Rain’ are different — there’s more swagger to them. And then, suddenly, there’s ‘Paperback Writer,’ which is much more driving. You look at ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ and George’s ‘Taxman.’ The rhythms are more sophisticated. There’s not a formulaic pattern. They truly left Merseybeat behind.
