Mark Ronson – Song Breakdown – Back to Black – Music Production – BBC Maestro

So because we're actually back in the studio where I first met Amy and where we wrote Back to Black on, you know the first night that we met. It's actually funny, I wasn't even in this studio for about 15 years and last year I was walking down the street on Amy's birthday and I just thought "You know what? Like, let me just go up there just... even for sentimental reasons." I just wanted to remember what that room looked like where she sat with her nylon string guitar and played me some songs. I

think I wanted to just feel that energy and so I buzzed up to the landlord and I said, you know, "I'd love to come up. I don't know if you remember me, I used to rent this space on the fifth floor..." and you know... da, da, da, da, da. I was probably going on forever, some long winded story. And he just goes, "What? Do you want to rent this space again?" And I was like "Yeah, yeah, I want to rent the space again." You know, whatever to get in the door. So I came up here and I walked around and

it was just, you know six months into the pandemic in New York a lot of places are closed down and there was nobody in this space. And I just thought, "Wow, this space was so magic". I had such a great time in here, worked on so much great music you know, Amy, Daniel Merriweather Rhyme Fest, my ♪ Version ♪ album things that I was very fond of that I thought "I'm going to take the space over again." So I came back in here and it's, you know, it's... it's really amazing being back in this thing.

I mean, New York just has an incredible energy but this studio really does. So on the occasion of being back in this I actually thought it would be really interesting to unearth the original demo of ♪ Back to Black ♪ which I actually haven't listened to in ten years. I've certainly never played it before and we had to do some digging for this one. But this is... You know, the first... the first night by myself I came up, you know, with the piano that we went over. MUSIC: "Back to Black" by Amy W

inehouse And then I wanted to come up with a rhythm track that reminded me of all these things that she loved that she had played me. She played me The Shangri-Las and like I was saying I only knew how to sample and make beats up to that point. I had a drum kit but I didn't really know how to play the drums but I thought, "OK, well, I can play a really simple pattern that just goes..." Boom tss, b-boom tss, boom tss, boom, boom tss. And put lots of reverb on it. But then actually when I got in f

ront of the drums I realised I wasn't even good enough to play that with my foot, the co-ordinations so I actually ended up having to play it on the floor tom. Boom tss, b-boom tss, boom tss, boom, boom tss. So that's a great lesson there. I mean, listen, if there's something that... There's so many ways to get around if, you know, there's some idea that you want to bring across that you feel like, "I'm not a good enough drummer to do that," there's always workarounds. You can always find someth

ing clever some way to get your idea down. So let's listen to that drum. So this is the... we'll play piano first. CHORD PROGRESSION FROM "BACK TO BLACK" PLAYS So there you go, to start with. So this is what the piano sounded like because really back in those days before I had met The Dap-Kings before I worked with these amazing engineers like Jens I really didn't quite know how to mic a piano. I think I was just doing it from just the most basic way that I thought. So if you listen to how the o

riginal piano sounds this is what it sounds like. MUSIC: "Back to Black" by Amy Winehouse TINNY CHORD PROGRESSION PLAYS I mean, it's like barely karaoke-level of sonic quality so what I did was I was like "OK, well, Amy's playing me these old records and they sound cool and they're, like, dusty and this '60s vibe so OK, well, I have some plug-ins that can do that." So I found one plug-in to make it distorted and another to put reverb on it and then when you put those on... REVERBED CHORD PROGRES

SION PLAYS So you can always find cool plug-ins and things to make the sounds. They make every kind of plug-in now. Whatever sound you're hearing in your head even if you can't get that sound with the instrument as long as you have, you know, the bulk... the soul of the performance the sonics you can find ways around. So, you know, I didn't know anything about recording to tape or gear or anything at that time, right? I just had, like, basic plug-ins that I knew what to do with so here we go. So

you've got, as I said. TINNY CHORD PROGRESSION PLAYS Or... REVERBED CHORD PROGRESSION PLAYS So I was like "OK, cool". That sounds more in the ball park of those things that she was playing me. That's sounds good. So then the drum parts... KICK DRUM AND TAMBOURINE PATTERN PLAYS So I couldn't play the pattern that was in my head boom tss, b-boom tss because I don't have that kind of foot coordination. So what I did was I took the beater you know, the thing that plays the kick pedal off of the kic

k drum, and I just put it in my hand and I just played it you know, like someone would play in a marching band. And I just played it because I knew that that's how I could get the pattern that I was hearing in my head. KICK DRUM AND TAMBOURINE PATTERN PLAYS And then I put more of these plug-ins on to make it sound more, you know, dusty and dirty and a break and what I thought that Amy would want to hear. REVERBED KICK DRUM AND TAMBOURINE PATTERN PLAYS A little bit of spring reverb or plate rever

b goes a very long way when you're trying to evoke some of the feeling of these old records. So what do we have? So then... so we have the piano and the drums together. DRUM PATTERN AND PIANO CHORD PROGRESSION PLAY So I had probably been up until six in the morning working on this idea, trying to get all these things and, you know, when you have that... idea that you're so excited about you know, time just... You could be working five, six hours and the time goes by like that because you're just

so in the zone and it's great. And when you're... on those great occasions when you're feeling that inspiration just... it's the best and you just stay in it. They also didn't have iPhones back then. So I played it for Amy, she came in the next day. I probably had slept... two hours and I was just, like, so zoned out and she came in and she sat and I said "Hey, I made this thing last night. Let me know what you think." And I kind of... hit the space bar. DRUM PATTERN AND PIANO CHORD PROGRESSION

PLAY And I kind of looked back at her nervously and she's like... IN A COCKNEY ACCENT: "Yeah, I love it". And I really didn't know her and I didn't know that her whole thing was quite, like, deadpan and I was like "I don't know if she likes it or she's just being nice." And she said, "No, that's what I want my whole album to sound like." So she went in the back room at this studio this room right here behind this curtain with a little... Probably back in those days we used to burn the instrumen

tals on a CD and she put it in a discman, put the headphones on and came out and wrote all the lyrics in about an hour. And this is her with the vocal. ♪ # He left no time to regret # ♪ ♪ # Kept his dick wet # ♪ ♪ # With his same old safe bet # ♪ ♪ # Me and my head high # ♪ ♪ # And my tears dry # ♪ ♪ # Get on without my guy #♪ ♪ # You went back ♪ ♪ to what you knew #♪ ♪ # So far removed #♪ ♪ # From all ♪ ♪ that we went through # ♪ ♪ # And I tread a troubled track # ♪ ♪ # My odds are stacked # ♪

♪ # I'll go back to black # ♪ ♪ # We never said goodbye♪ ♪ with words #♪ ♪ # I died a hundred deaths #♪ ♪ # You go back to her #♪ ♪ # And I go back to... #♪ And I could be wrong but I actually think it's a different lyric in the chorus. I think it's... in the album it's "I died a thousand times" and in this it's "I died a hundred deaths". Anyway, so yeah, so she... you know, I had never been around anyone that talented before. I mean, she just went back and she wrote the vocals in an hour and ju

st came back and we recorded it. And there's a track on here called "Amy Guitar" that I completely forgot was ever in here. It's muted but I guess she at one point... cos she was, you know, she was a really good guitar player. I think she wanted to try some guitar on it so, I mean, this is... This has truly... never been heard. Shit. Amy... Amy and her guitar to ♪ Back to Black. ♪ GUITAR MUSIC PLAYS ♪ # And I tread a troubled track #♪ ♪ # My odds are stacked #♪ ♪ # I go back to black #♪ And anot

her thing that Amy really loved was the texture of this electric clarinet that I had because I had it in the room when she was in there and I played it and she insisted that I put it in the song. And I happen to sometimes, definitely to a fault think that if you're doing this kind of song all the instruments should sound like a '60s kind of song from this era, you know. So she liked the sound of this electric harpsichord that was more, I don't know, '70s and she sort of insisted that we put it i

n and it was a great idea. And sometimes it's great when you're working with someone who challenges your ideas because especially with someone who's a genius like Amy I mean, it's going to usually probably be pretty great. But we put it in there even though I thought it maybe wouldn't work or it wasn't the sound that was supposed to be in there and it's this sound here. ELECTRIC HARPSICHORD PLAYS ♪ # A hundred deaths #♪ ♪ # You go back to her #♪ ♪ # And I go back to... #♪ Anyway, so that was one

of Amy's great ideas that definitely pushed me out of my, you know, production box. Because we all have these rules, that we think "OK, things are supposed to be like that" and you always need people to push you and kind of make you think about things. Sometimes you'll have that idea and you'll sit down and be like "You know what? Let me try something that doesn't belong exactly in this rulebook or this sandbox of what instruments I'm supposed to use on this kind of song." And then sometimes yo

u'll need someone to challenge you and I guarantee you when you get challenged your first instinct will be like "No, that's not how it's supposed to be done." I mean, I remember the first time Amy wrote that lyric, "I died a thousand deaths" I thought, like, "Wasn't that supposed to rhyme?" And she was like, "What are you talking about? That's a great lyric." You need to be pushed out of your box sometimes and everybody has these impulses as soon as somebody says something that's not what they b

elieve is the best idea to just instantly shut down and fight for your idea. But I guarantee you it's always worth trying the ideas. When you're in the room with somebody super-talented who you respect, like always try out their ideas once because there's nothing better than being wrong because it's just going to make the song better.