Bridges to Babylon: How the Stones Merged Digital Editing and Loops with Live Rock at Ocean Way

By 1997 the Rolling Stones weren’t exactly known as digital pioneers, but Bridges to Babylon found them tinkering with Pro Tools, loops, and guest stars like Dave Matthews while still trying to keep the engine room loud and live. They split recording between their own makeshift studio in a Los Angeles hangar and Ocean Way Studios — the classic room where they could set up and cut tracks as a band with producer Don Was and engineer Bob Clearmountain.

The tricky part was blending these two worlds. Keith Richards would lay down riffs on digital eight-track in the hangar, then those loops got imported into Pro Tools and sliced up — a process the band called “digital cutting.” Meanwhile, Dave Matthews flew in to sing backup on “Anybody Seen My Baby?” and Waddy Wachtel played additional guitar. The band also played live in Ocean Way’s big room for basics, then overdubbed endlessly. Mick Jagger later admitted the album was “more of a construction” than their usual approach, but the grit of songs like “Flip the Switch” and “Out of Control” hid most of the seams.