Dear melomaniac, I have the utmost pleasure of writing my first music article for soundnews.net and, searching deep in my heart for an album to choose for this one-of-a-kind occasion, I ended up with the one I consider the best, one of the most special and spectacular albums out there, young in comparison with the legendary ones, but, nevertheless, in a league of its own, being legendary immediately as it was launched 11 years ago.
At first, “Random Access Memories” could easily be mistaken for just another French sounding electronic dance upbeat and experimental type of record. And, if curiosity doesn’t drive you, then, this album could be just that: a simple thing that people dance to.
However, if you are prepared to unzip its contents and really listen to its hundreds of quirks, you will end up stepping in a completely different universe, a dimension of Daft Punk, of vocoders, of synthesizers, of real instruments, of robots, of real people, of helmets, but, nevertheless, a disc made by audiophiles for all of us. Fascinating, isn’t it?
I say this because I spent days and days reading interviews and articles about the fascinating process of recording and producing this album, and from this research I learned that this disc has achieved something that maybe no other disc has: it is an audiophile disc at its basis, but is intended for all types of listeners, it does not matter if you are an audiophile with a hundred thousand HiFi system or just a guy who dances in the local club each Friday night, Random Access Memories works every time, in any condition, and I must say: this is a very unique achievement from this disc.
You will never see people dancing in a nightclub to Diana Krall, but, if chances align, look closely in your local pub the following Friday evening, chances are you will see an audiophile or a melomaniac besides regular people dancing frenetically to a song from Random Access Memories. This is a very rare disc, an audiophile disc for the masses, but also a true-audiophile disc that audiophiles and melomaniacs can finally dance to. I say and know this from experience: I have my own foot-tapping, soul-lifting, dance-vibing with this awesome one-of-a-kind disc.
When you hit play and listen to this album with your heart, you will be instantly transported to the past, you will hear DISCO music and the specific wining of an electric guitar, but all of these will come with a modern twist that will make you wonder: how did they do it?
This is when your powers of unzipping need to be at their best and this is when you need to put all your preconceptions aside, I will start unfolding the story of this disc and I promise you will be amazed by what’s coming. The first thing I clearly state is: Random Access Memories is not a dance album! This is the actual key for decrypting RAM and will allow you to really listen to this disc.
Listening with your eyes closed, with your heart open and with your mind at ease will make the one-hour stop a real time travel, Random Access Memories will be like a trip to the past and, as I said before, like a trip in a Daft Punk dimension. Here, in this newly discovered land, music is very holographic and it completely envelopes you in a magical field of well-being and you will not even realize the hour has passed and the disc ended.
I’ve listened to Random Access Memories for hundreds of times, and each time I was more and more curious about its contents, each time I discovered something new that needed more and more answers. The most shocking discovery about RAM was related to its production. As I said before, at the beginning RAM sounds like a regular modern electronic music disc, however, you notice immediately there are certain intriguing nuances that make you wonder.
Researching how this disc was made I was completely shocked: absolutely every sound on Random Access Memories is 100% analogical! Yes, you’ve heard right. Daft Punk wanted to use only real instruments, even the synthesizers were analogical and not digital.
So, how was this possible, how was an electronic music disc made from analogical sounds and with real musical instruments? Well, indeed it is a feat of technology and lots of hard work, but still, the truth lies in the past and both Daft Punk members were very passionate about how dance music was made in the 70s, the only moment in time when music sounded rigorous and repetitive, but without the use of processors, drum machines or synths. In DISCO music for instance, we had real drummers who were repeating a beat for minutes, the same with guitar loops etc. This is why popular music from this era sounded much truer.
The interesting thing is that Random Access Memories began as regular “digitally” produced disc that should sound very close to their previous discs: “Human After All” (2005) and “Discovery” (2001). They worked on a good part of the album before pausing the works on RAM and moved to the production of the soundtrack of “Tron: Legacy” (2010). This is when their concept heavily changed, having worked with a real orchestra and with real instruments for the first time. It was love at first sight, their passion for real instruments was deep and coming back to the production of RAM after Tron was interesting but deciding, as they instantly discarded all previous works and started from scratch. This is when the real concept of RAM was put into place: RAM was to be done with real instruments carefully recorded and mixed.
This is the moment an artist transcends and decides on a out-of-this-world concept, and if we look closely in the history book of music, in the same manner other legendary discs were made, starting from a crazy idea, but, nevertheless, marking us all with their legend. In this regard, I cannot emphasize enough on the French duo, Daft Punk, comprised of Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Cristo. Here is a picture with the two:
Yes, indeed these two are Daft Punk. On the left, we have Thomas and, on the right we have Guy-Man. If so far I emphasized much on their music, now I will also emphasize on their image, one of the most interesting ones I was able to find in the music industry. Early in their music, they adopted these alter egos for public appearances and concerts, both morphing into these two musician androids.
Thomas and Guy-Man are both born in France, they met in high school, putting together some music projects in their youth. Both are very private people, with regular families and regular lives, avoiding stardom and public appearances. However, their music grew very big at some point and this “masking” was much needed to protect their modesty and privacy. However, even though these masks were there to protect the duo’s real personalities, they grew personalities of their own, paradoxically making the duo notoriously successful.
However, a few years after Random Access Memories was launched, under international shock, DP officially split causing utter sadness through their fanbase. This is why for us, their fans, their albums are precious history now and we all live with a daring dream: maybe, at some point, they will get back together and give us another legendary disc.
But, until then, I will come back to the subject at hand, and I will tell you that legendary artists were invited to feature on RAM: Nile Rodgers of Chic, Pharell Williams, Giorgio Moroder, Paul Williams, Julian Casablancas, Todd Edwards, DJ Falcon, Chilly Gonzales and Nathan East. Please see below a picture taken at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards in 2014, when RAM won 5 Grammys: Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Best Dance/Electronic Album, Best Pop Duo/Group Performance and Best Engineered Album-Non-Classical. From left to right: Giorgio Moroder, Nile Rodgers, Thomas Bangalter, Paul Williams, Pharell Williams and, taking a big reverence, Guy-Manuel de Homem-Cristo:
The production process was very different compared to a regular disc, long sessions of recordings were made in the US and in Europe, all the above artists thoroughly recorded separate chunks that will later become songs under the craftsmanship of Thomas and Guy-Man.
The recording process was very intricate by itself, each recording being made digitally, but also analogically with the help of a Studer A827 ATR 24-track tape machine with Dolby SR. To emphasize DP’s attention to sound, I will say that in post-production, in most cases, the tape will be the preferred source, and what we are hearing today on the disc is mostly tape. Below a picture of the legendary A827:
DP and especially Thomas were very thorough when comes to sound, for instance, Dolby SR is a tape noise reduction technology that is decades old, and heavily used back in the day, especially in the 80s. However, we now know that Dolby SR comes with a heavy downside when applied it clearly reduces tape hiss, but modifies the highs and lows of a recording, Dolby SR being the source of the specific 80s kind of sound, with thin-sounding lows and highs. However, Thomas asked specifically for Dolby SR to be on during recordings, especially to obtain this one-of-a-kind 80s sound. Wicked, isn’t it?
After the recording session was done, Thomas and Guy-Manuel got the recordings and used them as samples and loops, adding also their vocoded voices and analogical synths, building the songs one by one. It’s completely fascinating to realize that analogically produced and recorded sounds will be used in a digital realm to form a track of “electronic” music. Even the digital-to-analog converter needed to bring the tape recordings to the digital realm was a vintage one: Aurora A-D, of course, especially asked for by Thomas.
As I said before, the album features a lot of great artists that you do not usually put together. For instance, they made a DISCO hit by putting together one of the greatest funk and DISCO guitarists, Nile Rodgers, besides the ever-energic Pharell Williams. When I saw them on MTV for the first time, in that epic video for “Get Lucky”, my mind was completely blocked. I said to myself: “Wait! What? Who’s that cool and happy old guy at the guitar? Who are these guys with the helmets? And, by all means, why does Pharell sing like that?”. It was bonkers, that is what it was. I was happy, my heart was flying, I couldn’t stop listening to Get Lucky for days and days, it was by far one of the greatest songs ever, it was like the 70s were here once again. I am sure you had the same feeling when you saw this video for the first time, so here it is, let’s rejoice together:
In the same manner, they collaborated for track 5 with Julian Casablancas of The Strokes, the song “Instant Crush” came to life, and boy, what a song, what a Julian! Also, a deep introspective ballad-of-sorts with the one-of-a-kind Paul Williams, in his 70s when the song “Touch” was recorded, a song full of William’s legacy.
But the coolest collaboration by far was with Giorgio Moroder, the genius producer of the 80s who was notoriously prolific in launching hit after hit with artists like Donna Summer, Blondie, Limahl, Janet Jackson, Irene Cara or Berlin. Daft Punk explained in an interview that for them Giorgio is the most important player in the music industry, being the one that introduced the synthesizer in popular music back in the 80s, creating a real revolution and opening lots of opportunities for musicians worldwide.
In this regard, Daft Punk invited Giorgio to join them in creating a track that will honor his legacy. Giorgio explained in an interview that he met with DP for the first recording session, and he was sat down in the studio and invited to talk while they were recording. He asked: what should I say? DP replied: just talk about yourself and how it all started. We can hear this at the beginning of the „Giorgio by Moroder”. Giorgio started talking but he observed that there was more than one microphone recording in front of him. DP explained that one of the microphones is a modern very good one and the other one is the original 80s microphone that Giorgio used in the studio with his recordings. Thorough, isn’t it? That’s attention to detail, brother. Here is a picture of DP and Giorgio:
Finally, the songs were recorded, the tracks were finalized by Thomas and Guy-Man, but now, one of the most important steps in music production were supposed to happen. Mixing. Oh-boy – mixing!
You know, dear melomaniac, I wished all music productions to grant the same attention to mixing as DP gave in the case of RAM. Because, I will say this: mixing is very often confused with mastering and vice versa. A good-sounding album is a perfectly mixed album, mastering counts, but less than mixing and to make myself clear: mastering is not mixing.
After many attempts at mixing, Thomas was not happy with the result and decided he wanted a 100% analogical mix. This is when they met the amazing Mick Guzauski, an American mixing engineer and sound engineer. Mick won many awards for his productions, and he is often considered as one of the best mixing engineers out there. He worked with Christina Aguilera, Anastacia, Marc Anthony, Babyface, Backstreet Boys, The Bee Gees, George Benson, Toni Braxton, Cher, Ray Charles, Prince and the list can go on for at least 2 or 3 pages. This guy is really rockin’ it.
For this reason, DP wanted the best engineer and the best procedure for their mix, so one of the final versions of the mix was done on Ampex 102 tape, fully analogical. The digital pre-mixes of the tracks were transferred back to the analogical domain, where Thomas and Guzauski worked for months until a satisfying and perfect mix was obtained.
Guzauski explained the process in many interviews, and it was clear that it was not easy, he stated at some point that Thomas was hearing differences that even he couldn’t hear. For instance, Thomas was so thorough in the mixing process that he ended up asking that the mixing board’s tape machines be calibrated each morning. This was done usually once a year, but he could hear if a machine was uncalibrated even after just a day of work. That’s what I call a real audiophile. Below a picture of Guzauski during the long nights of mixing RAM:
The mastering was done in two stages, firstly by the legendary Bob Ludwig starting from the analogical mixes done by Mick Guzauski. I cannot pass by without telling you a few words about the genius of Bob Ludwig. You know, dear melomaniac, I wrote a lot about music and have been reading a lot about many legendary albums like RAM, and I’m always bumping into Bob Ludwig, this guy somehow managed to sign the mastering of almost all great albums of the 90s and 00s. Amazing man, amazing work! Here he is:
So, Random Access Memories did not pass by Bob Ludwig, he put his hand on this one also, and to be frank, how could that be? How could we have such a great album as RAM without the hand of Bob Ludwig? Even in the end, Thomas wanted the best and he got the best: Mick Guzauski and Bob Ludwig.
There was also a very interesting story about the master tapes who needed to travel from Los Angeles to New York, from Mick Guzauski to Bob Ludwig. You can imagine the modern wonder called “Post” could solve that in about a day. But Thomas and Guy-Manuel decided that the master tapes were too precious to travel with strangers, so, they decided the trip will be done also “analogically”, old-school – a personal trip with a car across the US to get the master tapes to their destination. Crazy, isn’t it?
The second part of the master was done after the work of Bob Ludwig, which exported the analogical mix to an 88.2 KHz 24-bit digital render which was used for a second mastering session at Translab Studios in Paris by another genius called Antoine Chabert.
So, in this phenomenal feat of uniting the two continents, Americans and Europeans put their elbow grease to work and completed this one-of-a-kind musical marvel for the two French androids. Random Access Memories was finished after 5 whole years of hard work and special circumstances.
I cannot end this special article without adding my personal feelings regarding RAM and one of its very special tracks. For me all its tracks are special and go directly in my heart, but one of them tends to be different, to stick in my music mind.
This song is called “Motherboard”, and it is like a foundation of electronic music, being a wonder of the craftsmanship of Guy-Man and Thomas. On a greatly calibrated Hi-Fi system this song shines, having some bass transitions and holographic parts that I have not heard in any other song. For me, this song is like a symphony of drums, of basslines and of holography. Guy-Man and Thomas also have a special connection with this song, naming it “a futuristic composition that comes from the year 4000”.
In the closing of this article, I will emphasize deeply on the legacy that this album leaves behind. We can only hope that at one point Daft Punk will reunite and make more discs, but, until then this is the one disc that they left behind and it is so heavy that it nearly made Europe and the US come even closer together. RAM did what no other album has done: it revived music, it made DISCO possible again, and, without any doubt it, made time travel a reality.
When they first unveiled the concept of this album, Thomas and Guy-Man stated that they are making this album to “give life back to music”, because, in their opinion, and mine for that matter, modern popular music lost its “life”. Therefore, I must conclude that this album definitely helped modern music to regain this lost life, and this can be easily noticed by eye: each time I enter in a music store this album has like a light aura around it, it shines, and I can see it immediately, making itself noticed, making itself heard.
Random Access Memories remains one of the most elaborated albums of all time and when we listen to it, we hear what Thomas heard, and when we dance to it, we are seeing Guy-Man taking a bow. That’s art, that’s power and that’s music with life in it.
Chapeau bas aux messieurs androïdes!
Silviu TUDOR
An article written in my sweet spot,
and this is what I’ve heard.
