Why were the Stones drawn to American studios early on? And what weren't they able to capture soundwise in England, and why the difference? I read Bill Wyman say 'they couldn't play loud'. Just wonderin'.

Lil' Brian Wrote:
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> Why were the Stones drawn to American studios
> early on? And what weren't they able to capture
> soundwise in England, and why the difference? I
> read Bill Wyman say 'they couldn't play loud'.
> Just wonderin'.


i think you got that "they werent able to capture that sound in the english studios"right...and chess was home to some of the music they admired...so on tour they dropped in...there's more to it but maybe the stones info experts can fill in the blanks



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2005-10-28 01:51 by Leonard Keringer.

Keith Richards: Before we went to America it was very difficult to record in England. Nobody could record or had recorded the sound we were trying to get. People weren't used to that kind of roughness. Everyone in England at the time was incapable: engineers, equipment, producers and to a certain extent musicians. No one could get a really good funky American sound which is what were were after. The best move we could possibly do, was get to America as quickly as bossible and record there. (Barbara Charone)


BILL: The methods of recording in England and America were completely different. The only people you could use over here were Bill Fowley at Regent Sound and Glyn Johns, if you could get hold of him. The big trouble with recording in England was that for a rock group the studio acoustics were so bad because you couldn't play loud. When we recorded at the Chess studios in Chicago, we had Ron, the guy who engineered all the Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, and Howlin' Wolf records. He knew exactly what we wanted and he got it almost instantly. ('Go-Set', June 3, 1972)

There wasn't any relevant music happening in England so there was no recording engineer who knew how to record relevant music. Of course it was the engineers the Stones needed. Since they were deep into rhythm and blues and rock and roll they wanted to record at the Chess Studios. The engineer there was Ron Malo who had worked with Bo Diddley, Etta James, Sonny Boy Williamson and Chuck Berry. Is there more to say?

When the Stones eventually left r&b and r&r for soul and pop, they also changed the studio and went to the RCA Studios, where Elvis Presley used to record. The resident engineer there was Dave Hassinger (at RCA Studios) who had recorded the great Sam Cooke ("A change is gonna come" etc). And there was also arranger Jack Nitzsche who became a friend of the Stones and even PLAYED on their songs.

As a part of the so called British Invasion the Rolling Stones became proud enough of their Britishness to stay at home. In the 1950s the USA were the musical heartland but with the British Invasion suddenly London became the musical capital of the world. The Stones had a string of #1 hits and thus since 1966 they became very self-confident and decided to stay at home (Glyn Johns at Olympic Sound Studios), They began to record kind of "English folk music" (BETWEEN THE BUTTONS), psychedelia (THEIR SATANIC MAJESTIES REQUEST), and with "Jumpin' jack flash" and BEGGARS BANQUET they finally invented modern rock music.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2005-10-28 02:16 by F.U.C. the Captain.