Queen - The Making Of 'Bohemian Rhapsody

Bohemian Rhapsody , the a song by the British rock band Queen, is one of the best examples in music production & recording creativity you can find.

Produced by Roy Thomas Baker, the recording began at Rockfield Studio 1 near Monmouth on August 24, 1975, after a 3-week rehearsal period in Herefordshire. During the making of the track, however, a further four studios — SARM (East), Scorpion, Wessex and Roundhouse — were used. At the time it was the most expensive single ever made and guitarist Brian May was to later refer to the track’s parent album, A Night At The Opera, as “our Sgt Pepper“.

In this video,  Brian May plays the different tracks from the song, showing some interesting points of the multitrack proyect.

For example, about the vocal work, is really impressive how May, Mercury, and Taylor  built up their vocal parts: the entire piece took three weeks to record, and in some sections featured 180 separate overdubs….. or the use of the bell effect for lyrics “Magnifico” and “Let me go”. Also, on“Let me go”, Taylor singing the top section carries his note on further after the rest of the “choir” have stopped singing.

One of the interesting bits that came from this video is the way engineer/producer Roy Thomas Baker recorded the bass, using 3 tracks; direct from the bass, direct from the amp, and the miked amp, then playing with the phase switches on the desk to get the right sound. Notice that the foundation of the track: piano, drums, guitars and bass, was recorded  with all the band playing together in the studio

Here  one article from soundonsound about how the song was recorded.

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