Recreating Crime of the Century in the studio

[Squids]

Hi guys. Squids here. I wanted to write to you while I was in the midst of something since it is no longer a secret. Sonic Reality announced at NAMM as part of the Studio ProFile series that we're doing a Ken Scott series. For those of you who don't know who that is just Google him! He's an engineer/producer who among many things recorded The Beatles White Album and Magical Mystery Tour. He also recorded Pink Floyd, David Bowie, Elton John, Duran Duran, Missing Persons, Procol Harum (going out of order there haha) and Supertramp. He produced and engineered Crime of the Century in 1974 which is considered by many audiophiles to be one of the best sounding albums ever. It was certainly one of those albums that was ahead of its time. So was Dark Side of the Moon. The fidelity those two albums had for THAT time still blows me away. Plus the analog warmth and the character of those production elements such as the drums, guitars, sound effects, vocals...

So, what is Squids up to you ask? I'm in the studio this week with Ken Scott and Bob Seibenberg, the drummer from Supertramp, recreating THAT sound! It is fascinating watching Ken do it. We put up the Supertramp tracks and then match it up to the recorded tracks using the same gear! Ken's got a U67 on each tom (hard to find, I had to rent them from Ocean Way Studios), a KM56 on the snare (interesting! I'm always using a 57 for that but the KM is obviously crispier) and Coles for overheads which I've never used but they sound great! The character of the drums are authentic here and we A/B it with the original and it sounds like we are going back in time recording Crime of the Century... but for the NEW century. Well, it IS 96k and going to be chopped up into loops, slices, multi-channel drum kits you can play, Rexes, Apple Loopses and all the rest... eventually making its way into your favorite sampler formats one way or another.

What we do is try to capture the sound and feel of the drummer in these sessions. We use a familiar song as a starting point but then go OFF from there with variations of the snare, kick, hats, ride, tom fills which are unrelated to any particular song but would be useful for someone's new music they are making with the library. Basically you could do anything from an extremely authentic cover of a Supetramp song with it (the more esoteric fun thing to do with the library) to what it is really meant for which is write a completely new style tune but using THAT particular 70's analog sound to do it. There's material in there that could be used for a lot of styles. There are a couple of rap songs out there using Supertramp hooks (don't you look at my girlfriend) and there were quite a few grooves we did that I could picture some rap producer making a hit out of. Some good loose funk in there too. GREAT rock and classic rock grooves galore. It's like you had Bob come play on YOUR session since there's so much variety and you ALSO have the playable kit which is worth it alone. I can't wait to play this kit and extra snares, percussion and various noises from the keyboard!

One other thing that is very cool about this is that we're sampling to 2 inch analog tape and using a Trident A Range like the one that Ken used at Trident Studios in England. We're video documenting it so you'll get to see some of this on www.studioprofiles.com in a week or so. I am going to start posting behind the scenes videos like mad of this and also other Studio ProFiles sessions and even a little mini documentary on Genesis at some point with footage I have of Nick Davis mixing Mama in 5.1 and the guys rehearsing for the tour (which you can already see a little bit of at )

Anyway, this is a really fun project. Expensive but fun. We've got Ross Garfield, the Drum Doctor, helping us as well on top of several audio experts. One of these days we'll have a live camera streaming on the web for one of these sessions so you can really be a fly on the wall if you wanted to. There WERE some great stories that we did miss on video including the real story why Supertramp's original members can't seem to get back together (even though Bob had convinced Roger to come back and it was THAT close to happening!!!!). There were some stories I know I can't tell either because it is too gossipy about other legendary musicians. Although some of this will be in Ken's book which I am helping him put together. Brian Kehew who wrote www.recordingthebeatles.com has been instrumental in putting this together and no doubt he will be helping on the book as well. Fun stuff. You should check out that book by the way. It's insane. The most detailed info about any band recording that I've seen.

That's it from me. Just wanted to pop in and journal it. I will blog this on our myspace page as well. I'll be posting pictures there next week. www.myspace.com/sonicreality

Squids

[duncanparsons]

wow. Bob C Benberg (sic!) was a huge influence on me when I started playing. It was his approach to the kit, and the way that me played both drums and percussion at the same time (the flicking up to the concert toms, etc). The way that particularly Roger wrote was something else, and demanded alot more creatively than most bands would ever ask. Listen to School, Hide in your Shell, and Dreamer; altho' Asylum and Rudy from Rick are fantastic as well. All these things meant that Bob had to explore rhythm and timbre, rather than just be a metronome.

It's interesting that when KC reconvened in the early 80s, Bill Bruford was making the point that it is not just a drummer's job to keep the beat, that it's the collective responsibility of the whole band. Supertramp were already doing this with great finesse when they went into the studio to record CotC 6+ years before then.

And yes, the sound of 'Crime..' is one of the best things ever.. I've used it to test rigs, also the "Breakfast in America" album is great for testing. Use "Gone Hollywood" - the fade in, the sax, the overall dynamics, frequency range... If a system can handle that song at a decent level and not be woolly anywhere, then it gets my cash [and I've often been surprised by systems that should have done a good job with it but didn't]. With 'Crime' the clarity is incredible. Quite how Ken kept it so clean is astonishing. 'Crisis', whilst still a KS project never quite had that same quality, or feel in the songs, which is a shame. oh well.

I look fwd to having a closer look at all this as time allows!

Oh, and wasn't it Rick wife managing the band being the sticking point on Roger being involved.. real shame, altho' with the way the have both diverged, I'm not sure what a collaboration would have looked like. According to Roger CotC was the last album that had them actually working as a team - Roger would write the guitar solo for one of Ricks things, or Rick would help with parts of Rogers. After that it became more 'this is my song' and 'that is yours' (well this is how Roger has put it in several interviews over the last 20years). I would love to hear more of Bob's POV on it - Rick doesn't often give interviews, and when he does he can be fairly mute on the past...

DSP

[Rainman]

"Crime Of The Century", without doubt one of my all time favourites. I remember my brother and I building the ultimate stereo system in a car we kinda shared. We wired in these speakers with a special boost switch that was hidden under the dash. We'd slap in the "Crime" 8-track (LOLOL) and put on "School" and crank it up. Just at the crescendo of the scream right before "... after school is over" we'd hit the additional power switch and watch our buddies in the back seat go right through the roof. Good times.

[Rainman]

I was also fortunate enough to see Supertramp twice. The first tour was the "Crime" tour and I caught them in a soft seater. I sat right next to the light man since both the lighting and sound FOH were situated in the audience. I remember they used to remove a few seats to facilitate this. Later I was also fortunate enough to play in a band that had enough personal and talent to pull off School and Crime of The Century at gigs. Show stoppers for sure. All right, back to work.

[harmony gardens]

What a cool project Squids! I can't wait to hear the results. I always wanted to get Bob to do a few tracks for me

Guess I'll always have to be,,, living in a fantasy,,,
well, that's the way it's got to be,,, From now on

I saw Supertramp on the Breakfast in America tour at Alpine Valley,,, and was blown away by the movie of the train speeding down the tracks winding it's way and hitting tunnels during Rudy. Man,,, that was an amazing concert.

[dgkenney]

YIKES!!!!

Squids,

Why didn't you tell me who that was when I met him at the booth. I thought he was another great drummer but one I never heard. Now I find out he's engineerede/produced some of my favorite artists.

Dan

[aMUSEd]

I love the track (and album) Crime of the century. But how are your going to recreate the breathtaking guitar riff (and then sax) at the end? I'd be impressed if samples could match the intensity of that.

[Squids]

YIKES!!!!

Squids,

Why didn't you tell me who that was when I met him at the booth. I thought he was another great drummer but one I never heard. Now I find out he's engineerede/produced some of my favorite artists.

Dan

What do you want me to say? This is Ken Scott he recorded The Beatles? Haha. You had good timing though. (I introduced Dan to Ken but I WAS wondering if he knew who he was).

[Squids]

Well... I just finished yesterday's session. Sampling can be BRUTAL man! Wow. I am dazed and confused right now. That was one LOOOONNNNNGGGG session. A lot came out of it though. We recreated Crime and Crisis drum tracks. Tomorrow we do the percussion and weird tape effects and that's it for now. Then we've gotta find an EMT plate somewhere because we're doing this thing right! I've learned a lot in the past few days. There's TONS and TONS of video footage to go through.

We might sample John Helliwell as well (what the hell... get it?). Roger was willing to get back together with the band but there were conficts. eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee that eeee was me falling asleep at the computer. I left it for fun. Better get some sleep. More about this later. Short version is that I pitched me touring on keys with Bob and Roger. Wow I am tired. TTYL

[duncanparsons]

Short version is that I pitched me touring on keys with Bob and Roger.

I'd pay to come to that. Come and play the UK

See if they can get Dougie back as well!

DSP

[Squids]

Short version is that I pitched me touring on keys with Bob and Roger.

I'd pay to come to that. Come and play the UK

See if they can get Dougie back as well!

DSP

That's what happens when you put a sound developer keyboardist with some sales chops in the room. We start off recording samples and end the session with me joining their band! Just kidding. Actually, my first goal would be to see if there's a way to get the original band members to do a reunion (join the club of people trying to get that). But if they can't get past their differences then whoever does want to still play... if they need a keyboardist then - ehem.. Squids!!!! Actually a good friend of mine named Mark Hart that I used to work with on Crowded House and Sam Phillips/T-Bone Burnette tours way way back has had a gig with them for so long. But he's back with Neil now. Mark once recommended me as a keyboardist for Aerosmith. I told that story before. Kind of funny. But anyway... Bob would love to do it. He just loves to play. He is an extremely nice guy. I told him that when I was a kid I thought that because his drums were so POWERFUL and he had that picture on Paris with the cigarette hanging out of his mouth that he must have been some kind of "bad ass". As it turns out he's very subdued, calm, friendly and has no ego at all! We had to tell him how awesome some of those fills and grooves are on Crime and Crisis and he'd say "Really?" with a smile and Ken and I would say "YES!!!!". Fortunately, a lot of this interplay is caught on camera.

It's fun to work with these guys not only because of their legacy but also because of how they are as people and their unique undeniable talents. Watching Ken work is totally amazing and we get along really well in the studio. Plus he really does let me "co-produce" the session and direct when I need to without a problem. In fact, the whole section where we sampled the hits of the kits was even completely run by me since it was TOTALLY foreign to ALL of them. They said "Really???? You have to hit the drums THAT many times for this????". I said "Yep! Now you know why there aren't THAT many companies doing this!!!!". On some of these drums there's I don't even know how many hits... many thousands. It's crazy but when you hear Bob's BIG (and I mean BIG - like imagine your floor tom was the rack hi tom and starting there and going down all with U67's on each tom!!!!) toms played on the keys with alt switching and up to 32 dynamics each you'll be glad we're THAT insane to sit there all night and do this.

[duncanparsons]

well, next time you see him, you can tell Bob that he has my utmost repsect for all his work with Supertramp. I was born in 1971, and my earliest recollection of anything is Dreamer being a single in '73... They are a band and a sound that has been with me all my life.

I used to dream of being able to step in for him if ever he wasn't up to a Supertramp gig for any reason! Whether I'd be able to match his strength and presence tho', is another thing!

DSP

[duncanparsons]

Actually Dave, why not show Bob & Ken this thread, even see if they'll register and be available on the forum

[Squids]

Actually Dave, why not show Bob & Ken this thread, even see if they'll register and be available on the forum

Well, I just showed it to Bob and he says thanks for thining that about his playing. So there you go. If there's anything you guys want me to ask Ken or Bob I have about 3-4 more hours in the studio left before we wrap it up.

Something odd, in a half hour Steve Perry from Journey is coming by just to say hello. He's a friend of the technician and when he heard Ken Scott was here doing this he was dying to see it. I just got off the phone with him a little while ago. Seems like a nice guy! Perhaps I can coax him into doing some vocal samples... muah ha ha ha! Squids samples everything he can get his grubby tentacles on. But it's for you guys. I just keep going wherever the river happens to flow and sometimes, like right now, it flows pretty fast and all sorts of unforseen bizarre unexpected things, such as Steve Perry stopping by comPLETELY out of the blue just HAPPEN. As if it wasn't cool enough what we're doing. It just gets better.

[duncanparsons]

Actually Dave, why not show Bob & Ken this thread, even see if they'll register and be available on the forum

Well, I just showed it to Bob and he says thanks for thinking that about his playing. So there you go.

:feeling the love:

DSP