A Day In The Life - The Beatles - Full Instrumental Recreation (4K)

Well, this is what I've been working on!

Here it is, one of the truly epic Beatles songs. A haunting, massive track.

Covering this was a hell of an endeavor, encompassing 2 months of effort. There's no way I can describe all the magic of this song in this space, but it was truly a privilege picking this apart.

This little project started for a simple reason: I realized that despite having the best drum part of perhaps any song in music history, there's no note-for-note recreation of this song anywhere on YouTube. As someone who is always up for a challenge, I decided to make my own! I slowed down the fills, studied them, and played it enough times to get the feel. To get the sound perfect, I spent day after day messing around with micing and tuning my set. I even consulted Geoff Emerick's notes and removed the bottom tom heads, which was great advice! After 8 separate days recording and testing, I finally hit upon a close sound. Viola!

But getting the drums right was just the beginning! Everything else about this song is interesting. John's jazzy acoustic chords during the middle 8 and that strikingly thick J-160E tone. Paul's brilliantly quirky piano fills (major props to Mattiboo's cover for illustrating how complex those parts are). Weirdly eclectic percussion (maracas, congas, AND tambourine). This song is BANANAS. Can you believe this was released by the same dudes who sang "She Loves You"? Man, to be alive at the time. Minds must've exploded everywhere.

The bass also took 3-4 attempts before getting a close sound. Paul's really playing less of a bassline and more of a countermelody, similar to "Something." And just like that cover, I needed to memorize it note-for-note to get the song right. Man, what a song!

Trivia:

- Initially recorded on January 19, 1967 with the working title "In the Life Of..."

- Yes, that's the original strings/orchestra part! I used the isolated track as a placeholder and intended to make my own version with Cinematic Studio. Incredibly, the orignal track was not blocked! You can hear some of my own brass in the "Ahhs" dream section, which I blended with the original.

- I own no congas, so I used a djembe (thanks Mark!). Sounded damn good!

Thank you infinitely to my Beatles brain trust for your advice - Clay, Jack, Galeazzo, Ryan, Perry, DLD2, Nathan, and many others.

Instruments:
- Acoustic Guitar: 2017 Gibson J-160E 1962 Custom Shop (Pyramid .13 flats)
- Bass: 2018 Rickenbacker 4003 bass (Pyramid flats)
- Drums: Ludwig Black Oyster Pearl 1969 No. 980 Super Classic 9x13 / 16x16 / 14x22
- Piano donated for this song by a close connection. You know who you are!
- Maracas
- Djembe
- Tambourine

Recording Equipment & Miscellaneous:
- PreSonus Studio 1824C Interface (6 microphones used)
- Cad Audio Stage7 7-Piece Drum Microphones (top and bottom snare, bass drum)
- MXL V250 Condenser Mic: acoustic guitar, under rack tom
- Shure SM57 (2 - one under and on top of floor tom)
- Drums recorded and mixed with PreSonus Studio One
- Beatles Drop-T #4 drumhead courtesy of Russ Lease (beatlesuits.com)
- Track assembled in Audacity

Plugins used on this track:
- Waves Abbey Road RS124 Compressor Stereo
- Abbey Road Plates Stereo
- Puigchild Compressor

Video Equipment:
- Camera: Canon M50
- Edited with Adobe Premiere Pro on HP Envy 32'' All in One

Feel free to leave comments, I'll respond to as many as I can.