What Gear Does tom Waits Use?......Anybody?

[jockrocks]

I'd love to know if anybody knows what Tom Waits records with- pres,mics,recording medium...anything.I love that fat sound he gets and I'd love to know how he does it.

Any help appreciated..

Ta

Jock

[jockrocks]

Come on!

Somebody hazard a guess.......he's obviously singing so quietly but the sound is massive.My recording knowledge is limited so maybe to all of you guys this stuff is common knowledge or second nature but a newbie like me needs a helping hand.

Come on all you Waits-Ites out there- you know who you are and you know you want to share your knowledge.How does Tommy get his jollies.

Share,share,share...............

[mixerguy]

I'd say his main gear is.... whiskey. Good stuff. Old.



Seriously ..... years ago in Mix Magazine (I think) there was a really in depth article about him and his engineer at the time - they recorded the CD in an old chicken coop - literally! There were some pretty wack and wonderful techniques mentioned - tho I can't remember them in detail.

Maybe check MIX magazine online? Maybe..... might be too old.

Good luck!

[jockrocks]

Thanks Mixerguy,gonna get me some moonshine and pore over the mix mag website..........what's he building in there!

[ramjet]

hi

i have that article some where so i will see if i can convert it to a pdf and post the article for you

cheers

[jockrocks]

Thanks guys,this is my first post and you guys are truly the dogs knackers (in Britain that's a compliment by the way).

I look forward to much bantering and backchat,but I won't consider myself truly here until I get to rip the piss out of curve dominant lol

[Empty Planet]

I can't remember where I read it, and I can't find it on the web so I think it may have been in print, but one tidbit is that he records some of his vocals through a beat up old jambox into a nice mic pre. I seem to remember him referring to it as his "secret weapon."

Funky cat. Genius lyrics and arrangements.

Cheers.

[David R.]

I can only tell you about the megaphone he used on his recent tour. It is an old monster used for big navel ships. Inside is an EV capsule.

I know, 'cause I had to rewire the whole thing.

The ocean doesn't want me today...

[Tubthumper]

There was a recent (sometime this century) interview with Bones Howe in, if I remember corrrrrectly, Sound on Sound magazine. Bones is a legend of the studio, and he talks freely about working with Tom. He also waxes lyrical about sessions with Ornette Coleman, provides some very useful info on several aspects of engineering, and refers to the "magic" 1176 vocal setting.....

Found it!!!

[sound delux]

I'd say probably about 50-100 cigarettes a day, and a bottle of whiskey, with a very very late night session on both, then hit the studio as soon as he is up in the morning. Ahhh theres nothing better than a vice induced binge to get a gravelly throaty sound.

To quote Mr Waits, "The Piano has been Drinking" sums it up really. very cool, the man does have style.

Ramjet, I would love to see the article if you can get it into PDF

[littledoodler]

i read the interview and they used to have it online :( He records alot at Prairie Sun in Cotati CA. The article was saying they hit the tape pres really ****ing hard. They have some great mics at Prairie Sun and waits has his own room.

[jb_studio]

Yeah, if you're interested in the Mule Variations/Bone Machine era Waits sound, the Prairie Sound article is the way to go. Lots of good info. I just tried googling it but I didn't see it...hopefully I just missed it and you can find it if you do a search, or Ramjet will post it. Prairie Sound is a wonderful studio BTW, by the looks of it...

Here's what I remember from the article...There was a storage closet/small room at the studio which Tom commandeered and recorded much of his vocals in. Now they call it the "Waits Room," but I don't think the studio owner originally earmarked it for recording at all -- it was just for storage. Tom hunkered down in there and did a ton of recording. I think the article also mentioned that they recorded some of the takes with the doors of the studio open (i.e, to the farmland outside).

God I love Tom Waits -- JB

[jockrocks]

Thanks for the article Tubthumper......

Seriously,this truly is the greatest community in the world,you guys are so damn helpful.Information on the elusive Mr Waits is at best 'sketchy' on this side of the pond,so much appreciation and best Xmas wishes to y'all who've posted- I'll consider it my present from Gearslutz.

Cheers everybody

Jock

[jockrocks]

Just found this article on Mark Rennick who's done a bunch of recording with Tom Waits.

******//www.metroactive.com/papers/so...sun1-9907.html

Is this the article people are talking about?

Or are there more beauties like this out there...

Jock

[arpodthegreat]

i know that mark howard (bob dylan, U2) did his last one, Real Gone. Amazing sonics. i know that tom sings with his hands cupped around his mouth sometimes. A lot of it was recorded by Tom himself, using an old Fostex 4-track tape deck. he doesn't really know what he's doing so he just records everything really loud. Mark told me that they tried to get a better sound be he couldn't beat the Fostex. so a lot of what's on the record is from 4 track tape. they recorded the thing in an old school house. also, crazy musicians, and the "drum" kit has all sorts of crazy stuff like a sewer grate and pans and stuff.

[dim light]

******//www.soundonsound.com/sos/feb0.../boneshowe.htm

[AjD]

The Waits aesthetic has always been inspiring for me.

Perfectionists take note:

Much of what he gets in the studio is first or second take stuff, often improvised. He starts with a one-off live performance (solo/piano, vox/gtr, maybe one sideman, etc.). And then he builds on top of it - again, in a quick, fairly improvised manner, just a few takes per idea, with each succeeding take often emerging as a spontaneous in-the-moment reaction to the previous one.

It's messy, but in the most organic and lovely sense. A few hours into the session - like a puff of white smoke - a fully realized song has appeared.

The sound of Waits' most inspiring work (for me, the later stuff: roughly from Bone Machine on) is as much informed by this quick 'create-as-you-go' work process as any mic or gear choices.

I'm not saying that gear doesn't play a part, but as this previously mentioned detail implies...

A lot of it was recorded by Tom himself, using an old Fostex 4-track tape deck. he doesn't really know what he's doing so he just records everything really loud. Mark told me that they tried to get a better sound (but) he couldn't beat the Fostex. so a lot of what's on the record is from 4 track tape.

...the gear isn't what's making 'that sound.' It's the technique, not the technology.

In this case, I'd say time spent studying the gear used is counterproductive. Study the process he used (why is there so little talk of actual creative process amongst Gearslutz? Hmm...). You'll get there much quicker.

Adam
drawingroom

[jockrocks]

Good on ya AjD.

Function before fashion,vibe don't lie etc

And you are right,the creative process does take a bit of a back seat on this forum,but it is all about the gear innit....

I love it.

Jock

[cmptrandi]

Does anyone know what Tom Waits uses for his live performance to make his vocals so loud and clear??

[ray_subsonic]

Cast of Thousands ..

Waits and his Wife Kathleen Brennan, Bones Howe, Oz Fritz, Tom Rennick, Silvia Massy(?), Mitchell Froom and many others, variously have either Playing, Production, Engineering or Mixing Credits on his 22 Studio Albums ..

Waits is listed as Producer for a number of them ..

[Bill@WelcomeHome]

I knew Kathy at CMU, pre-Tom. Lovely woman, fun to be around. I remember his first trip into Pittsburgh to play as an opening act at the University of Pittsburgh. The kids felt bad for him and bought him new shoes. He rejected the nice hotel in which they had booked him, and insisted on driving around town until they found one run-down enough for him, in a funky enough part of town.

When I saw him play that night, it was a big shift for me musically. I mean, wow.

He later came back to do four shows, two with Charles Bukowski. This was, for me, his best period. The tour yielded "Nighthawks at the Diner". One night after one of the shows we took him to a local jazz club. The house band (I don't remember who all was there, besindes Spyder Rondinelli and probably Kenny Blake) was thrilled and he was jamming with them when a Temps-type group... four or five guys in green satin suits... showed up, also coming from a gig. They got up on stage to jam and kept looking askance at this skinny white dude, obviously wondering what he was doing there and why everyone there liked him so much.

[kerouac]

Bump for when I have more time....

[Ben Logan]

Chicken coops.

[nobtwiddler]

Prairie Sun Studios, in Sonoma Valley (Cotati California) is a great place to make a record.
The property is (was) owned by a bunch of hippies, and yes it was at one time a chicken ranch. A few of the old buildings on the studio property were used as chicken coops way back when.
I actually lived in one of the converted "Coops" while I was working there.

The Studio owner Mark Rennick (aka Mooka) is a wonderful host, great engineer, and just a hell of a guy..

Been a while since I worked there, but the place is fabulous to work in.

Back then there was a very large untreated room that was used just for storage. As soon as I saw it I said to Mark, we're cutting drums in here!
I don't think he was to happy with me, as it took a few days to get the room cleared out, (lots of Tom Waits stuff was in there also) but it was well worth it. Drum sounds were amazing.

The 4 walls of the room were painted as if you were standing in the middle of a corn field!
It was cool as hell.
Would love to have a reason to go back there to work again~!

[ray_subsonic]

Originally Posted by Bill@WelcomeHome

I knew Kathy at CMU, pre-Tom. Lovely woman, fun to be around. I remember his first trip into Pittsburgh to play as an opening act at the University of Pittsburgh. The kids felt bad for him and bought him new shoes. He rejected the nice hotel in which they had booked him, and insisted on driving around town until they found one run-down enough for him, in a funky enough part of town.

When I saw him play that night, it was a big shift for me musically. I mean, wow.

He later came back to do four shows, two with Charles Bukowski. This was, for me, his best period. The tour yielded "Nighthawks at the Diner". One night after one of the shows we took him to a local jazz club. The house band (I don't remember who all was there, besindes Spyder Rondinelli and probably Kenny Blake) was thrilled and he was jamming with them when a Temps-type group... four or five guys in green satin suits... showed up, also coming from a gig. They got up on stage to jam and kept looking askance at this skinny white dude, obviously wondering what he was doing there and why everyone there liked him so much.

A Great Story Bill. Thankyou.

He is absolutely Unique. While most of America rushes forward into a WalMart future, Waits is like a Lightning Rod to the Past .. If America has a National Treasure .. It's Him ..

[Geoff_T]

Originally Posted by nobtwiddler

Prairie Sun Studios, in Sonoma Valley (Cotati California) is a great place to make a record.
The property is (was) owned by a bunch of hippies, and yes it was at one time a chicken ranch. A few of the old buildings on the studio property were used as chicken coops way back when.
I actually lived in one of the converted "Coops" while I was working there.

The Studio owner Mark Rennick (aka Mooka) is a wonderful host, great engineer, and just a hell of a guy..

Been a while since I worked there, but the place is fabulous to work in.

Back then there was a very large untreated room that was used just for storage. As soon as I saw it I said to Mark, we're cutting drums in here!
I don't think he was to happy with me, as it took a few days to get the room cleared out, (lots of Tom Waits stuff was in there also) but it was well worth it. Drum sounds were amazing.

The 4 walls of the room were painted as if you were standing in the middle of a corn field!
It was cool as hell.
Would love to have a reason to go back there to work again~!

Hi

Yes, that's a great room with a lot of vibe to it.

In it there is a vintage Neve 8026 Mk2 console that I customised years ago to have 24 track meters and 24 track monitoring.

Mooka's a great guy... love talking with him.

[Seamus TM]

Prairie Sun - Tom Waits Discography

[Casey]

Ken is so kind. He sent us excellent dry and wet recordings of all of the rooms so that we could get versions of them in V2 of the M7.



-Casey

[TimS]

Tom Waits uses two things in particular to make those amazing sounding records:

Talent and Balls.

[MisterMyGo]

Here's some youtube footage you might be interested in.