Thank You for The Music!!

ABBA

Case Study in to Modern Recorded Sound & Their Application of the Studio.  

(ABBA, in the recording studio)

Last week we discussed my top producers ever, now we look at one of the most successful bands of all time ABBA!!

This band is one of the most famous for utilising the recording studio as an instrument to make sound and has altered how we use them in the modern age, they have changed the nature of how we hear music and is one of the most successful bands in history. ABBA, Most notably known as a studio band, faced many barriers in there studio sessions but have only looked to further advance the bands skills in the recording studio, where we see the musicians and producers delivering sounds, styles and techniques never heard like this before.

Benny and Bjorn bring exceptional authentic songwriting talent to the table and a skill we dont in most modern songwriting processes which we find is done via a committee of songwriters typically.

Benny Andersson says “It takes nine songwriters to mould one Ed Sheeran track into an acceptable form for release. “If there are seven people behind it (a song), are they all honest? Do they all mean it?” an excerpt from inews.co.uk.   

(ABBA, singing vocals arrangements in the recording studio)

Their uses of a recording studio as a compositional tool “an instrument” and have elevated their music. Along with this, the genuine lyrical content of songwriters Benny and Bjorn has brought ABBA great success as a studio band.

From my research when looking for recording techniques that I am looking to utilise for my master’s recording project I found one type of technique that they would use in the studios would be to record an additional track on their vocals and layer it, this would be recorded one octave higher then there regular key tone in the song structure.

The reason for the additional added high-pitched track would give a sped-up sound, its this sound they used when mixing in the recording studio. The recording console is at the heart of this technique, used to layer the original vocal and a technique I will look to utilise to see if it can add to my productions, and i hope one you will try at home or in the studios to!!

(Benny & Bjorn in 2017 at Stockholm studio as ABBA for the first time since 1982)

When looking further into how they wrote their i found that they would spend days at a time on an island called Viggso, writer Carl Palm discusses in his book, The Complete Recording Sessions that the lyrics consistently changed.

Benny Andersson said: “I arranged the song, with bass and drums, after the song is finished, not the other way round.”

For example with “The Winner Takes It All” originally titled “The Story Of My Life” both were working on different parts, the ideas they had stemmed from a traditional Swedish dance in which is in 3/4 time, called the hambo. We find when they write lyrics, one would be on the piano and the other on guitar and this being a standard process they would follow during the lyric writing process.  

When trying to understand how they would bring a song together, it’s said they slightly changed one of the melody lines. Their ideas stemmed from other song melodies they created in “Fernando” and “Thank You For The Music” When trying to look at modern songwriting it said Ed Sheeran’s Shape of You, a huge hit but was built lyrically it was written by six credited writers is one example. Another example song would be Galway Girl, this took nine songwriters.

“Typically, a hit song will start with a drum loop created by a beats specialist. Other contributors add the hook, lyrics, melody, instrumentation and a rap.” an excerpt taken from inews.co.uk in 2018.

Andersson continues to say ‘So many songs are now written by committee’ Benny Andersson songwriting with Björn Ulvaeus has produced now timeless classics like, The Winner Takes It All, Dancing Queen, Thank You For The Music to name a few, it was real lyrics and its truthful emotion connections formed between lyric and melody that was key, there lyrical content profoundly shows this almost like a story of there life.

ABBAs typical recording location was at Polar Music Studios, where they initially got the idea for the sound of “The Winner Takes It All” by taking inspiration from their other musical creations but they thought the rhythm was somewhat rigid where they had an insistent beat that was punctuated with handclaps discussed by Calm Palm a book i would reccomend should you wish to find out more, check out his website http://www.carlmagnuspalm.com/abba/books here!!.

It’s clear that the recording studio has aided ABBA as a compositional tool but can it aid me or even youselves in any way from my research into these techniques and styles used, I will be keen to reflect on this and discuss my findings with you in future posts!!

Next week we will look at one of the most successful film trilogies of all time Lord of The Rings, where we will delve into how music elevates they story, we will discuss how Howard Shore does this and how his techniques with leitmotifs have given us such beautifully majestic musical compositions with a video essay discussing this critically acclaimed composer.

Until next time!!