My Blog

Snappy Too Recording

Wed, 12 Oct 2011 02:25:11 +1100

Anyone who’s been following me on Facebook or Twitter knows that my new album ‘Snappy Too’ is nearly done. It’s been a long time coming, I recorded ‘Snappy Doo’ 21 years ago with the legendary Ray Brown on bass, Herb Ellis on guitar and Jeff Hamilton on drums. The album was mostly a big band and I played everything else.

Not long after it was released I decided I’d like to do a sequel and I started planning, I can’t believe it’s taken this long to get around to actually doing it! Of course I’ve made many other albums in the meantime and always been busy with touring, writing and doing everything else that I do - it just always seemed like there was something else that needed doing before I recorded this album.

When finally starting, the first thing I had to decide was who would be on the album? Sadly, Ray and Herb are no longer with us - so it was either try to replace them (who could?) or keep the band original - that meant just Jeff and I would need to be a big band. Jeff is arguably the best big band drummer alive but he doesn’t play anything else, so I had to take over the bass and guitar chairs in addition to the saxes, bones, trumpets, piano, flugel horn, bass trumpet, clarinet and banjo ... this was going to be fun.

When you do an album like this, the engineer has a huge role to play and is practically a member of the band. Tod Deeley has been making albums with me since my first Gospel album, over 6 years ago and he is a musical magician who seems to know instinctively what I need when capturing music. The factors that have to be taken into account when doing a large over-dubbing project like this are many and if you don’t know what you are doing, you can waste a lot of time sorting out problems - rather than making music.

Tod and I have spent many hours finding out (sometimes the hard way) what happens when you try to put a big band down, one instrument at a time. We’ve had a few mishaps, some lucky breaks and a lot of laughs along the way and have discovered that you can actually work for multiple days with only 3 hours sleep...

Although the very nature of an over-dubbed recording means it can’t be recorded live, or in ‘real time’ - we have still tried to get first takes and capture a ‘real’ feel whenever possible.

When approaching some of the tasks, I thought “this will take a few goes” and it went down first take - others I thought would be easy and they took more than one go. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to it, just however I felt as it went down. Although it’s not all first takes, it is all me playing - no midi programming or speeding up or slowing down of tracks was used. One person even suggested I might be playing keyboard bass - no, every instrument is just as it would be on a live gig with a real band. The bass I used should be mentioned - an Australian designed and made instrument by Epoch. It’s made of composite material and has a great acoustic sound, we recorded it with no pick up or DI, just a couple of mics capturing the sound it makes in the room. The only electronic instrument used was the fabulous Roland V-piano Grand - and it was played just like any other grand piano. (only without the tuning hassles)

Of course all the brass and saxes used were Schagerl (details on the next blog)

To experience a whole big band gradually appearing, one voice at a time is something I highly recommend - it’s quite magical.

The Process...

We started most charts with a ‘click’ or ‘guide’ track and I put down the lead trumpet first. The reason for this is that when you play live with a big band, everyone listens to the lead trumpet (or they should) so I needed that there first to ‘hang’ everything else from. It’s the hardest gig I’ve done on lead trumpet - playing with no band and having to play as though you are leading another 15 musicians who aren’t there yet. If you don’t use your imagination well enough and hear the band that ‘will’ be there - you could end up with a band that doesn’t feel right, no energy and not swinging.

After the 1st trumpet I add the rest of the trumpet section and then move onto saxes, lead Alto first. Then come the trombones and after that, the rhythm section. I went with bass first, then guitar, piano and finally took the whole thing to Los Angeles to record Jeff on drums.

This was an interesting project for Jeff as he had to play with an entire big band that wasn’t listening to what he played (cue jokes such as ‘what’s new?’) But seriously, the way the drummer plays, both time and dynamics normally has a huge effect on the band. Jeff is used to having this effect as he plays and ‘driving’ the band. It was a new experience to have to sound like that while actually playing along to what was already there. Of course he did a superb job and made it look easy.

The very last thing to go down were the improvised solos. Some of these I did ‘live’ when Jeff was putting down the drums and some were done back at my studios in Sydney.

It’s all mixed and mastered now and I’m eagerly awaiting the release - just art work to complete.

JM

The Schagerl “Raven”

Sat, 9 Jul 2011 11:00:21 +1000

This is my new trumpet from Schagerl - although it looks a bit like a cornet, it is definitely a trumpet.

The design comes from my wish to have a rotary valve instrument due to the different articulation you get compared to piston valves. I find the rotary sounds more precise and there is a smaller “dead spot” between when you push the valve and when the next note comes out clearly. This is particularly noticeable when playing quickly in the upper register (something I like to do).

So if I want a rotary trumpet, why not just use one of the many Schagerl’s that already exist?

Rotary trumpets vary from their piston cousins in another way than just the valves... the lead pipe on a typical rotary is very short and goes from the mouthpiece straight into the 1st valve. The lead pipe on a piston trumpet is nearly 4 times as long, it goes out towards the bell and back into the 3rd valve. This difference in lead pipe length has a considerable effect on the sound and feel of the trumpet, particularly the power in the upper register.

So the Raven was conceived to be a rotary valved trumpet with a long lead pipe. This lead to several prototypes of different shapes and configurations until the beautiful instrument you see now. It actually still has the lead pipe going into the 1st valve (like any rotary) but only after a long trip out towards the bell and then back towards the mouthpiece - giving a length similar to a piston trumpet.

The ‘cornet - like’ appearance was due to the fact that the rotors needed to be placed low (increasing the vertical dimension) and this lead to a decreased horizontal length - like a cornet. But as far as the tubing goes, this is all trumpet. The valve actuators, that look like pistons, were placed on top - so the instrument can be played with one hand. I need this for various reasons, including using a plunger mute, playing piano at the same time and conducting a big band whilst playing. It means the Raven is played ‘upright’ like a piston trumpet, rather than on it’s side like most rotarys. In this respect it is similar to that other wonderful Schagerl - the Gansch horn.

One characteristic of the Raven is that it is extremely warm sounding when played softly, almost like a flugel horn. When you blow it hard, it goes the other way and is even brighter than a regular trumpet. This ‘breadth’ of tonal range is very appealing to me for jazz work, as I can create a very intimate sound even without a mute and still ‘scream’ any time just by increasing the air.

Finally, why is it called the ‘Raven’?

It was decided to plate it with a combination of platinum and silver that looks black, hence the name of the black bird. Unfortunately there is a delay with this type of plating and so I asked for my first Raven in gold plate. There is a second prototype on the way that will indeed be black and should look wicked!

Apart from playing it on all my gigs from now on, I’ll be recording with the Raven over the next few weeks and will get that up on Youtube so you can hear it. Also some better pictures are coming, this was just taken with my iPhone on the hotel bed before jumping on the plane home.

Robert Schagerl has done an amazing job and created yet another masterpiece.

Flying Blog 7

Mon, 16 May 2011 12:13:35 +1000

It’s been a while since I blogged. I think I’ve been sucked into the Facebook vortex, which takes just slightly more of your time than you actually have...

Anyway, this is a flying blog, not a FB review.

I’ve been clocking up the hours in the new Cirrus and I keep learning new things all the time. It seems that just when you think you know what every button does, it reveals yet another function.

I recently did my annual instrument rating renewal and was put to the test - doing an ILS, GPSS and VOR approach. All went well (I passed) but there are still some very cool ways to use the equipment that I have yet to master. I guess that’s the thing with this kind of technology - I can safely fly all the procedures I need to by using my current knowledge but it could be even easier (meaning less pilot workload).

It adds to this situation that there are many different ways to complete most tasks and there’s no ‘right’ way. You just try a different way each time you go out and hopefully (soon) find what works best for you.

Having said all that - I’m loving it! I’ve flown from Perth to Sydney, up and down the east coast and just last weekend, over to Mt Gambier.

I’ll see if I can get some cool video of it flying a coupled approach soon.

JM

TC Helicon Voicelive Touch

Fri, 4 Feb 2011 10:03:08 +1100

I’ve been trying out the new Voicelive Touch from TC Helicon and while it’s name suggests a device for vocalists, it has some very cool features for instrumentalists too.

Apart from beautiful reverbs and delays, there is the looper and a harmoniser. I’ve never been that keen on Harmonisers as they have always been quite limited for horn players - slow tracking, bad sound and diatonic voicings. But with this device I can plug in my keyboard and play whatever voicings I like - the sound is great and tracking is excellent. Couple this with the looper and I can create a brass fantasy on my own in minutes.

Another great feature is that it clips onto your mike stand and the panel is all touch control - very quick to set up and nice to use.

If you’ve tried anything like this before and been less than than impressed - have a look at the Voicelive Touch, it might be what you’re looking for... I’m having a lot of fun.

Flying Blog 6

Thu, 30 Dec 2010 21:47:04 +1100

Couldn’t help putting this up for my flying friends!

This is the cockpit of an aircraft that I’ll be flying in late January. It has synthetic vision (virtual outside world on the screen), digital autopilot and a true flight management computer.... and more.

If you’re not a pilot, this is fairly ho-hum but if you learnt to fly in analog aeroplanes (like I did) then this is quite exciting... considerably more advanced than my current plane.

And yes, it’s the latest Cirrus.