[FrankHudson]

Originally Posted by Knives&Guitars

Personally, I put lot's of emphasis on Microphone selection. In most ways...it is the heart of recording.

But as the whole recording process goes, it is the people who are at the top of the recording chain. Before the microphone, the personality has to be their first. It is the personality that often makes & creates great music.

You can have the greatest composition, The greatest microphones, the best recording gear, but if the personality of the writer is dull, then the music might also sound as such.

Here is a short clip that Giles Martin shared of his Father.

George Martin tells his GrandDaugher= Quote:

“There were four of them,” says Martin. “And I said, ‘Who are they, what are they?’ And he [presumably the band’s manager, Brian Epstein] said ‘Well, they’re a group. We call them The Beatles.’ And I said, ‘Well that’s a silly name for a start. Who would ever want a group with the name ‘beetles’?’ And he said, ‘Well, it isn’t the beetles you think of. It’s “Beatles” with an “A” in it, like “Beat-les.”‘ So I listened to what he said and I said, Well, I’ll have to hear them first of all.”

“So he sent them down from Liverpool, which is quite a long way, and I met them in London. And when I listened to what they did, it was okay, but it wasn’t brilliant. It was okay. So I thought well, why should I be interested in this?”

“But the magic but came when I started to get to know them, because they were terribly good people to know. They were funny, they were very clever, they said all the lovely things. They were the kind of people that you like to be with. And so I thought, ‘Well, if I feel this way about them, other people will feel this way about them. So therefore they should be very popular.’ And I made records with them.”

https://twitter.com/mashupmartin/sta...125716306.html

I saw that charming anecdote earlier today too. Fits with other retellings of Martin's first analysis of the Beatles as a musical group I've read. I don't know who pointed it out of if it even comes from testimony from the group or Martin, but that a key part of how they managed to fit and grow together was that Martin had worked on comedy records by the Goons rather than with conventional pop groups, the Beatles respected the Goons -- and on his part, that experience allowed Martin to adapt to sometime outlandish or even absurd suggestions by the Beatles.

Although some accounts say Martin was tiring of dealing with the band politics by the time of "Get Back," he must have learned a thing or two about how to handle some fairly difficult and conflicting egos working with Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan, and Harry Secombe.

Anyway, I thought of that when I read again today that it was in talking with them more than in hearing them play that he sensed the Beatles' genius. Of course! His best work had been with genius level "talkers."