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 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…
“I’m Eighteen” by Alice Cooper By Chris Baseford
From the album, Love It To Death (1971 Warner Bros.)
Produced by: Bob Ezrin and Jack Richardson
Engineered by: Brian Christian
Recorded at: RCA Mid-American
Recording Center (Chicago, IL)
Available in the JAMMIT “Classic Rock Vol. 1” application
with. The handwritten track sheet confirmed
that the song had been tracked at RCA Mid-
American Recording Center in Chicago, and
although some of the other songs on the
album had been recorded at 30 IPS, “I’m
Eighteen” was marked as being tracked
to the 16-track 2" tape at 15 IPS without
any noise reduction. The track layout was
marked as follows:
Alice Cooper has always been best known
for his outrageous stage persona, and he
practically invented the genre of shock-rock,
but it’s the clever, yet hooky songs that
have kept Alice in the forefront of the music
industry for over 40 years. Love It To Death
was the band’s third album and would signify
the change to more hard rock and anthem-
based songs, thanks in large part to their
new producer, Bob Ezrin. Ezrin is well known
for co-writing and arranging many of the
songs that he produced, and his involvement
on this record definitely shaped the way the
world would eventually come to know Alice
Cooper’s music. “I’m Eighteen” was the song
that would bring Alice into the mainstream.
Bass Drum
Drums
Drums
O/A Drums
O/A Drums
Having spent many days in a recording stu-
dio reminiscing about the sound and vibe of
older, classic albums—which seems so hard
to achieve in a world of modern equipment
and recording techniques—my interest was
definitely piqued when I got my hands on
the original master multi-track for this time-
less song. Unlike most recording sessions
of the last 10 to 15 years, this track actually
had documentation: a properly labeled tape
box, a typed track sheet and a handwritten
track sheet… a very nice surprise to start off
Guit.
Guit.
Bass
Acc. Guit.
Acc. Guit.
Vocal & Harp
Lead Guit
Harp & Organ
Tom Tom Back Beat
X
Track six wasn’t labeled as having anything on
it, but when I played the tape back there was
another guitar that was a double to the guitar
found on track 8 but slightly more overdriven.
I listened very carefully to the original mix,
and it didn’t sound like the unlabeled guitar
part had been used, but it was definitely cool
to hear a slightly heavier guitar sound that
may have thickened up the guitars in the mix
if it had been used.
One of my favorite things about mixing
songs for Jammit that were recorded in
the seventies is being able to observe the
many different practices of recording drums.
Some engineers would have a kick, snare
and stereo overhead setup; others a kick,
snare and mono room. What I found interesting about “I’m Eighteen” is that it had a
mono kick track, two stereo pairs of drum kit
tracks (one being overheads and the other
being an overall room/kit sound), but no
snare track. The main drum sound in the mix
was derived from the stereo pair on tracks
4 and 5, which had a great overall balance
of kick, snare, toms and cymbals. Although I
mixed in the kick drum track for a little more
punch and the other stereo drum pair for
ambience, the original mix could have very
easily sounded great with only this single
stereo pair of tracks. Drum recordings from
this era aren’t nearly as full-spectrum as
they are today, but when mixed in with the
rest of the track, they sound big and full.
The one anomaly that I didn’t notice in the
original mix (until dissecting the multi) was
that there was an overdub of a tom-tom on
the backbeat (beats 2 and 4) of the intro and
choruses. This had an effect of fattening up
the snare drum that also played on beats 2
and 4, a unique idea that would be a precursor to triggering and layering samples in
the upcoming decade.
The guitar tracks in this song were equally
exciting to hear. Glenn Buxton and Michael
Bruce played similar parts throughout the
choruses, but with a nice interplay between
