| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
gstump
Heavyweight Member
Joined: 14 Nov 2006
Posts: 934
|
 Posted: Sun Mar 22, 2020 5:18 am Post subject: Wrong place wrong time |
 |
|
Did you ever feel like you were at the wrong place at the wrong time? Or more specifically you were the wrong trumpet player hired for the wrong job?
That happened to me years ago at a recording session. In Detroit we did sound recordings of Motown and post-Motown styles and lots of jingles and industrial films. The arrangers and composers were the same guys for all these sessions. Paul Riser, Dave VanDepitte, Johnny Allen, Jeff Steinberg and others.
We used lots of Detroit Symphony Musicians. But the style was always a commercial funk/pop style. The Funk Brothers recorded the rhythm section tracks first. Trumpets were EQed like jet engines. Maybe that is why some of us played Jet-Tones!!
Anyway, I go into this session and see the Concert Master of the Detroit Symphony, the principle flute, principle oboe,and principle cello and a new young composer. That is it.
I should have known something was up when they put me in the drum room at Studio A in Dearborn. Nobody except the drummer and the sound engineer goes into the drum room. Drum rooms in Detroit established the Motown sound. They used 6 or more mikes on many tracks.
My equipment for Detroit recording at this time was a 14A4a on a pre-UMI King 1000. The 14A4a was early with a aa backbore.
Once the synth track started and the DSO guys in the big room started playing I realized I was being featured for a symphonic trumpet solo in a climactic musical moment.
Fortunately Scott Laskey made me a 14B4b custom mouthpiece to try and fool conductors on import shows. It worked. The recording was for a documentary film of the Mott Family Mansion. The solo turned out pretty good but I was so glad to get out of there. This was not the last time Scott Laskey saved my bacon with his mad skills.
Solo
_________________
Schilke B5
Couesnon Flug (1967)
Funk Brothers Horn Section/Caruso Student
Last edited by gstump on Fri Mar 27, 2020 10:04 am; edited 3 times in total |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
mafields627
Heavyweight Member
Joined: 09 Nov 2001
Posts: 3776
Location: AL
|
| Posted: Sun Mar 22, 2020 5:39 am Post subject: |
|
|
Awesome story. I love the behind the scenes stories from pros. Thanks for posting!
_________________
--Matt--
No representation is made that the quality of this post is greater than the quality of that of any other poster. Oh, and get a teacher! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
khedger
Heavyweight Member
Joined: 12 Mar 2008
Posts: 754
Location: Cambridge, MA
|
| Posted: Sun Mar 22, 2020 4:18 pm Post subject: Re: Wrong place wrong time |
|
|
| gstump wrote: | Did you ever feel like you were at the wrong place at the wrong time? Or more specifically you were the wrong trumpet player hired for the wrong job?
That happened to me years ago at a recording session. In Detroit we did sound recordings of Motown and post-Motown styles and lots of jingles and industrial films. The arrangers and composers were the same guys for all these sessions. Paul Riser, Dave VanDepitte, Johnny Allen, Jeff Steinberg and others.
We used lots of Detroit Symphony Musicians. But the style was always a commercial funk/pop style. The Funk Brothers recorded the rhythm section tracks first. Trumpets were EQed like jet engines. Maybe that is why some of us played Jet-Tones!!
Anyway, I go into this session and see the Concert Master of the Detroit Symphony, the principle flute, principle oboe,and principle cello and a new young composer. That is it.
I should have known something was up when they put me in the drum room at Studio A in Dearborn. Nobody except the drummer and the sound engineer goes into the drum room. Drum rooms in Detroit established the Motown sound. They used 6 or more mikes on many tracks.
My equipment for Detroit recording at this time was a 14A4a on a pre-UMI King 1000. The 14A4a was early with a aa backbore.
Once the synth track started and the DSO guys in the big room started playing I realized I was being featured for a symphonic trumpet solo in a climactic musical moment.
Fortunately Scott Laskey made me a 14B4b custom mouthpiece to try and fool conductors on import shows. It worked. The recording was for a documentary film of the Mott Family Mansion. The solo turned out pretty good but I was so glad to get out of there. This was not the last time Scott Laskey saved my bacon with his mad skills. |
I'm a self taught jazz/rock/commercial/avant type player. I've spent a lot of time and energy developing my own sound and DEFINITELY do not sound anything like a 'classical' player. And I'm very aware of it.
I was playing with a very good band that played all Frank Zappa music. It was a large band, with a big rhythm section and a 3 piece horn section.
It was arranged that we would play a concert with the local orchestra, the orchestra would play some Zappa pieces, then some more with the rhythm section, then the band would play a set. One of the orchestral pieces called for one more trumpet player than was in the symphony so I was asked to play on it in the section. It was a pretty out piece and I was hoping I could bury myself in the section and not stick out too much.
The pieces went well and I thought it worked out okay. We played our set and sounded really good. A good time was had by all.
Later, there was a party and I was talking to the brother of our trombonist, who always attended our shows and was not a musician. I mentioned to him that I had never played in an orchestra before and thought it went well. I asked him if it sounded okay, to which he replied "Yeah man, it sounded real good, and you know, I could pick you out from all of the other trumpet players. Good job!"
Hardy har har har. Wrong trumpet player in the wrong place at the wrong time =
keith |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group
|
