311boogieman
Well-known member
https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/ge ... o_top.html
Cool article if you are into Hendrix and those old recording processes:
During a conversation with Gibson, engineer Eddie Kramer, who engineered each of Jimi Hendrix's three studio albums, looked back on the late guitarist's recording process.
When asked, "Did he [Jimi] lean towards multiple takes for perfection or was he prone to just going with it because the magic was there?", Kramer replied (transcribed by UG
"Well, Jimi was a perfectionist, no question about it. The takes would be magical; sometimes first, second or third take - bang - done. Other times, there were some problems.
"Not insurmountable problems, but problems of, 'You know, I don't really like the feel of that one,' and he knew he was going for something: 'Gonna do another one.'
"Classic example is 'All Along the Watchtower' [the Bob Dylan cover from The Jimi Hendrix Experience final album, 1968's 'Electric Ladyland'] We ended up with, like, 26-27 takes or something like that.
"He was looking for something very specific; the rhythm section wasn't quite gelling, Dave Mason's guitar wasn't quite gelling in the beginning, Mitch [Mitchell, drums] made mistakes, Jimi was yelling at Mitch and all that...
"And that would happen increasingly as the career went on, particularly when we got to America and started working on 'Electric Ladyland.' He would jam for hours.
"But in terms of finding that particular take; if it wasn't there in the first few, there's a search going on, but you could sense - here's the cool thing - you could sense the journey.
"As the takes progressed, you could kind of feel, 'This guy is after something.' And all of a sudden, it would just come together. 'Jimi, that was great!' 'Yeah, yeah, yeah... one more.' And there it was.
"And he climbed this mountain to get to that point; it was so cool, and the expression on his face was, 'Yeah, let me hear that.'"
Can you think of any particular moments where inspiration may have changed the course of a tune?
"I'm not sure it's a re-think, but I can remember this one time we were doing [Jimi's second album 1967's] 'Axis: Bold as Love.' We've come to the title track ['Bold as Love'], and at this particular point - we were fooling around with something called phasing.
"Now, it so happened that prior to this, we've been honored to have The Beatles, I've recorded The Beatles twice, and we've asked Sir George Martin, I said, 'George, how do you that get phasing sound on 'Strawberry Fields'?'
"And he said, 'Well, chaps, if you look in the 'BBC Radiophonic Handbook' from 1949, you'll actually find it there,' I said, 'Thanks a lot, George.' So we pursued this quest; since The Beatles have done it mono, we said, 'OK, we're gonna top that.'
"And we figured out a way how to do it in stereo, and at this particular point, we've tried this little section, you know, the drum break in the middle, that's when the phasing kicks in, Jimi had no idea what was gonna happen.
"So I said, 'Wait, come in, check this out, we want to play you something.' So we set it up, and Jimi's sitting behind me on the couch, and when the phasing kicks in, Jimi lost his mind.
"He fell off the couch, he was grabbing his head, and says, 'Oh my god, how did you do that? Play it again!' So we played it again; he went absolutely crazy, said, 'Hey man, I want that shit on everything!'"
Did Jimi always write when he felt or did he edit himself? Did he freely write what he was thinking about?
"Good question. I can only react from the experience of being with him. It's a tough one because I think if one looks at [Jimi's 1967 debut] 'Are You Experienced' and 'Axis,' I think he was much more in the heavy rock 'n' roll thing, you know?
"The songs would be a little shorter; yes, there were jams and yes, there were pieces that were stretched out, and experimental stuff - yes, no question. I feel that the expression from Jimi's soul was always in there, no matter what direction the song was going in.
"He would have fun with it, he would enjoy it; it's still Jimi, he's still playing a blues part, he's still doing the stuff that his musical roots had taught him.
"Where I think it really started to change was 'Electric Ladyland,' that's when a lot more blues, that's when the thing really stretched out. I mean, think of some of those pieces of music, 14-15 minutes long, that's a touch of where Jimi was at.
"And in the next level, after Woodstock in '69, Jimi says, 'Well, we're nothing but a band of gypsies' and bang - by the end of the year, yes, did he have to satisfy that contract?
"Yes, he did, but he put a fabulous band together, and that's where it goes to the other level, the higher level of R&B, blues, funk, all of that.
"An incredible band with Buddy [Miles, drums] and Billy [Cox, bass], I mean, phenomenal, so all these different levels of points in his life, I don't know if you can really separate.
"You can just say, 'OK, this is the journey he's on and this is the musical direction he's going in.'"
sorry if this is old - I've never seen or read it
Cool article if you are into Hendrix and those old recording processes:
During a conversation with Gibson, engineer Eddie Kramer, who engineered each of Jimi Hendrix's three studio albums, looked back on the late guitarist's recording process.
When asked, "Did he [Jimi] lean towards multiple takes for perfection or was he prone to just going with it because the magic was there?", Kramer replied (transcribed by UG
"Well, Jimi was a perfectionist, no question about it. The takes would be magical; sometimes first, second or third take - bang - done. Other times, there were some problems.
"Not insurmountable problems, but problems of, 'You know, I don't really like the feel of that one,' and he knew he was going for something: 'Gonna do another one.'
"Classic example is 'All Along the Watchtower' [the Bob Dylan cover from The Jimi Hendrix Experience final album, 1968's 'Electric Ladyland'] We ended up with, like, 26-27 takes or something like that.
"He was looking for something very specific; the rhythm section wasn't quite gelling, Dave Mason's guitar wasn't quite gelling in the beginning, Mitch [Mitchell, drums] made mistakes, Jimi was yelling at Mitch and all that...
"And that would happen increasingly as the career went on, particularly when we got to America and started working on 'Electric Ladyland.' He would jam for hours.
"But in terms of finding that particular take; if it wasn't there in the first few, there's a search going on, but you could sense - here's the cool thing - you could sense the journey.
"As the takes progressed, you could kind of feel, 'This guy is after something.' And all of a sudden, it would just come together. 'Jimi, that was great!' 'Yeah, yeah, yeah... one more.' And there it was.
"And he climbed this mountain to get to that point; it was so cool, and the expression on his face was, 'Yeah, let me hear that.'"
Can you think of any particular moments where inspiration may have changed the course of a tune?
"I'm not sure it's a re-think, but I can remember this one time we were doing [Jimi's second album 1967's] 'Axis: Bold as Love.' We've come to the title track ['Bold as Love'], and at this particular point - we were fooling around with something called phasing.
"Now, it so happened that prior to this, we've been honored to have The Beatles, I've recorded The Beatles twice, and we've asked Sir George Martin, I said, 'George, how do you that get phasing sound on 'Strawberry Fields'?'
"And he said, 'Well, chaps, if you look in the 'BBC Radiophonic Handbook' from 1949, you'll actually find it there,' I said, 'Thanks a lot, George.' So we pursued this quest; since The Beatles have done it mono, we said, 'OK, we're gonna top that.'
"And we figured out a way how to do it in stereo, and at this particular point, we've tried this little section, you know, the drum break in the middle, that's when the phasing kicks in, Jimi had no idea what was gonna happen.
"So I said, 'Wait, come in, check this out, we want to play you something.' So we set it up, and Jimi's sitting behind me on the couch, and when the phasing kicks in, Jimi lost his mind.
"He fell off the couch, he was grabbing his head, and says, 'Oh my god, how did you do that? Play it again!' So we played it again; he went absolutely crazy, said, 'Hey man, I want that shit on everything!'"
Did Jimi always write when he felt or did he edit himself? Did he freely write what he was thinking about?
"Good question. I can only react from the experience of being with him. It's a tough one because I think if one looks at [Jimi's 1967 debut] 'Are You Experienced' and 'Axis,' I think he was much more in the heavy rock 'n' roll thing, you know?
"The songs would be a little shorter; yes, there were jams and yes, there were pieces that were stretched out, and experimental stuff - yes, no question. I feel that the expression from Jimi's soul was always in there, no matter what direction the song was going in.
"He would have fun with it, he would enjoy it; it's still Jimi, he's still playing a blues part, he's still doing the stuff that his musical roots had taught him.
"Where I think it really started to change was 'Electric Ladyland,' that's when a lot more blues, that's when the thing really stretched out. I mean, think of some of those pieces of music, 14-15 minutes long, that's a touch of where Jimi was at.
"And in the next level, after Woodstock in '69, Jimi says, 'Well, we're nothing but a band of gypsies' and bang - by the end of the year, yes, did he have to satisfy that contract?
"Yes, he did, but he put a fabulous band together, and that's where it goes to the other level, the higher level of R&B, blues, funk, all of that.
"An incredible band with Buddy [Miles, drums] and Billy [Cox, bass], I mean, phenomenal, so all these different levels of points in his life, I don't know if you can really separate.
"You can just say, 'OK, this is the journey he's on and this is the musical direction he's going in.'"
sorry if this is old - I've never seen or read it
