1971 · album
Engineer Bob Olhsson recalls rhythm, strings and the later mixing decisions that shaped Marvin Gaye’s album.
Most of What’s Going On was recorded in Motown’s Detroit studios. Engineer Bob Olhsson’s account follows a process built in stages: rhythm playing, vocals and strings, followed by further work in Los Angeles.
Markers identify buildings or documented location references. They do not mark an exact recording room, stage position or camera angle.
Asked about the Funk Brothers, Olhsson placed their daytime rhythm session at Hitsville in their usual positions. He described a sequence in which rhythm came first, followed by vocals and strings. His account identifies a working method as well as a studio: the record accumulated through coordinated performances rather than one simultaneous take of the finished arrangement. The musicians’ contribution became unusually visible when Motown printed their names on the album jacket. [2] [1]
Olhsson remembered setting microphones and bringing up the string balance while Cal Harris worked at the board. A wall of large baffles helped shape the sound. Motown credits David Van dePitte with arranging and conducting, and notes his name on the front sleeve. These details return the orchestration to physical work: players, microphones, room treatment and listening decisions gave the written parts their recorded form. [2] [1]
Olhsson said Gaye wanted additional keyboard parts and had the tape sent to Los Angeles, where Larry Miles added parts and mixed again. He recalled that the resulting changes were substantial enough for the two engineers initially to think they were discussing different albums. Motown’s history also locates late vocal and instrumental overdubs in Los Angeles. Detroit remains central to the record’s making, while this later work prevents its story from closing at a single studio door. [2] [1]
2648 West Grand Boulevard, Detroit
During the sessions preceding the 1971 album
Engineer Bob Olhsson located the Funk Brothers’ rhythm session for What’s Going On at Hitsville in Detroit, before the vocal and string stages of the recording process. [2]
Hitsville is interpreted through Motown Museum. Consult the Museum for current access. The studio story does not establish that every album session occurred in the same room, and the later Los Angeles facility is not pinned without more precise evidence.
