Personal Waves
The Story Of An Album
by Neil Peart
On June the fourth
1979, the "Tour of the Hemispheres" was brought to a
successful, but
relieved close, at
the Pink Pop Festival, in The Netherlands. After
eight months of touring across Canada, the
United States,
Great Britain, and Western Europe, it is
probably self-evident that we were all very glad
to be returning home for our first summer
vacation in about four years! One forgets what a
stately and serene thing summer can be when
subjected to the almost uninterrupted overcast
skies which are native to South Wales, where our
last two summers
were spent. Out of one period of three weeks,
two summers ago, the sun only shone for two
days! We might get rid of our green suntans!
This also marked the
first time that we had ever taken time off prior
to recording an album, our usual schedule
consisting of tour, tour, tour,
write-rehearse-record, and then perhaps a couple
of brief weeks of Domestic Therapy in which to
attempt to glue yourself back together before
going on the road again. The advantages of a
rest between touring and writing new songs are
probably readily apparent to the discerning
reader, and certainly proved themselves to us in
the making of this record, however such a
liberty had never before been economically
possible for us. (Nor this time either, really).
Such indulgence!
It was one of those
classic, golden days of mid-July, six relaxing
and enjoyable weeks later, we all made our way
northward, to a small town not far from Georgian
Bay, where we were to begin writing and
rehearsing some new material. The place was
Lakewoods Farm, a rambling and comfortable old
farm-house, somewhat modernized, surrounded by a
hundred acres of farmland, including a barn
containing many interesting and articulate cows,
and fascinating fields of dynamic wheat! About a
quarter of a mile distant from the house was a
rough little cottage, set on a tiny jewel of a
lake, which proved to be the perfect setting for
a flow of lyric writing.
I arrived in the
afternoon to find Alex happily at work in the
kitchen preparing his famous lasagna, as he is
our willing and able chef at every possible
occasion (even on the bus microwave!), and from
the basement came the exploratory mewings of the
long-awaited Interface, a device which would
allow Geddy to trigger all of the voices in his
Polyphonic synthesizer by depressing one pedal
of his Taurus Bass Pedals. This would give a
rich and readily attainable texture to add to
our sound, and came in very useful indeed. As
did Alex's cooking.
So here we were,
tanned, healthy, and well-rested, fair bursting
with new ideas, and our gear crammed wall to
wall in the basement. The first night we put
together a giant hodge-podge of instrumental
mish-mash, which we christened "Uncle Tounouse".
It never became anything itself, but parts of it
were plundered bit by bit to form quite a few
other things. We soon settled into a schedule
which both suited and served us well. After a
huge breakfast from Alex, I would gather my
things and walk down to the cottage, to spend
the afternoon working on lyrics, while Alex and
Geddy would descend to the basement to work on
musical ideas. Within the first few days we had
put together "The Spirit of Radio", "Freewill",
and "Jacob's Ladder", the ideas flowing in such
a smooth and painless way that it almost seemed
too easy! The only complete lyrics I had brought
with me were "Entre Nous", and neither Alex nor
Geddy had brought more than a few incomplete
ideas, just having clear and relaxed minds had
made all this difference.
I had also been working
on making a song out of a medieval epic from
King Arthur's time, called "Sir Gawain and the
Green Knight". It was a real story written
around the 14th century, and I was trying to
transform it while retaining it's original form
and style. Eventually it came to seem too
awkwardly out of place with the other material
we were working on, so we decided to shelve that
project for the time being. (More on that
later).
One of the great
feature attractions at Lakewoods Farm was Alex's
radio-controlled airplane and it's dramatic
succession of "horrible crashes", into the
trees, the fields, the cows, and finally to meet
it's end on a combination of chimney and roof.
One day, four of us spent about four hours
combing the waist-high fields in search of the
out-of-control plane, and Alex would spend hours
every day re-assembling the pieces with gallons
of epoxy, styrofoam cups elastic bands,
toothpicks, bits of plastic etc. Most
entertaining!
These two idyllic weeks
in the country were soon over, however, and it
was time for the next step, into the Demo
studio. We moved into a small studio in North
Toronto called the Sound Kitchen, where we would
be able to record the songs in a rough fashion,
to hear what they really sounded like, and if
they were any good or not! (All recording at the
farm had been handled by the Slider JVC mobile
unit, leaving him without a cassette player!)
Also we had to prepare ourselves for an upcoming
series of dates, which were to hone ourselves
into razor-sharp precision prior to entering the
studio proper. We spent our time here refining
and rehearsing the arrangements, again aided and
edited by the keen perception and critical
appraisal of the omniscient Broon, our beloved
and belaboured co-producer. We also were to
spend the last few days putting together a stage
presentation, and polishing up our older
material. This we now did.
During this "Semi-tour
of Some of the Hemispheres", we were able to
play "The Spirit of Radio", "Freewill", and
"Jacob's Ladder" during our soundcheck every
day, and the former two we had worked into the
new show. This marked another significant
historical first, the first time any amount of
new material had been performed live prior to
being recorded. The last song to receive this
valuable advantage had been "Xanadu", and before
that I think you'd have to go way back to the
"Fly by Night" album to find any other examples
of that phenomenon. Although it was only a three
and a half week tour, we did cover most of the
area of the United States, along with two shows
each in Canada and England, and by it's end we
and the songs were certainly ready for the Main
Event: Le Studio.
Le Studio is a
wonderful place, nestled in a valley of the
Laurentian Mountains about sixty miles north of
Montreal. It is situated on 250 acres of hilly,
wooded land, surrounding a private lake. At one
end of the lake is the studio, with the
luxurious and comfortable guest house situated
at the other, about a mile away. We commuted by
bicycle, rowboat, on foot, or in laziness or bad
weather, by car. We arrived in the full, ripe
glory of autumn, and were there through a
genuine Indian Summer, and we heralded the
coming of snow and winter, all in our four week
stay! The recording facilities are, of course,
nothing les than excellent in every way. The
room itself features one whole wall of glass,
overlooking a spectacular view of the lake and
the mountains. This is in direct contrast to
most studios, which are more in the way of being
isolated, timeless vaults, which in that respect
of course, are not necessarily bad. Here,
though, we worked in the light of the sun, and
one could watch the changing seasons in idle
moments, rather than a dimly lit, smoky view of
musical and electronic hardware. Our engineer,
Paul Northfield, soon proved himself to be a
helpful, capable, and congenial member of the
project, as did all of the excellent people who
were employed there. I don't think we have ever
been so well treated anywhere. Alex's place in
the kitchen was taken over by the wondrous
Andre, who would bring the most amazing French
food to the house, or we could alternate by
going on an "outing" to his restaurant, "La
Barratte", which was in a nearby town. Suffice
to say that we were well fed as well!
The great contributions
put forth by Daisy, Mr. Broon's little cocker
spaniel must also be acknowledged. She was with
us for the whole session, and her
state-of-the-art sleeping and running around
were an inspiration to us all!
We began our great
labors by working on the individual sounds of
the instruments. This consists of the musician
banging away at his particular object, while the
engineering types experiment with different
microphones, mic positionings, and their own
arcane world of knob-twiddling, faders, echoes,
equalization, etc., refining the sound to a true
and/or pleasing reproduction of the original.
Once this has been accomplished, the three of us
will play together, probably going over the song
we plan to record first, and considerably more
work is put into the sounds, to make them sit
together properly.
By about the second day
these complexities have been resolved to
everyone's satisfaction, and work begins on the
"basic track", or "bed track", or "rhythm
track", take your pick! This is accomplished by
the three of us performing the song, pretty much
as we usually would, except that things such as
vocals, acoustic guitars, lead guitar,
synthesizers, and percussion are omitted. The
reason for this is that better separation, and
more control over the eventual balance and
quality of sound, is possible when these lead
parts, or embellishments, are recorded
separately, once a good rhythm track has been
captured. Now we will be playing the song again
and again until the best performance, both in
it's execution and it's overall "feel", has been
put onto the master tape. Here is where our
preparation really proved it's value, as we were
able to record basic tracks for "The Spirit of
Radio", "Freewill", "Jacob's Ladder", and "Entre
Nous" in an amazingly short time, as well as
arrange and record the previously unrehearsed
"Different Strings", which we had been saving
for the studio as a sort of production number.
There was still a
gaping hole in our plans, however, for with the
departure of "Gawain" we had left ourselves
nothing with which to replace him! So..., at
this juncture we parted ways, Alex, Geddy,
Terry, and Paul to begin work on some of the
overdubs, while I would be imprisoned in my room
until I could emerge glowing triumphantly,
clutching some wonder of spontaneous genius to
my knotted and sweated brow!! - mere fantasy I
fear. Did I perhaps have a title? Ah, no. Did I
have a few strong ideas lying around? Well, no.
Did I have any ideas at all? Well, maybe, but
not exactly. And for two days I stared in
frustration and growing unease at blank sheets
of paper, and questioning eyes. There is no
doubt that working under pressure can be very
rewarding, as we have found many times in the
studio. It seems as if the creative mind slips
into a burst of overdrive, allowing a brief,
exhausting, but productive surge in the creative
process. On the third day of my confinement this
phenomenon arrived at last, and something new
began to take shape. It was the product of a
whole host of unconnected experiences, books,
images, thoughts, feelings, observations, and
confirmed principles, that somehow took the form
of "Natural Science". At any rate, there it was,
I liked it, and the others liked it too, so we
began another brainstorming session to set the
monster to music.
It was at this point in
out story when the visitors arrived, in the
person of Fin Costello, our effervescent and
ever-ready Irish photographer, and our equally
manic art director, Hugh Syme. This would be the
first time that we had ever been photographed
while working in the studio, but we have
maintained such a long and amicable relationship
with these two characters, that there was little
self-consciousness on our part. We just carried
on working, while Fin went to work at capturing
the moments you will see on the cover of the
record. There was, of course, much silliness, as
when Hugh led the band in an insane and endless
version of "Ruff and Reddy", (!), but we somehow
found time to utilize Hugh's piano artistry, on
"Different Strings", which sounds very good
indeed, doesn't it? (You're welcome, Hugh)
To digress for a moment
on the subject of the cover, planning and
organizing had been going on in the background
for the last couple of weeks. The album still
had not received a title right up to the time
when we were ready to record, every time we came
up with something it seemed to be already taken.
Even when we did settle on the one, it
immediately popped up all over the place too,
but by now it was too late, as the artwork was
already in progress, and we knew it to have been
an original idea, if not the only one. Hugh is
the main person involved in putting the cover
together, but we also contribute to the general
layout, compiling the credits, choosing the
photos, correcting and submitting the lyrics,
and arguing about all of the things that we want
and the record companies don't. There are always
the inevitable last minute crises, such as the
Chicago Daily Tribune being still so embarrassed
about their "Dewey defeats Truman" error of more
than thirty years ago, that they actually
refused to let us use it on the cover! These
things are sent to try us!
Meanwhile, back in Le
Studio, "Natural Science" was becoming a song,
forged from some bits from "Gawain", some
instrumental ideas that were still unused, and
some parts newly-written. This is where we used
up some of the time that we had gained earlier,
as we had to work a lot on refining and
rehearsing something as new and complex as this
had grown to be. We were about halfway through
our time there, and ready to move into the
"Overdub Mode".
Mention must now be
made of the great game of volleyball. At
dinnertime, and after the sessions at night, it
was our great pleasure to play intensely
athletic and competitive volleyball. One of a
few games played in the pouring rain starred the
members of Max Webster and their crew, while
other games would continue despite mud-mires or
blinding snow. One particularly warm night kept
us playing until six o'clock in the morning! The
studio's video camera also proved to be an
interesting source of entertainment, one notable
evening when created the "The Jack Secret Show",
a half hour talk show starring Jack, Punjabi,
and many other famous and interesting guests!
Frivolities aside, the
work continued as we plowed through a mountain
of overdubs. Alex and I splashed oars in the
lake with shivering hands to record the "Tide
Pool" effects, voices and guitar sounds were
sent out over the lake to make use of it's
natural echo, the tympani was recorded outdoors,
guitar amps were strung all over the building to
take advantage of as many different sounds as
possible. The parade of guitars, synthesizers,
vocals, percussion, and experiments went on, and
the days wore away. But... we finished early! We
had about three days at the end to spare, in
which we could make some rough mixes of the
songs to take home and listen to before the real
mixing began. As straightforward and logical as
this again must sound, it was the first time
that such a thing had ever happened. In the past
we had always had to begin mixing the day after
the recording was finished, giving no
opportunity to get away from the material, and
return to it with a fresh, objective ear.
One week later, the
four of us flew across to England to begin the
two weeks of our sojourn at Trident, which is
buried in the small streets and lurid night-life
of the Soho district of London. This would be
the final stage in the album's history, the
mixdown. I think that it is quite an obscure
thing to many people, just what is done here, so
I'll take a moment to try and clarify it. The
album is actually complete at this point, at
least in terms of content, but there are a
myriad of small adjustments, individual sounds
can be shaped slightly differently, relative
balances can be altered, echoes or other effects
can be added to certain sounds to make them more
interesting or to punctuate them, and the
overall sound is made adaptable to different
listening conditions or equipment.
Here once again, Alex
moves into the kitchen, as Trident is so
completely equipped as to possess one, and
proceeds to regale us yet again with a series of
delicious meals.
This is also the point
at which Mr. Broon really comes into his own.
Taking over the engineering himself, the console
becomes an instrument, as he and his capable
assistants orchestrate the faders and switches.
The gods once again rule in our favour, and we
work ahead of schedule, our two weeks at Trident
speeding pleasantly by. Soon it is time for that
most satisfying and enjoyable of ceremonies, the
Final Playback. This is the climax of the whole
project for us, the time when we stop working on
the album, and just listen to it. A few friends
are invited, a goodly amount of Champagne is
consumed, and a relaxed and twisted time is had
by all.
This is the moment for
which all that has gone before becomes fair
value; all has been worth it. The moment when
you sit back and think to yourself: "It is
good".
We hope you agree.
Neil Peart
I recently became the
proud owner of a new set of Tama drums, once
again with the inner side of the wooden shells
coated with the Vibra-Fibing treatment. Along
with the custom finish and the brass-plated
metal hardware, this operation was performed by
the Percussion centre of Fort Wayne, Indiana.
The sizes of the drums remain unchanged,
consisting of two 24" bass drums, 6", 8", 10"
and 12" concert toms, 12", 13" 15" and 18"
closed toms, and a 5 1/2 x 14" wooden snare
drum. I probably need hardly add that both on
the road, and most especially on this newest
record, I am very pleased with the combination
of the thick, wooden shells, and the dependable,
modern hardware.
All my cymbals are
still by Avedis Zildjian, with the exception of
one 18" chinese cymbal. They are a 6" and 8"
splash, two 16", one 18", and one 20" crash
cymbals, a 22" ride, a pair of 13" high-hats, an
18" pang, and a 20" China type.
Digging into the toy
box we find the usual assortment of effects,
including timbales, melodic cowbells, orchestra
bells, wind chimes, tubular bells, bell tree,
tympani, temple blocks, triangle, gong, and
crotales.
On my snare and bass
drums I use Remo black-dot heads, Ludwig
silver-dots on the concert toms, and Evans
Looking Glass (top) and Blue Hydraulic (bottom)
on the other toms. Ludwig Speed King Pedals and
Tama hardware complete the set- up. My
drumsticks are still Pro-Mark 747's with the
varnish removed from the gripping area.
Geddy Lee
My guitars are: two
Rickenbacker 4001 basses, one Rickenbacker 4002
bass, one custom-modified Fender Precision, one
Fender Jazz Bass, and one Rickenbacker custom
double-neck, which incorporates a 4001 bass with
a twelve- string guitar. All basses are equipped
with Badass bridges and Roto-Sound strings, and
a Roland chorus is used on the guitar.
My amps are two BGW
750-B's, running through two Ashley pre-amps,
into two Thiele-design 2 x 15 cabinets, and two
Ampeg V4B 2 x 15 cabinets. All cabinets are
fitted with JBL K140 speakers, and I also use a
Fender Twin Reverb amp for guitar.
My synthesizer set-up
has grown to: Mini-Moog, Oberheim polyphonic,
OB-1, an Oberheim digital sequencer, a Roland
Space Echo, and Moog Taurus Pedals, which are
also interfaced with the Oberheim polyphonic.
Alex Lifeson
My guitars are one each
Gibson ES335, Gibson ES355, Gibson Les Paul
Standard, Gibson Custom Double-Neck, custom
built Pyramid, Fender Stratocaster, Roland
Guitar Synthesizer, Gibson Dove, Gibson J-55,
Gibson B-45-12, Gibson C-60 classical, and a
Ramirez Classical. I also play a set of Moog
Taurus Pedals.
My amplifiers are three
Hiwatt 100's spread over four 4 x 12 cabinets
and one Leslie cabinet, with one spare amplifier
and two spare cabinets. A Fender Twin Reverb
with JBL's is also used.
My effects are: three
Roland 301 Space Echo's, one Roland Chorus, an
Electric Mistress, a Morley volume pedal, a Cry
Baby wah-wah, a Maestro parametric filter,
Ashley pre-amps and parametrics for the acoustic
guitars, and a custom built effects board
designed by L.B., and built by Steele-Power
Supply.
Management by: Ray
Danniels and Vic Wilson, SRO Productions,
Toronto, Canada.
Road Manager and Lighting Director: Howard
Ungerleider.
Stage Manager: Michael Hirsh.
Concert Sound Engineer: Ian Grandy.
Stage Right Technician and Crew Chief: Liam Birt.
Stage Left Technician: Skip Gildersleeve.
Centre Stage Technician: Larry Allen.
Guitar and Synthesizer Technician: Tony Geranios.
Stage Monitor Mixer: Greg Connolly.
Concert Sound by National Sound: Tom Linthicum,
Dave Berman, Fuzzy Frazer and by Electrosound in
the U.K.
Concert Lighting by See Factor International:
Nick Kotos, Bob Kniffen, Geo. Guido, Bob Cross.
Concert Visuals designed by Rush and Nick
Prince, artwork by Nick Prince and Al Kamajian.
Design: Hugh Syme.
Photography: Fin Costello.
Truck and Bus Drivers: Tom Whittaker, Pat Lynes,
Arthur MacLear, Mike Burnham, Kim Varney, Bill
Barlow.
Booking Agencies: Canada -- The Agency, Toronto;
United States -- American Talent International,
NYC; United Kingdom -- Bron Agency, London.
Correspondence: P.O Box 640, Thornhill, Ontario,
Canada L3T 4A5
Thanks are also due to Edwin Shirly Trucking
(U.K.), Len Wright Travel (U.K.), and See Factor
Trucking in the U.S. |
