Back from the studio - Jazztrio recordings!

Zorlee

Senior Member
Hi everyone!
Just came back from a long day in the studio. We recorded a couple of tracks, and mixed it. We´re not 100% done with the mix, but close enough.
I really like the sound - after all, we recorded this live, in the same room. No overdubs, no nothing - what you hear, is what we played.
I posted a thread about this trio, and that I wasn´t very comfortable... I think it went well nevertheless, and it was a great experience. I´m not yet truly comfortable in the studio, still a bit shaky at the end of a great take and such, but hopefully it´ll get better every time I record stuff...

You can find the two tracks here:

www.myspace.com/geirlarsen

Tell me what you guys think! :)

Yours sincerely,
Zorlee
 
Something in the water up there. Norway has been producing some fine/great musicians the last 20 years or so. (I'm half Norse myself - been there a bunch).

Geir, you have a wonderful touch. Some of the delicate snare work is very nice. I know it's only two songs, but I definitely get a sense of your style from the 2 pieces (you seem to like/love the quarter-triplet buzz rolls ; )

The only critique I could think of is that when you got a chance to stretch a tad at the end of 10 Dollar Service, you seemed to be very safe. Nothing wrong with that - I don't think the piece calls for any serious pyrotechnics but I thought it sounded very...thought out - not really in any free-spirit-of-the-session kinda thing. Just a minor quibble, really.

Stylistically, the pieces made me think a very Scandinavian Jason Moran trio (his lighter pieces). Not the pianist's chords during the heads, but his angular melody lines sounded very Moran/Jaki Byard-ish -which is good. Once I thought of that trio, I started wishing I could hear what you guys can/could do when you play with a little more sense of adventure.

But all in all - a very enjoyable, mature-sounding session. I look forward to your debut on ECM. ; )
 
I'm with the Colonel. I like your style and particularly the tune, $10 service, but in spite of really liking everything you were doing, I was wishing you would have stretched a bit & revealed more of yourself, thrown in a little more attitude & as the Colonel says taken a few risks.

However, I do understand though that when you go into a studio, it all somehow gets very tight & sterile sometimes.

All in all, I thought it was very good.. ( btw, I'm half American, & thats not good ; )
 
Thank you guys so much for the feedback!
I totally agree with you guys, I really do. I wasn´t very happy with that part of the song on that particular take. It was probably one of the last takes, and the other guys were happy, and we didn´t mess up, so I thought - whatever. I think the whole song is good overall, but like you said - a bit safe on my part. It´s my 2nd time recording, so I was kind of shaky, to say the least. Not the easiest stuff to record, haha! Not that fun to play for 4 minutes, then screw up some 16ths in the hi-hat, only to start all over again. (Luckily that didn´t happen! But it DID happen when we did some test takes - got my feet back on the ground, I can tell you, hahaha!)

Again, thank you for feedback! Listen to "The Hit" - that drum solo I thought was good! We did that tune pretty much on the first take, so everything was fresh and good :)
 
Oh man, that was sooo relaxing. GREAT. I enjoyed all of that. Your feel is PERFECT, everything, from the bass to the hats to the snare to the ride, perfect volume, doesnt stand out, but its just loud enough.
 
Really good music Geir, well done!

On "The Hit" I'd like to hear a bit more shimmering, glistening ride cymbal, rather than quite so much 16ths on the hats.

Cool drum breaks you took @ 3:20 or so... again, well done! :) Only comment is that it felt just a touch "heavy" to me. I would've liked to hear a slightly lighter, softer touch. But I'm being totally nit-picky and overly-critical.

I really enjoyed the music and your playing! :)
 
I really like the recordings, they sound beautiful.
I also disregard the fact you played "safe" - it sounded very musical to me, the steadiness of your playing complimented the songs well.

Can't wait to hear more in the future :)
 
sounds great !

and nice to see an other Hiromi fan.

..and I like your pianist

I´m a huge Hiromi fan! Check out the picture I got a week ago (Hiromi concert, SICK show!).
Anyway, thank you guys SO much for the kind words. I really appreciate it, I really do!
Like I said, it was a very stressful experience for me.. Well, I managed to control the worst nerves, but I truly hope I´ll get more and more experience, so that I feel looser and more experimental. But you know, it´s all about practising - if I hadn´t practised my share of Jeff Porcaro 16ths on the hi-hat and working hard on ghost notes and such, I would never be able to pull it off in the studio. It seems that you REALLY have to nail something to be able to pull it off in the studio. Like really overlearning it (if that´s a word? hehe)
Again, thank you guys! You´re the greatest!
 

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ahh lucky you for meeting her !
i saw her show a couple months ago, it was great, she has a great personality and she seems to really enjoy playing.

But at that show it wasn't MArtin Valihora drumming, was he there at yours ?
 
I really enjoyed those recordings man, it sounds like you are really listening and reacting well to the music around you. Keep it up!!

ps. I added you on myspace!
 
Very well done! There is indeed very very much Hiromi influence. By the way, if you like Hiromi...have you tried some Esbjörn Svensson (R.I.P.)?
Another great and progressive trio in my opinion.

Your playing was light and fits in well. It wasn`t overplayed and groovy. Your soloing was quite good as well. What I can recommend to you is to record yourself (or with your trio) more oftenly. That will improve your sound and take away this nervousness after some time.

So in conclusion I think you did a nice job! With what snare drum did you record? What heads, tuning and mics? It sounds killer on the recording!

Karl
 
Thank you guys SO much! Wow!
Well, actually I was going to see E.S.T. at the same festival as Hiromi played, but to our big surprise he passed away. Such a tragedy! His music will live on!

Yes, Martin Valihora was there! He's probably my biggest influence when it comes to jazz playing. Man, that guy plays SO well, it's just pure beauty! Everyone must listen to his playing, it's insane!

About the snare... Hehe, well. It's actualy an OLD, dirty looking slingerland snare. 3 tensionrods are missing on that thing, and the heads are so old, that it's not even fair. That being said, it sounds really good, haha! I have an OLD ambassador batter head (with a huge hole in it, haha), with a brutaly old Evans Genera Dry "coated" (it's not coated anymore, I can tell you) head on top. But it sounds really good - I originally planned on recording with my Yamaha Oak Custom snare, but the Slingerland just hit the sweetspot from the first stroke.
Haha, it looks so bad, and in theory it should sound SO BAD, but - it doesn't! Haha! =)

Thank you guys for adding me on myspace! Always fun with new friends! =)
 
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