Re: Japan - A Foreign Place (Kickstarter appeal)
Posted: Sat Feb 01, 2014 5:48 pmThis update is quite interesting:
Excerpt from Chapter 5 'For the art of...'
This was the first tour where the band used tapes.
Jansen had the unenviable task of playing along to a click or percussion part on tape, which in turn was linked to sequencer and Sax parts on reel to reel tape. The rest of the band then played along with Steve. Thus, if Steve missed one beat or dropped a drumstick and stumbled, not just the drum part would suffer but the whole song would skid out of synch. Jansen never did miss a beat.
'No, he never did' says Dean. 'He was great that way. He was like a human metronome. And he didn't even feel pressured, he was confident'.
Barbieri : There were a lot of keyboard parts on Quiet life, Polaroids and (later) Tin Drum. Many of them of a sequential nature.Without the midi programming facility we have today, these patterns and sequences were either played or controlled by analogue step time sequencers. Playing just one of these parts live would mean you couldn't also play all the other elements. Analogue sequencers didn't have memory so couldn't be programmed for the next song in a matter of seconds. We decided to record and put all sequenced or constant keyboard parts on tape.
So things like Life in Tokyo, Quiet Life and Methods of Dance - the sequencer is on tape and that along with a click is going to Steve's monitoring. John Punter had a tape machine at the mixing console and a spare one running in sync (as best could be ) in case there was a problem. Steve would flash a light to let John know when to start the tape for each track.
A few other elements like brass were on tape as well.
Jansen : When we first started using tapes it was very primitive. I still used fold-back wedges to monitor the band and myself, but in the headphones I would have some form of rhythm track (I think it must have been either a rhythm box or a sequencer of some sort) and in the other channel were the various overdubs that would come and go throughout the track - chorus backing vocals, saxes, more sequencers. additional percussion etc. all from the original recordings. These sounds were also sent out front of house for all to hear. Consequently it was important not to miss the start point otherwise certain overdubs intended to enter at a given point would end up appearing in the wrong part of the song. Sometimes it happened and this was usually due to improper vocal entries or solo lengths, in which case I had to try to relay to everyone where we ought to be in the track, and if that failed, just ignore what was in the headphones. It was simple for John (Punter) to dip the fader on the recorded sounds so the audience wouldn’t hear them, and he was very good at recalling all the bar lengths therefore he knew when things were going wrong. It didn’t happen often I have to say. It was a discipline but one I felt was a great challenge and got a kick out of pulling off. (If anyone ever noticed a red light on top of the P.A. system - of course they didn’t - I can explain that was there being triggered by a foot switch near my left foot, and was an indication to John that I could see everyone was ready for him to start rolling the tape).
Soundcheck Vrije University
Excerpt from Chapter 5 'For the art of...'
This was the first tour where the band used tapes.
Jansen had the unenviable task of playing along to a click or percussion part on tape, which in turn was linked to sequencer and Sax parts on reel to reel tape. The rest of the band then played along with Steve. Thus, if Steve missed one beat or dropped a drumstick and stumbled, not just the drum part would suffer but the whole song would skid out of synch. Jansen never did miss a beat.
'No, he never did' says Dean. 'He was great that way. He was like a human metronome. And he didn't even feel pressured, he was confident'.
Barbieri : There were a lot of keyboard parts on Quiet life, Polaroids and (later) Tin Drum. Many of them of a sequential nature.Without the midi programming facility we have today, these patterns and sequences were either played or controlled by analogue step time sequencers. Playing just one of these parts live would mean you couldn't also play all the other elements. Analogue sequencers didn't have memory so couldn't be programmed for the next song in a matter of seconds. We decided to record and put all sequenced or constant keyboard parts on tape.
So things like Life in Tokyo, Quiet Life and Methods of Dance - the sequencer is on tape and that along with a click is going to Steve's monitoring. John Punter had a tape machine at the mixing console and a spare one running in sync (as best could be ) in case there was a problem. Steve would flash a light to let John know when to start the tape for each track.
A few other elements like brass were on tape as well.
Jansen : When we first started using tapes it was very primitive. I still used fold-back wedges to monitor the band and myself, but in the headphones I would have some form of rhythm track (I think it must have been either a rhythm box or a sequencer of some sort) and in the other channel were the various overdubs that would come and go throughout the track - chorus backing vocals, saxes, more sequencers. additional percussion etc. all from the original recordings. These sounds were also sent out front of house for all to hear. Consequently it was important not to miss the start point otherwise certain overdubs intended to enter at a given point would end up appearing in the wrong part of the song. Sometimes it happened and this was usually due to improper vocal entries or solo lengths, in which case I had to try to relay to everyone where we ought to be in the track, and if that failed, just ignore what was in the headphones. It was simple for John (Punter) to dip the fader on the recorded sounds so the audience wouldn’t hear them, and he was very good at recalling all the bar lengths therefore he knew when things were going wrong. It didn’t happen often I have to say. It was a discipline but one I felt was a great challenge and got a kick out of pulling off. (If anyone ever noticed a red light on top of the P.A. system - of course they didn’t - I can explain that was there being triggered by a foot switch near my left foot, and was an indication to John that I could see everyone was ready for him to start rolling the tape).
Soundcheck Vrije University
