Patrick Butler PrimeMover

[garyb]

i recently finished another album with Patrick(released jan 2014). currently, it's the number 2 radio station add on the Jazz charts.

fun stuff, whammy feedback guitar, bass clarinet, vibraphone, etc, and of course Scope mixed and recorded...
Scope guitar and bass amps, compressors, eqs, mastering, etc.

http://butlerjazz.bandcamp.com/album/primemover

[dante]

Title track a crisp production with a smooth funk bassline that propels the momentum. Jazzy but funky as well.

[siriusbliss]

Nice!

Would go well with cognac

G

[Eanna]

Great job Gary! Sounds fab.

They're good musicians... I'm a sucker for flutes playing in tandem with other instruments, hitting the breathy octave-up, giving clarity and air to its accompanying instrument(s).

Say you had great fun recording that bass clarinet? The mechanical sound of keys adds a flavour to that track. Guess the mic was pointing at the keys... Not hearing that detailed articulation in the other instruments? Maybe they're not as up-front in the mix..

Sounds like that LA experimental fusion stuff, like Build An Ark...
Actually, Carlos Nino (band leader) - he's an LA dude and doesn't look unlike your good self..

Cool stuff Gary (y)

[garyb]

thanks all!

i'm not supposed to tell you how the parts were laid down out of order and with lots of realtime instruction...

Eanna, about the keyclicks of the bass clarinet, that's a borrowed instrument and it's missing a lot of corks. we left it clacky because....these guys are a bit more New Jersey than LA, but we live in LA and Orange counties, so there has to be LA in there...

everyone has quite a musical pedigree, so sessions were easy and fun. people who know what they are doing are always less trouble to deal with than those who are still trying to convince others that they are special....there's not much money involved, so the thing is to just do it and then get over it. i like working that way. everyone is pretty seasoned, the bios of the players aren't bs. i think everyone but the bass player has been on at least one gold record.

it's funny to me that this album is getting good airplay. the last album was called God Powered and the DJs wouldn't play it because of "religious overtones" even though it was just instrumental Jazz and had no obvious religious references other than the name. if it had been called Satan's Blood, i'll bet they would have played it.

[dawman]

Well they need some marketting help then. Naming your music after the name of current wealth redistributors like Pelosi, Boxer or Jerry Brown would really help. Worked for Linda Rondstadt, well until she came to Vegas and brought Micheal Moore up on stage.
Patrons were returned their money after she was booed form the stage, then handed he luggage. Proof that free markets still work great.

Nice trax GB..I like their grooves and ideas.

[kensuguro]

really cool stuff! It's good musicians playing good music. Need more, please make more.

[borg]

very nice! both composition/craft and sound!

[garyb]

thanks again.

yes, Ken, there's always more.

[Nestor]

I think that, for the kind of music you have recorded with this band, the approach is sensible: it sounds like if I were in a concert, they sound very natural, fresh, I can close my eyes and be there with the band.

I can’t deny that I would like the bass slightly more upfront in general, in all the songs, but what can you expect from a bass player...

They have this child like way of interacting with one another, I feel they are kind of soothing their experiences in life "taking it easy" as we say, and I can feel their friendship vibrating there, too, which is a warm feeling. Obviously, there is a touch of Latin Jazz in top of it all; these musicians have been in the Latin Jazz “old guard” for quite some time already.

The atmosphere in “Solitary Motif” is perhaps my preferred one, I mean, you have achieved, overall (recording and mastering this song), a really poetic and beautiful atmosphere.

I’m surprised that the guitar player goes with a Les Paul for this kind of music, this is not very usual, you would expect a deep hollow body guitar as usual. But as the ensemble has several instruments that give quite deep response, the guitar being "thin", it is very clearly seated there between them all. The timbre of a big hollow body would have been slightly challenging to cut through in its low response, I guess, don’t know.

Very nice Gary, we can hear your experience as an engineer in this work you are getting better and better...

[hubird]

I can’t deny that I would like the bass slightly more upfront in general, in all the songs,

the same here, I once said that about another project, and I remember Gary's answer was that they want it this way.

[garyb]

yes, Patrick wants it that way.

Les Paul, Strat, but mostly 335....Nestor, i'm glad you hear a band and interaction between the parts. as you know, there's no such thing in a small studio.

[Nestor]

Well... yes..., it is a bit sad, but this is something I miss eventually, but I don't really have the time to build a band right now, and play. I play with friends, now that I am back in my country, but cannot afford to build a band to go this way...

Cheers

[hubird]

Gary, you probably didn't use much master compression, to my ears at least .
Is that also on request?
At (very) low listening levels I miss some directness.
But the mix definitely is in balance at normal levels

Did you apply some reverb on the snaredrum or is it the room acoustics which I hear?

[garyb]

yes, there's plenty of master compression, but Butler was looking for a more classic dynamixs style rather than the no dynamics style that is popular today. it's about right for jazz. yes, it could have been crushed harder.

yes, there's reverb specifically on the snare drums, but you're hearing room ambience and the overall ambiance from the SC Plate too.

[Roland Kuit]

Beautiful work Gary!
From cool to further.
Great combination of instruments and musicians!
The colouring is great.

[Eanna]

Gary, may I ask, did you use any/many DAS processors on this?

[garyb]

yes.
lots of DAS 660, and limited use of the DAS 2A and DAS 1610(on drums mostly). the DAS 660 is my go-to comp.


thanks Roland! actually, i can hear my mistakes everywhere, but i'm satisfied.

[Roland Kuit]

thanks Roland! actually, i can hear my mistakes everywhere, but i'm satisfied.

Miles Davis was a master in the 'wrong notes', but doing that consequent it became his trademark of expression

[garyb]

well, i was only the engineer here, so "wrong notes" kinda equals messing up Butler's stuff.
but as i said, i'm satisfied and i do thank you for the good words.