Since Richard's note didn't come with the download, and I thought others might like to see it, I took the liberty of typing it up. (If there are any typos, they are mine, not his.) Here you go:
There have been countless times over many years when, after hearing one of our records, I would imagine how nice it would be to have another crack at an arrangement, or to correct various and sundry other things. So, it was a most pleasant surprise when I was asked to do just that, in addition to conducting the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, as part of the creation of this album. Carpenters with the Royal Philharmonic is more than a new “hits” collection, albeit with a larger orchestra. Much more.
To begin with, I selected songs that were not only well suited for Karen’s voice, but also our multi-tracked harmonies, a contributing factor to the overall “Carpenter Sound,” as it was soon to be labeled. Then it was on to revising my orchestral arrangements; applying the changes I’d been thinking of for years, such as the oboe line in the first chorus of “Ticket to Ride,” the bassoon in the interlude of “Superstar,” piccolo trumpet in “Goodbye to Love” and additional writing for the strings on virtually all the tracks.
The latest technology was employed to make right a number of blemishes and oversights in the original recordings that have been haunting me for years. To wit, key instruments in several of the songs were slightly out of tune and were not noticed by us until the records were either mixed or released; more than a few of our earlier recordings came to a close at a faster tempo than they had begun, and minor clicks, squeaks and creaks ultimately found their way into a completed record, much to our chagrin. All have now been either expunged or corrected. Above all is the absence of the ambient noise, such as the A/C rumble, that made its way into Karen’s lead vocals, among other things. This room noise was a bugaboo in the finest of studios, and by and large didn’t seem that apparent until CDs came along. But now that it’s gone (along with CDs), it seems it was only too apparent, and that, along with dialing back the amount of reverb used in our later recordings and remixes, makes Karen’s leads sound cleaner, closer, warmer, and better than ever.
Carpenters with the Royal Philharmonic turned out to be not only a monumental undertaking, but a labor of love, certainly for me, and I believe all who were instrumental in its making.
[I did not include the various thank yous.]
-Richard Carpenter
October, 2018
There have been countless times over many years when, after hearing one of our records, I would imagine how nice it would be to have another crack at an arrangement, or to correct various and sundry other things. So, it was a most pleasant surprise when I was asked to do just that, in addition to conducting the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, as part of the creation of this album. Carpenters with the Royal Philharmonic is more than a new “hits” collection, albeit with a larger orchestra. Much more.
To begin with, I selected songs that were not only well suited for Karen’s voice, but also our multi-tracked harmonies, a contributing factor to the overall “Carpenter Sound,” as it was soon to be labeled. Then it was on to revising my orchestral arrangements; applying the changes I’d been thinking of for years, such as the oboe line in the first chorus of “Ticket to Ride,” the bassoon in the interlude of “Superstar,” piccolo trumpet in “Goodbye to Love” and additional writing for the strings on virtually all the tracks.
The latest technology was employed to make right a number of blemishes and oversights in the original recordings that have been haunting me for years. To wit, key instruments in several of the songs were slightly out of tune and were not noticed by us until the records were either mixed or released; more than a few of our earlier recordings came to a close at a faster tempo than they had begun, and minor clicks, squeaks and creaks ultimately found their way into a completed record, much to our chagrin. All have now been either expunged or corrected. Above all is the absence of the ambient noise, such as the A/C rumble, that made its way into Karen’s lead vocals, among other things. This room noise was a bugaboo in the finest of studios, and by and large didn’t seem that apparent until CDs came along. But now that it’s gone (along with CDs), it seems it was only too apparent, and that, along with dialing back the amount of reverb used in our later recordings and remixes, makes Karen’s leads sound cleaner, closer, warmer, and better than ever.
Carpenters with the Royal Philharmonic turned out to be not only a monumental undertaking, but a labor of love, certainly for me, and I believe all who were instrumental in its making.
[I did not include the various thank yous.]
-Richard Carpenter
October, 2018