Classic-Tracks
Classic Tracks: Cher’s “If I Could Turn Back Time”
Recording "If I Could Turn Back Time" was going great. There was just one problem: "Cher said, ‘I’m leaving. I hate this song.’”
Classic Tracks
Classic-Tracks
Classic Tracks: Patsy Cline’s “Crazy”
No one could touch her. Her voice was one of the most ravishing instruments ever recorded.
Classic-Tracks
Classic Tracks: Minnie Riperton’s “Lovin’ You”
What's the secret sauce of the classic ballad? Bird song.
Classic-Tracks
Classic Tracks: Pat Benatar’s “Love Is a Battlefield”
“If we would have been making that record today...I maybe would have screwed that all up. It would never have been the same record.”
Classic-Tracks
Classic Tracks: Joan Jett’s “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll”
"We recorded all these songs that were pretty good, but I didn't hear any hits," Kolotkin remembers.
Classic-Tracks
Classic Tracks: Rickie Lee Jones’ “Chuck E.’s In Love”
In the spring of 1979, Rickie Lee Jones' "Chuck E.'s in Love" appeared like an oasis in a desert of disco and arena rock....
Classic-Tracks
Classic Tracks: Christopher Cross’s “Ride Like the Wind”
Michael Omartian first encountered Cross’s music at a Wednesday morning A&R meeting, where all the Warner Bros. producers sat around a table, listened and...
2014
Classic Tracks: The Ramones’ “Rock ‘n’ Roll High School”
Did Phil Spector really hold The Ramones at gunpoint in the studio? Ed Stasium sets the record straight.
Classic-Tracks
Classic Tracks: Mötley Crüe’s “Girls, Girls, Girls”
"I knew 'Girls, Girls, Girls'—the song—was a hit from the first time I heard it," says producer Tom Werman.
2016
Classic Tracks: Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car”
“The second day we were going to have a meeting,” says David Kershenbaum. “She said, ‘I have this new song I want to show...
2016
Classic Tracks: The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s “An American Dream”
The story behind “An American Dream," which put the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band back on pop radio after 10 years, was nothing less than...
Classic-Tracks
Classic Tracks: Elvis Presley, ‘Burning Love’
It's one of Elvis' best-known songs, but "Burning Love" nearly wasn't recorded by The King.
Classic-Tracks
Classic Tracks: Merle Haggard’s “Mama Tried”
Country music legend Merle Haggard recounts how he came to record the massive hit, "Mama Tried."
Classic-Tracks
Classic Tracks: Jennifer Warnes’ “Right Time Of The Night”
“Right Time of the Night,” released in 1976, was all about firsts—and it was no easy gig for producer Jim Ed Norman.
Classic-Tracks
Classic Tracks: The Doors’ “Riders on the Storm”
“When we first recorded ‘Riders on the Storm,’ it was a nice, light song—but when we got into mixing it is when it all...
Classic-Tracks
Classic Tracks: The Cars’ “Just What I Needed”
The Cars' self-titled album is a quintessential new wave classic, taking the sound of the 50s and making it modern and new.
Classic-Tracks
Classic Tracks: The Fireballs’ “Sugar Shack”
In August 1958, George Tomsco was facing a dilemma that many high school graduates face: what should he do with the rest of his...
Classic-Tracks
Classic Tracks: Arlo Guthrie’s “City of New Orleans”
Sometimes, a so-called "career record" can affect more than one career.
Classic-Tracks
Classic Tracks: k.d. lang’s “Constant Craving”
Nashville still had the door closed for us in country, so we figured, ‘What the hell, we’ll do exactly what we want,’ says producer...
Classic-Tracks
Classic Tracks: Waylon Jennings’ “Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way”
“Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way,” is on Waylon Jennings’ Dreaming My Dreams, the only record he made with legendary engineer/producer Cowboy...
Classic-Tracks
Classic Tracks: The Lovin’ Spoonful’s “Do You Believe in Magic”
Fortunately, nice guys don't always finish last. Sometimes they reach the top of the hill and stay there for quite some time.
Classic-Tracks
Classic Tracks: Suzanne Vega’s “Luka”
There was life before "Luka" and there was life after "Luka," engineer/producer Steve Addabbo says of the impact that the 1987 Suzanne Vega hit...
Classic-Tracks
Classic Tracks: Steve Perry’s “Oh Sherrie”
Steve Perry was on top of the world with Journey when he quietly started recording what would become his first solo hit.
Post Type news_article
Classic Tracks: Kenny Rogers’ “The Gambler”
Kenny Rogers' recording of the Don Schlitz-penned song The Gambler turned a simple record into an entire industry.
Classic-Tracks
Classic Tracks: Big Brother & The Holding Company’s “Piece of My Heart”
Janis Joplin got her start in folk music, surprisingly enough.
Classic-Tracks
Classic Tracks: John Fogerty’s “Centerfield”
John Fogerty’s “Centerfield” is the only song formally “inducted” into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.—it plays there ’round the clock.
Classic-Tracks
Classic Tracks: Mudhoney “Touch Me I’m Sick”
Jack Endino jumpstarted his producing career with EPs for Soundgarden, Green River and Mudhoney, and its debut single, “Touch Me I’m Sick."
Classic-Tracks
Classic Tracks: John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s “Watching the Wheels”
John Lennon's top-10 hit, “Watching the Wheels,” was among producer Jack Douglas' favorite songs on 'Double Fantasy.'
Classic-Tracks
Classic Tracks: Ray Parker Jr.’s “Ghostbusters”
You know the movie and you know the classic track, but do you know how the song really came to be?
Classic-Tracks
Classic Tracks: Jim Croce’s “Time in a Bottle”
Posthumously released, Jim Croce's “Time in a Bottle” reached the top slot on the pop charts in December 1973.
Classic-Tracks
Classic Tracks: Warren Zevon’s “Werewolves of London”
When Warren Zevon emerged in the midst of L.A.'s vibrant singer/songwriter scene in the mid-'70s, he was like a breath of...well, strange air.
Classic-Tracks
Classic Tracks: R.E.M.’s “So. Central Rain”
Mix takes a deep dive into the recording of R.E.M.'s 'So. Central Rain' with producer Mitch Easter.
Classic-Tracks
Classic Tracks: Traffic’s “Dear Mr. Fantasy”
Although Steve Winwood was just shy of 19 when he formed the group Traffic in the spring of 1967, he was already a veteran...
Music Production
Stevie Wonder, ‘Superstition’ and the Immersive Music Pioneers, Part 2
Fifty years before Atmos, Auro and RA360, Stevie Wonder’s classic “Superstition” was recorded and mixed using the original immersive music format.
Music Production
Stevie Wonder, ‘Superstition’ and the Immersive Music Pioneers, Part 1
Fifty years before Atmos, Auro and RA360, Stevie Wonder’s classic “Superstition” was recorded and mixed using the original immersive music format.
Classic-Tracks
Classic Tracks: The Grateful Dead’s “Touch of Grey”
In the summer of 1987, the Grateful Dead made it into the Top 10 with the only hit single of their 30-year career: “Touch...
Classic-Tracks
Classic Tracks: Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s “Ohio”
When the National Guard was deployed against US citizens, killing four and injured nine others protesting at Kent State in 1970, CSN&Y's swift response...
Classic-Tracks
Classic Tracks: Jackson Browne’s “Late For The Sky”
Browne and the late legendary engineer Al Schmitt look back at the masterful title track of 1974's "Late For The Sky."
Classic-Tracks
Classic Tracks: Joe Walsh’s “Life’s Been Good”
Producer/engineer Bill Szymczyk talks about the recording of Joe Walsh’s 1978 hit, “Life’s Been Good”
Classic-Tracks
Classic Tracks: Brownsville Station’s “Smokin’ in the Boys Room”
When it came out in late 1973, "Smokin' in the Boys Room" immediately became the rallying anthem for many high school students.
2014
Classic Tracks: Liz Phair’s “Supernova”
Building on the success of her debut album, Exile in Guyville, Liz Phair came back with a rockin' ode to her boyfriend, "Supernova."
Classic-Tracks
Classic Tracks: The Traveling Wilburys’ “Handle With Care”
The Traveling Wilburys were perhaps popular music's most unusual George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty and Roy Orbison wrote all the material