I had the opportunity a couple of weeks ago to spend a few days in bassist Steve Bailey's studio recording hand drummer Bobby Thomas, Jr for Steve's upcoming solo album. Steve is one of the few truly world-class bass players. He's played with everybody from Dizzy Gillespie to Willie Nelson, Jethro Tull, Yes, Victor Wooten... on and on...

Steve has an innovative style based on a 6-string fretless bass.

He also runs a workshop program for bass players with Victor Wooten, Bass at the Beach. And Steve and Victor run an absolutely outrageous website for bassists at The Bass Vault.

Bobby is known for his work with Weather Report, and has played with David Sanborn, Stan Getz, Herbie Mann, Monty Alexander, Jaco Pastorius, and a lot of other heavies.

More on these guys at:

http://www.stevebaileybass.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Bailey

http://www.bobbythomasjr.com/

I've gotten the chance to work with some great people, and Steve and Bobby were no exception. To work with players at this level is always a joy.

Bobby and Steve set up for the session - while I set up a few mics and snap a few pics.

Bobby gets his kit ready while Steve and I figure out how to plug everything in.

What's going to happen on these recordings is that Bobby's set up to play one shot straight through with no overdubs. And he's tracking to Steve's solo 6-string Aria fretless track - that's one track. The result is two people playing together just like a live setting. The amount of sheer stuff these two guys can play - and make it sound like several players on several overdubs - is quite a feat.

As the recording engineer, I had to set up all the mics and have everything ready so that Bobby could move around on his kit, and everything would be captured - hopefully - with all the brilliance of his performance.

Yes, that is a bowl of water. Miked in stereo with a pair of Earthworks SRO's. Nothing but the best for Bobby!

Bobby takes a moment.

I brought along the trusty Millennia HV-3D to serve on preamp duties for the session. I use this preamp when I'm wanting to capture live performances in good acoustic spaces specifically because it has incredible transparency, depth, 3-D imagery, and off-the-scale resolution.

Some of you might recognize this OH mic array from the Jazzooo "Two Days In November" CD I recorded. It's roughly based on ORTF, although these are Earthworks QTC-1 omnis. I also used a pair of DPA 4011 cardioids on Terry Bozzio's kit in a similar placement for his recordings with Ronan Chris Murphy.

I stumbled into this configuration - for both omni and cardioid mics - after some conversations with David Royer about how to best position pairs of small condenser mics for testing.

The sonic idea is that a person about 6' tall - namely me - is standing a few feet away from the kit looking down into the center of the action. And what you hear on the recording is close to what a listener's ears hear. And running through a Millennia HV-3 preamp gives it a "you are there" type of sound.

Let's hear some music! I caught Bobby on tour with Weather Report in the Jaco/Erskine era. Terrific stuff.

By the way, next time you talk with Bobby, please ask him which kind of water is best--tap or bottled. I'm really not happy with the sound I'm getting on my water.

Hey, Doug! This was Myrtle Beach tap water. I heard from Steve that Bobby liked it here so much he's thinking about moving here. Been hearing that a lot lately from people who visit this area. Must be the water...

Bobby getting situated for the next track. He's playing with his hands... and his feet...

Here's what's going on with the feet. And, of course, gotta mic the feets in stereo.

Bobby takes a breather.

Steve and Victor keep almost daily video blogs at The Bass Vault. Here Steve is asking Bobby some questions about Bobby's time with his friend Jaco Pastorius. Bobby talks about some powerful astrological information given to him by Jaco, and comments that he still uses the information.

Steve trying to figure out why his video blog won't upload. The three of us ended up shooting three different takes before the video saved and uploaded. I'm always lowsy at getting pictures of myself at these kinds of things. I'm too busy in the moment with the recordings, and the little I do take pics is for documentation. I need to become a better media pimp. But there is a video with Steve, Bobby and me all saying hello to The Bass Vault on Steve's video blog. So, maybe I can get Steve to send me the clip.

I present a couch miked in stereo with a pair of Earthworks QTC-1's for imagery and an AKG 414 EB to pick up the grain. I ask you to please find me another picture anywhere from any time that an engineer miked up a couch!

I hope this makes it on the CD. Steve had a ballad track. Steve was hearing cymbals. Bobby was thinking it sounded best with just the bass alone. I asked if I could offer an idea: I suggested that what would sound good behind the bass on the track was an airy type of sound - similar to what you'd get on a snare with brushes, but lighter. Just for an airy texture. Almost like white noise.

Bobby got back on a few of his drums and began rubbing in circles on them. He landed on something that sounded good, and I miked them up. As a joke, I walked past an ottoman and gave it a little circular rub. It didn't sound half bad. Then I started wondering how other surfaces would sound. I tried a few things and then made it over to one of the couches. I gave it a rub. It sounded great! Well, for a couch, anyways. I got excited and laughed, and said, "Hey, Bobby, you've gotta' check out this couch! It sounds great." Bobby went over to the couch and started slowly rubbing. Ha! He dug it. So, I miked it up. And we recorded it.



Another funny part of this story, is that for all the recordings I had on a pair of headphones and was sitting beside Steve behind the console. Bobby needed a pair of cans, so I gave him mine - because they were close to the couch. So, we start recording. I have no music to listen to, and my ears perk up like telescopes thinking about what the Earthworks mics are picking up. Bobby's playing on the couch is very quiet. And I'm sitting there hearing all this stuff going on outside the studio that I'm sure is getting picked up by the mics. I hear trucks go by. I hear cars. And I hear Steve's mom's dogs downstairs barking. At first I found it all amusing. Then I found it hysterical!

Here's this world-class player doin' his thing playing a couch, and all this commotion's going on around us. A little bit into the take -- I lost it - and burst out laughing! Bobby stopped and we all had a laugh. But I was too punchy to stay in the studio. I knew I couldn't make it through another track without cracking up. So, I excused myself out of the studio and went over to the house to get some coffee. And on the way down I ran into Steve's mom, and asked her if she could put the dogs inside because we were recording something very quiet, and we were picking up the barking on the recording.

Anyway, that's my report so far. I'll see if I can get some of these guys to pop in here and say hello. There'll be some music soon from all of this. And obviously Steve's CD will be available. And Steve and I have been brainstorming some other ideas, so stay tuned...

Mike up a couch - that's a good one!

Actually, while I'm here - there's a cool little tail end to this: After I spent a few days with Steve and Bobby, I had SF member Quincy Reed come into town for a private TLS workshop. I mentioned to Steve that Quincy was coming. And that Quincy was a bass player and had attended one of Steve's clinics. Steve was gracious enough to invite Quincy over to his studio. So one of the evenings while Quincy was here, he, Brian McKenzie [ SF member "b!"], and I all went over to Steve's for a visit.

We shot the breeze for awhile, and Steve showed us around the studio. Steve and Quincy instantly had a deeper bond besides being bass players. They both use PT on Macs running OS "Classic"!

While Bobby was here he'd told me about these tracks he'd been making in Garage Band, but I hadn't heard them. Steve played us some of Bobby's tracks that he'd has been playing bass on. This stuff was outrageous! I gotta get a link to Bobby's new music he's working on...

As we were getting ready to leave, Steve asks, "Hey, Quincy. Can you stay here a minute? I want to run into the house. I've got something I want to show you."

So, Steve ducks out. And Quincy's like, "Hey, Dan, quick, get a picture, man." So, he sits down in front of the console... and.... requisite chillin'-in-the-studio pic. Click!



I'd been working and recording with Quincy all week. He's a great musician, producer, composer, and a killer bassist. He'd told me about the Stanley Clarke edition Alembic bass he had and loved. I had an idea what Steve was getting in the house....