Recording, mixing: The Man Who Sold The World

The 13th recording and mixing session for David Bowie’s third album The Man Who Sold The World took place on the evening of 13 May 1970.

The session lasted 10 hours, starting at 2pm and ending at midnight. It took place at Advision Sound Studios on Gosfield Street, London, with Tony Visconti producing.

This day’s overdubs included Moog synthesizer parts performed by Ralph Mace.

It was creation in the studio. They began with a basic idea from one instrument or one vocal line. They would start adding and then they would change according to their whims. They got a core of the sound and then they started overdubbing and if it worked they kept it and if it didn’t they would do it again, and it was a creative build-up, a synthesis. David would bounce ideas off people. There was a lot of creative interplay with all the people there.