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Page 187 |
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My STUDIO OWNER period |
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Jamey Dell |
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During his tenure as road manager for S.S. Fools Jamey Dell began taking an interest in audio engineering and started helping me out at my studio as second engineer. He was more than just a good friend. We worked closely in the studio during these "Timbre Sound" years. He developed into a really fine engineer and has enjoyed a long career working at Scotti Brothers studio in Santa Monica, California. Those studios were home to music recorded for some of the "Rocky" movies, just to give one example. Jamey became very sophisticated in working with Neve and various other consoles making me even prouder with his success. He always gives me credit for getting him into the business, but in reality, Jamey was paramount to my development as a recording engineer and producer. By his friendship and dedication, he allowed me the indulgence of running my own recording studio, while working with a good friend that I could depend on and trust explicitly. In his spare time, Jamey "carved" on me and Freeman in the ongoing "8-ball" competition upstairs in the pool room of my house. Actually, I was his student at the game, but just didn't know it. This brings to mind something my old friend Norman Fletcher's dad once said, and I quote, "Show me a good pool shooter, and I'll show you a misspent youth." Ha. A lot of truth in that. Jamey's dad owned a pool hall in Florida, if I remember correctly. I learned in dark corners, myself. Being one of my closest friends, I called him "HOMER," and still do. About the highest form of camaraderie you can get from me is to be called, "Homer." Actually, he calls me "Homer," too. He also has the name "Del Folly," another term of endearment. Jamey Dell: My very good friend and engineering compatriot. Left: a picture of Jamey with "Lady" the cat. A very special cat, as you shall soon see. Right: Jamey (Dell Folly) with his "game face" on in one of our regular poker matches. He was holding 2 pair: Aces & 8's. There was a problem because I was also holding 2 aces, and Freeman had 3 himself. A defining moment that tested our strong friendship. If we hadn't have been such good friends, somebody could have been shot. Given the choice, I would not have wanted to be the one holding the "dead man's" hand. (*see Wild Bill Hickok for details. Just kidding. Freeman only had 2 aces, and we never carried loaded weapons to a game. The ammunition was always kept in our pockets, not on the table next to our pistols. After all, this was a gentleman's game and there WERE house rules concerning proper etiquette.) |
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As
most engineers know, when you have been in the studio for
more than about 7 or 8 hours, you start losing the high end
of your hearing. I'm speaking of the 10K - 16K range, the
frequency range where the spit and sizzle on the end of
words and instruments exist. As your hearing goes down, you
tend to start boosting those frequencies in the mix. You
come back the next morning and listen to your work and it's
"frying." Obviously, it's something to be avoided. We had an
unusual working method, and I refer you back to the home
page of this chapter
(chapter
19)
that
has a picture of me sitting at the recording console. If you
scroll all the way down to the bottom, you can see "Lady"
laying on the console in front of me, between the two
speakers. She loved being in the control room of the studio.
This was MUSIC CAT. If she hadn't already come in on her
own, we'd put it to the test, saying, "Okay, bring in the
cat." When it was good, she would just lay there with this
contented look on her face, purring. If we had been up too
long and our "high end" was toast, her ears would start to
twitch intermittently. Then, she'd start getting this
irritated look on her face. This was a definite sign that we
were boosting the high frequencies too much and should
adjust them accordingly. If we didn't take care of it right
away, she would leave. Therein was our foolproof "method"
for testing the mix in the late hours. After a few years,
Lady's ears went bad, due to feline sun cancer, and I had to
have them both removed to try and save her. To this day, I
wonder if her problem was just listening to too many "bad"
mixes. I hated removing the ears of the best mixing critic I
ever knew, but such is life. She got a lot of good snuggles
and petting for her audio contributions.
A Staple
of Studio Living
In
my "STUDIO OWNER" period, it was not uncommon for us to be
so "into it" that, many times, we ended up eating in the
control room. Here I am, eating what became known as "The
Dell Special," named after Jamey. It consisted of thinly
sliced boiled ham, Swiss cheese, peperoncini and mayonnaise,
on Wheatberry bread. Milk was not optional, it was a
prerequisite. I only mention this sandwich because it was a
"staple" of the studio. We survived on them, although
Batchelor DID make a mean "steamed bun" hot dog combo
plate.
Surviving on the
"Dell Special" Freeman "gunning"
for me and Dell. The
secret ingredient was the peperoncini (minus the stems) that
were carefully placed within the sandwich. Fine rock n roll
cuisine. Also note that "the pouch" never left my side. I
once remember even getting into a shower, totally naked
(except the pouch) and turning the faucet on before I
realized I still had it on. Just think about that. It brings
a strong image to mind, doesn't it? I had to have taken it
off, undressed and then put it back on before getting in the
shower. I suppose it is possible that I took my shirt off
with pouch still on, but that's a much harder trick. Talk
about habitual attire. A definite residual item from another
era. A throw back from the 60's. seems to describe it pretty
well. When
I was whining after a loss, Free once said to me, "Why is
that when I win it's always because you shot poorly,
and not that I shot good?" This was a real revelation to me.
He was right. Something for you competitive types to
consider. A lesson only a good friend can teach you. One
that revealed a bit of poor sportsmanship on my part.
Freeman just wrote me an e-mail saying, "My victories over
you in a pool game were so hard to come by, I couldn't enjoy
them if you didn't give me your best game."
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