So... De Dijk finished the 1st half of this year's tour. Having a little summerbreak... And finished off a couple of albums, most noteably the new Acda en de Munnik one and my own...
The last days at ICP were pretty crazy too. Ken Stringfellow wrote something about it which pretty much sums up the vibe. What follows next is a little piece of Ken's blog:
7.04.2009
I had two amazing days (plus a get-in night) mixing Acda en de Munnik at the legendary ICP studios in Brussels. This is part of what's been a very fruitful collaboration with JB Meijers, which started with his invitation to have me sing on his upcoming solo album (which I've now heard as completed and it's outtasite--hitting on elements of Todd Rundgren, Neil Young, and even Alice In Chains...in a great way). JB is a kind of Todd, he can play all the bits, work a studio from any perspective, and organize complex music into...well, whatever he wants. First, we had to contend with the fitting in of a marvelous arrangement by Van Dyke Parks. I mean, basically JB was handing me a very big leg up, and I really didn't want to fuck it up. But how to prepare? I listened to a rough mix with a cheap keyboard rendition of the arrangement mixed in. OK. Got the basic idea...in the meantime, JB went around getting the arrangement done. I am not at liberty to drop names, but the first group of musicians, an orchestra, in fact, to take on the arrangement, basically walked out of the session saying it was unplayable. JB was unnerved--we were supposed to mix in a couple of days, but my attitude was: the last time an orchestral piece caused a riot it was Stravinksy, so we're in good company. Well, he found a way to get it done...and after discovering that they had neglected to use his click track or rough mix and recorded it at least 3-5 bpm faster than the track it was going to be on...a little editing and we were somewhat in business. I arrived, and the band, JB and I cracked some Pinot Gris and got to thinking. I told them my inspirations on the track, and they were liking what they were hearing. We made some ideas about chopping some of the arrangement out to make a kind of intro that foreshadows the upcoming full song, just a few seconds. We faked it out on the keyboard, and went to bed wondering how it would all go.
So up the next morning, and early to bed and late to bed would be the theme of these days--I swam, breakfasted and spoke on the phone about the Disciplines album to a journalist. Then it was work time. We dove in on building the intro, and I was jumping in as ProTools man, then adding the 3rd and 4th hands to big chords as we augmented some unlinked sections with some...other things. All the while we had Michel, one of ICP's longest running engineer, who worked on many of the classic albums done there, who did engineer the things we added to the track--organ, tambourine, etc....but I was cheeky enough to just jump on the computer and start digging in.
We got the intro sorted, I did some tweaking and went in sound by sound. Layer by layer. The vintage Neve console at ICP studio C is just...what you want. Enormous, rich, balanced and sturdy. Slapping vintage Altec compressors on the bass and kick drum instantly gave me a boingy, bouncy, vintage feel for the low end, and I was getting happier and happier. Still, I used the two days we had, tweaking tiny vocal sounds, tuning what I felt could be even more perfect-er, lining up doubles that could be even tighter, and of course, riding levels to give the song dynamics (guidance from the band was essential here). Morning of day two I was up for a swim again (yep, they've got a pool at this studio) and off to do interviews and back to mix, and later, did a radio interview at Pure FM, the French speaking national radio in Belgium. But, it was pretty clear by the end of night one that *I* was happy--and with the band listening the next day, they were really happy. It was a great mix of relief and pride when I got such positive feedback. I can't wait for you to hear it.
Acda en De Munnik are two guys--Thomas Acda (who is also an 'acta'--he is regularly featured in Dutch TV & cinema) and Paul de Munnik. They are described as cabaret, they seem to have done a rock opera, but everything I've heard is just well composed, duo-vocal songs...and you know from my career how I feel about harmonies-all-they-way-thru acoustic duos! I am in one, dammit. There are moments in this song that remind me of all the classics--CNSY, Cat Stevens, Seals & Crofts, even Chicago...but it's in the end this great sounding thing, thoroughly timeless and contemporary. I did the ultimate test today, and it sounded just huge on my home rig. With the extra time we had, since the mix was put to bed by 9, we zipped off a live acoustic session of me doing two Disciplines songs in the amazing studio D, with the Deutsche Gramophon Telefunken desk. ICP's mic collection is the world's sickest, most outrageous, hands down. So, everything I did would be thru some insane mic from the 40s or EARLIER. Wowowowowow. So there's a happy ending for ya.
...Nnnnice one, Ken! So, I dropped off Ken at the station (He had to go on play with Big Star in Hyde Park, London! Now, who's the Todd Rundgren here. Ken is just unbelieveable!) then went home, and did another four gigs with De Dijk.
I was so tired, but vampirizing on the audiences energy and sipping on some R 'n R-style Jack Daniels pulled me through I must say. All culminating to our final show at Heineken Music Hall.
A sold out show for about 6000 people! (Of which a large part ended up in the backstage area.)
I had to take some of my gear home, so I drove down with my car, but got in such a state after the gig it was not a good idea to drive the Volvo home.
I left it at the venue, not knowing Neyo was in next day.
So, Wanda, Stip (the dog) and I walked the 12 km down to the HMH in order to recollect my car and keys.
Of course the venue was in a full on hiphop-state: The smaller the group, the larger the trouble seems to be the credo in your average hiphop circumstances, haha!
So, I'm like there... Hello, I'm JB from the Dijk; picking up my car... And they go:"What's your problem, muthafucke? Why didn't you take your car yesterday, whiteass?" So I'm like: "You know, I'm a rockstar walking the dog, picking up my car because our crew was drunk too and stuff..." Fuckin' hilarious, that was, haha!
Got the car, drove home and had a diner for two with Wanda yesterdaynight. That had been ages and we were like two birds in love at the restaurant. Mmmmm...!
I've got some time off now, which gives me time to think about what's coming up; Dijk tour, Solomon Burke record, Dijk album, the release of Catching Ophelia, the incidental Acda en de Munnik gigs... Sa-weeeet!
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