Music and Soundtrack Features

Yoko and Sean had, in fact, encouraged Hicks and Hilton to look for ways to go beyond what simply replicating the original mixes had to offer. "We first would match it to the original mix," Hicks says, "and then we would take a moment and decide what we could do to improve it. There's no point in just making the vocal a touch clearer. If you're gonna do it, let's make it sound as impressive as possible, and just go for it." In fact, as a matter of process, Hicks would follow what he learned from one of his own engineering mentors, the legendary Beatles engineer Geoff Emerick. "If it sounds good, just put it on there. You gotta try it out and have some fun with it."

"That's why Yoko calls Hicks 'Golden Ears!'" laughs Hilton.

One big adjustment was in exploring and emphasizing the low frequency range in the recordings, especially in recordings made from 1973 and 1974, when Lennon began producing himself after having worked with producer Phil Spector since 1970. "I began thinking, are some younger people going to be putting these tracks in a playlist along with newer recordings/artists?" Hicks pondered. "So we decided to bring the low end, the bass up, to something more listenable."

One place it was exceptionally absent was in the recording of New York studio bassist Gordon Edwards's playing on tracks from 1973's Mind Games. The musician was known for playing through a small Ampeg B15 Portaflex guitar amp, with a single 15-inch speaker—not your typical bass cabinet heard on rock records. "'Mind Games' [the song itself] was actually the most challenging," Hicks states. "The delivery mechanism has changed—there are more quality systems today. Back then, much was mixed for the speakers of small AM radios, but on that song, there's quite a lot of content in there. You've got a Mellotron and guitar," making up the song's signature riff, "that go all the way through it."

And unlike previous mixes which had been attempted some years earlier, which revealed the ingredients of Lennon's recordings quite explicitly, Hicks's mixes leave the magic intact. "It's really a fine line you have to draw and not go too far from. Sean and Yoko, even in early discussions, pointed out that John's recordings are timeless. So that had to be one of my main focuses." Notes Hilton, "That's the magic of Paul Hicks. This taught us to make them contemporary, but also classic and timeless. You have to have the feel of the original analog, because that's of its time. It's like restoring an old master painting. Sometimes you have to rub off some layers, to get back to the beautiful colors behind."

On a song like "Stand By Me," from 1975's Rock 'n Roll, there is less of the original tape slap heard on Lennon's vocal, something Hicks says was likely created using something like an Eventide Harmonizer. "We reduced that, but also brought John's vocal up and pulled the track down some, just so you can hear him. And he sounds great."

Yoko and Sean also gave their blessing, where needed, to slight changes in the arrangements heard in the new mixes. "On 'Mind Games,' for instance, there are some very subtle things done that you won't necessarily notice," Hilton states. On the original mix, there is an instrument heard only as a constant "whurr" throughout the track. "Once you start treating that as an instrument in the arrangement more, rather than just a drone, you get more clarity." On a track like "Woman," from Double Fantasy, he notes, "there are four synths, all doing the same thing, and we all thought the song would be better served if it doesn't need to be in the verse so much.'"

"Whatever Gets You Thru the Night" from 1974, Lennon's first No. 1 hit single—and featuring Elton John on keyboards and vocals—opens with an organ sweep not heard on the original mix, though present on the multitrack. "Sean had asked us to keep an eye out for things that could be heard before and after the master take begins," Hicks explains. Elton and John's vocal harmonies together are heard with greater clarity than ever.

With Lennon's vocals made so clear, particularly on tracks from the very personal Plastic Ono Band disc, it was important to rid the recordings of any flaws, such as mouth clicks or pops, which Gannon accomplished using iZotope Rx software. "There was a lot more cleanup to do on that album—because there's just so much more silence," says Hilton of the tracks made up simply of Lennon on guitar or piano, Klaus Voormann on bass, and Ringo Starr on drums. Notes Hicks, "When you open up the sound and bring out all that clarity, you suddenly hear clicks and noises, which, once you start listening, can become annoying."

Hicks's mixing actually took place in two stages. He would first produce his mixes at his home studio, using digital effects plugins. But then, in keeping with Sean Lennon's wishes, brought them over to Henson Recording Studios (the former A & M Studios) in Los Angeles to replace those effects with the countless analog effects the studio has. "We had lots of gear to choose from, like Neve compressors, Fairchild limiters and Pultec EQs—and real tape delay," the engineer explains. "They have 10 plate reverbs at Henson—it's great. There's nothing like real plate reverb." Even the tracks from Imagine, which Hicks had already mixed in 2018, were treated in that fashion— removing the digital effects he had used then and replacing them with analog at Henson.

One other analog effect came built in, and was left intact: tape hiss. "We're not afraid of tape hiss," Hicks laughs. "The world went through the de-noise phase and came out the other end."

Besides the stereo mixes, as noted, Hicks also created 5.1 surround and Dolby Atmos mixes for Gimme Some Truth, taking full advantage of the ability to place instruments anywhere in the Atmos space to create an immersive experience, but without being gimmicky with sound. "I really love the fact that you've got the ability to place things above—but you have to be careful," notes Hicks, who recently acquired an Atmos-capable Sonos Arc soundbar system for himself.

As with his choices in his stereo mixes, Hicks would often resort to trial-and-error to find what works best placed where. While guitars would typically go in front, for above and behind, "Anything that isn't percussive, such as musical 'pads' [constant rhythmic instruments], keyboards and piano. It's a bit like a jigsaw puzzle. It takes a while to figure out what works, particularly if there's a solo present on a track. You don't want anything to suddenly disappear. You just put the track up, try three or four things, and one of them just clicks."

Songs which required particular care were those Spector created using his iconic "Wall of Sound" process, such as "Angel Baby," an outtake from the Rock 'n' Roll sessions, recorded at A & M in October 1973. "That was recorded on 16-track, with, say, four acoustic guitars, two electric guitars, another doing a 'chug' rhythm, and two sets of drums, already mixed onto a stereo pair on two tracks. He might have two pianos, plus an electric piano. But with Atmos, it's important not to go pulling things out that need to be together. You could start going crazy and putting something in every speaker, but if you separate items out too much, you lose the glue. It's really all about craft, particularly with the way Spector produced and mixed. He would mix with varying EQ, not necessarily with volume, placing a piano in the mid-frequency range. With him, there's a frequency range for everything."

The progression of production was not something new to Lennon's recording experience. "If you look at the trajectory of what The Beatles created for their own albums," says Hilton, "on each successive release, you had a new kind of sound that was totally new, that took your ears time to adjust to. And John was the same – he was always going for something new and different every time. Plastic Ono Band was really stripped down, going for a raw absolute truth. Imagine added strings and sugar. And when you get to Mind Games, he's really starting to play with the producing, trying to shape sound in new innovative ways. He's got a slide guitar and Mellotron combining on "Mind Games," but doing it in a different way, just to get a new sound in there. I think that quest for something new was what The Beatles did, and it's something that you can hear clearly with John on this album."