Article by Micheal Trentow -http://abbamikory.blogs.com/abbamikory/2013/05/interesting-interview-with-michael-b-tretow-in-february-1980.html

ABBA Documentary -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoMFMPVCL-A

Dancing Queen -https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=dancing+queen

Take a Chance on Me -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-crgQGdpZR0

The ABBA Experience

• ABBA is a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm Sweeden in 1972, comprising Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad
• The name “ABBA” is an acronym for the first letter of each band member’s name.
• ABBA has sold over 380 million albums and singles worldwide although the band was only active for ten years 1972-1982. One of the band’s greatest hits “Dancing Queen” has been commonly regarded as one of the most successful singles of the 1970s as well one of the greatest songs of all time (rated 174 on RS 500 greatest songs of all time).

• The band mixed in Polar Music Studios in Stockholm, Sweden where other famous artist such as Led Zeppelin, The Ramones, and the Beastie Boys recorded. A Harrison 4032 mixing console was used, which was modified by technician Leif Mases to give it a unique sound, which almost resembled a Neve. The Harrison 4032 Console is famous for recording Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” as well as tracks from bands such as Blondie, Beach Boys, Sade and many others. The 4032 is still sought out by collectors for it’s distinct vintage quality.
• The band’s mixing engineer was Michael B Tretow born August 20^th 1944 (his birthday is today!).
• Drums

When recording drums they were almost always put in an isolated drum booth to get a more dry sound and to avoid leakage onto other tracks.

o   The toms were recorded with AKG 414’s;

o   The bass drum and the bottom of the snare were recorded with RE 20s; and at the top of the snare was a CK1.

o   To get the overall sound of the kit he would place 2 mics about 7 ½ feet apart on the ground (he read this in a US recording magazine). He never used limiting or compression on the drums and only relied on ‘good old tape saturation.

C34 and U87 used for VOX

U87 for acoustic guitar

Glockenspiel- RCA DX66

 

 

 

• Piano/Synth

o   The grand piano is cut with three 414s in the sound holes.

o   The middle mic is limited and fed through the MXR Flanger

o   Polymoog synth feed it through a Dolby 361 unit in the decode position.

• Guitar

o   Guitar amps isolated in a closet or a separate room

o   Fed through a MXR Flanger

o   2 Mics, Dynamic for the amp and Condenser for the room

 

-To add ambience to the overall track, after the final take was recorded Michael would ask the band to overdub all the instruments and record them with two ambience mics only