wow, I'm so unbelievably jealous i might explode!!
can you go into depth about vinnie's playing a bit please?
please, please, please?
-Jonathan
They're doing this song that has some Indian tabla player on it with a female vocalist. Piano was already recorded as well (Herbie played on it). So it was just bass and drums being recorded. Their goal was to add some western style to the rhythm section.
Vinnie came in and listened to the song. He suggested to do a run with brushes on the snare and kick alone. Then record over all that with sticks.
The bassist played along for the first part. They were getting a lot of overtones from the unused toms so they put towels over them. They used two dozen mics (three alone on the snare). He played 16th-note diddle combination on the snare with the kick on one and three. Every base drum hit sounded identical and perfectly in time. Not a single twitch or waver. I suppose that's why he's a pro.
They did that once, talked a bit and did it again (start to finish). Then everyone came to the control room to listen. Herbie said it was right on the money. So then Vinnie changed the cymbals to faster ones. 8, 10 and 12 A-custom splashes. A trash cymbal and a china. He didn't like the hats so he went to his bag to get the K-customs. It's a real busy song and very complicated I might add.
So then we all had to be locked in the control room because the engineer wanted condenser mics in an adjacent room. The A/C got shut off and Vinnie laid it down. He played a 8th note on the hat mostly and I'd say about a bajillion ghost notes. I'm just learning tradition grip and WOW his left hand is incredible. He has these huge monster paws for hands but they move like feathers in the wind.
During the first take (which everyone loved) his hi-hat fell in his lap a half dozen times. LOL He just smiled, pushed it back and kept playing. No one really noticed it accept for me because my nose was pressed to the glass. When I mentioned it, people were even more amazed.
He did a second "pass" as they call it and a few "punches" over some spots and it was done. When I got home, I went straight to my kit and played for two hours. Such an inspiring day.