Two Voices: Part 3 Queen

The legendary story of Bohemian Rhapsody as told by Brian May to Guitar World magazine: Since ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ was done on 16-track, we had to do a lot of bouncing as we went along; the tape got very thin. We held the tape up to the light one day—we’d been wondering where all the top end was going—and what we discovered was virtually a transparent piece of tape. All the oxide had been rubbed off. It was time to hurriedly make a copy and get on with it.” They did so many overdubs of guitar and vocal harmonies that they almost destroyed the tape! I've also heard that Freddie had the whole song charted out as to who would sing which parts. Rhapsody is certainly an epic. But my favorite Queen song is the Prophet Song. Way. More. Epic.

In the acappella section (3:24-5:50) Mercury is harmonizing with himself via a tape delay. He sang into a 2" Studer reel-to-reel and heard what he sang a moment ago in his headphones. These days there are much simpler ways to get that sound, but that was some innovative technique in 1974.