{"id":3431,"date":"2014-08-13T22:17:14","date_gmt":"2014-08-13T22:17:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bobwiseman.ca\/?p=3431"},"modified":"2014-08-13T22:17:14","modified_gmt":"2014-08-13T22:17:14","slug":"guest-post-on-kapootie-preamps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bobwiseman.ca\/?p=3431","title":{"rendered":"Guest Post On Kapootie Preamps"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Tom28035217414_6330_n\"<\/a><\/p>\n

by TOM ST. LOUIS
\nre tweaking and all that….It’s cool that there
\nare ways to fix things….but I never wanted to
\nlose connection to that pre electricity world.
\nDid Sonnyboy Williamson use melodyne?<\/p>\n

my whole subconscious assumption is that
\nI want to be able to do a perfect concert if
\nthe power grid goes down. <\/p>\n

I am not sure I ever heard bad drumming tweaked
\nto where it’s now good drumming…but that whole
\nvibe time groove thing is endlessly mysterious
\nto me.<\/p>\n

a metronome has no soul…it’s too good. so it sucks.
\nbut this drummer over here…his meter is awesome,
\nbut um, no, not like a metronome.<\/p>\n

huh? <\/p>\n

Steve Gad? Well…his high hat is a bit ahead
\nand his kick is a bit behind and that’s why…
\nreally?<\/p>\n

spent a couple of days in Calgary recently
\nand the engineer would not stop effusing over gary
\ncraig’s ridiculous chops….and let’s face it. they
\nare ridiculous.<\/p>\n

producing is fun….but I need a good knob twiddler or
\nI’m lost.<\/p>\n

regarding bullshitting people about technical
\nchops….<\/p>\n

behold the engineer..who has to show off his ear
\nto intimidate the musicians into obsessively tuning
\ntheir guitars.<\/p>\n

behold the producer who insists the only way to do
\nsomething is with this super dooger…b16 H XL kapootie
\npre amp..or whatever…nothing but my way is anything!<\/p>\n

When I was just under 6, my mother sent me to get
\na hair cut down at the corner. <\/p>\n

The barber cut my hair in about two minutes…and then
\nindulged in this absurd ritual of alleged mini snips all
\nover the place. This performance lasted at least an
\nadditional five minutes.<\/p>\n

I got it in one smart little rat that I was..preemptive
\npositioning. don’t be thinking your mom can do
\nthis. <\/p>\n

first time I worked with a “big producer”, and I guess
\nonly time was when the angels demo, done at manta
\nin an afternoon got EMIs attention. wait. are you a
\nbig producer? okay, so I worked with a big producer
\nonly this year for five enjoyable minutes.<\/p>\n

naturally they had to do it over…so Richard Gottehrer
\nwas called in and he had produced Joan Armatrading
\ndon’t you now. You know Joan, right, the Winnipeg
\nshove the mic up the cooze lady?<\/p>\n

So, he came to my house to watch a rehearsal.
\nThen we recorded. I was watching for something
\nanything to indicate some higher perception\/acuity
\nrelating to music. I did not see it. One time he jumped
\nup to come down on a note we were all going to
\ncome down on. so what was that…flamboyant
\nconducting?<\/p>\n

Paul Gellman…seemed impressed. He played piano
\non a song…and said something about working with
\na “real” producer. What was real? What was I missing?
\nArm waving?<\/p>\n

Mr. Gottehrer said stop go let’s do it again…all the things
\nI had been saying all along!<\/p>\n

And when the dust settled….$15k had been spent
\non a recording not nearly as good as the dang
\ndemo which created all the excitement in the first
\nplace. <\/p>\n

Doing Jim’s stuff at Noble Street…there were a
\ncouple of times when I should have done and said
\na little more. But on at least two occasions, I had to
\nstop the song from rolling away in the wrong direction,
\nand I pretty much think that is what happens to most
\nsongwriters in the studio their first go. It gets away
\nfrom them because there is nobody to say…woah,
\nhold on….<\/p>\n

good smart musicians who understand vibe and
\nlyric and whatnot get the wrong idea and have to
\nbe stopped and reflighted…that is a part of
\nproducing.<\/p>\n

what I recently discovered is that what I particularly
\nenjoy and am good at is…sculpting parts….
\nso now somebody has to ask me again…I
\nthink I might bet this producing thing.<\/p>\n

first (client A)…great session with George Kohler
\nand a drummer I would not have chosen…..
\nand then meltdown\/shrieking, okay goodbye.<\/p>\n

then my pal (client B) ….and him basically making his record
\ninto a clusterfuck theme park and wanting to believe
\nthat there’s no difference between following a plan
\nand just getting your rocks off…<\/p>\n

if anyone ever asks me again, I’m going to have
\nto get a formal signed agreement….<\/p>\n

en tous cas…the Sam Christmas song keeps
\nrepeating on me…tell Magali to make it stop…
\nthose chimey notes…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by TOM ST. LOUIS re tweaking and all that….It’s cool that there are ways to fix things….but I never wanted to lose connection to that pre electricity world. Did Sonnyboy […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"Layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1,4],"tags":[737,738,736],"class_list":["entry","author-rockbob","post-3431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-uncategorized","category-production","tag-tom-st-loui-and-the-angels-of-montenegro","tag-tom-st-louis-and-bob-wiseman","tag-tom-st-louis-on-producing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bobwiseman.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bobwiseman.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bobwiseman.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bobwiseman.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bobwiseman.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3431"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bobwiseman.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3431\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bobwiseman.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bobwiseman.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bobwiseman.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}