Now that they were on the same page both in terms of concept and execution, Young went forward with the production.
About a month later, Artie Mogull died. Young vowed to carry on with the project and make it not only a tribute to Bob Dylan but to Artie Mogull as well.
Terry Wright, a retired former executive with Criterion Music Corporation best known for having discovered and signed singer/songwriter Jackson Browne, has taken over Artie Mogull’s task of representing the project to the music industry.
Bob Dylan Revisited and all related contracts are owned by 20/20: Bob Dylan Revisited, LP, 3183 Airway Avenue, Building E, Costa Mesa, CA 92626 (Alan W. Curtis, J.D., and Randell Young, D.Mus., managing general partners).
Web Log
In the spring of 2004, I was contacted by a distinguished cadre of experienced record executives who were hell bent to start a new record label. Principal among this group were Jerry Mangalos, former Director of Operations for Arista Records, and Artie Mogull, former Chairman and CEO of United Artists Records. Artie is perhaps best known in the industry as the guy who signed Bob Dylan to his first publishing contract and then, of course, proceeded to convince an unprecedented number of artists to cover - and have hits with - his songs.
Let me say at the outset that the opportunity to work with Artie and company came about as a direct result of the Zarbie and The Martians CD release party (March 17th) at The Beverly Hills Hotel (which also featured British pop singer LJ as Zarbie's opening act). For this, I am indebted to Dan Schemer, Ed Vaughn and everyone else at Beverly Skyline Media and, especially, LJ's manager, Ray Meadham, who was clearly the driving force behind hooking me up with this new project. Ray deserves not only a proper acknowledgment but, like Beverly Skyline Media, a piece of the action (which he will get) as well.
After the treat of hearing Artie's war stories over a series of lunches at The Sutton Place Hotel, the powers that be came to the conclusion that Artie and company would launch this new label, Insane Records, with a compilation/tribute CD featuring songs written by Bob Dylan and performed (vocally) by numerous internationally-famous recording artists that were originally discovered by, or otherwise close friends of, Artie.
Artists on Artie's target list would include such icons as Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Anne Murray, James Taylor, Joan Baez, Judy Collins, Richie Havens, Carly Simon, Jackson Browne, Crystal Gayle, Helen Reddy, and Gordon Lightfoot as well as bands such as Peter, Paul and Mary, Lynnyrd Skynnyrd, Hootie and the Blowfish, The Electric Light Orchestra, The Beach Boys and The Band.
After a couple of trips to the local record stores to complete my Bob Dylan collection, I spent a few weeks listening to about 300 of the folk-rock master's songs.
Aside, of course, from a proper selection and matching of material with guest artists, it occurred to me that what would be required to make this CD a success would be: (i) a coherent production concept such that each song on the CD sounded like it belonged with every other song on the CD, in essence, a consistent style; and (ii) tight, modern, groove-oriented arrangements that would allow the listener to enjoy the essence of the songs without any rhythmic, harmonic or tonal distractions, in other words, a perfect recording.
About a year ago, Billy Mitchell and I had a discussion concerning the notion that, subsequent to the incredible improvements in recording technology and the widespread use of Pro Tools, we've all gotten use to hearing perfect tracks. Granted, most of those tracks have had the life squeezed out of them by the use and abuse of lawn sprinkler-like-sounding drum machines, sequencers, quantizers and other substitutes for good human rhythm. But as much as we would love to hear a more human element, we can't go backwards in terms of rhythmic consistency. Perfection, Billy announced, not just a great groove, was the new standard.
With Billy's advice floating around somewhere in the back of my mind, the idea I pitched to Insane, was this: With Pro Tools' ability to analyze tracks for perfection, I felt strongly that we could re-record the best of Bob Dylan's catalogue with perfect tracks that were nevertheless performed by humans.
We might have to break some of the songs down into their various structural components, get a perfect take and then fly those takes into position. But we would not corrupt the effort by using drum machines, sequencers or quantizers.
"Yes, Artie", I said, "I am convinced that we can make this CD perfect and human all at the same time."
I also had a pretty good idea of how to construct a stylistically coherent record that would nevertheless cover a variety of Dylan songs sung by a diverse group of vocalists. Since I have changed my approach to this at least twice in pre-production, I'm not sure at this point that my original idea was even workable.
Even so, it must have made some sense to Artie and company because I was, indeed, contracted to produce the CD - and on much the same terms as I was able to negotiate for myself on the Zarbie and The Martians Funk From Mars CD - in other words, another sweetheart deal.
Part of what I had negotiated for in my contract with Insane Records was the right to record, along with the stars, a few "unknowns" singing lead on the CD as well. One of these would, of course, be LJ, and another Zarbie (Kristina Garnett). This way, we could introduce LJ and Kristina to the audience brought to the project by the various stars involved and thus give them a leg up on launching their own solo projects.
They were talented, they were ready for the break and they had both (indirectly, at least) helped me to get into the position of being able to help them. Artie, of course, would have the final say as to what would be included on the CD but I was and remain committed to making certain that LJ's and Kristina's tracks would be more than compelling enough to make the cut.
After a thorough review of Bob Dylan's catalogue and our target list of potential guest artists, we agreed that our project would most likely need to be a double CD set with about 20 songs. Someone, having had a few too many glasses of Pouilly Fuisse, belted out, "20 hits, 20 stars, 20 dollars, what a deal!" It wasn't long thereafter that we settled in on the working title of...
20/20: Bob Dylan Revisited
which was later shortened to...
Bob Dylan Revisited.
As the creative forces of The Universe would stage it, Gemstone Pictures CEO Stephen Edwards would be over to my house watching the NBA playoffs just about the time all of this was beginning to come together. Stephen is perhaps best known for his excellent and moving PBS documentary concerning the Vietnamese "boat people".
Just brainstorming, he said, "Do you think there might be a chance that Artie would let us make a documentary film of this project? Something like, The Making of Artie Mogull's Tribute to Bob Dylan?"
I liked the sound of that straight away and told Stephen that I would do my best to sell Artie on it.
From a business standpoint, it certainly made great sense. Oscar-winning director Martin Scorsese had, just a few months earlier, agreed to take over a joint PBS/BBC documentary project about Bob Dylan's early years. Maybe we could release our Bob Dylan film on or about the same time as Martin Scorsese's Bob Dylan film and thus, perhaps, increase media interest in both films. Granted, the Scorsese film would be about Bob Dylan whereas our film would be about the processes and personalities involved in the making of a CD tribute to Bob Dylan but the Dylan connection was probably still strong enough to create some marketing synergies.
I knew Stephen and company were very much on the right track when his COO, Kennedy McIntosh, faxed over a letter from Lions Gate Entertainment which offered that they were interested in distributing the film. Not only that, but they were talking about a limited theatrical release prior to going to cable and home video... as best we could tell, a wider and more ambitious distribution plan than what PBS and the BBC had for their film.
So that brings us up to about 24 August 2004.
We have selected a target list of about 30 Dylan songs from which we now have a definite list of five. Our plan is to record basic rhythm tracks for these five songs to test and, if successful, demonstrate our production concept. These initial tracks will be recorded at Castle Studios in Northridge, California. The recording engineer on this project will be Stephan Villanueva.
Castle Studios has just installed a new Trident board and upgraded to Pro Tools HD so we need to give Stephan a few more days to work out the bugs. I expect that we will schedule a production meeting for sometime next week and get started tracking the week after that.
Gemstone has committed to filming everything... every recording session, every mixing session, even the production meetings.
Having recently worked with four young girls - and their entourages - on the Zarbie and The Martians CD, Stephan and I are, by now, fairly used to having a crowded control room. Hopefully, we will get used to the cameras in short order and not allow them to distract or alter us from our normal creative process.
We are resigned to the fact that we are going to have some bad takes, some disagreements, some awkward moments, maybe even some embarrassing arguments or misunderstandings caught on camera. And, of course, as with any project, the whole effort could blow up, fall apart or, worse yet, turn into a well-publicized fiasco.
Well, that is the price you pay when you allow a film crew into your world. On the other hand, if it helps make the project a success, it will have been well worth the risk.
We, who are about to roll the dice on yet another project, invite you to take it all in.
As with The Martian Sessions, we'll be posting photos and updates right here. Check in often. We may even have some early film footage for you as well.
- Randell
Update: Friday 10 September 2004
At our production meeting on Saturday 4 September, Artie reported that he had several artists definitely committed to the project and several more agreed in principal pending review of our first tracks.
We began production on Tuesday 7 September, continuing into last week, and currently have basic rhythm tracks to five tunes in the can - Mozambique, Knockin' on Heaven's Door, All Along The Watchtower, If Not For You and Don't Think Twice (It's Alright).
We also added the guitar hook on If Not For You, a guitar riff that we hope will become a new hook on Knockin' On Heaven's Door and completed the guitar solo on Don't Think Twice (It's Alright). I would really like to hear what Richie Havens would do with the lead vocal on All Along The Watchtower but we'll have to see how Richie and Artie feel about that. Currently, we plan on using Kristina Garnett on Mozambique and LJ on If Not For You. Everything else is in play.
Update: Friday 17 September 2004
Despite getting home at about daybreak on Thursday 16 September, I spent the afternoon with Stephen Edwards and Kennedy McIntosh of Gemstone Pictures scouting South County locations for the interview segments of their film. They want to use golden-hour, beach-side exteriors to balance the interior environments of the recording studio segments. Since I have lived down here for going on 23 years now, I acted as the tour guide. It was an enjoyable day and a good workout in spite of the sleep deprivation.
We had lunch at The Saint Regis, took in the sunset over cocktails at The Montage and, in between, spent a lot of time walking around on and near the beach. Stephen and Kennedy knew what they were looking for; I was just looking at the ocean, hanging out and chauffeuring the Gemstone boys around. Most helpful were Melissa Centeno and Lauren Youman, the PR crew at The Saint Regis, where they are no strangers to photo shoots and film crews. All in all, I'd say, it was a tough job but somebody had to do it.
Update: Monday 20 September 2004
We're back in the studio this week with Cyndey Davis and Rick Shlosser coming in for vocal and drum overdubs. On Monday, we'll add a scratch lead vocal to all tracks, see if we can complete most of the backup vocals (all those not requiring the final lead vocal track to work off of) and all the electric guitar tracks including an extended solo on All Along The Watchtower. On Tuesday, we will work on drum fills, intros and cymbal overdubs. On Wednesday, we'll take a break and review what we have.
Hopefully, we will then be ready to consider piano and organ parts as well as a few sting arrangements. I have a feeling that flute would be an interesting replacement for the violin leads on Mozambique but I'll wait until we have everything else in place before I worry about that. At our current pace, we should have everything (except the lead vocals) wrapped up on these first five tunes sometime around the first week of October.
Then, we will turn the lot over to Artie and find out who he lines up to sing the leads on them. Using these first five to define our production concept, he will also float our target list of songs to his target list of stars and see if we have any matches - or alternative suggestions. Thereafter, we should be recording tunes with a specific guest artist in mind.
Update: Friday 24 September 2004
We had a productive week even though we did not get around to finishing up the guitar tracks. We did finish up the drum overdubs, fills and intros and we are very pleased with our results. We also finished up most of the back up vocals but still have a little bit to do. Again, we are, initially, working on five songs. So, when I say, "finished up", I'm talking about those first five songs, not the whole project.
I had a production meeting with Rick Dellefield on Thursday and, then today, I went back to see what he had come up with in terms of acoustic piano and Hammond organ parts. He had some good ideas and should easily be ready to track by next Tuesday. I also asked him to study some old Floyd Cramer solos and see if he could do something in that style for Don't Think Twice. By the time of our meeting on Friday, he hadn't gotten to that but he did improvise some neat licks that indicated he had a bead on FC's approach. So I'm hoping to get that out of Rick by next Tuesday as well. We will be back in the studio on Monday 27 September with more vocal and guitar tracking.
Update: Thursday 30 September 2004
We had a great week in the studio. Rick Dellefield came in and played piano and organ on most of the tunes. Larry David overdubbed harmonica parts. Cydney Davis was also in to add some additional backup vocals. We tracked a few new guitar fills on Don't Think Twice and a few new percussion parts on Mozambique. We also added a synthesized flute theme on Mozambique. Now that we have determined that we like the part, we'll bring in a real flautist. Every track on this record will be created with a genuine instrument and played by a real musician but the synthesizer can help us audition an idea before incurring the expense of a live player. So it has its purpose.
Update: Wednesday 7 October 2004
We spent some time on Monday editing and evaluating what we had in terms of piano, organ and harmonica tracks. We had a few issues with our organ tracks on the bridges of Mozambique and If Not For You. Harlan Spector was scheduled to come in on Monday to sing the low D on the Mozambique chorus so we asked him replay those organ parts as well. He did a great job on both bridges as well as the vocals.
Very late Monday night, we got into the guitar solo on All Along The Watchtower. This is probably the greatest challenge we have faced thus far in the making of Bob Dylan - Revisited. It is very difficult to play this tune without hearing the great Jimi Hendrix solo echoing somewhere in the back of one's mind. Nevertheless, we were very clear that we wanted to be original. We wanted to rock out but we did not want to copy Jimi's solo - or even use any of his licks on ours. In terms of verse structure, we had an arrangement that was very similar to Jimi's but we did make a few changes. For one, we choose a different tempo (a little faster). Also, the intro and the short solos after verses one and two were going to be harmonica. After the breakdown, we launch into the first 16 bar guitar solo and then bring the guitar back in after the third verse as well.
Initially, I did not really want to use the wah-wah on the solo but the rhythm tracks just seemed to cry out for both the wah-wah as well as the delay effect. So we are basically committed to a solo that was similar to Jimi's in terms of sound and approach - but without using any of his licks. When we left the studio on Monday night (actually Tuesday morning) we were satisfied that we had accomplished that. But when I woke up Tuesday morning, I had a whole different 8 bar motif in my head and decided to come in and work on that first thing on Tuesday. We got it tracked and liked it. But then, we listened to what we had done in the late hours of Monday night/Tuesday morning. We decided that we needed to modify the closing passage but that we liked both solos. We thought about replacing one of the harmonica solos but we liked all of them so much that we decided we would just add 8 bars onto the final guitar solo and fly in the new bit.
We had a bit of a software problem that prevented us from adding the delay effect and, technically, we won't really know for sure if the solos will work until we do. However, both Stephen and I have used that effect enough to be able to picture it in our ears so to speak so we are pretty confident that we are only going to be even more pleased with ourselves once we get that delay effect sorted out.
In analyzing our accompaniment strategy, we came to the conclusion that we needed Larry David to come back and lay in a few harmonica fills on Knockin On Heaven's Door. We apologized for calling him at the last minute but he was very gracious and, dropping in on Tuesday, gave us some great licks.
Kristina Garnett, who is only 13 years old but already travels with an entourage, also came in on Tuesday to sing lead on Mozambique. Kristina, who has the most charisma of anybody I've ever worked with, starred as Zarbie in Zarbie and the Martians as well as the young Nala in Walt Disney's Pantages Theatre production of The Lion King.
She sounded great from the first take even though she didn't do any warm up exercises at all. Rather than get into the whole warm up thing, I just asked her to sing each verse a few times. After a few passes, I could hear her voice open up a little bit and sound even better.
Next week, we need only replace the synthesized flute part on Mozambique with a real player, add a subtle delay effect onto the guitar leads and mix. Then, we will be able to present our work to Artie and move onto the next phase of our project which will be either bringing in a few stars to sing on Knockin on Heaven's Door, Don't Think Twice and All Along The Watchtower and/or bringing in LJ from the U.K. to sing on If Not For You and/or commencing rhythm tracks on some other Dylan songs - this time with the songs and keys selected by the stars.
Update: Friday 8 October 2004
Yesterday, we were on location at the private beach club of The Saint Regis Hotel in Dana Point. Stephen Edwards brought in his crew from Gemstone Pictures and interviewed Artie Mogull, Stephen Villanueva and me concerning our work thus far on Bob Dylan - Revisited. The staff at The Saint Regis was fantastic. The weather was perfect. Stephen was happy with what he got on film. All in all, a great day was had by all.
Update: Sunday 10 October 2004
John Bolivar is scheduled to come in on Monday 11 October and play flute on Mozambique which will complete the tracking on this song.
And we now have LJ scheduled to arrive in from the U.K. on Sunday 17 October and record her lead vocal on If Not For You on Monday 18 October.
Update: Wednesday 13 October 2004
John Bolivar was not able to make it in on Monday but sent in a sub. Unfortunately, the sub was not able to handle the part. I did not have my phone book with me but I did remember my friend Ken Stenge's number and called him at about 9:00 p.m. Ken is the music director for Joe Cocker, a monster keyboardist and a producer for Dreamworks. He bailed us out of our flautist problem and sent over David Crozier who arrived at about 11:30 p.m. (Monday) and knocked out the part.
Afterward, he said, "Hey, I bet this would sound even better on an alto flute". We were up for trying that but David didn't have an alto flute but he remembered a friend that did and lived nearby. His called his friend only to find out that he was out on a gig. So we agreed that David would try to locate the alto flute and come back in (maybe on Tuesday) to re-record the part using the alto instead of the C flute.
At about 1:30 a.m., David calls to say that he ran into his friend and has the alto. "Great! Come on back over." We tried the part on the alto and it did sound much better.
So it all worked out in the end and we really appreciate the extra effort that David put into making sure that we had the best possible sound for our flute part - especially since he didn't get the call until the last minute and worked very late into Tuesday morning for us after traveling and putting in a very long day on Monday. The guy was a totally class act which, of course, you could say was to be expected since Ken Stenge had sent him over.
Earlier in the day, I overdubbed a few bass fills that seemed to work pretty well on the tail end of Knockin on Heaven's Door and, in between the flute dramas, we tightened up our mixes.
Stephen's recording philosophy is to get all of the tones right when the instruments are recorded. Consequently, we don't add much EQ in our mixes. He also likes to bus in the reverb or delay onto the tracks once we have finished recording them so that too is already completed when we start to mix. So then, mixing is all about levels and, therefore, relatively easy.
I came home early Tuesday morning and was pretty confident that we had a good, solid five tunes to turn over to Artie on Thursday. But, after a fair night's sleep, I listened to them again Tuesday afternoon and felt like we had just a bit too much piano on Knockin on Heaven's Door. So I called Stephen and told him, "You're gonna think I'm crazy to want to drive 90 miles up and back to adjust the level of the piano on one song but I know if I don't, it's gonna bug me." No problem, how soon can you make it up, he says.
So late Tuesday night, we got our piano level where we wanted it and found a few more subtle issues that we could remedy. Stephen felt like the bass licks on the end of Knockin on Heaven's Door were also just a bit too loud. So we adjusted that. We also decided to remix Mozambique to give more stereo separation to the dual lead vocals (Kristina Garnett and me) and to an acoustic guitar fill in the bridge to which I had also played a harmony.
Update: Friday 15 October 2004
LJ arrived today from the U.K. After a 12 hour flight - delayed two hours on take off - and a 90 minute drive in traffic from LAX to San Clemente, she was in remarkably good shape. We took a break for dinner and listened to some tracks from Jimmy Smith and Stuart Elster. Then, she wanted to study the first five Bob Dylan - Revisited tracks as well as the original versions as recorded by Dylan.
I am pleased that we were able to get her in town a few days early so she could recuperate from that London to LAX marathon and be in top form for her sessions next week. We'll be recording (and filming) LJ on Tuesday 19 October at Ocean Studios Burbank and working at Castle on Monday 18 October.
The great Latin jazz percussionist/composer Mayuto Correa and his wife Marinete are coming over on Saturday to meet LJ and hang out. I have an idea for a Djembe part on Mozambique. Maybe we can get Mayuto to drop in on our Tuesday session at Ocean and play it.
Update: Thursday 21 October 2004
I over-nighted a CD of the first five tunes to Artie on Friday 13 October. He called in Saturday at 1:00 p.m. and left a message on my service,
"The tracks sound terrific!"
Sunday night we figured out that the key in which we had recorded our If Not For You tracks was not the best key for LJ. So Monday, we set out to begin re-recording the tracks in the better key. We quickly breezed through the acoustic guitar, electric guitar and bass redos and this left us with enough of a song for LJ to sing over. Late into the evening, Mayuto came in and threw down a great conga and bongo part on Mozambique.
On Tuesday, we went into Ocean Studios in Burbank to film some music video sequences featuring LJ on If Not For You and Kristina Garnett on Mozambique. After the shoot, engineer Stephen Villanueva, keyboardist Rick Dellefield, LJ and I went back to Castle and knocked out the Hammond organ parts on If Not For You.
Stephen Edwards and Kennedy McIntosh of Gemstone Pictures called in on Wednesday to say how pleased they were with the footage they got from the Monday and Tuesday shoots. We agreed to hook up on Saturday and review our progress.
We are back at Castle on Monday 25 October working on LJ's vocal on If Not For You. We also need to redo the grand piano and harmonica and hope to get to that as well on Monday.
Update: Sunday 24 October 2004
Director Stephen Edwards and Producer Kennedy McIntosh of Gemstone Pictures came over on Saturday. We spent the day reviewing the film shot on location at the Monarch Bay beach club. Stephen gave us some idea of what he would use from the shoot and how he might use it in context with the story he was going to tell. It was an interesting day and enjoyable evening as we all hung out into the evening to watch the first World Series contest between the Red Sox and St. Louis.
Update: Tuesday 26 October 2004
Monday, we cleaned up some phrasing issues we had with LJ's lead vocal, added a few harmony vocals and dropped in a new piano track on If Not For You. When we returned from dinner, we started in on I'll Be Your Baby Tonight and had basic drums, bass and acoustic guitars completed when the computer crashed and dumped all of our work. Apparently, when we filmed at Ocean, their Pro Tools rig reset some of our defaults including our automatic back up. So we ran off new mixes of Mozambique and If Not For You and called it a day.
Update: Wednesday 27 October 2004
Florentine, LJ and I had a great lunch with Artie on Tuesday. This was the first time that LJ was able to meet Artie in person and everyone seemed to get along very well. Now when he hears her tracks on If Not For You, he will have a face and a personality to go with the voice.
Update: Sunday 31 October 2004
I will meet Artie for lunch tomorrow at The Beverly Hills Hotel. We have some celebrity compensation issues to discuss and, hopefully, resolve. Then, I'll head off to Castle Studios to start in once again on the rhythm tracks for I'll Be Your Baby Tonight.
Update: Tuesday 2 November 2004
I had a great strategy session with Artie over lunch at The Polo Lounge at The Beverly Hills Hotel. Afterwards, I headed over to Castle and knocked out the basic drums, bass and acoustic guitar tracks for I'll Be Your Baby Tonight.
Update: Sunday 7 November 2004
Artie, Alan Curtis (NETunes president and my main lawyer for some 20 years), NETunes webmaster Kelly Brown and I had a great dinner and strategy session Saturday night at The Polo Lounge at The Beverly Hills Hotel. Monday, we are back in the studio working on basic tracks for Blowin in the Wind.
Update: Tuesday 9 November 2004
Artie, Insane Records president Stuart Collins and executive vice president Jerry Mangalos and I had a great meeting over lunch at The Cafe Roma in Beverly Hills. Afterwards, I went over to Castle Studios and recorded basic drums, bass and acoustic guitar tracks for Blowin in the Wind.
Update: Tuesday 16 November 2004
Becca Hennesy came in a put a great lead vocal on I'll Be Your Baby Tonight. We also put down basic drums, bass and acoustic guitars to Like a Rolling Stone.
Update: Tuesday 23 November 2004
I had a great lunch with Artie. He reported that Peter, Paul and Mary, Judy Collins and James Taylor had signed off on their deal with Insane Records. Later in the afternoon, I went on to Castle Studios to start in on basic drums, bass and rhythm guitar on Highway 61 Revisited.
Update: Saturday 27 November 2004
I received word today that Artie passed away on Thanksgiving day. We had met just eight months ago but we had formed a great friendship and I am most saddened to hear that he is gone. I feel that I was privileged to have been his friend over these past months and to have had the opportunity to work with and to learn from him. And for this I am grateful.
The project that he launched will continue but now for me at least, though it will still be a tribute to Bob Dylan, even more so, it will be a tribute to Artie Mogull. It was Artie's dream to bring together many of the artists that he had worked with over the years and have them perform on this tribute to Bob Dylan. It was to be Artie's swan song.
Now, it will be up to Stuart and Jerry at Insane, Stephen and Kennedy at Gemstone and me and my crew here at NETunes to see to it that Artie's final project is competed as he had envisioned it. It's the least we can do for our departed friend, partner and mentor.
Don't worry, Artie. You got us all started on the right track. We'll take over from here and get the job done. God bless you and your family and thanks again for your help.
Update: Tuesday 30 November 2004
Monday's session was the first since Artie died last week. Last Monday, Artie and I had a nice lunch at Cafe Roma and this Monday, he is gone. Yes, he was 77 but he seemed much younger and, certainly, full of life. For me, his passing underscores the ultimate reality that we all face. Call it "the human condition" or chalk it up to "life is short" if you like but we all exist in a most fragile state with the end looming in the not too distant future. I guess the best we can do with that is to appreciate the time we have in this world and make the most of every moment.
Monday's session went along very well and we accomplished quite a bit more than usual. We were able to complete basic drum and bass tracks as well as two electric rhythm guitar tracks on Gotta Serve Somebody. We even had time to lay in some acoustic slide guitar as well. We also went back into Blowin in the Wind and added two electric guitar tracks on the intro, verse breaks and end. We also laid in some hi-hat refinements on Like a Rolling Stone and corrected a few editing errors on Highway 61 Revisited. And we touched up the mixes on our next batch of five tunes: Highway 61 Revisited, Blowin in the Wind, I'll Be Your Baby Tonight, Like a Rolling Stone and Gotta Serve Somebody. When completed this will give us 10 tunes - halfway through our objective of 20.
Update: Tuesday 7 December 2004
Monday, I had a great luncheon meeting with Jerry and then went over to Castle for a very productive day. Cydney Davis came in and sang on Blowin in the Wind and Gotta Serve Somebody which is quite a jump in terms of vocal style and approach. As usual, she was incredibly efficient, soulful and intelligent... just a pleasure to work with on every level. We added several new electric guitar parts on Like a Rolling Stone and I also sang on Blowin in the Wind and Gotta Serve Somebody.
Artie had his heart set on having Peter, Paul and Mary sing this new version of Blowin in the Wind and we have produced our instrumental tracks with that in mind. Cydney and I are putting scratch vocals on it just to help sell the arrangement. Next week, I will have another male vocalist sing on it just so we can duplicate the two male, one female voice format. We have no idea who may end up singing Like a Rolling Stone but I like our arrangement of Gotta Serve Somebody so much that I have decided to keep it for myself!
I had contacted two nationally-recognized multi-Grammy winning artists on my own. Both have now gotten back to me to say they would love to sing on the project. Artie had also lined up several artists. Since it is a joint film/CD project, Insane Records and Gemstone Pictures need to meet soon to work out their roles and cooperation in the artist compensation package. I had previously spoken with Stephen and Kennedy and I discussed this with Jerry on Monday and also today. Most likely, we will all get together next Monday, figure out exactly how best to proceed and, thereafter, be able to finalize our agreements with our stars.
Update: Tuesday 14 December 2004
We had to put our Insane/Gemstone summit off for another week but we were in the studio on Monday and continued to make progress on our next five tunes. David Aldo came in and sang lead on the first verse of Blowin in the Wind to which we also added some strings and a guitar riff on the chorus. I also put down a lead vocal on Like a Rolling Stone and Highway 61 Revisited and played the Hammond organ parts on Gotta Serve Somebody and Like a Rolling Stone.
Update: Tuesday 21 December 2004
We had hoped to get our Insane/Gemstone meeting on for yesterday but, alas, the holidays are upon us and, in keeping with one of California's most cherished traditions, business grinds to a screeching halt as we get within a week or so of Christmas.
Nevertheless, Stephen, Cydney and I were at it again in earnest on Monday. Cydney put on some great backup vocals on the chorus of Like a Rolling Stone and also replaced the synthesized "oohs" on If Not For You with real "oohs". We re-recorded part of the Hammond organ part on Gotta Serve Somebody. We wanted to try a different tone setting. And we recorded a Hammond organ track on Highway 61 Revisited. We also added a chorus of bells on Blowing in the Wind playing a theme on the intro, the breaks between verses and again on the ending choruses.
Update: Tuesday 28 December 2004
Monday, we changed up the hi hat part slightly on Gotta Serve Somebody, reduced the attack on the Hammond organ part on the chorus of Like a Rolling Stone and edited the lead vocal tracks on both tunes.
Update: Tuesday 4 January 2005
Yesterday, we recorded guitar solos on Gotta Serve Somebody and I'll Be Your Baby Tonight. We re-recorded the Hammond organ and guitar tracks on much of Like a Rolling Stone to try some different tones and we re-recorded some vocal tracks on Highway 61 Revisited to change up the phrasing in a few spots.
Update: Friday 14 January 2005
We were in the studio on Wednesday and Thursday this week with Rick Shlosser working on drum and percussion overdubs for Highway 61 Revisited, Like a Rolling Stone, Gotta Serve Somebody and Blowin in the Wind.
This week, we also attended a meeting with Insane Records' CEO Stuart Collins and ExVP Jerry Mangalos and Gemstone Pictures' CEO Stephen Edwards and ExVP Kennedy McIntosh. Unfortunately, I came away feeling like we would have had a much better meeting had Artie been present.
Frankly, the level of cooperation between the two camps - at this meeting at least - was not what I would have hoped for. But we did get all four of the principal players together and some issues were put on the table for further analysis, review and discussion. Hopefully, we can get this group back together soon and make a bit more progress toward coordinating our mutual efforts and interests.
Update: Monday 17 January 2005
Just about ready to head off to Northridge for more work on the Bob Dylan - Revisited tracks, I continue to reflect on a comment made yesterday at Artie Mogull's memorial by Chris Blackwell, multi-grammy winning record producer and founder of Island Records. In his tribute to Artie, Chris reminisced that, during a difficult period in the early '70s, Artie gave him the opportunity to continue to operate Island Records - rather than sell it as would have been his only other option - and to do so with artistic freedom that he otherwise would not have been able to exercise. That, fork in the road, at least as Chris put it, was what enabled Island to launch the career of reggae and world beat icon Bob Marley. So, to the already incredible legacy of Artie Mogull, Chris Blackwell would also add Bob Marley.
Update: Wednesday 19 January 2005
We spent all day Monday and a good part of Tuesday morning editing drum tracks.
I am still happy with the electric guitar fills on Like a Rolling Stone and the solos on Gotta Serve Somebody and I'll Be Your Baby Tonight that we did a few weeks ago but I am now convinced that we got slightly too much distortion on them. I am much happier with the cleaner tones that we got on Knockin on Heaven's Door, Don't Think Twice and All Along the Watchtower. So, the next order of business will be to re-do all those tracks.
We had to do the same thing with the Hammond organ tracks so maybe we have been relying too heavily on the EQ log and not trusting our ears. Or maybe I've just been in too big a hurry to get the tracks recorded and prove to myself that the parts are going to work. At any rate, the guitar tracks at issue will be redone and, hopefully, we'll be a bit more disciplined in the future in terms of getting our tones right before spending too much time tracking.
Update: Tuesday 25 January 2005
We had an excellent session on Monday replacing the guitar solos on Gotta Serve Somebody and I'll Be Your Baby Tonight with pretty much the same melody but using the clear, glassy tone that we got on Knockin on Heaven's Door, Don't Think Twice and All Along the Watchtower. And it made all the difference in the world.
We also replaced the guitar parts on Like a Rolling Stone (same issue) and we tried doubling them and panning them left and right (like we do on acoustic guitars and backup vocals) and it worked very nicely. It gave the guitars a shimmery, Leslie-like effect and opened up a broader space for the lead vocal in the middle.
We also got into some further editing - which is normal for this stage in the process. For example, we eliminated the acoustic guitars on the choruses of Like a Rolling Stone which now gives a much better contrast going from verse to hook. We also staggered in the electric rhythm guitar parts (there are two) and the acoustic slide guitar tracks which both allows the listener to vibe in on the basic drums, bass and organ tracks before having to process the additional parts and also helps build and maintain harmonic interest as the verses repeat. And we did some further drum edits and worked on our mixes.
We are now down to grand piano and harmonica and these next five tunes are good to go.
Update: Tuesday 1 February 2005
Monday, we revised the Hammond organ part on Gotta Serve Somebody to gain more harmonic tension during the verse. Mayuto Correa also added conga and bongo parts on Gotta Serve Somebody and Blowin in the Wind. And we worked on our mixes.
Update: Tuesday 8 February 2005
David Aldo came into the studio on Monday and sang the second verse of Blowin in the Wind. And we re-recorded my lead vocal (on the first verse) using a different microphone/preamp/compression configuration and achieved a much more intimate and warm tone.
We doubled the power chord guitar figures (recorded previously using my Strat) on Like a Rolling Stone with my Les Paul and that really fattened up the the guitar chorus. And we also added a grand piano over the section which created a much more interesting texture.
I used my TeleCaster on I'll Be Your Baby Tonight to double the bass line in a few short walk-up sections.
On Highway 61 Revisited, we used the Hammond organ to add an answer to the guitar theme on the intro/re-start sections and then dropped out the original organ tracks during those sections so that the track works like a coherent take all played on the same pass.
On Gotta Serve Somebody, we changed up the Hammond organ part over the verse for the third time now and this time was the charm. Actually, the problem was that I had used a little pattern over the Am section which emphasized the root, then the minor third, then the major second/ninth and then the sixth. It worked in the sense that it added a little movement and a lot of swampy tension. But I had also used the sixth to create harmonic tension in the guitar solo. By introducing it earlier in the song - and repeating it twice in each verse - it no longer jumped out at you during the solo. After getting some time away from the track and then listening to it several times with fresh ears, it was obvious that it detracted from the guitar solo. So I replaced it with a pattern that emphasized the root, then the minor seven and nine, then the minor seven and minor third, then back to the minor seven and nine. That way, we still had our little movement but we didn't give away the swampy sixth coming up in the solo.
I am sure that we will find something to fine tune in the mixes but we are now basically finished with Gotta Serve Somebody, Like a Rolling Stone and Blowing in the Wind.
We still need to add fills and a solo over the intro section of I'll Be Your Baby Tonight. We could probably define space for harmonica, fiddle and grand piano. I would also like to try harmonica fills over parts of Highway 61 Revisited.
So we are just a session or two away from completion of our first 10 songs.
Gemstone Pictures' Stephen Edwards and Kennedy McIntosh came over on Saturday to work on some business issues and discuss, from a film industry point-of-view, the most appropriate guest stars for the material recorded. And we have another meeting scheduled for later today. Hopefully, we will have all of this sorted soon and be able to open negotiations with guest artists over the next few weeks.
Update: Tuesday 15 February 2005
Larry David came in and put down fills and a great harmonica solo on the intro to I'll Be Your Baby Tonight, a rhythm part and five mini-solos on Highway 61 Revisited as well as the double of the guitar theme and a few fills on If Not For You. (We changed keys on If Not For You and finally got around to redoing the harmonica tracks.) As always, he worked quickly and sounded great.
We had time to edit the harmonica tracks on I'll Be Your Baby Tonight and correct a few problems with the mix of Gotta Serve Somebody. Later today, we'll be at Rick Dellefield's studio working on the grand piano track for I'll Be Your Baby Tonight. If we can get that sorted out, we will complete our edits of the track and drop it in on Monday. That leaves just a few drum edits on Highway 61 Revisited and we are ready to mix these next five and move on.
Update: Tuesday 22 February 2005
We dropped in Rick Dellefield's grand piano track for I'll Be Your Baby Tonight and ran off a mix. We edited the drum and harmonica tracks and ran off a mix of Highway 61 Revisited. And we edited the harmonica tracks and ran off a mix of If Not For You. Then, we compressed our mixes and printed CDs with all ten tunes on them.
Update: Tuesday 1 March 2005
Yesterday, David Moreno came in and laid down a great intro in a few subtle fills on Highway 61 Revisited and Mayuto Correa threw down conga and bongo tracks on All Along The Watchtower. We added a few vocal ad libs on Blowing in the Wind and recut a phrase I didn't like in Like a Rolling Stone. We also edited the lead vocal on All Along the Watchtower. Something we thought we had already done but somehow it seemed to have slipped through a the cracks, until now. We crafted a neat break down section on Gotta Serve Somebody. And then we spent quite a bit of time cleaning up our mixes. That we ran our compression program over the whole lot and, at about 4:00 a.m. Tuesday morning, called it a day. That gives us 10 completed tunes! Hey, we're just about halfway home!
I arrived back in San Clemente at about 6:00 a.m., got a few hours sleep and was back in Newport for a luncheon with Stuart Collins and Jerry Mangalos from Insane Records and my legal counsel, Alan Curtis. We had a great meeting which concluded with Stuart and Jerry heading off to have some paperwork blessed by their attorneys. We finally appear to be getting all of our forces marshaled into a coherent effort.
Update: Tuesday 8 March 2005
After a week a listening to our mixes over a number of different speaker systems, we found a few subtle points that we needed to address... a little more lead vocal on Mozambique, a little less bass on Highway 61 Revisited, a little more bass on Knockin on Heaven's Door, a little less master compression on If Not For You. We knocked that out pretty quickly and then started in on basic drum and acoustic guitar tracks for Lay, Lady, Lay. Then, we did some hard disc cleanup and defrag and backed up all of our work to a third firewire.
Now, we will run off a few copies of our mixes of the first 10 songs and send them around to our musicians and other experts for comment. So we are still a pass or two away from a final mix ready to master but we're getting very close. Meanwhile, we continue to track new material.
Everyone is excited about attaching star power to the project but a small debate has arisen within our group as to the optimum time to bring in our guest stars. It is agreed that we have more than enough material to demonstrate the quality and direction of the project and attract the stars we want. So one school of thought is that the sooner we get started on the stars vocals, the better.
The other point of view is that it is better to have completed the entire 20 tracks (or at least the basic rhythm tracks for the entire group) before commencing a stage which, although in some ways more interesting than our current one, will almost certainly be fraught with business and political angles that might complicate the creative process. Better to have as many ideas tracked - and our musical concept as firmly established - as possible before opening up the project to collaborate with 15 or so more artists.
Update: Tuesday 15 March 2005
We recorded bass tracks on Lay, Lady, Lay and basic drums, bass and acoustic guitar on Tangled Up In Blue.
Update: Thursday 24 March 2005
We were in the studio Tuesday and Wednesday this week with David Moreno on drums and we completed basic drums, bass and acoustic guitar tracks to Tonight, I'll Be Staying Here With You and Most Likely, You Go Your Way (And I'll Go Mine). We also made a few revisions to the acoustic guitar parts on Tangled Up In Blue.
Update: Thursday 31 March 2005
We were in the studio on Tuesday this week making some changes to the arrangement of Tonight, I'll Be Staying Here With You and getting down basic drums, bass and acoustic guitar tracks to Mr. Tambourine Man - and, of course, a tambourine track as well.
Stephen and Kennedy (Gemstone Pictures) were over at my house in San Clemente on Thursday reviewing budgets for the film and other projects they have in the pipeline. Apparently, there has been some discussion at Lion's Gate concerning a commitment to spend some money promoting the film. Obviously, that would make the deal more attractive to Gemstone's investors so I like where all of that is heading. Stephen and Kennedy and their associated Bob Aaronson have done a remarkable job developing that relationship.
Update: Saturday 2 April 2005
Since Artie's passing, we have grown increasing frustrated with Insane Records. Back on 28 February, we were finally able to sit down over lunch with Stuart and Jerry and did manage to agree on a strategy to accommodate a new investor group (Beverly Skyline Media) and move forward with the project. But a month went by and Insane never got around to signing off on the document. On 26 February, we had given them written notice that they were in breach of the agreement and needed to take steps to address the situation within the next 30 days. But they didn't do that either.
Whether they were distracted with other projects or rudderless and simply unable to make a decision without Artie, we came to the conclusion that we needed to make a clean break and move on. As they had never performed under the original agreement, we finally decided to take the unfortunate step of declaring our agreement with them void for lack of consideration. Our agreement was clear on the point that I owned the masters until they made certain payments - which they never made.
In advance of my decision to present Insane with a 30-day notice to cure their breach, I was advised by legal counsel that, absent a sufficient response thereto, I would be on very solid legal ground should I decide to take my masters and move on. So that's what I decided to do.
We needed to raise money for artist advances (and some production and marketing expenses) and we can't see letting the project die because Insane doesn't have the ability that Artie had to bring artists into the project on spec or doesn't have the passion for the project that Artie and I shared or, without Artie, now has no meaningful access to capital or whatever their problem is that prohibits them from performing under their agreement.
Gemstone Pictures and Beverly Skyline Media were supportive of our decision and remain committed to the project.
After we worked through the process of sending our notices, we eventually got a conciliatory email from Insane Records President Stuart Collins which acknowledged the problems and gave us the green light to move on with his blessing.
I appreciate the way that Stuart handled the situation.
Since Stuart finally came around (and/or was able to bring his partners around) to a reasonable position, at some point in the future, possibly when we have finished off the tracks for all 20 songs, I will go back to Stuart and give his group another opportunity to revisit the project. Insane may have different priorities and/or resources at that time and maybe we will be able to collaborate in some positive and mutually-beneficial way.
We have 10 songs completed and have recorded basic drums, bass and acoustic guitar tracks to five more. My current game plan is to record basic tracks to the final five tunes (which at this point are My Back Pages, Stuck Inside of Mobile With These Memphis Blues Again, I Shall Be Released, Just Like a Woman and Watching the River Flow) and then take five at a time and finish off the sweetening.
If we can get the CD recorded and the film completed as envisioned, I am convinced that we will have multiple options with respect to labels and distribution.
Update: Tuesday 12 April 2005
We got a late start but still managed to record basic drums and bass for My Back Pages and rework the drums, bass and acoustic guitar tracks for Tonight, I'll Be Staying Here With You in order to slow the tempo down three beats per minute (from 81 to 78 bpm). Yes, three beats per minute makes a difference and it does feel much better now at 78.
Update: Tuesday 19 April 2005
We were in on Monday and Tuesday and added the acoustic guitar tracks to My Back Pages and the basic drums, bass and acoustic guitars to I Shall Be Released. We had hoped to record a female version of I Shall Be Released but, on further reflection, concluded that the lyrics were not a good match. So our version will be very similar to Dylan's, sung by a male vocalist in the key of A.
Update: Tuesday 10 May 2005
We were back in the studio on Monday and Tuesday after a few weeks off to attend to personal business. We knocked out basic drums, bass and acoustic guitar tracks to Just Like A Woman.
Update: Wednesday 18 May 2005
Were completed the basic drum track to Watchin The River Flow and basic drums and acoustic guitar tracks to Stuck Inside of Mobile With These Memphis Blues Again. Ronnie Shumake will be in next to play bass on Watchin The River Flow and Stuck Inside of Mobile With These Memphis Blues Again. We will then have 10 songs completed with basic drums, bass and acoustic guitar to anther 10 and we will commence the process of replacing the lead vocal tracks with guest artists
To recap our progress, here are the 10 that are more or less completed (pending a few final touches and final mixes)...
1. Mozambique
2. Knockin on Heaven's Door
3. If Not For You
4. Don't Think Twice, It's Alright
5. Gotta Serve Somebody
6. Highway 61 Revisited
7. I'll Be Your Baby Tonight
8. Blowin in the Wind
9. Like a Rolling Stone
10. All Along The Watchtower
And here are the last 10 - for which we have completed the basic rhythm tracks...
11. My Back Pages
12. Tonight, I'll Be Staying Here With You
13. Tangled Up In Blue
14. Lay, Lady, Lay
15. Watchin the River Flow
16. Mr. Tambourine Man
17. I Shall Be Released
18. Most Likely You Go Your Way And I'll Go Mine
19. Just Like a Woman
20. Stuck Inside of Mobile With These Memphis Blues Again
If all that looks like a lot work, good! Because it is!
If we left one of your favorites off the list, sorry, but join the club. Not all of mine made it on the final list either. You never know, we may end up adding a tune or two, but, right now, that's our project. One thing is for sure, we aren't going to drop any of these. So if you have a favorite on the list, you will soon be hearing our version... and, hopefully, with one of your favorite stars featured on the lead vocal.
Update: Tuesday 7 June 2005
Bruce Rochelle was in the studio with us yesterday and dropped in some great drums fills on Lay, Lady, Lay which also inspired a slight rearrangement of the basic drum and bass tracks (and a remix). We then added scratch lead vocals to My Back Pages, I Shall Be Released, Watching the River Flow, Stuck Inside of Mobile With These Memphis Blues Again and Lay, Lady, Lay and harmony vocals to My Back Pages, I Shall Be Released and Watching the River Flow.
We also went back into our original 10 recordings and added tambourine parts to If Not For You, Blowin in the Wind and All Along the Watchtower and remixed those tunes along with I'll Be Your Baby Tonight and Gotta Serve Somebody.
It is definitely a challenge working on 10 tunes at once as opposed to four or five as has been my usual practice. But it is more efficient and cost effective and, so far at least, we've have been able to keep our production values up to our standards.
Update: Tuesday 14 June 2005
Cydney Davis came in yesterday and did a great job - as always - quickly layering several tracks of backup vocals on My Back Pages, Mr. Tambourine Man, I Shall Be Released, Just Like a Woman and Lay, Lady, Lay. She also laid down two great lead vocal tracks on Mr. Tambourine Man and Tonight, I'll Be Staying Here With You. Hopefully, her work will inspire two of our targeted stars to do some great work but it's really hard to imagine anybody topping the great lead vocal tracks she sang yesterday. More likely Cydney will scare off a few from even taking a shot at it - but that's not necessarily a bad thing, is it?
Update: Tuesday 21 June 2005
Alphonse Mouson, easily one of the most talented and influential jazz/funk/fusion drummers of all time, dropped in on our session Monday and had a lot of very nice things to say about our project. We're delighted to have Alphonse in the mix and look forward to getting his vibe on a few of our tracks in the very near future.
We recorded lead vocal tracks to Tangled Up In Blue, Just Like a Woman and Most Likely You Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine and we also dropped a few harmonies in on Tangled Up In Blue. I still have a few more backup parts for Cydney and a few changes I want to make on my lead vocal tracks so it looks like at least another half day or so on vocals come next Monday.
Update: Tuesday 28 June 2005
We re-recorded a few vocal tracks and started guitar overdubs on My Back Pages and Most Likely You Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine.
Then, we went through and tightened up all mixes on all 10 of the Disc II set. This helps me to evaluate the tracks and determine how best to proceed with the next round of overdubs.
Update: Thursday 14 July 2005
After taking little break for the July 4th holiday weekend, we were back in action at Castle Studios on Tuesday and Wednesday (and early Thursday morning). We started out pulling the Hammond organ back a bit in the Gotta Serve Somebody mix and then got into a whole new arrangement for Lay, Lady, Lay.
Following up on a suggestion that was made by Alphonse Mouson, we reworked the bass and kick drum tracks on Lay, Lady, Lay to go with a bit more of an R&B feel. This was an approach that I had initially considered and backed off from in the fear that it might move us too far away from the type of record that Dylan fans would find accessible. But after hearing Alphonse's comments, I knew the universe was trying to get a message through to me to go with my instincts. We revisited the rhythm concept and took the tune in a different direction. It still comes off as Dylanesque (I hope) but now gives the basic groove a lot more rhythmic interest.
Stephen does a great job on all aspects of engineering so it almost seems like a disserve to single out any single element for special accolades but I have to mention that he was getting such great guitar tones that we got on a roll and I'm not sure I can even remember, at this point, all of the guitar tracks that we laid. Yes, I do have a custom-made Stratocaster and a custom-made Mesa Boogie that get great tone. (And yes, I know that Mesa Boogie does not make endorsement deals and, supposedly, doesn't make custom amps for anybody but, many years back, I proposed a certain modification which intrigued their head of engineering. He ran with it and made me two Mark IV's which incorporate a clean rhythm channel with a clean lead and a dirty lead channel - as opposed to clean rhythm and dirty rhythm channels with a single dirty lead channel - and a bunch of other modifications, the particulars of which now elude me, that he explained and which made sense to me at the time.
But great tone coming out of the guitar/amp configuration does not always translate into a great sounding track. Stephen used his special combinations of mics, mic-pres, analog and digital compression, digital reverb (we run the amp without), post-tracking digital E.Q. and (in same cases) delay or phasing to create wonderful guitar sounds that actually inspired and opened up my creative process to hear and compose things that might otherwise have never happened.
This included two solos (actually an intro and a solo) on Watching The River Flow; lead guitar themes on I Shall Be Released and Lay, Lady, Lay; an Allman Brothers-like guitar duo theme on Tangled Up In Blue; some Roger McGuinn-like electric rhythm beds on Mr. Tambourine Man and My Back Pages and various fills and groove-enhancing devices on Tangled Up In Blue, Stuck Inside of Mobile With These Memphis Blues Again and Tonight, I'll Be Staying Here With You.
On Tonight, I'll Be Staying Here With You we also added a little theme-like riff that was just begging to end on a major 7th chord even though the Hammond organ and acoustic guitars were ending on a major triad (C versus Cmaj7). The minor second wasn't really clashing. Your ear initially focused on the B in the guitar line and, as that faded out, you would pick up on the C chord (or the G, the fifth on top of the C chord) that the Hammond was playing. It didn't really not work but I knew that it would sound better to add the B on top of the major triad that the Hammond was fading out on. I also figured that if I didn't swap out that last chord on the Hammond track, there was a good chance that Rick Dellefield was going to bust me and chew my ass for it - as well as a reasonable chance that Rick might even like it since years ago he expanded my concept with respect to minor seconds - but I decided to play it safe and replace the chord.
It was about this time that Cyndey Davis arrived and gave us the big thumbs up on the chord change so I am now certain that we got it right. At some point (soon), I will go back in and swap out the last chords on the acoustic guitar tracks (they're doubled) just to be 100 percent consistent but it really doesn't pose a problem. Maybe Rick will convince me to leave it alone as the acoustic and electric guitars are an octave apart... a loose end to be deliberated, contemplated and resolved.
In between our guitar tracking, Cydney sang additional back up parts on Tangled Up In Blue, Stuck Inside of Mobile With These Memphis Blues Again, Watching The River Flow and Most Likely You Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine... and did a phenomenal job as always. Not only does she always come with great technical skills: intonation, resonance, range, phrasing and ability to hear and execute parts; she also brings great tone and expression as well as a hugely positive vibe. We love Cydney! Stephen especially loves Cydney because she gets just about everything in the first take... "One Take Cydney" is what he calls her.
Tracking vocals and listening for timing, pitch and expression issues can be tedious especially when multiple takes are required. Cydney has spoiled us - which is probably more of a problem for Stephen since he has to deal with a lot more less-than-perfect singers than I do - but occasionally (maybe even frequently) I have to remind myself to be patient and remember "that's not Cydney in there".
In addition to everything else that Cydney brings to the party is that great range. As an arranger, I never have to worry about whether the parts can actually be sung. Cydney can sound natural singing down in a mid baritone range all the way up into that area well above high C where almost everybody else starts to sound screechy (if they can even work there). Keyboardist Harlan Specter and C&W producer Gary (sorry I forgot your last name) dropped in just as Cydney was working on the bridge of Most Like You Go Your Way And I'll Go Mine. On the transition from the bridge to the solo, I wanted to add another "ooh" over top of what we already had. When I announced my intention to add the tracks, Harlan yells "ouch!".
I says, "Don't worry. Cydney can sing up there and make it sound great."
Cydney, sequestered in the vocal booth and unable to hear our conversation, never even commented on the part. She hit it perfectly on the first take like it was nothing.
I go on the talk back to tell Cydney, "That'll work."
Stephen chimes in, "Let's double that."
Cydney nails it again and, voila, in less than two minutes we have the parts that Harlan thought were possibly unsingable.
Update: Sunday 24 July 2005
This past week, we tracked drum overdubs with Rick Shlosser on Wednesday and harmonica with Larry David on Thursday. We completed drum overdubs on My Back Pages, Mr. Tambourine Man, Watching The River Flow and Tonight, I'll Be Staying Here With You. Larry gave us some good harmonica fills on My Back Pages and Tonight, I'll Be Staying Here Tonight.
Update: Tuesday 2 August 2005
Last week, we tracked drum overdubs with David Moreno on Tuesday (Just Like a Woman; Stuck Inside of Mobile With These Memphis Blues Again; Tangled Up In Blue; I Shall Be Released; Lay, Lady, Lay; and Most Likely You Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine) and a fiddle solo on Wednesday (on Most Likely You Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine) and worked on our mixes on Thursday.
In between we added new guitar parts on Lay, Lady, Lay and Watching the River Flow and dropped in grand piano tracks (courtesy of Rick Dellefield) on My Back Pages; Watching The River Flow; Lay, Lady Lay; and Tonight, I'll Be Staying Here With You.
We have a few more grand piano tracks to work in and we are basically finished with the instrumental and back up vocal tracking. At this point in a project, I like to take a few days (or weeks) off and then go back and evaluate everything with fresh ears and I usually come up with something that can be improved in some way. This process can take a few rounds but it does eventually get me to a point where I am completely satisfied with everything.
Gemstone Pictures and Beverly Skyline Media have a number of labels, distributors, artists and investors interested in the project. So everybody is waiting on me to deliver a product that will justify their interest and help us to close the deals necessary to make the project a commercial success.
I know that we have a great concept, great arrangements and a great production strategy as well as great performances and tracks - and I certainly don't need anyone to validate that. Nevertheless, Artie Mogull did evaluate our work after the first five tunes and gave us an unequivocal thumbs up. He even left a enthusiastic message on my service, "The tracks sound terrific!"
Throughout the project, we have maintained the quality and creativity exhibited in those first five tunes and so, at this point, we have tremendous confidence in our final product.
I do feel some time pressure to get this phase completed and I will need to be careful not to allow that to lead me to shortcuts that might negatively impact what we are doing. As long as we remain aware of the danger of that particular problem, it should be fairly easy to avoid.
So I see us as at a place where we just need to take our time, as necessary, and hold everybody off for just a few more days or a week or so and be sure that we have exactly what we want and need on the tracks. Then, we can more forward knowing that we have created for ourselves the absolute best possible negotiating position and, from there, be ready to capitalize on whatever additional blessings are presented.
Update: Wednesday 10 August 2005
On Tuesday and early this morning, we dropped in grand pianos for I Shall Be Released, Mr. Tambourine Man and a new grand piano track for Tonight, I'll Be Staying Here With You and we worked on our mixes.
Update: Thursday 1 September 2005
Sorry, I just realized that missed a few updates.
We were in Castle Studios on 16, 17, 24, 25, 30 and 31 August. Additionally, I worked with Rick Dellefield on orchestrations and piano tracks at his studio in Mission Viejo.
We had several fiddle players attempt to solo on Most Likely, You Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine but we still do not have a solo that we can use. We have spent a lot of time on this and really felt like several of the players that we had in could have handled the task. Anyway, as of today, we don't have it and are still looking for somebody that can complete this song with a great Cajon-inspired fiddle solo.
Rick Dellefield gave us grand piano tracks on Just Like A Woman and Stuck Inside of Mobile With These Memphis Blues Again as well as an accordion track on Most Likely, You Go Your Way And I'll Go Mine. Rick also used his Gig-a-Studio and library of digitally recorded instruments to help us create the violin, viola, cello and French horn parts for my orchestral arrangements for My Back Pages, Mr. Tambourine Man and Just Like a Woman.
As we completed our production and arrangement of Tonight, I'll Be Staying Here With You, I made the decision to drop the whole band out of the last verse and have Cydney Davis sing it with just the grand piano track for backing. Actually, she had already recorded her vocal track some weeks ago so it was just a matter of muting all the other tracks.
The idea was working but it was obvious that we would need a slightly different approach on the grand piano during this last verse. I got together with Rick Dellefield and he was able to find the vibe and make the adjustment straight away. We dropped in the new piano track and everything sounded great but now, as the band came back in for the finale end movement, it seemed a little anti-climatic what with Cydney not being in there.
So I asked Cydney to come back in and do some sort of scat or ad lib vocal over the last few changes.
When Cydney arrived, we had been working on the fiddle solo for hours and still had only one or two licks that made sense. My engineer, Stephen, though still professional, was becoming slightly more aggressive about suggesting that we pull the plug on the fiddle session. With Cydney waiting patiently in the control room - and Stephen giving me the "please stop this" look, I gave our guy several more passes. Just to lighten things up a bit, I turned around and told Cydney, "You've got Stephen spoiled. He now expects everybody to nail it down on the first take."
As Cydney gave Stephen a hug, I pressed the talk back button and asked our fiddle soloist to take a short brake and come into the control room.
After making the customary introductions, we played the track - Tonight, I'll Be Staying Here With You - for Cydney, without warning her that I had taken everything out of the last verse save her vocal and the piano.
The arrangement works very well and Cydney is very knowledgeable so I was never seriously worried that she wouldn't like it but I did want to give her a chance to comment on it before we declared victory. Of course, she loved it and especially liked the the idea of dropping the band out of the last verse - a very Gospel-like approach.
I discussed the problem of the anti-climatic ending and Cydney was immediately on the same page with an ad lib/scat idea. She left of the control room and went into the studio. She did a few warm up exercises as Stephen cued up her head phone mix and within a few minutes was ready for a take.
Her first take was wonderful.
Stephen says to me, "Well, is that another one take Cydney deal?"
We listen back again.
"Cydney, that was great and we're going to save it but I sense that you have a better one in you. Can I get you to do that again?" I say.
"Yeah, let me have another one," she says.
Now this is what is very interesting to me. On her second take, instead of trying something different, Cydney stays with her original idea and just tries to refine and rework it a bit. Sort of like a writer editing and rewriting their work - no big changes, just little, incremental improvements. And the second take is really great. There are a couple of extra people in the control room and everyone is really excited about the track.
Nevertheless, I ask her to do a third take - upon which she again keeps the same approach. Then I ask her to come back into the control room.
We listen intently to all three takes. The second one definitely improves the first. The third one does not take off as well as the second but the ending may be just a bit better. We listen to the endings of the takes a few more times. Yes, we all agree, the ending of the third take is just a bit more exciting. Can we edit the two together?
Stephen says, "Well, we'll find out in a few minutes".
Sure enough, he finds a neat little pause around which to fit the two takes and we have a really special vocal track to end our song.
Now, we consider the breaths. Should we take them out or leave them in? Stephen speculates that maybe we should leave them in and puts up a bit of an argument along the lines of not making the record sound unnatural. I remind him of my philosophy that a good record in an illusion of a live performance - not an actual performance. I want to hear the track without them. If it still sounds natural, we will leave them out. Cydney seems content to trust my judgment or perhaps she just doesn't have a strong opinion on this issue.
Did we leave them in? Did we take them out?
Hmmm. You know what? I'll leave that a mystery to be solved by the film - or by you listening closely to the CD!
Either way, here is what is really remarkable. This whole business with Cydney has taken only a few minutes.
If you are wondering what happened with our fiddle player, we gave him a few more takes and then gave him a copy of the song with the three licks that we liked (taken from about three hours of tracking). Maybe he can work with that and come back with a solo that works. We'll give him another crack at it next week.
Meanwhile, we are going to put out a few more copies of our tracks without any fiddle licks and see if we can find somebody who can handle this solo.
If you are reading this and play the fiddle or know of a great fiddle player that would want to be on this record, please contact me at Randell@NETunes.com.
Update: Thursday 15 September 2005
On Tuesday afternoon, I had a rehearsal at B. B. King's in Universal City which was, in most respects, a disaster and I left at about 6:30 p.m. with a huge headache after which I drove straight over to Castle Studios where we immediately encountered a nasty computer problem, i.e., a corrupted file was causing our tracks to jam up at a certain point each time on our playback of Most Likely, You Go Your Way And I'll Go Mine. To make matters even more difficult we had a fiddle player all set up ready to take a crack at the solo.
Stephen was pretty stressed out - as would be expected - but he was analyzing the problem and working through a logical approach to diagnosis and resolution. After about an hour, I decided it was past time to take a little pressure off the situation so I asked our fiddle player to reschedule and told Stephen that I was going to go out for a quick dinner and did he want me to bring him back anything.
Florentine and I took our time at dinner to give Stephen plenty of time and space to work the problem. When we returned, I could tell he was feeling much better about things. He had identified the specific track that was causing the problem and it was a pretty simple matter then to essentially edit the problem out of the track.
So, our Tuesday was pretty much a total loss but we went back at it on Wednesday and worked on various little problems with Gotta Serve Somebody; Highway 61 Revisited; Tonight, I'll Be Staying Here With You; Lay, Lady, Lay; Watchin the River Flow; I Shall Be Released; and Most Likely You Go Your Way And I'll Go Mine.
What sort of problems?
We'll for example, after listened to all of the track on headphones, I decided that the shaker on I Shall Be Released wasn't really working and we removed it which revealed that the S's during the chorus vocals where not stacking up like they should so we reedited them to solve that issue. Not real exciting stuff but a necessary part of the process of creating a perfect record and we actually did make a lot of progress on Wednesday. We were even able to leave early - which for me is any time before midnight.
On Thursday, we had the big pow-wow at The Fairmont - Newport Beach with Dan Scheuer and Ed Vaughn from Beverly Skyline Media, Stephen Edwards and Kennedy McIntosh from Gemstone Pictures and Terry Wright. Although I had discussed Terry, and the possibility of bringing him in, this was the first time that any of the gang had actually met him. And, I believe, it all went very well.
The windup is that both Gemstone and BSM seem comfortable with Terry as the point man on recruiting and negotiating with the talent. That is a big step forward for us especially since this had been an area in which we had difficulty coming to agreement and never really figured out a way to move forward that was acceptable to all parties. That now seems to be behind us as everyone seems genuinely excited about bringing Terry on board.
Update: Tuesday 20 September 2005
We were in the studio on Monday working on drum fills on Highway 61 Revisited and on mixes and a few technical problems on Watching the River Flow; My Back Pages; Tonight, I'll Be Staying Here With You.
Stephen then brought up the issue of the power chord guitars on Like a Rolling Stone (the only tune on which we use heavily distorted guitars). We had recorded two stereo tracks of a Stratocaster and two stereo tracks of a Les Paul (four tracks total) both through a Mesa Boogie amplifier. They were bright and had a pleasant texture to them but, Stephen thought, lacked a little of the dark smoothness that we would get from a Marshall amplifier.
We also reasoned that if we going for an electro-harmonic bed of overtones we might as well maximize that by using both the Marshall stack and the VHT as well.
So we added two stereo tracks of the Stratocaster through both the Marshall and the VHT and panned them with the darker tracks to the center and the brighter tracks to the outside and were satisfied that we had improved the power chord guitar texture of our tracks on Like a Rolling Stone.
We choose not to repeat the process with the Les Paul because our Stratocaster had a double-coil Seymore Duncan pickup in the rear position and that gave us a beefy, overdriven, Gibson-like sound anyway. We did keep the Les Paul/Mesa Boogie tracks in our matrix in the 75 percent panned (left and right) position.
So our guitar matrix ended up looking like this...
