Alan Parsons

Tonight my father and I went to Webster University to listen to a recording engineer by the name of Alan Parsons. I'm sure some of you know who he is, and if you don't (I didn't until yesterday) he engineered Dark Side Of the Moon and stood in at Beatles recording sessions for the album Abbey Road. He also had some records of his own.

I learned a lot about recording songs in general! A lot of it went over my head though, the types of microphones used and the names of equipment, etc. But it was amazing.

The whole time people just asked questions and he answered (this went on from 7:10 to 9:20). I asked him about standing in on Beatles sessions and what the Beatles preffered when they recorded. I kind of thought he would answer like "Oh well George always liked to play right after Ringo put the drum tracks down, and Paul would always record last..." but instead he talked about the equipment they used for the album and that they started out using an 8-track. This was good enough for me though.

One of the last questions asked was, "If you could produce or engineer the album of any artist or band out there, which would it be?" and his response was "Well, I've always been a Townshend fan." He also said he wished he could have worked on Tommy. Of course when he said Townshend I freaked out. My dad pointed out that if he had engineered, it wouldn't be Tommy anymore!

At the end we went up to meet him (he's a tall and big man, he had on a really groovy purple jacket). I told him about my band and us owning an 8-track. He gave me some advice about some good recording magazines and then he wished me good luck. I think that's the best good luck I've ever been wished!

I hope everyone has great Thursdays!

xoxo
- claire -