We ended our recording project—the tracking part, anyway—on a high note last night with a stellar guest appearance on “Don't Look Down” by the horn section from The Metropolitans: Rocco Pacella (trumpet), Jonny Franks (tenor and soprano sax) and Mike Dely (bass trombone).
I caught a lift out to Joe's with Jason and we talked a little in the car about our strategy for recording them. I had done some reading about different ways to record horns and was thinking we should just keep it simple and use dynamic mics (SM57s) for the trumpet and trombone, and maybe one of the condenser mics for the saxes. The reason being that according to my reading, saxophones, which are woodwind instruments, generate a more harmonically complex sound than brass instruments and sound better when recorded through a mic that captures all those little details in the sound—in other words, you would want to use the kind of mic that you would use for recording vocals. Brass, on the other hand, generates a big, assertive tone that can sound harsh when recorded through condenser mics and actually sounds better through more basic mics like 57s or 58s. Or at least that's the conventional wisdom.
Rocco and Jonny arrived first. The plan was to start off by recording the soprano sax by itself, then record the other three parts together once Mike got there (he had to drive in from Newcastle). After we talked for a bit and went over the charts, it occurred to Jonny that he and Rocco should record their parts together, because those two instruments were paired up in the charts for most of the song, either playing in harmony or the same melody in some spots. Likewise the other two parts, the tenor sax and trombone, were paired up for a lot of the song so it would make sense to record them together, too.
The microphone issue was resolved by Jonny's clip-on mic, which he uses live and has used for recording with The Metropolitans. It sounded good on the track and so we didn't need to bust out one of the big condensers. Rocco played into one of the dynamic mics. They tuned up using the software tuner on Joe's Mac and then we “rolled tape.”
Horn players amaze me. Not just the physical difficulty of playing those instruments well, but the sight-reading aspect of it, also. All trained musicians who can sight-read impress me and make me a little jealous. I come from the world of rock 'n roll, the garage, where people sort of teach themselves how to play their instruments and sort of learn how to make up songs, and everything is verbal: you say “play this chord” and show the guitar player, and “play this beat” to the drummer, and off you go. Nothing is written down. Many, if not most, rock musicians have no idea how to read music. Which is fine—in rock 'n roll you don't really need to. I can read a little, out of necessity, but I can't sight-read and play something right off the page like these guys, or Jen, can. I have to stare at the sheet music and think about what each note is and eventually I get it. Wouldn't be much use onstage or in a recording session!
When I charted the horn parts for this song I was greatly aided by software, which allowed me to enter the notes one at a time and match them up correctly, make sure the transpositions were correct for the different instruments, and—most importantly—to be able to play it back as audio to make sure I was translating the notes in my head onto the page in a way that made musical sense. That playback feature had left me feeling pretty confident that I'd made usable charts that would make sense to the players, but I still didn't know for sure until the session. Luckily it worked out fine and everyone seemed to be able to read off their charts without any problems. There were maybe a couple notes a little bit outside the comfortable range of the trumpet and the trombone, which a more experienced horn arranger would have avoided, but they were able to hit them. I felt quite pleased with myself.
Rocco and Jonny knocked out their parts quickly. Since the horns only play in certain places in the song, we went through section by section and recorded each chunk, then jumped ahead to the next spot. The advantage of having guys who are used to playing together was immediately obvious. They were spot on, perfectly in time, in tune and together. There were a few places where I needed to clarify a rhythm or a cadence, and I only had to explain once and they got it. Once we got started, we were able to tear through the whole song in a matter of minutes, with me “conducting” by waving a sharpie in the air like an idiot. They played the parts perfectly and even did swells where I had indicated on the sheet music. True pros!
Once we had the soprano sax and trumpet recorded we had a few minutes to kill before Mike arrived so we played with Joe's amazing new acquisition—a theremin! I've never seen one up close before and it is just the freakiest damn thing you've ever seen. It's controlled completely by moving your hands in the air near a couple of metal parts—you never actually touch anything. The left hand controls volume and the right hand controls pitch. I have no idea how it works but it is damn cool. Joe is determined to learn to actually play it as a musical instrument, which apparently is difficult but possible.
Mike arrived and started warming up. He plays a bass trombone, which has a nice low, rich tone. It was obvious just from listening to him warm up that he's an exceptional player so I felt bad that his part was so monotonous. It's mostly just one note played in a simple pattern, over and over. In retrospect I could have taken better advantage of having a good trombone player to work with than the way I charted it. Especially since he drove all the way from Newcastle. Still, simple as the part is, it is crucial to the arrangement and the song would have suffered without it. Huge thanks, Mike!
Jonny busted out the tenor sax, which is what he plays in The Metropolitans, and we recorded their parts together just as quickly as we had done the other two. I got to play conductor again, clarifying the rhythm of a few things by waving my sharpie. I’m sure I looked like a dork but I really found that quite a thrill. I got to conduct! Maybe I'll have to start calling myself a “composer” instead of a “songwriter”...just kidding, I’m not that pretentious. I will, however, require my bandmates to start calling me “Maestro.”
Before we knew it, we were done. Quick and easy. We listened to the playback and let me just tell you right now, these guys completely transformed the song. I can't believe how good it sounds now. It really sounds, to me at least, like a soul record from the early 70s, which is what I was going for but didn't know if we could pull it off. I'm just over the moon. Can't wait to mix it and let everyone hear it.
Really was a pleasure to work with these guys. They have that rapport where they constantly abuse each other and give each other a hard time, but it's hilarious.
Thanks again, fellas. We owe you.
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