Wall Of Sound

Still can't get sleep. Found this fantastic clip on Phil Spector.
Ok. Now I am too tired to stay awake. I'll have to do some more research on Spector som other time.

Phil Spector's Wall Of Sound

In The Studio

Great day in the studio today. Nice young guys that were really into and interested in recording. We finished early and spend some time just talking and listening to music. This was one of the rare sessions where we only recorded drums to one song. It feels so luxurious when you can concentrate on just one thing at a time and have the session run smoothly. Usually I am recording drums, bass and guitars to 3 or 4 songs in one day and that includes setting up the studio. So it feels nice and relaxed when you don't have to hurry.

I thought about mentioning that I once again had great results with the Beyer Dynamics Opus 99 on the kick but that is such a nerdy comment that I'd better leave it out ;-)
I got off early and had time to drop by the book store. I found a book on John Lennon written by his first wife Cynthia which seems very interesting. I also bought a book on Black Sabbath called Rat Salad. Great title. Has to be good.
Also had time to hunt down some more interesting You Tube clips during the evening.
These clips form the sequel to my post Recording Silence last week.
More interesting footage from and about studio work. Again I have to say it is amazing how realistic these videos are and closely I can relate to sessions that goes just like this.


Spinal Tap in the studio


And this is how they do it in Jamaica...

The Gladiators recording session


Here are some fantastic clips on The Rolling Stones in the studio. Great shots of an old studio and interesting how the song evolves from the first clip which is more like a jam session, into the second one where they are recording vocals and backing vocals in one go. It is also fun to hear how terrible the band sounds in the first clip...
just goes to show that you have to work on those masterpieces.

The Rolling Stones - working in the studio

Great performances

No studio work today. But I spend the day listening to inspiring music. ...and the night. I am happy I got that great sensation that you should get when listening to music. The feeling that nothing else in the world matters. It feels very valuable to find out that my passion for music got me into my line of work, and that the same passion is still there. I often have a hard time enjoying music. Maybe it is beacuse I am always recording or mixing or working or with music. Or playing . Often recoring bands or artists that aren't very good and often working long hours. I always put on music when I come home after a long working day but I am afraid I seldom pay any attention to it. I do know that there is something really special about a piece of music or performance if it can grab my attention after a three day thrash metal session. Today I've been spending my day off, enjoying my favourite performances and I found a few I hadn't heard before. This first one is a fantastic performance by Country legend Hank Snow. This is country music. Real country music. How it should be done.


Hank Snow - I Don't Hurt Anymore


If I Can Dream is a gospel song that Elvis performed on the 68 comeback special show.
This one leaves me speachless every time.

Elvis - If I Can Dream


Few can take the stage after that performance but I now this guys can. He is great every time. But especially in this sweaty close up. Just fantastic!

Jacques Brel - Ne me quitte pas

Jacques Brel - Ne Me Quitte Pas
Uploaded by djoik

Etta James has me in tears every time I hear this performance. And the band is equally great. I think it is the sessions musicians from Muscle Shoals but I might be wrong.

Etta James - I'd Rather Go Blind


Speaking of great performances by great women. Margie Hendricks totally steals the show from Ray Charles in this clip. She is screaming from the top of her lungs all through the end of this song. This must have been around the time where the had had an afair and she was apparently really angry with him. It sounds almost scary. But a classic performance.

Margie Hendricks (and Ray Charles) - The Night Time is The Right Time


Who better to finish off this collection of magic moments than the amazing James Brown.
Again, the band is giving a top notch performance as well. It doesn't get better than this.

James Brown - It's a Man's, Man's, Man's World

John McCain vs. Jackson Brown

Well this is interesting:
Jackson Browne sued John McCain in August for using his song "Running on Empty" in a negative campaign ad against Barack Obama. Now John McCain is fighting back and suing Jackson Brown for suing him. You can read about the details here:John McCain fights back vs. Jackson Brown

Jackson Browne - Running On Empty

The healing power of good music

I spend the beginning of this week recording thrash metal.
Very young band. Not very tight. Or... not tight at all but the vibe was there. It was great fun. The lyrics were just hilarious. Very appropriate for a bunch of 17 year olds playing thrash metal. Lots of blood drinking and so on...
Usually I am not very keen on sessions like this but for some reason the songwriting was just so in tune with what the whole genre is about, I just found myself really digging it.

The Beyer Dynamics Opus 99 worked really well on this kids assdrum, oops, I meant to write bass drum, but was just about to say that it sounded like ...ass. A convenient and very appropriate typo. But the opus 99 and some aggressive EQing really put the B back in his assdrum. No sound replacing or samples required.
It was fun but sessions like that can really wear you out. The music is ok but it just isn't your brand of music. Ofcourse every engineer have to be able to put his personal taste in music aside whenever he is working on something he wouldn't normally listen to. I am actually quite good at that and can find enjoyable elements in pretty much every session I work on. But still... badly played metal can wear you out.

So now I've spent the rest of the weak healing myself with soothing sounds and pretty songs. Just to get back on track. These are songs that I turn to when I feel down, or optimistic, or when I have too much on my mind or when I am trying to forget the metal session I just recorded. I've got some more metal sessions in the next weeks so I think I will be needing some of this stuff to calm myself down.
I am not even going to explain these at all. Just make sure that your browser allows you to check out embedded youtube material and enjoy.


Fleet Foxes - He Doesn't Know Why


Midlake - Roscoe


Bonnie "Prince" Billy - Strange Form Of Life


Holly Golightly & The Greenhornes - There Is An End


Goldfrapp - Clowns

Recording Silence,

Another sleepless night. I am still up and awake, thinking about working and thinking about recording. How difficult it can be when you have a terrible artist and easy it is when you are working with a talented artist. I am also tinking about how all the bands I work with actually think that they can sound like their idols. And how I always feel like I am to blame if they don't. A usual dilemma is that the band show up with the worst sounding equipment possible, unpracticed and with halfwritten songs and then quite casually announce that they want their two day demo of four songs to sound like (-------------write your favourite multimillion album selling artist here).
I sometimes feel that my clients think I'm an alchemist. Ofcourse I am not an alchemist
and do not know how to turn mediocre demos into gold records.

It's also fun that people without any knowledge of music seem to think that I work with big stars just because I am in the music "business". Many of the people I meet think it is somehow exotic to work in a recording studio but they don't have a clue of what it is I do, even though I make an effort explaining it every time.
I wish it would be like this when I go to work:

Serge Gainsbourg - Composing and Recording Initials BB



part 2


That was the talented and wierd Serge Gainsbourg working on the track Initials B.B.
sometime during the 60's. Such a cool big production abd everyone is wearing suits and smoking inside. He even smoked in the vocal booth. Probably very good for the vocal style he was going for. I guess that is how recording sessions where done in the 60's.
This is a lot closer to what it looks like today.

Recording Silence - clip from 24 Hour Party People


OK, this is obviously where I got the title for this blog. There is something so off the wall about Martin Hannet standing on top of a hill, with a mic, a taperecorder and a set of headphones, recording silence. The idea just leaves me speechless.
And the lovely sarcastic comments like "Play it faster but slower" and"You wear it well!". I have actually found myself using both of those on a few occasions.
He really seems like a true asshole... but the songs sounds great.
Here's the real Martin Hannet and the real Tony Wilson talking about recording in 1980.

Martin Hannett and Tony Wilson at Strawberry Studios in July 1980


This last one is about as close to reality as you can come. You may be lauging but a lot of the aspiring musicians that frequent recording studios how much more in common with this guy than they have with Serge up there. And that is why I need to keep this blog.

You Got The Touch

Put the danger back in rock part 1

Another day in the studio. This time it was rock'n'roll. Straight out, balls to the walls, beer drinking, hell raising, rock 'n' fkn roll!
...with a bunch of 20 year olds who study economics at the university and drove up in there dad's great looking expensive cars.
Still, that could be ok. Who is to say that the rich kids can't rock. I know several who can. Too bad these guy where not like that...
They looked like kids who want's to spend their time golfing, sailing and organizing nice dinners for pretty girls that wear pearls and kashmere ...but something tells me it isn't really in teir blood. And they really wanted to rock.
But that wasn't in their blood either. The only thing that was rock about them was that two of the guys had funky shoes. Not blue suede shoes, but they were cool. ...and that the singer and some other guy, probably the drummer, wore these Steven Tyler scarves. And one can argue whether that is very rock'n'roll in 2008.
Well, the band didn't play all that bad. I mean you could tell which rock'n'roll classic they were abusing at the time but it wasn't pretty to hear.
I didn't really mind... I kind of liked the songs and the guys were very polite.
Good customers. But then it was time to record the singer...


He was red in the face from screaming in a key that was harder to reach than K2.
He kept shouting " WHOO!!" between every other line and he kept dancing like someone was shooting him with a machine gun. Once again I had to seek comfort behind the Pro Tools manual not to show my surprised monkey face.
You know the hardest part is when the poor excuse for music stops,
the singer slowly awakens to reality and picks himself up from his Elvis pose...

... and asks: "How was it?"
How was it? Isn't that what the husband ask his wife after a moment of passionate lovemaking where he just felt like he finished the marathon but she is still in the locker room putting on her shoes? She feels awkward, surprised and probably a bit disapointed at her beloved husbands inability to understand her feelings and cater to her needs. Let me tell you, from where I am sitting, I am that wife.
How was it? Well, I hate being a liar, so I usually spend my days figuring out ingenious ways of dodging the question or finding something constructive to say.
But sometimes I am at my wits end.

"There was a lot of your spirit in that."
"Well' you really gave all that you have to offer."
"There was something very animal about that."
"It was totally in tune with the rest of the bands performance."
"That was really what the song needed."
"Let's move on and listen to it later."



Now I think it's time to heal the wounds with some performances that defines the true nature of rock'n'roll. These ugly bastards sure know how to rock. They where once the backing group of a Fredrick Heath under the name of Johnny Kidd and The Pirates during the 60's. The band was formed in the 50's but this is the lineup that continued playing after Johnny Kidd/Fredrick Heath died in a car crash in 1966
This clip is apparently from the late 70's. Check out the guy dancing infront of the stage and Mick Greens striped pirate pants.

The Pirates - Gibson Martin Fender


This is one kickass band with a kickass singer and a kickass guitarist playing one kickass song. Lux Interior really knows how to wear his pants and how to handle a microphone. Just watch them tear it up.

The Cramps - Tear It Up


All really cool bands are trios. Motörhead was once and they tore it up too. And this is a true rock'n'roll song with great lyrical content.

second verse
Brain dead, total amnesia,
Get some mental anasthesia,
Don't move, I'll shut the door and kill the lights,
And if I can't be wrong I could be right,
All good clean fun,
Have another stick of gum,
Man, you look better already,
Motorhead, remember me now Motorhead, alright

This is one of the all time great rock'n'roll bands bands that few girls like. Could it be that, even though very many girls are drawn to the sweaty smell of hairy men this is just too much. Oh, and the drummer had such a badass name. I would love to be called Phil "Philty Animal" Taylor.

Motörhead - Motörhead


I just recently discovered this band. In particular this first song and this live performance gets me going. They look like they are ready to beat you up.
And they where. I considered posting some of the controversial stories connected to the band but I realised that someone who actually stumbles upon this and reads it might not be able to enjoy the band after that. Great bass sound and fantastic off the wall organs.

The Stranglers - No More Heroes, Something Better Change


Now this is just to show that sometimes you have it, sometimes you don't and sometimes you just loose it. What a fantastic outburst. This song just kicks major Butts in the ass. Strange that the Police and in particular Sting ventured so far from their early roots. And it's fun to see that even though they sing harmonies and dance like extras in Miami Vice they really kick ass. It's quite 80's but they still rock.


The Police - Next To You


This one is here just because of the raw power and extreme energy of the performance.
This guy is just totally nuts. I love it.

Iggy Pop - Lust For Life



Well, that'll do for now. There are so many good tracks left on this subject that I will have to call this post, part 1 and keep posting more later on. This is one of the subjects that I hold really dear and that I am confronted with almost everyday on the job. Many bands know how to play, but they can't rock. Some bands know how to rock but, not how to play. If your blessed with the talent to do both, just forget about doing it right and tear it up.

Come on everybody let's tear this damn place up... Lux Interior

Black is the Colour

It's been ten years since my trip to Ireland. I went there for the love of music and really hoped to get some sort of musical insight out of the trip. Maybe I did. Maybe I didn't. I can't really tell. Anyway, for various reasons, I've been forced to ponder upon my own musical and artistic abilities lately. I've been playing with lots of different bands doing lots of different kinds of music, for a long time, but I haven't really gotten anything done myself for some time. So, when I started thinking about recording a few songs myself I remembered the old songs we used to play on the trip to Ireland. Songs like Long Black Veil and Ride On. And especially Black Is The Colour.

Christy Moore


I hadn't heard this song for years until a special person sent me quite a surprising version of it. And I loved it. Christy Moore always had the best versions of these old irish tunes even though everybody played them. Or thats how I remembered it. But now I am not so sure. I still love his version but I also stumbled over several other versions on youtube and all are great. Unfortunately I couldn't find the Nina Simone version. That one is really something else.

I remembered what an impact this song made on me 10 years ago.
I was thinking about recording it myself but there are so many good verions around that I wonder if I can do it justice. Here is the Paul Weller version. Note the alternation of the melody and the fantastic string arrangment. Great stuff.

Paul Weller


Speaking of string arrangements, or orchestral arrangements actually....
I thought this next version was a bit boring at first. But come to think of... it is quite brilliant. Oh, and the Braveheart/Titanic/Lord Of The Rings- majestic part in the middle and in the end is maybe a wee bit too much. No, it's just fine. The Ulster Orchestra is just fantastic on this one. Really beautiful and etheric orchestral arrangement. The piano is so pretty, and so is Cara Dillon.

Cara Dillon w/ The Ulster Orchestra


Anyway. This is the version that grabbed my attention recently. It is totally different. In every way. But it is just fantastic. It has atmosphere and a cool new arrangement. Aaah, I can't think straight when I listen to this. There are so many things that can go wrong when you rearrange an old classic like this but nothing is wrong with this version. The same vibe is there as in the Christy Moore version, but heavily updated... it is just more of the good stuff.

The Twilight Singers


So maybe I will record it. Maybe I wont. And If I do. I'll just have to find 9 other songs that are equally good in order to make an album.
Ha, nothing could be easier...

The talented average man

It is a nice humane thought that everyone has some kind of talent. Some may never feel like they have a special talent, but don't worry, most people do. On the other hand, lots of the people I work with think they have the talent when it just isn't there. But sometimes the level of talent is equal to the ambitions of the artist and that is usually the zen-like state where magic is allowed to happen IF it is present. I mean, few can argue that Dylan isn't a terrible singer but he is just so in tune with his songs and his message that his music is just magic regardless of his singing. And on an interesting note... a better singer doesn't necessarily do justice to Dylans songs. Sadly most singers seem to think they can...

Today was a good day. A nice guy, singing small songs with a humble attitude. Maybe not the next Bob Dylan, or even Jacob Dylan, but very in tune with his own message. All in all a credible performer. Not incredible, not a great performer but someone that you can believe in and that you want to believe in. I recorded with an A-B setup of old Calrec CC50's quite close to each other on the nylon stringed classical guitar and the Studio Projects C1 on the vocals. Very straight forward and nice results. OK songs, nice lyrics and an atmosphere with potential. Good luck to you man. But... you still need to work on the performance, and on bringing out the best in your songs.


Speaking of surprising talent. I don't know exactly how, but I happened to stumble upon some clips of Britains Got Talent, the TV show. I have to admit that the winner really charmed me. Just check this guy out


Now here is a guy with a hidden talent. You can really feel yourself rooting for him. Or atleast I can. This guy really deserved to win. I could really feel his presence when I first saw that clip. He completely took me by surprise.
I have to show you this next clip as well. The song isn't as good as the other one but he pulls it off, especially at the very end when he raises his arms slightly. Great humble showmanship. Like Elvis. The King.
But the best part of this clip is him talking about himself in the introduction. It is quite moving when he talks about not being confident and that he had been bullied in school because he was "a little different" and that he always felt insignificant.
Come on! What kind of person wouldn't be on his side. Especially when he looks at you with those sad, insecure eyes.
Take a look.

I have to admit I don't know the first thing about opera but I don't think that really matters. Might be that he isn't the next Pavarotti but he is somehow incredibly convincing. Here is the final one.


The judges are eating from the palm of his hand, and that Amanda Holden is soo sexy. Actually they have really good points when they are evaluating his performance. And again, his own comments are just killer.
" I should have more faith in myself and I'm working on that" I love it!
Yes, a great ugly duckling story. He seems like just the kind of guy that would have been bullied in school. So insecure and harmless. He is such an ordinary guy that he kind of sticks out. It is a shame the he has been walked on, but I guess he is just that unlucky type of person. I am really glad the TV show found him. Now he can stick it to the man. Good luck with that Paul Potts! I can also imagine that his name might have stirred some comments as well. What was his parents, mr. and mrs. Potts thinking when the chose the name Paul? It can't be easy, (almost) sharing a name with the dreaded Cambodian dictator.



No wait a minute. Pol Pot wasn't born Pol Pot. His real name was Saloth Sar. Pol Pot was just his badass name that he took when he became dictator of Cambodia. I might be going slightly off track here but the Cambodian genocide isn't something you just mention hastly and then forget about it. Besides, I am still on the subject of the average man with a talent. Too bad that Pol Pot used his talent to take over and destroy a nation instead of building radios. It is still an interesting subject.
With the aid of this site, United Human Rights,
I can inform you that Saloth Sar called himself the "brother number one" and declared himself Pol Pot, from the french words Politique potentielle in 1975 when he and his rebell troops, the Khmer Rouge took over the capital city of Phnom Penh. He studied radio electronics in Paris in the early 50's but skipped school when he got into Marxism. The he returned to Cambodia and became leader of the Cambodian Communist Party. Uups, I might be getting very far off track here, but I find this very interesting and it's my blog, so sit down and shut up.
Anyway, he formed the militant Khmer Rouge movement during the 60's and started a guerilla war against the Cambodian government and after a series of events gained control of the country. The Khmer Rouge took over the capital city of Phnom Penh on April 17, 1975 and already on the next day Pol Pot took communism to a whole new level. He shut down the whole country, emptied all cities and turned the whole country into a concentration camp. He banned money, personal property, religion, different languages, cultural activities and changed the calendar to year zero. Bizarre? Yes, very!
He also shut down hospitals, schools, and universities. The Khmers interrogated and tortured most of the population and killed whoever they wanted. Everyone with some kind of professional education were killed and so was their families. And those who survived where moved out to the countryside to work as slaves for the nation for just a few bowls of rice per week.
Interestingly, a major factor in handing over the power to Pol Pot was that the US backed a right-wing military coup of Cambodia and after that dropped 500 000 tons of bombs and napalm over Cambodia in order to fight North-Vietnamese soldiers hiding by the Cambodian borders. That is three times more bombs than fired against Japan during WW II. And the result was the trained soldiers from North Vietnam and the poor Cambodians who where bombarded all the time decided to join the Khmer Rouge making it expand explosively in a short time. Then it was easy for them to take over the country.
The US practically handed the power over to Pol Pot going as far as even keeping a UN seat for the Khmers for a looong period of time. Go U.S.A! Democracy for all! Good job.

"Well that cast rather a gloom over the evening"
I admit it does feel a bit strange taking about Paul Potts, the regular guy who sang opera on TV, and Pol Pot, the Cambodian dictator in the same sentence. But, looks like this is one of the fun parts of blogging. Crazy crossover subjects.
Anyway. Thanks for sharing my new found enthusiasm with last years Britains Got Talent. I am going to leave you with this hilarious clip to lighten up the mood. Cheerio Jeeves!

First post