Today I lived and went to heaven

Monica McCoy

Senior Member
I spent the afternoon with Herbie Hancock and Vinnie Colaiutta. They were tracking drums for a song on Herbie's next album. My neighbor is a two-time Grammy winning recording engineer and he asked me if I wanted to sit in on the session. How could I say no?!

That was my first time in a recording studio. I learned so much just watching and listening. Lucky me... :)
 
THAT'S FANTASTIC MONICA!!!!!

Forgive my shouting.

So glad for you. Also glad it means a recording will be released featuring them both. ;-)

I hope you had big eyes and big ears and learned all you could. I also hope you can put that knowledge to use to further your own career.

Good on you!

Am so happy for you....
 
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
 
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.
 
Wow, that sounds like an unbelievably cool experience! I'm all green!
 
That sounds incredibly awsome! Congrats for such a huge experience. Great to hear how there are people that are just in total control of the instrument. I have such a long long way to go :).
 
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. :)
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.

This it what it means to stand in the presence of greatness...
 
Herbie Hancock and Vinnie Colaiutta, what an amazing treat for you!!!! I am so happy to hear that! You definitely had the treat of a lifetime to say the least...two super power houses that I truly admire for their contribution to the industry!
 
Lucky you! Its must've been fantastic to be there. Recording sessions can be tedious, repetitive and boring, but with these two guys there I'm sure it was quite the opposite.

Tell us more!
 
The front of my shirt would have been soaked with my own drool. I love Herbie Hancock. Saw him on the show, Spectacle with Elvis Costello as host, and he was so cool, mild mannered, and answered every question and played wonderfully. Vinnie needs no introduction. Lucky you. Did you or were you allowed to take photos?
 
Thanks for that Monica! I really enjoyed this thread and am happy for you. You must be surrounded by great karma to get invited. I just hope that this is the beginning of great things to come to you; wouldn't that be a nice thought! Have a nice upcoming weekend.

GJS
 
I feel like I won some sort of raffle or prize from a radio station. It's just incredible. It's left an indelible mark on me. The experience as it was only six hours long so I'm sort of limited on additional details. It certainly was a privilege to hang out with these people. Two of the hours they were working but the rest of the time was talking about life, cracking jokes...just a really good time. Herbie is a really warm and congenial fellow with a hearty laugh. He like to have a good time, even when he's working.

I learned a few musical ideas from just listening to the conversation. It seems like they always search for words to convey their ideas but the words don't exist. So they struggle and stutter and pause. But still, everyone understands the intention. Sort of a musical understanding I guess.

Another valuable thing I got out of it was a sense of perspective. Here we are in a multimillion dollar studio (a legendary one with gold and platinum records all over the place...from real artists like The Stones and Tom Petty). It costs several thousand a day to rent out. Then you have the producer to pay, the recording engineer, the house engineer and the drummer. So lets just say they spent $15K to lay drums for one track on one album. WHOA! In light of that, it's truly a crime to download music.
 
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