SOULJAZZFUNKHIPHOPDON'TSTOPROCKIN'IT!!
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HOPE STUDIO LOG
Big Black Booty Nov 8-12 2002
FRI 11/08/02: The setup
Well, after much anticipation on my part, we finally start the maddness. We do a show in Blacksburg,VA
at Baylee's Cafe, oh yeah, where I sat in with Carlos Washington and The Giant People ensemble the night before,so I was hyped
from the start. So, we do some pretty challenging tunes that we had not done before (Big Brother by Stevie Wonder,Flytown Nose blues
by Rahsaan Roland Kirk) but we also make this into a great rehearsal for the recording. Our friend Genesis rapped on
a couple of tunes...he's a memeber of the local group, Da Truff. It was so good that we invited him down for the recording
session. After the show (4am) we setup Johnny's drums and get a general feel for the gear and room.
We did the recording at our friend, Rick Krajnyak's studio Real 2 Reel right in Downtown
Blacksburg. The studio is AMAZING and Rick has been extra kind to us, so please give him your business. For those who don't know, Blacksburg is the home of Virginia Tech University.
SAT 11/9/02: The beginning
It's On!! We gathered around 11am and after some setup time waiting for drum micing and kick drum debates, we get some sounds
Dylan and I sit in the console room, while Johnny, George, and Bob sit in the main hall. Bob starts with
some Nord keyboards run thru many effects, he eventually moves onto Hammond B3, Fender Rhodes,melodica,and some other key maddness. George does the good ole George thang and jazzes it up with an American
Heritage Hollow Body, while Dylan does the electric bass thing. Johnny is kickin's the drums with a beautiful 1963 Slingerland kit (he's the original owner). He uses some K and Zildjian cymbals to add some sweetness.
Johnny's kick drum is the best sounding kick I've played with in years. Rick (engineer) puts a golden microphone (Lawson?$$$$$) to coordinate with the kit :)
All of my tracks I did as a scratch in order to assume the producer role. We did
as much live as we could, but when your barking "1234 Uh, What, Nasty, Oh shit, oh my god!!" over your track, it's best to leave it out. However, the tracks have the same energy cuz da stuff is kickin'.
We started with a Bob Holub tune called "Family Money." It took basically one take for the recording, which is a sign of
either mind blowing professionalism or I'm really lazy. We then did a George Tuner tune called "2nd by 2nd" which is a
regular tune in our repetoire. We then moved on to an obscure Marvin Gaye tune, which I will not name now. We finished
off with a Gil Scott Heron song, which I will also save till a later date.
So, we finish up around 2am...it's like 3 day jobs in one, but well worth it.
SUN 11/10/02: The end...so soon???:(
Well, we get together early to start another round of recording. We plan to do 4 songs per day, including overdubs.
The guys called it "booty camp" cuz there was little downtime, but we did most everything with amazing energy. We start with a
George tune called "Slip Don't Fall," which is a rearranged version of one of his earlier recorded songs. We put some 'Nawlins' on it and
our friend Brian "Willie" Williams helped out with some slide guitar. Willie and I also put a little something extra together for
your listening pleasure. We then moved on to another Bob tune called "Red Oak,"
which we rearranged to fit in a special hiphop flava from our friend Genesis, silky tongue dope fresh.We finished out
the session with a couple of my tunes, "Ghetto Right" and "Sweet Infinity" I'm always nervous with writing songs,
but these guys made them sound so alive and real. We finished around 9pm and I stuck around to start
vocals and finish horns. These guys made it so easy, that I finished in no time. We doing some mixing on Tues and we should have
a good ideal of what we need to maxmize the Big Black Booty.
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