Randy Rhoads: My 1982 Max Norman Interview

[JasO]

My 1982 interview with Max Norman forcuses on the recording techniques he used to capture Randy's sound when he engineered and produced Ozzy's "Blizzard of Ozz" and "Diary of a Madman" albums. As we go through these albums track-by-track, Max provides details of how Randy's amp was set-up, what kind of microphones were placed where, and how many tracks were used for specific parts. (Randy, Max says, had an unsurpassed ability to play the same solo three times to create a large sound.) He also describes how Randy created his solos. Here's the whole conversation, presented in its entirety for the first time:

http://jasobrecht.com/randy-rhoads-max- ... interview/

[Trigger]

Thank yout for adding this JasO I will give it a listen later this evening.

[GUITARIDOL5682]

Thank yout for adding this JasO I will give it a listen later this evening.

Ian are you on LSD cos i heard you can see sounds and hear colours when your on that drug ?. This isn't an audio interview ....

This was very interesting i cannot remember if this was printed at the time ?.

"At the beginning of “Tonight,” was Randy doing volume swells with the knob on his guitar?

Yes, he was.

Near the very end he gets into that jam where he flicks his pickup selector switch, like Hendrix used to do.

Yeah.

How long did that jam go on after the fade?

Oh, quite a long time. I think it was about another two minutes or something going on there. Some of the tracks were pretty long, and we had to do some early fades on them. Tantalizing stuff, you know. You hear it going out, and you think, “Oh, I wish it didn’t go out quite there!” But the timing. The first album was quite a long one – in fact, they’re both quite long. So we had to fade some things out to be able to get it on vinyl.

Many thanks for letting us see this Cheers Jas.

[Trigger]

I hadnt clicked it yet and wont until later!

[Eternity]

Really great interview! Thanks.

[Jazznroll]

Thank you very very much for sharing this, really interestin cheers.

[Stewie]

How was the “Crazy Train” solo recorded to get such a clear, piercing sound?

... Plus it’s a Charvel – they have an extraordinary top end. ...

I always thought he used his les paul for crazy train...

Great interview!

[scooterh67]

Thank You soooooo much for posting these interviews. This one was my favorite! I really appreciate it and read all of them numerous times, very cool stuff indeed. I just hope that If and When they finally release the box set of B.O.O. and D.O.A.M. that it will include all of the things that was going on in the studio just like what they did to the song Dee on the Tribute Album, now that would be amazing to hear. Hopefully someday!!!!

Scott

[Solos]

Thanks for posting this! I had edited versions of all four of those interviews in a book called Heavy Metal, which profiled a number of "guitar heros" of the early 80's like VH, Micheal Schenker, Mathias Jabs, etc... I wish I still had that book! It had some great interviews and pics.

EDIT found it! Still out there on the used market....

http://www.amazon.com/Masters-Heavy-Met ... 0711905487

[DMRX]

Thanks again!!!!!! I cant believe the way they Chopped up the interviews???
It really makes more sense now that I can read it un-edited

[Cornelius]

I bought my first Guitar Player magazine in 1981, when I was just shy of eleven years old (The Ventures were on the cover). Though the whole magazine was first-rate in those days, Jas Obrecht stood out as my favorite GP writer.

I want to add my thanks for sharing these unedited interviews with us, but I also want to say that the November '82 article that resulted from these interviews was an excellent piece of work. I actually made my dad read it, so he could understand what the hell his kid was doing listening to this heavy metal stuff all of a sudden. He read the article, and realized that Randy Rhoads was a pretty good role model after all. And hey, you even made Ozzy sound coherent, which is a feat of writing virtuosity in itself! Thanks again.