Jake Brown

This book is a lightly updated (or, perhaps, “refreshed”) edition of what was originally published in 2012 as Motorhead: In the Studio, put out in 2016 in the wake of Lemmy’s death (2015) with a new “Publisher’s Note”, new artwork, and a new title and perhaps few if any other substantial changes from the original edition. The albums covered stop with 2008’s Motörizer. There is no mention of The Wörld Is Yours (2010), Aftershock (2013), or Bad Magic (2015) – though, to be show more fair, these were all produced by Cameron Webb who had also produced the band’s albums since 2004, and we might thus reasonably expect the technical side of recording and production to have been similar. In any case, unless you are an extremely die-hard collector, there seems no reason to pick either one of the 2016 and 2010 editions over the other.

The book is credited to Lemmy Kilmister as well as to Jake Brown, though it is difficult to tell why unless it be for the fairly extensive quotation from Lemmy’s autobiography (White Line Fever). Indeed, In the Studio seems to quote heavily from pre-existing interviews with Motörhead band members – and there is thus a fair bit of text that the dedicated Motörhead-fan may have read before. The book’s chief value is in excerpts from interviews with producers and/or engineers, which were perhaps conducted specifically for this book and offer a fair amount of nerdy, gear-oriented detail on the recording equipment and processes.

Themes in this area do emerge. One gets a reasonable sense of the changing equipment as the time and geography shift the band from smaller British studios in the late ‘70s to Californian studios in the ‘90s and beyond. More modern engineers accustomed to now familiar microphone pairings for guitar such as the Shure SM57 and Sennheiser MD421 might be surprised to find Neumann U87s used for this purpose in older British studios. On that note, the neverending battles between producers and Lemmy over the amount of low-end in Lemmy’s bass tone become recurring features of the narrative, along with producers marveling at the band’s ad hoc approach to song-writing and Lemmy’s habit of drafting lyrics in the studio (sometimes only just before singing them). One noticeable gap in the techie detail occurs, unfortunately, with two of the band’s most significant early albums, the Ace of Spades studio album and the No Sleep ‘til Hammersmith live album, presumably because producer Vic Maile, who sadly died of cancer in 1989, was not available to be interviewed.

It is hard to say just who the audience of this book was expected to be. Readers without an interest in such things may well be baffled by the detail with which given producers recall the types and numbers of microphones used on the drums, though it is this sort of thing that distinguishes this book from any other semi-hazy third-person history of the band pieced together from interviews and press clippings. True gearheads may hunger for more detail, but this is probably as good as it will get. If you want to know what microphone was used for Lemmy’s bass cabs on Overkill (spoiler: a Neumann KM 84), this is the book for you. show less

It's a must read for a Motorhead fan as the book tells you what went inside the studio while each albums were made. We all know Motörhead on the road. This book is all about Motorhead in the studio - a chapter for each album till Motörizer. The book appropriately relies heavily on interviews from the producers of each album. You will also get to know about Lemmy's and sometimes other members' views on lyrics, songs and albums. Each chapter concludes with a review of the album from show more Billboard or other magazine.

It gets a little less interesting afterwards as every chapter keeps repeating Lemmy doesn't like bottom end on his bass, he writes most of his lyrics in the studio just before singing and he does what he wants do. Also, the book quotes heavily on Lemmy's autobiography 'White Line Fever'.
Readers who aren't into sound engineering and music business and don't care about the kind of mics and other gadgets used during recording can skip a few paragraphs in every chapter.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed reading it and I think all Motörhead fans will. show less

stay strong and rest in PEACE.