Ask a music scene micro celebrity

[electrical]

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I know you said upstream that you don't listen to a lot of music on your time off, but do you have any favorite music that would surprise us? like gamelan or something?

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Recently I've been listening to the collected recordings of Washington Phillips. So beautiful. I've been a lifelong fan of Willie Nelson, and I probably listen to more mountain music than you would imagine. For "serious music," I love listening to Gorecky, Glenn Gould and Phillip Glass. I particularly like Gould's voice montage recordings like "the Idea of North." Other 20th Century egghead avant garde music I like, but is much more of an intellectual stimulation (rather than a passive listening experience): Christian Marclay, Alvin Lucier, Conlon Nancarrow and Iannis Xenakis being particlar favorites. For makeout music, you can't beat Bill Withers and Clarence Carter.

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also, you worked with ken vandermark on a portastatic record, what do you think of him? thoughts about the chicago avant garde scene in general?

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Bob Weston has worked with this scene a lot more than I have, but it's pretty ubiquitous here. There's a core of about 12 players who make up about 30 ensembles, depending on who booked the gig or who the guest soloist is. I don't mind improvised music, and some of the players are truly great (Hamid Drake is an astounding drummer, for example), but sometimes the whole avant Jazz scene seems like a race to see who can accumulate the most hours of stage time, and since the core of players is so familiar, it's hard to have a unique experience at one of these shows. These guys are also at their best when a visiting free music dignitary is in town and they're trying to impress him.

All of this sounds more flippant than it should, because these guys are dedicated to this music, but, like most things, either this is your scene and you like it already, or it isn't your scene and you're probably going to hate it.

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also, what do you think about jeff parker, and have you worked with him much? I really loved his playing on the new hamid drake/fred anderson record and had never heard of him before, that's why I'm asking.

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Jeff is a great player, and he plays in the band Tortoise and several occasional outfits of the type I described.

[turnipmonster]

few more questions I don't think have been asked already. you make a lot of records, how often do you know when a record you are making is going to be really effing great? any surprises, times you have thought the record sucked but heard it later and thought it was great? how often in general do you hear the records you've made after you're done?

sorry if this is too many questions, really cool that you are doing this thread.

[electrical]

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how often do you know when a record you are making is going to be really effing great?

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Another very good question.

There is a sort of clinical distance I have to maintain as an engineer that precludes forming an opinion about the music I'm working on. If I'm getting wrapped up in the music like a fan, then I'm not paying proper attention to the technical side, the way the equipment is behaving, etc.

I've used this analogy before, but I like it, so I'll use it again: While the recording is underway, I'm like a gynecologist, and it would be inappropriate for me to be getting turned-on by the vagina I'm working on at the moment. I need to have a different relationship with the vagina.

Imagine for a moment that I did allow myself to harbor opinions about how good a record was while I was making it. Two bands come into the studio, one of which I really like, and one whose music I dislike. It wouldn't be fair to that second band for me to let my distaste for their music affect the job I did, and that would be inevitable.

Also, all records aren't being made (ought not to be made) to suit me alone. My tastes are really [censored] up, and if I tried to make records to suit myself, rather than the band's tastes, I would make a lot of freakish records that nobody liked and didn't suit the band.

So, in order to maintain a professional level of concentration on the task at hand, and to allow the band to make a record that represents them accurately, I try not to even think about whether or not I like the record. Having said that, sometimes everybody can tell that a record is going to be awesome anyway, and of the records I've worked on that ended up being really great, the majority of them showed their greatness in the first couple of hours of work.

If there is something unique and subtle about a band that makes them great, then sometimes it takes longer exposure to become aware of it, but in general everybody can tell right away.

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any surprises, times you have thought the record sucked but heard it later and thought it was great? how often in general do you hear the records you've made after you're done?

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I probably get to hear 10 percent of the records I work on after everything wraps. Usually they sound about like I remember them, but I have often been surprised that an opinion I held at the time of the session (the guitar is too loud, the vocals are too quiet, this song is a turkey...) end up being completely incorrect. For this reason I am not the least bit insistent when the band and I disagree on a matter of taste. I know for sure that I am fallible, and I know the band is more familiar with their own music than I am. When in doubt, do it their way.

I did an album in the 90s for the band Bush, after they had had a couple of big hits already. While we were working on their second album, they kept pursuing a particular song that I thought was a the weakest and most derivative of the whole set of songs we were working on. A complete dog. Whenever they asked my opinion, I would admit that this particular song struck me as disposable, and they should concentrate on other stuff.

In the end, they did a version they liked, which I still thought was a turkey, and the song "Swallowed" was released as the first single from the album.

It was also their first Number One hit single. I apparently know nothing about what makes for hit records.

Gavin Rossdale, singer of the band, forgave me enough to invite me to his wedding to Gwen Stefani, where my girlfriend was able to pocket all kinds of "Gwen&Gavin" monogrammed trinkets, none of which have yet made it to eBay.

[ICallHimGamblor]

Enough with the music. Post your graph for the year, and your pokertracker stats. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[RiverFenix]

Very awesome thread. Thanks for finding 2p2 and doing this.

[samuraiphotog]

Would you mind sharing how you felt the first time you played in a live poker game? Was it as exhilarating as playing a really good show with Shellac?

[0evg0]

What do you think about the commercialization or "selling out" done by bands in the indie scene, such as licensing songs for movies, TV shows, and corporate commercials? I feel there's good and bad to it as hearing "Where Is My Mind?" at the end of Fight Club led to me discovering the rest of their catalogue, but at the same time hearing the New Pornographers at the close of a commercial for the University of Phoenix Online was kinda weird and something I could do without.

Then there's the actual economic vs. art debate on it too.

[rubbrband]

Pro tools or logic? explain plz.

[Max Raker]

Why do you think you have become famous (in a relative sense) for doing something that ususally doesn't make a person a household name. How much of this was your skill in engineering vs. luck. vs recording really good bands.

Who have you worked with that you felt had the best understanding of recording?

[electrical]

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Would you mind sharing how you felt the first time you played in a live poker game? Was it as exhilarating as playing a really good show with Shellac?

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I have played poker since I was a kid, so if home games count, I played my first money game while in high school, around 1976, and I have had a semi-regular game to play in since I was in college. My first trip to a sanctioned game with a dealer and everything was pretty cool, but not really life-changing.

The first time I played in an underground card room was more interesting. I was in New York for a conference, and I played at a club (at the time I think it was called the Broadway). I didn't know what to expect, and I was pleased that it was pretty normal. It was neat to see actual degenerates in an actual illegal gambling club. I also won a little money, which bolstered the evening.

Playing poker is great, but not really anything like playing in a band. I try to be pretty inconspicuous at the poker table, and If I don't know anybody, I would rather not have the other players thinking about me and what I'm doing. Playing onstage with a band is to the contrary, quite conspicuous, and I hope what I'm doing is communicating something.