In 1965, Smokey and Claudette Robinson, Pete Moore, Bobby Rogers, Marv Tarplin, and Ronnie White, A.K.A. “The Miracles” walked into Hitsville USA (Studio A) to record “Tracks of My Tears,” which would become ranked as Rolling Stones’ “Greatest Motown Song of All Time.”
When our good friends at Universal Audio set out to recreate that classic Motown sound via the Hitsville EQ Collection and Reverb Chambers, they tapped Producer/Engineer Fab Dupont to produce the project. Fab called the incredible multi-instrumentalist, Louis Cato, to sing one of Motown’s most immense treasures.
In this Puremix exclusive video, we go behind the scenes of the Universal Audio Apollo Session for “Tracks of My Tears” to see how the original sound was recreated, as well as hear from Bob Olhsson, one of the original engineers at Hitsville, USA who explains all of the original techniques, recording without headphones, the use of DIs, and the evolution of the Motown tape machines.
Sit next to Fab Dupont, Louis Cato, and the Universal Audio crew as they recreate the original sound of “Tracks of My Tears” from Start to Finish.
Hardware
2 Apollo X8P
Macbook Pro
UA Sphere DLX
UA Sphere LX
Electro Voice EV-666
New York Times Newspaper
Software
UA Luna
UAD 610-A
UAD 610-B
UAD Hittsville U.S.A. Reverb Chamber
UAD Waterfall B3
UAD Sphere 180
Process.Audio Decibel
5
20 reviews
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stratos75 •Wednesday, January 3, 2024
Wonderful series. Learned a ton. Incredibly inspired. I saw Fab years ago do a live session and he is the glue that brings this together.
verdoyant •Tuesday, November 14, 2023
Isn't Music amazing? This was a magical experience, total respect to Fab and crew assembling and successfully landing this one!
MusicFreak25 •Wednesday, August 16, 2023
Dude... I love this. The vulnerable way to realize that he wasn't happy with the first mix, even though you're an expert engineer is humbling. It's always about serving the purpose and music over serving the ego. Well done. And the second one most definitely has a vibe. I love the challenge to use mic modeling and placement over EQ'ing everything and over compressing everything. What. great challenge.
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Goldey •Tuesday, June 6, 2023
Comme d'hab, inspirant !
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richreuter •Monday, June 5, 2023
derek.p •Friday, June 2, 2023
Awesome video! Is the Interview with Bob Olson sill available somewhere by chance?
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Rafał Serwatka •Tuesday, May 30, 2023
Roanman •Monday, May 22, 2023
Pretty big fun.
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Hevaldo Souza •Friday, May 19, 2023
I just can Say, Wonderful,Lovely!
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joerobinson963@gmail.com •Wednesday, May 17, 2023
Great, great, great info!! What does he mean by "A mix that would go across flat"? My guess...... that is probably wrong, would be a mix that translate in mono, stereo and 2 channel???
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Romero Carvalho •Wednesday, May 17, 2023
Exercise Files, please!
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thomas.gn •Sunday, May 14, 2023
great stuff
b
ben641 •Thursday, May 11, 2023
Jorge.Costa •Tuesday, May 9, 2023
Awesome! :)
Highlands Recording Arts •Sunday, May 7, 2023
Puremix simply takes my breath away! - The care and love for how music USED to be created - from the Beatles (The lads as we called them back in the day (I was IN LOVE with John (he was nearsighted like me!) )--- and now MOTOWN! It was a time of INVENTION! I was BORN at Highland Park Hospital in Detroit - a little before 1950 - and grew up with Motown - it was Detroit's music. WCHB! WKNR! I noted a very unusual feeling - a phenomena if you will - starting with the Beatles series. My ears had gotten lazy! There was almost an "uneasy" feeling - wanting to see meters -- NO NO NO! BAAAD Cindy! - I have started to once again rely on and TRUST my ears - they are the source of truth. In "my day" I never realized that Detroit (Motwon) was driving the technology - every one else was following! (And I thought Detroit (Motown) only made the cars for the rest of the world! ,... and EMI was playing catch up! - The Beatles LOVED Motown and covered it (Like Please Mr. Postman as an example). Back in the day, doing a "punch" meant cutting (like with SCISSORS) and inserting a NEW piece of tape!! Even in the 1980's when I was in the studio - that is how it was - it was an analog world! (which I much prefer). SO you got it right. Motown and Barry Gordie and the rest relied on Smoky, the Chirelles, the Supremes, the J-5! and SO many more to make MAGIC in that little house and garage in Detroit, and they captured that magic on tape. THANK YOU FAB and everyone at Puremix! - Yes, you take my breath away.
