Space Oddity: from song to track

If you have ever wondered what it is that a music producer does, David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” provides an excellent example. A producer turns this:

into this:

It’s also interesting to listen to the first commercial recording of “Space Oddity,” which is better than the demo, but still nowhere near as majestic as the final version. The Austin Powers flute solo is especially silly.

Should we even consider these three recordings to be the same piece of music? On the one hand, they all have the same melody and chords and lyrics. On the other hand, if the song only existed in its demo form, or in the awkward Austin Powers version, it would never have become such an icon. Some of the improved quality of the final version is the result of better recording techniques and equipment, but it’s more than that. The music takes on a different meaning in the final version. It’s bigger, trippier, punchier, tighter, more cinematic, more transporting, and vastly more emotionally impactful.

When you’re thinking about a piece of recorded music, you’re really talking about three different things:

1. The underlying composition, the part that can be represented on paper. Albin Zak calls this “the song.”
2. The performance of the song.
3. The finished recording, after overdubbing, mixing, editing, effects, and all the rest. Albin Zak calls this “the track.”

The producer’s job is to marshal the efforts of songwriters, arrangers, performers and engineers to turn a song into a track. (Note that the producer might also be a songwriter, arranger, performer, and/or engineer.)

I had always assumed that Tony Visconti produced “Space Oddity,” since he produced so many other classic Bowie songs. As it turns out, though, Visconti was underwhelmed by the song, so he delegated it to his assistant, Gus Dudgeon. So what is it that Gus Dudgeon did precisely? You can hear from the demo that the chords, melody and lyrics were all in place before Bowie walked into the studio. The demo also includes a vocal arrangement that’s similar to the final one, aside from some small phrasing changes. The acoustic guitar and Stylophone are in place as well. (I had always thought it was an oboe, but no, that droning sound is a low-tech synth.)

Gus Dudgeon took Bowie’s song and a partial arrangement, and turned it into a track. He oversaw the addition of electric guitar, bass, drums, strings, woodwinds, and keyboards. He coached Bowie and the various studio musicians through their performances, he selected the takes, and he decided on effects like echoes and reverb. He also supervised the mixing, which not only sets the relative loudness of the various sounds, but also affects their perceived spatial location and musical significance. In short, Dudgeon designed the actual sounds that you hear.

If you want to dive deep into the track, you’re in luck, because Bowie officially released the multitrack stems. Some particular points of interest:

• The bassist, Herbie Flowers, was a rookie. The “Space Oddity” session was his first studio gig. He later went on to create the iconic dual bass part in Lou Reed’s “Walk on the Wild Side.”
• The strings were arranged and conducted by the multifaceted Paul Buckmaster, who a few years later would work with Miles Davis on the conception of On The Corner. Buckmaster’s cello harmonics contribute significantly to the psychedelic atmosphere–listen to the end of the stem labeled “Extras 1.”
• The live strings are supplemented by a Mellotron, played by future Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman, he of the flamboyant gold cape.
• Tony Visconti plays some flute and unspecified woodwinds, including the distinctive saxophone run that leads into the instrumental sections.

You can read a detailed analysis of the recording on the excellent Bowiesongs blog.

The big difference between the 1960s and the present is that in current pop music, the track has assumed ever-greater importance relative to the song and the performance. In the age of MIDI and digital audio editing, live performance has become a totally optional component of music. The song is increasingly inseparable from the sounds used to realize it, especially in synth-heavy music like hip-hop and EDM. This shift gives the producer ever-greater importance in the creative process. There is really no such thing as a “demo” anymore, since anyone with a computer can produce finished-sounding tracks in their bedroom. If David Bowie were a young artist now, he would put together “Space Oddity” in GarageBand or FL Studio, with a surreal soundscape part of the conception from the beginning.

The techniques used to make “Space Oddity” were esoteric and expensive to realize back in the 1960s, but now they’re within reach of anyone with a computer. The thing is, however accessible the tools of the studio may be, you still have to have the ideas. This is why it’s so valuable to study great producers like Tony Visconti and Gus Dudgeon: they’re a goldmine of sonic inspiration.

See also: a broader appreciation of Bowie.