YouTube clip talking about ‘Amerikana’ EP
The EP’s only been out 24 hours, but the feedback has been overwhelming! There have been well over 1,000 sales already–DiscRevolt who are handling the downloads are very surprised themselves. In fact, that’s probably enough to get me in the UK Top 20 these days, though I don’t think they track independent sales like this. Just imagine though: enough fanatical Dolby fans to get a $3 EP into the charts. In the old days round about now I’d be getting a call from the BBC asking if I can do Top Of The Pops.
Which reminds me.
In the ‘old days’ (ie the eary 1980s) this is the way TOTP worked. As you probably know, this legendary show ran for decades and was by far the biggest and most influential pop TV show in the UK. You couldn’t have a hit without it, and if you did appear and your record didn’t go up by 10-15 places in the following week’s chat, something was seriously wrong. And both TOTP and BBC Radio 1 were controlled by a handful of ageing BBC ‘loveys’ who got to play kingmaker, and who of course were constantly wined and dined by the big record labels.
So on a Tuesday the new Music Week singles chart would be published. Based on promising sales, the Beeb would select the acts that would be shooting TOTP on the Wednesday, for broadcast on the Thursday night. So let’s say my single went in the chart at #26. I get the call from EMI saying I’m invited to do TOTP—yes! I will be mimin,g of course, ion front of hoardes of screaming teenagers. But because of Musicians Union rules, the song has to be re-recorded specially for TOTP. So every Wednesday the BBC has a half dozen recording studios booked around London for 3 hours each. So along with my band (whoever played on the record) I show up at, say, Air Studios at 6pm. The roadies are already there setting up the drums and amps. Also present is an EMI rep, a BBC rep, and a guy from the MU. The musicians start to tune up and the engineer is setting mics. About 10 minutes in, the EMI guy says to the BBC and MU guy, ‘well chaps, shall we just np around the corner for a pint?’ And they leave.
At around ten to 9, they come back, sozzled. The roadies are now packing up band have long since gone. And there on the desk is a gleaming 1/4″ stereo master tape of the ‘re-recording’. The BBC guys takes this away, the musicians and crew and engineers will get paid, and everybody is happy.
This system was put inplace in the days of Petula Clark and Cilla Black when records really were done in 3 hours. But if you’re the Electric Light Orchestra or Frankie Goes To Hollywood and your new single took 5 months to make, 3 hours is not really enough time to re-record your hit. So of course what happens is, a 1/4″ copy is made from your original master while the boys get sloshed down the pub, and that’s what the Beeb plays on Thursday. And everybody, I mean EVERYBODY knows what’s going on. It’s a bloody pantomime!
But I digress. Yesterday I shot a little video intro to ‘Amerikana’, the first of four. It took me tll this morning to figure out how to get it off my iPhone to edit and put up on Youtube, but here it is:
New music, new fan fodder… happy time!
Waiting for PayPal link to buy the EP, but meanwhile, to add to those memories of TOTP in the early 80s (and I was there… “Have to tell you lads,” said the floor manager, “no drugs in the dressing rooms.” “Aww…” “No, no, there ARE no drugs in the dressing rooms. You’ll have to supply your own”), here’s a wonderful story about Teardrop Explodes on the show in 1981.
Julian Cope not only supplied his own, but enthusiastically consumed them just in time to be tripping off his tits for lights, camera, action…
http://bristlingbadger.blogspot.com/2009/03/passionate-friend-on-acid.html
17 Knopfler solos for 17 Hills?! Wow, what a luxury! Did he record one from each hilltop?
Beech
You know, as a teenager in the 80s, as I was, we always heard how songs had to be re-recorded for TOTP. I was always very sceptical as to how this was done. I mean, come on, how COULD you re-record something that someone like you or, say, Tears For Fears, had done between the charts coming out on Tuesday and the broadcast on Wednesday. Andhave it sound the same! Your explanation has solved a very long-standing puzzle for me.
Beach, I think I misspoke–it was actually 19 Knopfler solos. Got confused with the song title!
Ah, the inner workings of the Dolby lab. As a composer/musician/producer myself, I am so looking forward to your segments Thomas. Thank you!
Dear Thomas
Damn, creditcards, Just don’t trust them on the internet.
I’m eager to hear your new work, any other way?
Tell me, what does it take to make Mark do 19 different solos and did he do a waltz too?
Chris, Maastricht, Netherlands
Hey, funny thing! I have about 19 Mark Knopfler solos laying around in my living room too!
Gheez!
Good stuff, Thomas. Would love to see some video of more of the inside of the Nutmeg.
Tell me TMDR, is this the song you sent to BT for his opinion?
It was called ‘Hills with fiddles’ I think? Or is that another song?
Oh, loving the new stuff, your music has matured, but your lyrics are as wonderfully cutting as always!!
Thank you
AG
my copy (as well as everyone else I know of)has what sounds to me like a little “chirp” or maybe even some sort of digital artifact at exactly 3:44 into 17 hills… it’s really starting to bug me as the only blemish in an otherwise perfect song… between the word “rises” & the “17 hills” at the next line…
my friend Buck D had this to say about it when I asked if his version had it too:
“It’s definitely a glitch. Looks ugly on the waveform. I edited it out in Audacity, a freeware Mac audio program. It alters the timing a bit, but it’s better than hearing the noise.”
Just curious if this is some sort of artifact or what..
Count Culo
Oh, ye of little faith! After 20 years away, would I have left a digital artefact in a song like this?
Put yer headphones on mon ami, and play the song from about 3’20. If you listen carefully, you will hear that Mark Knopfler’s guitar plays a little 3-note lick over the end of the line ‘didn’t mean to hurt no-one’. He holds the last note, a C#, while tremeloing on the fret to keep it sustained (guitarists, help me out here with the correct technical term!) And right at 3’44, what you call a ‘glitch’ is actually Mark ending that sustained note by very deliberately damping the string with his pick. I took that noise and fed it into a very long reverb—10 secs or more—then I sampled that reverb into a sampler and applied a very slight amount of upward pitchbend. You can hear it rising during most of the ensuing chorus, almost up to ‘the seventeenth hill is where she lies’—it’s a kind of subliminal message representing Irene’s soul.
I guess one man’s glitch is another man’s….. well, whatever. It is one of the production effects I’m most proud of.
God preserve us from amateur mastering engineers!
Kick Ass!
Stepping up onto my soapbox…
I gave up on crappy headphones and speakers some time ago. Even the computer in my office at work is connected to an old late 80s JVC 150W amplifier and bookshelf speakers with a subwoofer. Some nice Sony or Sennheiser headphones when necessary. This is not to say I spend a lot of money on this. For example the speakers are more than 20-years old, I just take care of my gear. I usually don’t like music in MP3 format because the quality suffers so much and my ears can hear it because of the gear I use to listen to music with but Mr. Dolby you did such a great job getting the sound just right for the EP download (can’t wait for CD versions someday).
So at 3:44 I do not hear a “chirp” but a special moment. I didn’t know the reason behind it but clearly the song is building to something soon after.
Thanks.
My god culo1!!
How can you mistake that for a glitch?? Thats like saying Level 42′s music was ruined by an annoying ‘slappy sounding bass’!!
http://www.getqualityheadphones.com/ASAP
I’m enjoying all the comments and praise from the congregation, but unlike most of the Church of Dolby, I will hold out until the CD comes out because I want the whole Sermon from start to finish in one flow and then just be left in the Cathederal on my own feeling spiritualized. I know its going to be worth the wait.
So, I have a question. I seem to remember reading in a previous post about how your working tracks have a vocal guide that you lay down for reference only, with no intention of reusing them for the final. When you decide to go ahead and use them anyways, what kind of processing do you have to do on them to make them ready for prime time? Or are they recorded in a manner that you could use them if you had to?
cheers
Doug
Thomas…I’m really keen to see your setup in the Nutmeg (I’m sure others are too). Any chance of a quick squizz??
By the way, what sort of moisturizer do you use, your looking pretty pucker…from one bloke to another eh.
Harold.
Oh and one other thing that has always confounded me about this new ipod generation.
Why is it that we will spend thousands on a new HD TV for pristine visuals…but when it comes to music, most of us will download a crumby mp3?
And why do we have 24bit 96khz recording studios…and then have to master it down to an mp3?
What ever happened to Superaudio?
Would really appreciate your opinion on this Thomas…and some moisturizer advice please.
Harold.
Wow, when I heard the “glitch” on 17 Hills I thought “what a great surprising sound, and how Thomas Dolby, and how very wonderful”.
Itunes tells me I’ve listened to 17 Hills 23 times, and it’s just getting better. I haven’t fixated on a song this much since… since… I Live In A Suitcase!
well ya just never know… ouch … I’ll gladly submit to such lashings for making a foolish error… and it’s certainly on me…my gear can hardly be blamed with JBL 4325′s & Carver Pre/Power… and the first 20 listens or so were thru my Ultrasone phones…it just seemed so much louder than the rest of the track that it seemed out of place… I’ll now savor it since I know how special it is…
got a chuckle out of the comments..my “Amateur” mastering engineer has made I think 12 gold records as guitar player for his band… not to mention having written several million selling classic rock anthems (think large green lizards) played on the radio every day all over the world.. misguided perhaps, but not really an amateur since the early 70′s… AND he’s a HUGE Thomas Dolby fan, but neither of us was able to detect the “charm” of the note… I actually thought at first it was coming from Mark’s guit, but again the huge level disparity changed my mind…
so sorry for presuming an error, but I never imagined the master himself had left a glitch in there… I was making a misguided guess that this artifact may had creeped in during the loading, downloading process after it had left the Nutmeg’s influence…. don’t everyone jump on me at once LOL..
really loving the music, can’t wait for more… I promise to never mention any thing I hear that doesn’t seem to belong…
C_C
this could be better than the hunt for the EP ‘backstory’!
name: Buck D
instrument: guitar
position: in a band
age: late 50′s, 60′s
likes: thomas dolby
doesn’t like: glitches, or things that sound like them
hobbies: mastering on mac freeware
achievements: 12 gold records, as composer of
“several million selling classic rock anthems (think
large green lizards)”
any offers, I’m stumped?
I think perhaps he is the perfect guy to answer tom’s question about “tremoloing on the fret”…then all can be revealed!
…eeek…vicious!
Is this one of those times where diehard fans gang together to do a bit group bullying?
I’m outta here.
Hi Harold, no I’m not bullying if that was aimed at me. I think it is all really fun/funnny. What is happening nowadays is the covers have been ripped off the whole process, art/artist/appreciation, it’s all becoming much more a single interactive, or at least transparent, blob of energy and I genuinely think making all this stuff visible – and processable – and passing the baton forwards and up and down and around and across what use to be huge walls of separation is a fascinating part of where we are going and who knows what the future holds! It’s not meant to be derogatory at all! The main thing is ANYONE who is positive enough to react in any way, i.e. (i) by posting and (ii) by de-glitching their own private version, it’s all good, and it means they join what is in a way a huge big singular process! Equally, an artist who just spent a year making something might have an extreme reaction to that, because if he didn’t well he wouldn’t be that artistic would he. So, again, it’s all good!
Well said matthew. The walls are well and truly crumbling and, like you, I see that as a fascinating thing rather than being either good or bad (although I err towards the former).
The fact that within days of the songs being mixed we have the EP, the artwork, words of wisdom from its creator via his blog, and here now what promise to be a fascinating series of videos exploring the themes, stories and performances that combined to create the new songs… well we fans have never had it so good. We’ve never been this close to the action before and I would say everyone, not least Thomas should be applauded for giving of themselves in this new environment.
I must tell people here that I know matthew personally and he is furthest thing away from being a bully you can possibly imagine.
By the way, has anyone got a copy of Melodyne Editor with DNA? I want to hear a baritone version of 17 Hills….
A x
Hey Count Culo! Please don’t censor yourself! Your post received the most interesting comments on this thread. No one is right and no one is wrong! We all got to hear something we didnt’ know before, only because of you, so don’t let anything stop you from speaking your mind. I’m grateful for your question, cause now I know something more about what is turning into the greatest song of 2010.
Best,
Blatzy
yes… listening to 17 Hills again… and happy that Thomas followed his heart on the vocal.
Matthew, here’s a clue…. it’s my “work in progress” memoir…
http://www.hotrails.co.uk/blueskybag/samjudd/index.htm
and BTW, there is a HUGE POP on the front porch of 17 hills that I KNOW wasn’t meant to be there either… so I hadn’t even mentioned that one (& yes it is on most of my friend’s copies as well, but NOT all)…but if TD has another detailed explanation for it, I’d be fascinated to hear that one as well!!
what a fantastic artist to create a place like this to interact with his fans about his music!
my point is and has been that these things appear to me to have crept into the process after it left the master’s hands…
maybe I listen a bit too hard eh??
C_C
I would tend to agree Blatzy. Count Culo1 comments definitely brought to life this so called glitch! Hopefully this Matthew bloke can come off his soapbox and maybe tone down some of his chafe remarks about Culo’s acquaintance albeit funny.
Mr. Dolby!
The Ep is really great!! I am so excited for the rest of the album – can’t wait!!
shot by both sides
Culo1
I have to say, I am a bit confused. Why are you so insistent on finding glitches? You already claimed you found one which was “the only blemish in an otherwise perfect song”.
Mr D and others confirmed confirmed otherwise.
Now you claim to have found another glitch that you KNOW was not meant to be there? Did you not KNOW the last time?
I neither have an opinion on what is true or not true, but I can see that your pride is invested in this. Please don’t let it ruin your reputation, or the enjoyment of the music.
Peace
PS: Why do you remind me of Tommy Saxondale?
Quote: If I want to hear electronic bleeps and farts, I’ll put my foot through the windscreen of the Rascal and listen to the alarm going off
Tommy on dance music
On the subject of Top of the Pops and ‘shot by both sides’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hURfS6b3wVo&feature=related
Spot the miming indeed and David ‘Kid’ Jensen trying to look cool as he introduces the song …..
Hilarious.
Great band magazine ….. no offence to anyone menat but I think I prefer them to Blue Oyster Cult. They also inpsired many other bands so I guess I’m not alone in liking them.
wow! “Buck Dharma, lead guitarist for Blue Oyster Cult”
I am not worthy (bow, scrape!)
believe me I’m not “looking for glitches”.. the “pop” at the beginning of 17 hills is not on my download, but is present on several of my other friends copies…
so I didn’t know of it till they sent me info on it being on theirs after I asked about the glitch that was never a glitch, NEVER inferring that Herr Dolby would have knowingly left a “mistake” in a song, only wondering if I’m hearing something that “snuck” in there… in such matters, I always try to defer to those who know more about such things like Mr.Dolby & other musicians that I happen to know….
here’s hoping I didn’t really offend TD by asking about the tiny detail…
now if I could just get the melody of 17 hills out of my brain… it’s been there since last thurs nite!!… non-stop… but it’s all good I guess…
C_C
That pop could be the bass pluck overloading an overdriven audio system or a poor MP3 decoder messing (the same) up.
Just a thought….
…don’t mean to add to the attack but, the intentional ‘glitch’ stood out so strong to me; I immediately got that the song was going to change directions sonically and lyrically.
Thomas, it was a wonderful way to lead up to such a critical change in the song, continued with that distant atmospheric pad, backwards piano attack and Ethel before were were brought back down to the sea. Goosebumps!
…a very late post, I know…