The Night Before - The Beatles - Full Instrumental Recreation (4K)

Taking a trip back to 1965...

This might be the best rocker the Beatles ever recorded. It's certainly in the conversation. There's just so much to love here. Given my penchant for accuracy, my apologies for not recording this at Stonehenge!

In no particular order...

First, John was clearly a secret try-hard on piano. I found isolated tracks on YouTube of John's playing on the Hohner Pianet, and man. John's part is incredibly inventive and surprisingly complex! Like Paul's bass playing, no verse is exactly the same. His syncopations, his aggressive, slightly-ahead-of-the-beat timing, and his chord choices were just stunning. He revealed later piano talent on songs like "Imagine," "Oh My Love," and, much later, "Real Love," but he clearly had a ton of talent by 1965. I would wager he went home and secretly practiced/rehearsed this, since somehow the band only needed 2 takes for the actual recording (recorded Feb. 17, 1965 in the same session as "You Like Me Too Much").

By the way, John's playing a Hohner Pianet, which are famously hard to find. To recreate this, I created my own Hohner Pianet VST. Using the Wurly preset on Presonus Studio One, I fiddled with compression, EQ, and a few other effects to arrive at a surprisingly close sound! This is my first cover that actually shows my midi interface, which I use whenever there's a non-piano part involving keys (i.e. the brass and strings in the Abbey Road Medley cover).

Also, Ringo's drumming is immaculate! Dude could somehow stay perfectly on the right tempo AND rush his fills to add incredible spark and drive to the number. We also see a return of the "I Feel Fine" beat, which is ridiculously fun to play. Note the little simultaneous "trills" on the bell of the crash and the tom. Plus, some really fun bass drum doubles!

I should note I swapped out the ride and the crash here, which Ringo clearly did too for live performances and in the studio. That driving right hand on the crash brings such spark to the recording.

Note: I do not smoke and I strongly discourage smoking! I stole this discarded box from a friend just for accuracy (Ringo apparently used a cigarette box...I had been using an ugly old wallet). I'm a former pack a day smoker and current marathon runner. Couldn't do it without quitting smoking, which I did cold turkey 6 years, 7 months ago.

Stay tuned for more from "Help!" Let me know what you think!

Instruments:
Hohner Pianet VST (homemade) created in Presonus Studio One
Gretsch 1962 Country Gentleman G6122T-62 GE (Pyramid .11 flats)
Hofner HCT-500/1-SB (Labella flats)
Epiphone Casino (played by Paul on the record)
60's Ludwig No. 980 Super Classic Outfit 9x13 / 16x16 / 14x22 kit (Black Oyster Pearl)

Recording Equipment & Miscellaneous:
Beatles Drop-T #4 drumhead courtesy of Russ Lease (beatlesuits.com)
Vox Valvetronix VT100X Guitar Combo Amp
PreSonus Studio 1824C Interface (6 microphones used)
Cad Audio Stage7 7-Piece Drum Microphones (toms, snare & bass drum)
MXL V250 Condenser Mic: drum overhead mic & acoustic guitar
Drums recorded and mixed with PreSonus Studio One
Shure SM57 (under hi-hat, bass)

Waves Abbey Road Plugins used on this track:
Abbey Road RS124 Compressor Stereo
REDD37-51 Stereo
Abbey Road Vinyl Stereo
Abbey Road Plates Stereo
J37 Tape Stereo
RS56 Passive EQ Stereo

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.