Spirituality?

[eunchang]

Hi Janek, first I want to mention that I am enjoying your new album quite a lot. I really dug the way Jojo's drums being recorded (not to mention your playing). If you can recall how the mic setup was, would you share?

My main question is here:

I have a feeling that there are musicians whose performances are so emotionally powerful, being almost like spiritual experiences. And also there are musicians who play great in every aspect, but not possessing that much power of music.

It is like now there many pianists studied Herbie in and out, and they have all Herbie's harmonic, rhythmic ideas and plays great, but there performances aren't as spiritually strong as Herbie's, so to speak.

Where does this power of music come from? Does a person's musicality explains all?

Thanks,

Eun-Chang

[JohnDavisNYC]

i can drop a little info on the drum recording, as i engineered the record. signal chain for the drums was as follows (to the best of my memory... don't have my input notes handy):

bass drum: Neumann Fet47 > Neve 1084
snare top: Beyerdynamic M201 > Neve 1084
snare bottom: Neumann KM84 > Neve 5012
rack tom: Oktava MC012 > Neve 5012
floor tom: Oktava MC012 > Neve 5012
overheads: RFT Gefell MV692 (m93 omni caps) in ORTF configuration > Neve 5012
room: Nuemann CMV563 with M7 capsule > daking pre/eq > 1176

the tracking setup was fairly simple, as we just wanted to capture the band in a manner that would give us enough room for manipulation later, but wouldn't leave us with far too many options.

mixing was fully analog and fairly complicated, with a lot of parallel dynamics processing going on... both subtle and outrageous.

hope that helps,
john

[janekbass]

I believe that what makes some like Herbie Hancock unique aside from the groundbreaking stylistic changes he made in music, is the personality and life experience that he communicates in his music. No else has those things to offer, just the same as he doesn't have the life experiences of you or me to offer. That's what makes things so fresh from one person to the next, and it's what I love about being a musician and being able to take this path that is totally unique.

Janek

[eunchang]

John,

Thanks for the detailed info; I didn't expect this much!! Being a bass player who mixed 2 albums so far, I am eager to learn how to get better sound. I am by no means a professional recording engineer, however, it has been a tremendous help experiencing the whole procedure of making a record rather than just playing bass part for a session. Once again, I really enjoyed the way the album sounded. You have done great work I think.

Janek,

First of all, thanks for the time and efforts sharing your thoughts. After reading your reply, I have been thinking over and over again on this issue. I have to agree on the life experience is being reflected on music. The masters like Herbie are not just being unique but also strikingly powerful in their music. I believe this is the reason why they are able to communicate very well with the listeners. Not only having a unique style, a proficient technique, or even great compositions but also having that much musical power.

Well, I feel like I am rambling too much. Time to practice.

Thank you again and again.

Sincerely,

Eun-Chang