Mr. Desper, I wonder if, as a favor since I am in the Zappa mood now, you had any particular memories to share of working with Mr. Zappa and his bands and crews.
Thanks.
COMMENT TO LUTHER: This question has been ask before. Here are some responses from 2002 posts. Sorry I don't have time to respond further. ~swd
11/25/02
02:46:00 pm, by cslepage, 179 words, 33 views
Categories: concerts
REPLY TO TEXTUS's COMMENTS: Any possibility that the experience of doing those wonderful voices
made you more attuned to the higher-pitched instruments (violin,
soprano sax, top half of the vibraphone) than another mixer might have
been? That part of that show is one of the things that stood out for
me, anyway -- the fact that I could hear and actually understand
discrete instruments. Didn't even know the term until Zappa named his
third custom label Discrete...
I would say the reason you could hear and
actually understand discrete instruments would be attributed to the
362 individual mic and direct line sources we had on stage coming down
to the mixing board. Such individual (discrete) signal sources add to
the ability to hear details. ~SWD
REPLY TO TEXTUS's COMMENTS" Further, Ruth's vibraphone's metal bars
each had a transducer on them so, were each individually "miked" with
every note coming to a sub-mixer and then to the band mix in stereo.
The other instruments you mentioned also had individual pick-ups on
them all adding to the "up-front" sound of the band. ~SWD
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01:50:00 pm, by cslepage, 58 words, 23 views
Categories: concerts
REPLY TO TEXTUS's COMMENTS: I was not a Zappa fan either until he asked me to mix for him. In fact, I had not heard much of his stuff until then. But, believe me, it only took one rehearsal session to hook me. Totally on the other side of music from surfing sounds, but fantastic stuff, nevertheless. ~SWD
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01:25:00 pm, by cslepage, 530 words, 52 views
Categories: concerts
By Stephenwdesper (Stephenwdesper) on Monday, November 25, 2002 -
01:25 pm:
REPLY TO TEXTUS's COMMENTS: What a fantastic tour ("Does that mean you
mixed the 1973 tour?") that was to be the house mixer for all the US
and Australian tours with the such outstanding ("Ponty, Duke, the
Underwoods and the Fowlers") musicians. I still have all the show
mixing notes and music for the shows indicating mixing cues and gain
changes. There was never a moment to loose consentration -- an intence
show to mix, but the music was very rewarding. It was ten times more
demanding than anything the Beach Boys were doing on the road. We
brought out 362 lines from the stage, each representing a sound
source. Those went into preset sub-mixers before coming to the main
mixer. Sound checks could easily take two hours. Zappa demanded
nothing short of perfection from his band and from me. I learned how
to hear in the present time while mixing (or setting up changes) in
future time. Most of the time I was about ten beats ahead of the band,
ready to execute the changes on the be!
at.
Eien and Ruth Underwood were dear friends, very kind and just terrific
at their craft. George Duke was a star performer just waiting to
evolve. He too, a real gentleman and such skill. Jon Luke Ponty and
his blue violin could send you to another dimension, yet he also was
such a pleasure to work with. Fellow, was he the trumpet player or
drummer? Either way, those two were the routy ones of the bunch and
kept us all laughing.
Now Frank was serious and keen to every detail of his music and the
band arrangements. Those arrangements were played to the note with
jazz vamps at certain intervals to allow these gifted performers to
express their individuality. Frank was disciplined and expected his
musicians and technical staff to hold the line -- no fooling around.
Of course his Guitar performances were out-of-this-world. I have yet
to hear his equal. I have mixed Jimmy Hendrix at Monterey Pops
Festival, and would have to say that he came very close. I only hope
those two are now playing together in some sort of heavenly all-star
show.
Let me set the record stright here about Frank Zappa, in that while I
was with him, I never saw him use or advocate the use of drugs. He was
hooked on caffeine and drank coffee from morning to night. His public
persona sometimes paints him as a druged up, long-hair, hip pothead --
but nothing could be further from the truth. To this day I can say I
have never worked for a more honest, upright, gentelman. All the time
I worked for him, I, along with the band, had the utmost respect and
admiration for him as a person and his abilities as a
writer/performer.
I recorded every show on a pro-cassette recorder for my own record.
Some kid stole all the tapes from my house years later, and by the
time I retrieved them, he had used most of them to re-record disco
music from the radio. I still have a few complete shows left. The
sound is incredible.
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