page_title: Third Stone from the Sun
section_title: Recording
hierarchical_section_title: Third Stone from the Sun / Recording
caption_attribution_description: English: An exterior view of the Olympic Studios in Barnes, London, taken on 27 October 2008.
context_page_description: "Third Stone from the Sun" is a mostly instrumental composition by American musician Jimi Hendrix. It incorporates several musical approaches, including jazz and psychedelic rock, with brief spoken passages. The title reflects Hendrix's interest in science fiction and is a reference to Earth in its position as the third planet away from the sun in the solar system.
  Hendrix developed elements of the piece prior to forming his group, the Jimi Hendrix Experience. The Experience recorded versions as early as December 1966, and, in 1967, it was included on their debut album Are You Experienced. Several artists have recorded renditions and others have adapted the guitar melody line for other songs.
context_section_description: "Third Stone from the Sun" was one of the earliest recordings attempted by the Experience.  They recorded a demo version at CBS studios in London on December 13, 1966.  However, because of a dispute over studio fees, it was left unfinished.  On January 11, 1967, several takes were recorded at De Lane Lea Studios in London, but a master was not realized.  Work on the track resumed on April 4, 1967, at Olympic Studios in London.  Session engineer Eddie Kramer recalls that the original recording was largely abandoned and replaced with new overdubs.
  The master for the track was finally completed on April 10, 1967, also at Olympic.  At this session, the spoken sections and sound effects were recorded and the final audio mixing took place.  Several takes were required since Hendrix and Chandler were joking and laughing throughout the session.  Hendrix biographer and later producer John McDermott notes that it shows the camaraderie enjoyed by the two during the early days of the Experience.
  The instrumental makes novel use of recording and mixing.  Hendrix contributed to the sound effects by moving his headphones around the microphone to alter the sound of his whispers and breathing. In preparing the final mix, Kramer experimented with the track's sound imaging or an instrument's apparent placement, but was limited by the existing technology.  He later explained:
  That song was like a watercolor painting ... to create a sense of movement within the overall sound, I pushed Mitch's [drummer Mitch Mitchell's] cymbals forward in the mix and panned the four tracks on the finished master.  Each track was composed of four, fairly dense, composite images.  With four track recording, you were restricted to panning these multiple layers of sound, whereas now, with twenty-four and forty-eight track recording, what you can pan is unlimited.
caption: Olympic Studios, Barnes, London, 2008.
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