Jimmy "Flim" Johnson

[JimmyJ]

Well spotted Ed, not everybody catches that bit in the first episode. 
FC, that was an ad libbed moment by Larry, no actual exploding bass stories. 

Jimmy J

[hieronymous]

I love that parts are improvised - how much of it is improv? How much energy was spent editing these together? Part of me doesn't want to spoil the illusion, but as someone who records and enjoys knowing about the behind-the-scenes stuff I would love to know!

[bigredbass]

You mean, you DON'T capo?  Geez . . . . . back to those online bass lessons, I tell myself all that Jeff Berlin stuff is what I get for NOT being more dedicated when I was younger.  Maybe I could forward my resume' for the next time you're hiring pit crewmen . . . . . .

[JimmyJ]

Hieronymous,

For this most recent project we were in the studio for 4 days and Bill Zules was hired to shoot still photos of the band and capture video for the official EPK - which he assembled later.  I came up with the basic script for this silliness but as I described the bits to the guys they'd add their ideas which actually made the jokes work.  For instance it was Kevin's idea to complain to Steve about me thinking he was Larry - and Steve's comeback was spur-of-the-moment Gadd humor.

So not only were we trying to make a real record in 4 days... but whenever somebody was working on an overdub or something we would grab Zules and shoot these little clips.  Everything from the studio was shot in one afternoon.  I realized we hadn't gotten Walt involved in anything so we recorded his narration after the fact and that really tied it all together.

I gathered all the "footage" and assembled it in FCPX, or in my case Final Cut Beginner.  I'm NOT very good at this but learned a lot and had fun doing it.  (Walt's cigar is not lit - that's digital smoke.  HA!)  I probably worked on it for a couple weeks...  In the end it looks pretty homemade but I think that works fine for what we were trying to do. 

Yeah Joey, I hear what you're saying.  I'll bet there is some bass player out there who uses a capo creatively.  Whatever method you use to get the notes you want, that's the right way to do it.

Thanks all,
Jimmy J

[keith_h]

That was great. It's good to see y'all have kept a sense of humor after all these years. I liked the recording of the bass notes. I've been in that exact situation when I was recording backup tracks for a neighbor's gospel group and hit a wrong note. Played through to the end and the response was just about verbatim of what you were told.

[David Houck]

I did not notice that the video was not "professional"; that you did it yourself inspires me to look into "beginner" video editing software.

And for the record; I use a capo.

[JimmyJ]

Right on with the capo use David - I told you guys.  But we have to admit it's rare to see one on a bass so that's why I thought it would be a funny sight.  And I got a giggle out of Ed so my job here is done.


Keith, what can be fixed now with ProTools, Melodyne and the like is truly amazing.  You can essentially tune a guitar after it has been recorded.  Or change a chord from major to minor.  That's a bit insane.  But people can get caught up with all that and forget that asking the player to play it again may be faster and get a better result.  That's basically what I was riffing on here.  In fact, I designed the graphic for the plug-in (see below).  Ha!!


Jimmy J

[rustyg61]

Jimmy you are right about the magic you can work with Pro Tools! It is an Engineer's dream, but I fear that as technology increases musicianship suffers. The sense of playing without a safety net, which drives us to strive for perfection, is gone when we know we can easily fix mistakes. I'm guilty of it too. I have cut & pasted bass lines from a previous spot in the song to replace the same line I messed up on rather than doing a punch in.

Having said that, if you can build a "Buzz Off" pedal for live use I will buy one! Love the graphic!

[keith_h]

Even if it isn't faster I agree with the second take maybe being better. You never know if a small variance in a note's inflection or changing a run slightly will be the thing that completes the picture.

[edwin]

Getting it right isn't always up to the player. Although in the current era of non-destructive editing, it's less of an issue. I remember in the 90s at a session asking to punch in one note. The engineer kept screwing it up so much that I had to redo the entire verse. A 30 second fix turned into a half hour. It was a DA-88 rig, so it would have been an easy thing to just set in and out points, but he insisted on punching by hand. It aggravated me even more because as an engineer, I used to punch in parts of a word in a vocal and nail it regularly. If the levels match and you have your timing together, no big deal. Beer and pot do not belong in the control room. Oh well, I got paid.

I like Pro Tools.

[JimmyJ]

Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking protools.  I use every available aspect of it when building bass tracks at home.  I end up spending a lot more time than I would in a studio situation.  At one point I had a crisis of conscience about comping and shifting my notes around in time.  I wondered if I could still play anything correctly.  I asked Holdsworth about it and he said "eh, these are just the current set of tools we get to use to make music". 

Punching was always fun.  Oceanway in Hollywood had these great sounding Ampex ATR multitrack machines but they had quite a delay when punching in.  The 2nd engineers had to really know what they were doing.  And I will hopefully never again be called to do a direct-to-disc (vinyl) recording.  Essentially a 20-minute long take with no fixing.  That was a lot of sweating for a little bit of audiophile gain - IMO.  Did a couple with singers too and that's just a mean thing to do to them!


What can I say, I'm a studio brat!  "Let me just fix that one thing...."



As you were.
Jimmy J

[fmm]

Jimmy:
I don’t know if you heard, but Jim Harms of My Music Store in Golden Valley passed away. 

[JimmyJ]

fmm,

Yes thanks, my brother let me know.  Harms was a great guy and Park Music in St. Louis Park, MN was my music store when I was growing up.  Not only for gear but I attempted to teach bass there at one point and even repair amps!  Amazing I didn't kill myself with that one. 

In 1975 I was playing a modified Les Paul Triumph bass and said to Harms; "I like the electronics on this bass but I wish it was long scale."  And he said "well, maybe you should check out this company in California called Alembic..."  So you might say he was instrumental (teehee) in my musical career.

He did the same for my brother over the years, recently pointing him to Phil Jones amps for his upright.  Harms would always keep an eye out for great gear even if he didn't carry it in the store.  He was a good cat and we'll all miss him.

Jimmy J

[bigredbass]

Caught this last night:  JT and His Large Band on AUSTIN CITY LIMITS.  Good day at the office, Jimmy.  I just love the little Cuban breakdown on the end of 'Mexico'.  One hell of a band, and what a treat it must be to work for James.  I always preferred working with a front man who was a musician / picker, and boy, this qualifies . . . .

http://video.klru.tv/video/2365592496/

[David Houck]

Thanks for the link, Joey!  Looks, and sounds, very nice!