With its layers upon layers of vocal overdubs and epic guitar riffs that make us all want to reach for the air guitar, Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody is without doubt a timeless classic. Back in the 70’s this song pushed countless boundaries in popular culture. Many radio stations refused to give it any airtime because it was over 5 minutes in length… luckily the song broke through and the rest, they say, is history.

The production of the record also pushed boundaries in studio as well. Have you ever wondered how Queen & Roy Thomas Baker recorded and produced Bohemian Rhapsody? If so, you are in luck. This in depth video, presented by Queen’s guitarist Brian May, gives you an inside look into the full multitrack.

The video starts with Brian showing the original track sheet followed by a play through of the verse one’s piano, bass and drum “backing track”. Bohemian Rhapsody was recorded in one take from start to end with only Freddie on piano, John Deacon on bass guitar and Roger Taylor on drums with no click track. The intro vocal section of the song was recorded to a guide piano performed by Freddie in the main “backing track” take and was removed after the vocal overdubs were tracked.

In this video Brian talks about how they achieved the big drum sound, what techniques they used to capture all the different guitar tones and why they tracked three channels for the bass guitar. We also get to hear many of the famous vocal layers in isolation. This is a brilliant video that covers many key aspects of music production, music arrangement and recording.

This video was originally released in 2002 as special feature on Greatest Video Hits 1 DVD. Around that time Bohemian Rhapsody was remixed in 5.1 surround sound. At 16:20 into the video Brian and his engineer Justin Shirley Smith demonstrate some of the surround panning they applied to the operatic vocal sections, sadly this doesn’t playback in surround as this video is now hosted in stereo on YouTube on Queen’s Official Channel.

This is a must watch for, not only Queen fans, but also anyone who works with bands in the studio.