"Mercy Mercy Me, that Murcielago”

rollingstone:

When Pharrell, visiting Paris, first sang his verse for “Get Lucky,” Daft Punk told him to “sing it again, again, again,” Pharrell recalls. “Then I did four or five more takes, they picked what they liked, then I sang each of those parts over and over. The robots are perfectionists.” Daft Punk hired choirs, string sections, trumpeters and pedal-steel players; they recorded sound effects on the foley stage at Warner Bros. They played parts themselves, then paid session pros who’d worked on Thriller and Off the Wall to play them better. They coaxed vocals from guests like Panda Bear and Julian Casablancas; Chic mastermind Nile Rodgers played guitar on three tracks. They flew to legendary recording studios in New York and Los Angeles, like Electric Lady and Henson, to capture the unique sounds and vibes of the classic rooms. Wherever they went, they kept the mics running, capturing freewheeling jams – “We had Ampex reels everywhere,” says Guy de Homem-Christo – that they edited later using Pro Tools, conjuring songs out of the footage “like we were making a film,” Thomas Bangalter says. “There are songs that span two and a half years and five different studios.”
Click above to read our new cover story, a revealing interview with the secretive duo Daft Punk and how they’re reinventing dance music, again.

May 21

When Pharrell, visiting Paris, first sang his verse for “Get Lucky,” Daft Punk told him to “sing it again, again, again,” Pharrell recalls. “Then I did four or five more takes, they picked what they liked, then I sang each of those parts over and over. The robots are perfectionists.” Daft Punk hired choirs, string sections, trumpeters and pedal-steel players; they recorded sound effects on the foley stage at Warner Bros. They played parts themselves, then paid session pros who’d worked on Thriller and Off the Wall to play them better. They coaxed vocals from guests like Panda Bear and Julian Casablancas; Chic mastermind Nile Rodgers played guitar on three tracks. They flew to legendary recording studios in New York and Los Angeles, like Electric Lady and Henson, to capture the unique sounds and vibes of the classic rooms. Wherever they went, they kept the mics running, capturing freewheeling jams – “We had Ampex reels everywhere,” says Guy de Homem-Christo – that they edited later using Pro Tools, conjuring songs out of the footage “like we were making a film,” Thomas Bangalter says. “There are songs that span two and a half years and five different studios.”

Click above to read our new cover story, a revealing interview with the secretive duo Daft Punk and how they’re reinventing dance music, again.