It's Only Love - The Beatles - Full Instrumental Recreation (4K)

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Description

What a wistful, melancholy song! If The Beatles put this much joy and magic into a John Lennon throwaway originally titled "That's a Nice Hat," imagine how much more they could've given us.

This is such a fun song, with such joyfully interesting instrumentation. We have 4 guitars on this track! We have John's aggressive J-160E rhythm, doubled by George on the Framus. There are at least 2 guitar overdubs, 3 by my count, including patented Lennon rhythm stabs on the Strat, plus some Harrisonesque vibrato work on the Gretsch (likely the Tenny). We have that magical drum beat Ringo borrowed from Arthur Alexander, again heard on "In My Life." And above all else, we have a simple John Lennon love song. Sigh. If only he could've had more time...

Isolated tracks: https://soundcloud.com/michael-sokil/sets/its-only-love-isolations.

Trivia:

- Recorded on Tuesday, June 15, 1965, towards the tail end of the "Help!" sessions. Finished in 6 takes.

- You can hear some minor differences in this Anthology outtake: https://youtu.be/U9Kjhs4ZFqg. Ringo's playing the rim of the snare, but I hear actual snare in the master. It's so high pitched in the "Help!" sessions, the sound is basically identical. Also, some slightly different syncopations in the acoustic strumming.

- Again, major respect to ManWithNoExpression. My cover is very similar, with only a few differences. Amazing job. https://youtu.be/PkVLOkAO1PQ

- Those Harrison parts are quirky as hell! I also hear 2 guitars here, with George adding more vibrato as the song progresses. I repeated the technique I used on "Can't Buy Me Love," to grab the Bigsby as I play. It's fun as hell. Also, I actually tuned my B string to C for the higher guitar, since I hear a thin, open-string sound on that ringing C.

- My intuition is that Paul used his fingers on the Hofner, since I can't really make out any bass notes at all. That's usually due to very little attack, or just bassy EQ, but the slow tempo and bassy sound led me to the fingers. Sounds good to me!

I'm also switching up the backgrounds and filming locations a little bit. Experimenting is fun.

Instruments:
- 2007 Fender Classic Player 60's Sonic Blue Stratocaster (strung w/Pyramid .10 flats)
- Gretsch 1962 Country Gentleman G6122T-62 GE (Pyramid .11 flats)
- Ibanez AW5412JR Artwood 3/4 Dreadnought Acoustic 12-String Guitar (stock rounds)
- 2017 Gibson J-160E Custom Shop 1962 Reissue (Pyramid .13 flats)
- Hofner HCT-500/1-SB (strung w/Labella flats)
- 60's Ludwig No. 980 Super Classic Outfit 9x13 / 16x16 / 14x22 kit (Black Oyster Pearl)

Recording Equipment & Miscellaneous:
- Beatles Drop-T #4 drumhead courtesy of Russ Lease (beatlesuits.com)
- Vox Valvetronix VT100X Guitar Combo Amp
- PreSonus Studio 1824C Interface (6 microphones used)
- Cad Audio Stage7 7-Piece Drum Microphones (toms, snare & bass drum)
- MXL V250 Condenser Mic: drum overhead mic & acoustic guitar
- Drums recorded and mixed with PreSonus Studio One
- Shure SM57 (under hi-hat, bass)

Waves Abbey Road Plugins used on this track:
- Abbey Road RS124 Compressor Stereo
- REDD37-51 Stereo
- Abbey Road Vinyl Stereo
- Abbey Road Plates Stereo
- J37 Tape Stereo
- RS56 Passive EQ Stereo

Video Equipment:
- Camera: Canon M50
- Edited with Adobe Premiere Pro on HP Envy 32'' All in One

Feel free to leave comments, I'll respond to as many as I can.