Jude Cole

[MJGreene Audio]

Can you talk a little bit about making this record. How much of the record was written before you went into the studio and was it a conscious effort on his part and your part to make "I Don't Know Why I Act This Way" sound completely different than his first two records? The sound of that record is so in your face and intimate and really a big departure from the other records made during the same time.

Thanks,
Michael Greene

[Cymbals]

You've made some of my favorite mixes, with some of my favorite artists like Duncan Sheik and Jude Cole. I loved the mix on "Believe in you". I've only listened to your stuff a million times. Thank you! :)

[Kevin Killen]

Michael,

As far as I remember Jude had written most of the songs , although a couple had a few sections that were a little vague. The assembled band, Pat Mastellatto, Paul Bushnell, Mark Goldenberg and Jude really worked through the arrangements as we tried to track.
It was very much an explorative process, get a sound, run it down, take a listen, make alterations and go again. Sometimes a tangent would take us off in a different direction but ultimately we always got a great vibe on the tracking date.

We made a concious decision to make the record as dry as possible without it being abrasive, so that perhaps accounts for its difference with other records of the time. I really wanted to showcase Jude's voice particularly the cracks in his voice which I think are so full of character.

The record was tracked at Ocean Way (studio 2) and then overdubs and mixing at Sunset Sound Factory. To my ear, the first six songs on that album are some of his best writing and I never understood why Island records could not get this record out to a wider audience.

One last note, the carnival section of "Madison" was a idea of ours that was BRILLIANTLY executed by the enigmatic Jon Brion. He heard the section twice, told me he needed 12 tracks and that he was going to record, keys, gtrs, drms. In a dizzying display of genius he played all of those parts flawlessly in 20 minutes. Jude and I just sat there gobsmacked.

Line it up and put it on repeat, it brings a smile to my face every time I hear it.

Kevin

[MJGreene Audio]

Wow. Thanks. It is an amazing record that just some how missed the audience it deserved. Great story about Jon Brion. He is amazing.

Those rooms at Oceanway are truly magical. I am still trying to get the same kind of drum sound that I got in those rooms 15 years ago.

Thanks again for your time,
Michael Greene

My pleasure kk

[MikeK]

i love jon brion. so inspiring.

[Kevin Killen]

Michael,

Yes those rooms are legendary for a reason. Not to shabby a mic collection either.

KK

[popmann]

Care to discuss the, as you call it, "cracks" in Jude's voice? Did you use mic selection or EQ to emphasize or deemphasize them? I'd be curious if you remember anything about the chain...or special techniques used.

I think he always sounds wonderful. I've always noticed that he seems to have "quiet" and low and "loud" and high ranges...he seems to write to avoid the middle passage. Did you record them or treat them differently? On different faders?

I don't know if you ever heard his first record for WB...but, he really didn't have that. Barely sounded like the same guy. I've always thought that at some point between the first and Veiw From 3rd Street, he really hit on how to write for his voice.

I don't think he's ever sounded as bare and wonderful as "Heaven's Last Attempt"...which, if I remember right, was on the record you produced.

[Cymbals]

Thanks for taking the time to discuss this! That cd's mix still sounds fresh.

[Kevin Killen]

popmann,

Like a lot of artists , Jude became more aware of the range where his voice sounded the best and so he started writing for it. Part of the crack in his voice was attributable to the fact that at the time,he smoked a lot of cigarettes. In fact a lot of singers attribute the more "gravel" in the voice sound to this particular habit. Apparently heavy drinking also has an impact.

I do not remember treating them differently , in terms of faders. One of the things I will do is ride the mic pre gain to tape. For this I use the Hardy M1 , which had a variable pot making it a cinch to execute. By the time we were cutting vocals I was very familar with the dynamic range of the lyrics so I was mostly able to avoid any overshoots. We did use a number of different mics on him, a 251, a 47 and a C12. Each had a unique response, we just tried to match its character with that of the song. Jude liked to hear a lot more compression on his voice when singing, I was trying to avoid it sounding limited, so we arrived at a compromise. I tracked with my settings and we used a second compressor off of playback to feed the headphones. That way Jude could "lean into the vocal" without the dynamics cutting his head off. When we comped the vocal together, I bussed it through the second unit to tape to achieve the right balance.

I will say this, jude really knows how to work his voice and his ability to come up with fantastic harmonies on the spot is nothing short of genius. And his guitar playing and writing ain't too shabby either.

That version of "Heavens Last Attempt" was version two of the record, the first was with full band and not as interesting. We did think there was something cool about it but emotionally it was austere. We debated it for a while and the decision to recut was excellerated by the fact that version got mangled somewhat in a glorious machine malfuntion.

I guess the gods were guiding us.

[popmann]

That's interesting that multiple mics were used for different songs. So much for finding the best mic for the singer and sticking with it. Although, I'll remember that when my wife asks me why I need ANOTHER vocal mic...

Thank you for your time and insight.

[Kevin Killen]

popmann

Just tell your wife that just like us, mics can get up on the wrong side of the bed too !

They really can sound different from day to day, so heat, humidity, age call all impact its response. Not too mention how those "tubes" behave from day to day.

Just tell her you need it, just like she needs her ( magazines, makeup, nail polish etc etc etc ).... pick one !

HA



KK

[Cymbals]

Originally Posted by Kevin Killen

KK

LOL!!! Too funny.

When you're tracking tight harmonies for Jude (and stacks of them), can you walk me through the process that you used? Things like... what is in the headphone mix, are you recording all parts individually, maybe using a harmonizer as a reference then recording the real ones (I've done that), etc.

Thanks!

[Kevin Killen]

To the best of my memeory, Jude liked the headphone mix to be dry and he would start with the main harmony part, then stack that. Move to the next part, perhaps pan the first one off to the side and build the second part. So on and so forth. It does not take long because Jude is really fast and conceiving, executing the parts. Its really fun to do.

We never used a harmonizer at that point mostly because we wanted the foundation tracks to be really in tune and solid. I may have made up a slave reel to do all the parts and then Jude and I would settle on a balance and bounce it back in stereo to the master. The worst thing that could happen would be that we would have to rebalance it at a later stage .



kev

[Cymbals]

Thanks for the info! It's neat that the stacking happened while hearing the main *harmony* part instead of the lead, if I understood correctly. I'll have to try that. Thanks, Kevin!

[Kevin Killen]

Cymbals,

Well we were also using a private headphone (Private Q) system so Jude had contol off the lead himself. he may have listened to it while laying down the frist harmony track, just for phrasing and then muted. I however was listening to it in the control room.

Kevin

[Cymbals]

Thanks for the followup - those details help out a lot. I remember reading about that system, and wondered if it got used a lot. Thanks again. :)

[Kevin Killen]

Originally Posted by Cymbals

Thanks for the followup - those details help out a lot. I remember reading about that system, and wondered if it got used a lot. Thanks again. :)

Cymbals,

Those systems are a godsend to an engineer. You can send a basic stereo drum mix into one of the stereo returns and then individual parts into each mono. The player who is overdubbing can adjust to their taste. Whats really fascinating is when I go around on a tracking date to listen to everyones headphone...... truly wacky balances. but some how it works. Their balances may give me some inspiration also.

Kevin