At the close of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, we recount Abbey Road's involvement in recording the music for the Opening Ceremony
This year's Olympic Games was perhaps the most thrilling in living memory, with a colossal opening ceremony billed as the most spectacular the world has ever seen. Abbey Road's engineer Simon Rhodes headed the Chinese recording team at China National Radio's main hall, providing the know-how to successfully accomplish the country's most ambitious recording to date. "The scale of the project was unprecedented", said Rhodes. "Some of the pieces ended up with over 320 raw audio tracks. Being extremely organised was key." Simon's quiet and unassuming manner was unfazed by the complicated delivery requirement of 18 playback stems for the Bird's Nest as well as impressive sounding surround and stereo mixes for broadcast people. He devised flexible setups that would not only second guess every scenario that was thrown his way but also facilitate changes easily, never locking the various composers and directors down. "I enjoy working with creative people and believe it's important to create the environment for them to express themselves unencumbered". Everybody who is anybody in China's dynamic music scene was represented in the Opening Ceremony and the challenge of weaving all the disparate elements seamlessly into one was no stranger to Simon, as he is one of the world's leading film scoring mixers, working with the likes of John Williams and James Horner. Not many people on the planet can boast that in five weeks they've recorded every orchestra and choir in Beijing, the Red Army band, all manner of traditional Chinese instruments and drums, quadruple-tracked twenty guzhengs and doubled sixty pipas! "I'm very proud to the have been part of this" he beamed.
