Magnetic Memories Four Decades in the Studio with Rush

[Jag2112]

There's a new article penned by Neil in the December 2015 issue of DRUM! Magazine.

 

You can read the entire article at the following link:

 

http://cygnus-x1.net/links/rush/drum-12.2015.php

 

Enjoy-

[AnEggplant]

Cool, thanks for posting!

[Duke1]

Thanks for that

[blueschica]

I love his statement at the end (he's talking about making a career out of music); so true of everyone here, it seems- "whether or not your music supports you, it can still nurture you."

[toymaker]

Thanks for posting this article. There are some strange typos from time to time ("I grew to prefer toy drums"?), but it's quite interesting.

[Geddy's Soul Patch]

Interesting read. I guess I'm not surprised that he completely glossed over the most interesting part of their career

[EagleMoon]

Interesting read. Thanks!

[Slim]

There's an occasionally-repeated view that La Villa Strangiato was recorded in one take .. interesting to hear the truth about that.

[Fridge]

There's an occasionally-repeated view that La Villa Strangiato was recorded in one take .. interesting to hear the truth about that.

 

I remember an interview with Terry Brown which seemed to back this up....he said (I think) we had to do it in a take or it would have to be "charted out"

 

I think that it probably was done in one take, but there is no telling how many times they had to do it over till they got the perfect one.

[Slim]

Well Neil tells us fairly clearly that it was edited together from three takes

 

Then, gradually reversing direction, I began to embrace editing. One early lesson was in 1978, recording our Hemispheres album. The last song was a crazy eight-minute instrumental, "La Villa Strangiato," and we played it over and over - for about four days, I recall. The three of us were in the studio together grinding it out, over and over, sometimes until daylight, only to start again later that day, with aching, swollen hands. It was soul-destroying. Finally, Terry Brown tried editing together three takes into one, it sounded great, and I had to cry, "Uncle."

[EagleMoon]

I thought it was Xanadu that they said was one take?

[robertrobyn]

Thanks for posting

[thirteen]

Kind of disappointed that Neil has used a click-track, but I don't know why I'm disappointed?

 

 

Great article thanks for sharing :)

Edited November 5, 2015 by thirteen

[New World Kid]

"For example, don't presume that anybody is going to help you - either an unsympathetic engineer, or in a home-studio situation, because nobody in the room knows any better than you do how to record drums."

 

I was in a band as a drummer for a few years, and this strikes me. That whole section about being given unhelpful studio advice...

 

It was a local alternative rock band. We played many live shows, and practiced together all the time. The songs were original and always sort of evolving very slowly, so that maybe week to week it was the same song, but if you look back 6, 12 months, you could tell things had coalesced. Both in rehearsals and on stage. There was plenty of trial-by-fire on these parts. Someone tried something that stuck, and someone else built off it. That sort of thing.

 

Everything was great and all the members of the band gelled and played cohesively. I eventually started constructing my drum parts that locked so in-step with the singer's naturally vocal rhythms, that I was really proud of it. Just small ghost notes or drags, usually snare or high-hat, or a seemingly out-of-sync bass kick, to really accent, or contrast the singer. And we both really liked that style. Often times the singer and I would just play our parts without the guitars in practice, sort of almost like rapping, just to fine-tune the nuances.

 

Well so then we decide to go into the studio for the first time. And we know it's our first time, so we also make the mistake of asking the engineer to also work as our producer. Bad move for, particularly, me. The guy listened to the demo recordings of us... maybe once, maybe, before we got there. As I was setting up my drums to record, he was struggling to locate the files on his computer, so I'm not convinced he'd studied the material.

 

He gets a rough tempo from the demo tracks and then sets a click into my ears. That's totally cool, and I beginning playing my parts as I had rehearsed them (and constructed them over a few years, mind you!)

 

"Stop stop. Dude, way too much snare drum. It's like everywhere. Just focus on making the one hit."

 

So I eliminate it a bit more, but not enough. "The song needs to breathe more, you're not giving space."

 

The impression I'm under is that this guy wasn't used to a drummer who used ghost notes on a snare in this sort of jazz-esque way. And it was a bit of a different approach for a band in this setting. That was sort of exactly the point of my drumming though. What I liked best, and what gave our group a different flavor. It was still this aggressive, alternative style, but with some extra attention from a more delicate side. A more "gavin Harrison" approach, rather than straight-ahead alt. rock, if that helps you picture what I was thinking at that time.

 

So I simplify the snare work to just the back beats basically. And that, of course, wasn't the only place where massive slashes to my parts had to happen.

 

So the drums to all four songs we were going to record in that session are just done the first night. It took about 4 hours of me whittling my parts down to their most primitive elements for this guy to be happy. And I think everyone could feel my frustration sort of seething, but this anointed producer would say things like "look, I don't have to be your producer, I can just be the engineer. But you guys asked me to produce, and I'm not going half way on it." So of course I'd get dirty looks from the rest of the guys when he'd sort of bully me into submission that way, almost like guilt tripping. So it was a "just go with it" kind of vibe from the guys. We were paying out-of-pocket, after all! And last thing I wanted was to be any sort of band drama. Band drama is particularly disgusting. Eech.

 

I was itching to give a second shot. I asked for a chance to re-record my parts at the end of the 3 days we had booked. So that maybe he could see where these nuances were falling and why. "Just give me 20 minutes, I'll do all four songs in one take, and if we don't like it, we'll use what we've already got."

 

But I'm fairly certain he deliberately constructed the daily schedule to make sure I never got to record another note after those 4 hours on that first night.

 

And it's not that I don't appreciate new ideas. Some ideas this producer had were brilliant, honestly. And sometimes my drumming style is a bit... over the top, and it can need to be drawn back in, and I get that. Overactive brain on my part. But in most instances during this session, I don't feel these changes were done out of a higher grasp for what the music was reaching for. I think it was an engineer who had his producer's cap on a little too tight, and was look at it track-by-track, instead of the whole song. Not seeing the bigger picture, just a lot of details that don't make sense out-of-context.

 

Or maybe he just wanted a more streamlined sound or something. Maybe two years later I just still don't get it. But I do know that those recording sessions caused a rift that ended with first my departure, followed by the vocalists'. It obviously wasn't making me any sort of money to live off of, but the band was giving me creative freedom up until that point. When the guys started telling me that it'd be "better for radio" to simplify my parts, or "easier on the average listener", or a bunch of other cliches thrown at me that sounded like echoes of that producer after the studio time... I knew it was time for me to get going.

 

So no fuss, no drama, told the guys I would stay on until they found a replacement, whether it was a few weeks or a few months or however long. And they found their replacement. And he's what the guitar guys wanted. Apparently he and the singer didn't gel, probably because he has that different approach to me. So the singer left too. I'm under the impression I haven't heard the whole story there.

 

The band isn't any more successful than it was before the studio either.

 

Moral of the story: Neil's right. You know the most about your drums and your parts and your feel to the music. Be open to some changes. Be able to play any changes. Don't refuse to try them, or to learn them. But at the end of the day, you're the backbone of what's happening in the music, and the detail-oriented studio guys who punch in 15 bands a month aren't there to work with your creativity.

 

Sorry to rant all over the thread about my own stuff. That turned into a big post 0.0

Edited November 5, 2015 by New World Kid

[Slim]

I thought it was Xanadu that they said was one take?

 

I'm sure Alex claimed LVS was done in one take, or at least recorded as a single take, in an interview years ago. Probably just forgot.

[Tony R]

Each step of the way, Lifeson and his pals have been musicians' musicians. After all, this is the band that famously tracked its 11-minute opus "Xanadu" in one take. First take, entire band.

 

http://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/rush/guitar-player-09.2007.php

 

 

It's still anecdotal as it doesn't appear to be backed up by a direct quote from the band as far as I can see.

[andreww]

I thought it was Xanadu that they said was one take?

 

I'm sure Alex claimed LVS was done in one take, or at least recorded as a single take, in an interview years ago. Probably just forgot.

 

As I recall they tried to do LVS in one take but never quite got it. I think it was eventually done in two parts.

 

Sorry, should read the whole thread before opening my trap lol

Edited November 5, 2015 by andreww

[thirteen]

My understanding was that La Villa was done in a single take, and then Alex did some lead overdubs as a second take.

 

Oh well, doesn't really matter.

[Lorraine]

I thought it was Xanadu that they said was one take?

 

I'm sure Alex claimed LVS was done in one take, or at least recorded as a single take, in an interview years ago. Probably just forgot.

 

As I recall they tried to do LVS in one take but never quite got it. I think it was eventually done in two parts.

 

Sorry, should read the whole thread before opening my trap lol

My understanding was that La Villa was done in a single take, and then Alex did some lead overdubs as a second take.

 

Oh well, doesn't really matter.

 

In my Rush bible book, Geddy says:

 

Even La Villa Strangiato we wanted to record as one ten-minute piece. But we were also becoming perfectionists at that point and just didn't like the long pieces we were doing. They started to lose energy, so we finally compromised, and I think we recorded that song in three pieces, and then we glued them together.

[blueschica]

I thought it was Xanadu that they said was one take?

 

I'm sure Alex claimed LVS was done in one take, or at least recorded as a single take, in an interview years ago. Probably just forgot.

 

As I recall they tried to do LVS in one take but never quite got it. I think it was eventually done in two parts.

 

Sorry, should read the whole thread before opening my trap lol

My understanding was that La Villa was done in a single take, and then Alex did some lead overdubs as a second take.

 

Oh well, doesn't really matter.

 

In my Rush bible book, Geddy says:

 

Even La Villa Strangiato we wanted to record as one ten-minute piece. But we were also becoming perfectionists at that point and just didn't like the long pieces we were doing. They started to lose energy, so we finally compromised, and I think we recorded that song in three pieces, and then we glued them together.

 

Hi Lorraine! Nice to see you! :)

[Rutlefan]

Re La Villa, Neil says in subject article that they kept trying to get it in one take but eventually Terry spliced three takes together to get the Villa we know.

[EagleMoon]

I thought it was Xanadu that they said was one take?

 

I'm sure Alex claimed LVS was done in one take, or at least recorded as a single take, in an interview years ago. Probably just forgot.

 

As I recall they tried to do LVS in one take but never quite got it. I think it was eventually done in two parts.

 

Sorry, should read the whole thread before opening my trap lol

My understanding was that La Villa was done in a single take, and then Alex did some lead overdubs as a second take.

 

Oh well, doesn't really matter.

 

In my Rush bible book, Geddy says:

 

Even La Villa Strangiato we wanted to record as one ten-minute piece. But we were also becoming perfectionists at that point and just didn't like the long pieces we were doing. They started to lose energy, so we finally compromised, and I think we recorded that song in three pieces, and then we glued them together.

 

Hi Lorraine! Nice to see you! :)

 

Absolutely! Nice to see you. Been really boring around here without you.