The sound engineers at OEM Inc. have spent thousands of hours with the original masters of the most
famous songs ever recorded. They use them to create products like Jammit, an iPhone app that allows
you to remix and play along with those original tracks. There are many, many things to learn from
those original tracks. Through a partnership with Gearhead Communications, OEM Inc. engineers are
sharing their discoveries exclusively with Premier Guitar readers in what we like to call…
“Smoke on the Water”
by Deep Purple
By Frank Gryner
During every second of every minute of every
hour of every day, somewhere in the world
there’s a kid in a music store playing the lead
riff to “Smoke on the Water.” The fact that
Deep Purple’s 1972 rock anthem is part the
repertoire of millions of guitarists old and
new, if not the repertoire, is a testament to
the song’s infectious, accessible groove. It
is timeless, even when played incorrectly
as most people play it. Like many legendary recordings, conflicting accounts of its
creation can be augmented by media hype,
fading memories, and of course, any drugs
that may have been consumed before, during
and after the recording. Today, we’ll focus on
what we can corroborate from the original
master multi-track tapes of “Smoke on the
Water,” and piece together the real story.
Location, Location…
Deep Purple’s sixth album, Machine Head,
was recorded under the watchful eye of
Martin Birch (Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath,
and early Fleetwood Mac) on 16-track 2"
tape at 15 inches per second with no noise
reduction. They recorded it over three weeks
in Montreux, Switzerland, using a mobile
studio truck rented from the Rolling Stones.
Remember, back in those days location
recording wasn’t as simple as throwing your
laptop and MBox into the back of your Prius!
Let this tale serve as a reminder that it’s good
to keep your recordings adventurous!
police were called on a noise complaint. After
getting shut down, they would settle into the
seasonally-vacant Grand Hotel.
Master Tapes Don’t Lie
For most of us, Ian Gillan’s lyrics on “Smoke
on the Water” have already documented the
backstory of Machine Head very well. A fire
broke out during a Frank Zappa concert at
a casino in Montreux, thwarting the band’s
plans to record there. This forced the band to
record in the “empty cold and bare” Grand
Hotel instead. Although much of the album
was indeed recorded at the hotel, the basic
tracks for “Smoke” were tracked at the nearby
Pavilion Theatre. As the story goes, the band
had set up and recorded a few takes before
Soloing the original “Smoke” tracks today
may be the closest thing there is to going
back in time to witness Deep Purple tracking this historic performance. When listening
to and comparing the stereo ambient room
tracks of “Smoke in the Water” to the other
