SOS `Del Palmer: The Red Shoes Sessions' [LONG]

[Peter Byrne Manchester <PMANCHESTER@ccmail.sunysb.edu>]

       Uli e-mailed me his master list of all articles and interviews that 
have so far been posted in connection with the release of _The Red Shoes_, 
and sure enough, as I suspected, this one was not picked up on at the time.  
It is a highly informative article based on an interview with Del Palmer.  
Much of the information is now familiar, but there are a wealth of details 
that are new.  I would very much look forward to seeing Jon Drukman's 
comments on some of what Del reports.

       I'd like to thank Alexis Armstrong, eldest son of my host for the 
recent visit to London for the Konvention, for unearthing the magazine from 
his library, and loaning it to me to transcribe for the newsgroup.  Alexis is 
a skilled instrumentalist and resourceful electronic music composer; it was a 
pleasure to meet him, and I thank him for his thoughtfulness. 

*      *      *      *      *      *      *      *      *      *      *

FROM:  Sound on Sound (Europe's No. 1 High-Tech Music Recording Magazine)
       Volume 9, Issue 2 (December 1993), pp. 52-57.

LAYOUT:  Each left-hand page has two inches of the fruit still from `Eat the 
Music' as border.  At the top of the first page is a photo of Del in a blue 
shirt, standing behind the mixing desk and leaning on it with his forearms.  
Across the page is a photo of Kate in a dance pose, hair piled on top of her 
head, a black top, long-skirted crepe below, _en pointe_ in red dance shoes 
(but supported from the rear by a male dancer).  Inset just below is the logo 
from the album.  Subsequent pages have sidebars with inset photos described 
below, in the context in which they appear.


Del Palmer
THE RED SHOES SESSIONS

[Sidebar] There's been a lot of publicity about Kate Bush's new album, _The 
Red Shoes_; RICHARD BUSKIN goes behind the scenes with engineer/producer Del 
Palmer to discover exactly how the album was recorded, and how pop's most 
enigmatic lady really works.

Kate Bush's private studio was initially set up to record demos for  
_Lionheart_; Del Palmer was the only band member interested in operating the 
tape machine!  Fifteen years on, Del is Kate's main man with the faders, and 
what was once a demo studio has evolved into a sophisticated private 
recording facility.

       Located in barns adjacent to the Bush country home, today's studio is 
equipped with a 48-channel SSL 4000E console with G-series computer, two Sony 
3324A digital machines, a Studer A80 half-inch, and a couple of U-Matic video 
recorders.

       Del takes up the story:  "During early 1990, Kate said `I want to do 
something, I want to go in the studio and work.'  During the early stages I 
can set up a sound for her, set up some keyboards, show what to do on the 
console, and leave her to it.  She'll work for days until she's got 
something, then we'll get the musicians in and carry on from there."

       As both producer and artist, Kate Bush is extremely focused and knows 
exactly what she wants.  So when Del comes up with a particular sound, she 
wastes no time in telling him whether or not it's what she's looking for.

       "There have been lots of times when I've had quite heated arguments 
with her--I'd say something wouldn't work, to which her response has been, 
`Indulge me...Just do it.'  For example, on the _Hounds of Love_ album there's 
a part that goes `Help me, baby, help me, baby,' which cuts in and out very 
quickly, which she wanted to do by turning the tape over and cutting in and 
out with the records switch.  I said it would just be a mess, but she said, 
`Look, just do it, will you?'  So I did it and of course it worked, and I had 
to eat humble pie.  I've eaten so much humble pie over the years that I'm 
putting on weight!"

       Kate is apparently not averse to placing her own fingers on the 
faders, especially in relation to the vocals as well as much of the 
instrumentation.  "I was able to just set her up with a sound, and she'd take 
care of it herself," explains Palmer.  "She'd record all the vocals, then 
phone me up and say, `Let's put it all together'."

       These days, Kate Bush tends to write about 90% of her material as part 
of the overall recording process in the studio, largely because of the 
difficulty of trying to recreate the spontaneity and the feel of the demos.

       "We just couldn't do it," says Palmer, "so we decided to use the demos 
as the basis for the albums.  We started off by taking the demos, 
transferring them, then working on top--then it struck us that we should just 
do away with that whole process, develop the home studio and record 
absolutely everything right onto the multitracks and keep everything that was 
done.  Now, a lot of the stuff that we start with doesn't make it right 
through to the end, but at least the flavour of it does.

       "There's no fixed method to how Kate works, but generally speaking she 
will say, `Can you get me a drum pattern that sounds like this?'  She'll sing 
me something and I'll program the Fairlight with a simple eight-bar loop, 
never any more than that, and then she'll program a sound in the Fairlight 
and get a tune going.  Then she'll say, `I've got something, can I put a 
vocal down?'  Something that may only amount to `la-la-la-ing`, but almost 
every time there'll be a specific little bit of lyric that will give her an 
idea, which in turn becomes the basis for the song.  So we put it down, and 
that becomes the basic demo that we're going to work with; an eight-bar drum 
pattern, a keyboard and a very rough guide vocal.  From that she can tell 
whether it's worth pursuing an idea or not.  Some get discarded at this 
point, while others progress a little bit further before it becomes obvious 
that they too are not going to work."

       Until the _Red Shoes_ project, it was traditional to bring in the 
musicians one at a time to record their parts.  Firstly--and, from Kate 
Bush's point of view, most importantly--the drummer, followed by the bass 
player (often Del Palmer himself); this would then allow her to review how 
each song was progressing and to make any necessary alterations prior to the 
guitarists and other musicians entering the fray.  This time around, however, 
it was decided from the outset to record quickly and to aim for more of a 
band feel, so most of the tracks were recorded with a least bass, drums and, 
in several cases, keyboards being played together.

       Palmer, wishing to concentrate on his role as engineer, didn't play 
the bass guitar; the same bass player and drummer worked over the course of 
ten separate days to fuel the group atmosphere, though guide guitars weren't 
deemed necessary.  However, `Rubberband Girl' does feature a keyboard pattern 
performed by Kate with an acoustic guitar sample.

       "On the track `Big Stripey Lie', Kate played electric guitar as well," 
points out Palmer.  "She said to the guitarist we were using, `I'm really 
into the guitar.  I'd really like to be able to play it,' and he said, `Oh, 
here, play this one (a Fender Stratocaster) for a bit.'  So, he showed her a 
few chords, and--this is no kidding--a week later she was in front of this 
Marshall stack in the studio giving it her all!  I've never seen anything 
like it.  She's a natural--she was playing lead guitar and no one would know 
it wasn't an experienced guitarist."

                              THAT VOCAL SOUND

The trademark Kate Bush sound that has been developed over the course of the 
last four albums owes a lot not only to the pulsating, highly atmospheric, 
slightly discordant noises that seem to emanate from every direction, but 
also her own unique vocal style, with its breathy delivery and haunting 
presence.

       "I can't take any credit for Kate's vocal sound," admits Palmer, 
"because it was originally shown to me by an engineer called Paul Arden who 
taught me so much.  He would explain anything that I asked him about.  One 
day he couldn't make a session, so he said, `Why don't you do it?'  So I did, 
and he showed me how to get the sound which they had started using on The 
Dreaming.  Kate loved it, and ever since then we've been using it.

       "Basically, it's all down to an overdose of compression, and the fact 
that she really knows how to work with it.  We set her up with a Nemann U47 
in the live part of the studio--brick floor and stone walls--so it's very, 
very live--and then there's loads and loads of compression on the mic.  The 
SSL desk's compression is very violent and works very well for this.  So, 
what's happening is that every time she breathes in, you can hear it, so she 
has to be very specific in the way that she deals with this.  She's backing 
off from the microphone all the time, really working it.  We use a small 
amount of gating so you'll get the sound of the room and then it cuts off--a 
bit like the Phil Collins drum sound.

       "If Kate's singing really loud she backs off from the mike and then 
she comes right in close for the quiet stuff, but when she breathes in, she 
does this to the side.  I have to say that from a purely technical 
standpoint, it's really badly done, there's just so much compression on 
everything.  But I'm not interested in being technical, I just want it to 
sound good, and if it does, then what's the point of changing it?

       "When it comes to the mix you don't have to push the vocal up as high 
as you might imagine, because with that sound you're getting so much high 
frequency.  It's real borderline stuff.  Sometimes you can go too far, and 
it'll break up or distort, or it'll really blow your ears off, but if you get 
it just right, you're getting so much high frequency that you can just push 
the voice right down and it will still cut through everything."

       On average, Kate performs four or five vocal passes for each part, and 
while compiling does take place, there is normally a clear contender for the 
master take.  This is invariably deduced by way of Kate's own vocal chart, on 
which she makes notes while listening to the various takes.  "Usually, Kate 
will record a complete section of her vocal and it'll work, then I'll just 
have to patch up a few bits."

       When dealing with problems, Palmer tends to steer clear of the old 
cliche, `we'll sort it out in the mix.'  For one thing, as Palmer is quick to 
point out, you have to be very sure that you *can* sort it out in the mix, so 
and Kate try to get things right as they put them down on tape.  When it 
came to mixing the album, it was simply a matter of pacing, creating space 
and giving everything its moment.  There were, however, a few exceptions.

                           GUESTS OF DISTINCTION

With the exception of her piano (recorded with two 87s inside the lid and 
Massenburg Parametric EQ), Fender Rhodes and Yamaha DX7, all of Kate's 
keyboard sounds were produced using a Fairlight.  The other musicians were 
provided with only limited room for experimentation, as she was 
characteristically specific in her directives, while also keeping an open 
mind and ear to any new ideas or sounds that might come her way.  For this 
reason, Palmer has become accustomed to recording absolutely everything that 
goes on during the sessions.

       "Even when the musicians are just setting up I record everything," he 
confirms.  "Because she'll say, `Oh, do you remember that thing you did when 
you were warming up?', and of course if you haven't got it on tape you've 
lost it.  So, whenever there's anybody in, I always have the half-inch 
running, then I can spin anything back in later."

       All in all, a pretty wise approach; whereas some of the musicians 
within the `band unit' returned time and again, others simply contributed 
guest appearances and it would have been altogether more difficult--not to 
mention embarrassing--to have these people return to redo what they had 
already done.

       Violinist Nigel Kennedy, featured on `Big Stripey Lie' and `Top of the 
City', was recorded in the deader of the two main live areas, standing on 
carpet.  "The thing with Nigel is that he never stands still," says Palmer.  
"So, after talking to him, it seemed that the best way to work was to use a 
pair of 87s.  They're so versatile, I use them for everything.  One was about 
eight feet from the ground, pointing down over his (left) shoulder toward the 
violin, and the other was diagonally to his right and about three feet from 
the ground, pointing up toward his chest.  Out of the two I think I used the 
overhead one the most, but it was just a juxtapositional thing to see how 
different the room would sound.  Because the room's so small you could put a 
microphone anywhere and it would pick him up.  I used the Massenburg EQ--you 
have to watch the mid-high frequencies--our rooms are so live and so specific 
that you can get a tone that'll go right through your ears."

       Jeff Beck played his signature Stratocaster for `You're The One' in 
the control room with a tiny amp positioned underneath the front of the 
console and miked with a U87 positioned three inches away to the side and 
pointing in.  "I was sitting at the console, Kate was to my right and Jeff 
was seated about four feet behind," explains Palmer, "so she could talk to 
him and was able to both operate the deck and stand up to adjust the rack."

       Eric Clapton played his Eric Clapton signature Strat using a very 
similar setup for `And So Is Love', albeit with his amp in the studio area.  
"What happens with people like Eric is that his guitar roadie turns up with a 
lorry full of gear and just piles it into your studio," exclaims Palmer.  
"Then, when he turns up, you say, `Well, actually what we want, Eric, is that 
classical sound of yours,' and so he says, `Oh yeah,' and he gets out a small 
combo and puts that up!"

       Gary Brooker (of Procul Harem fame) played Hammond C3 in the main 
room, miked with a U87 on the Leslie cabinet, and another one about ten feet 
away to capture some ambience.  Again, Massenburg EQ and hard compression 
were used to create a rich Hammond sound with sufficient cut at a relatively 
low volume.

       As the Bush studio does have a very specific room sound--small and 
harsh, as characterised by the vocals--it was decided that a more expansive 
sound might be obtained for the vocal performances of the Trio Bulgarka by 
recording them in Abbey Road's Studio 2.  They stood around a crossed stereo 
pair of U87s; Abbey Road's Studio 1 was also used for the string sessions for 
`Moments of Pleasure', arranged by Michael Kamen.

       "The only other stuff we did at Abbey Road was technical, like moving 
analogue material onto digital," says Del Palmer.  "We started the album 48-
track analogue, using two A80s, and about a year into the project we became 
aware that it would be better for us to go digital... We weren't really sure 
whether it was going to work or not--we were kind of thinking that without 
some tape compression we may not get the same drum sounds--but I was 
convinced within an hour of turning the thing on!

       "With Kate's stuff, where you do have a lot of level changes, there's 
a constant fight between noise levels and signal levels, but with digital you 
don't have that.  You can put the quietest thing on tape and you won't get 
any background noise.  At the same time, whereas with analogue you may say, 
`I'm going to put some 10k in here because I know I'm going to lose a bit,' 
with the digital machines I found that I was using far less EQ right across 
the board."

       As things turned out, since the decision to switch to digital was made 
relatively early during the Red Shoes sessions, much of the analogue material 
was later replaced.  Only the performances of the Trio Bulgarka, as well as 
Nigel Kennedy from `Top of the City', remain from the analogue.

       "With digital, a lot of doors opened us to us which we previously had 
no idea about, and the result was that Kate was off and running," says 
Palmer.  "She had so many good ideas to try out, generally to do with 
editing.  For example, if there was a piece of vocal here, rather than 
sampling it and flying it back in, we could actually offset the machine and 
put it in various strange places.  Sometimes this wouldn't work, but a lot of 
the time it did, such as the track with Prince (`Why Should I Love You?') on 
which we had to offset lots of things, and some of the guitar parts now 
appear in the weirdest places.  I'd say, `Wait a minute!' and she'd say, `No, 
no, it works, leave it!  Put that down, it works.'

       "Her overview of everything is alarmingly interesting.  I really find 
it fascinating how she can hold all these things in her head at the same 
time.  She's very au fait with studio work.  I'm sure a lot of people think, 
`Well, she gets the producer credit but I'll bet she doesn't do much,' yet 
that's really not true.  She knows what she wants to do and, being 
technically mind, she knows how to do it."

       As to the future, Del Palmer feels that there's a lot of new studio 
gear on the market which he must check out before re-equipping Kate's 
recording environment.  "One of the best things I'm now looking into is to 
make the studio a little bit more conducive to her, with everything plumbed 
in permanently," he says.  "So all she'll have to do is push a button and the 
Fairlight or whatever will be up and running.  And I'll find her a few more 
little goodies to play with..."

[SIDEBAR:] SPECIAL EFFECTS

"We did leave some of the effects Kate wanted on the voices until the mix," 
says Palmer.  "On `The Red Shoes' track, for instance, where she goes, `She's 
gotta da-ance...', there's this little sound effect, a really high digital 
delay off an old AMS--octave above, octave below--going through a Sony M7 
digital effects unit [picture inset into text here].  We worked on it a bit 
while we were recording the song, and then we decided to leave it until the 
mix so we could set it up on a fader on its own and just switch it when it 
comes in.  It's just a matter of setting it up so that it comes in and out at 
the right place, rather than wasting a track or two to record it."

       On `Rubberband Girl', a wobbly-sounding effect on the vocal comes from 
the voice being faded down while a stereo image of a digital delay is faded 
up underneath it.  "They get to a point where they've overlapped and the 
effect is louder," explains Palmer, "then that starts being faded out as 
well, and the whole thing disappears into the background and sounds weirder 
all the time, while some Lexicon 224 reverb is added to take it even further 
away.

       "At other times I used a 480L, a 244, a 244L, a Quantec, a Yamaha Rev 
5, a Rev 7 [picture inset], an SPX90, an old Eventide harmoniser, a Dimension 
D--loads of stuff...  I always try to keep the Quantec for the vocals because 
it has a very cold, icy kind of sound that works well with that very cold 
vocal sound.  Otherwise, on the 480, I tend to have a nice warm hall sound 
for things like backing vocals and pianos, and on one of the 244s, I'll have 
quite a close room delay.

       "On the snare drum I was using the Rev 7 with a reverse gating sound, 
to give it just a bit more of a hard snare sound.  All of the drums were 
samples from an Akai S900 and they (together with cymbals) were played in 
real time on Simmons pads set up in the main recording area.  Our studio is 
so small that you get a very specific sound which we didn't want.  Using 
samples, not only do we get separation but we also have a fantastic choice of 
drums.  The Rev 7 made the snare drum sound a bit fatter and rounder, and 
that worked really quite well, particularly on songs like `And So Is Love' 
and `Rubberband Girl'."

       One of the distinguishing aspects of tracks such as `Rubberband Girl' 
and `Big Stripey Lie' is the pumping five-string bass sound, courtesy of John 
Gidman playing in the recording area <??Disparity Alert>.  His G&K amp was 
placed in the studio kitchen (for separation from the drums) and miked with 
an Electrovoice RE20.  "I just wound it up so it was really distorted," says 
Palmer, "and used tons and tons of compression so that is was really pumping. 
Then again, the way he plays sounds really good no matter what you do to it." 


[SIDEBAR:]  PRINCE--GUESTING LONG DISTANCE

Watching Prince at Earls Court, Kate received a note from him expressing his 
admiration for her work.  After subsequently contacting him and getting his 
agreement to help out on a track, on analogue tape was sent over to Paisley 
Park, but when it arrived back three months later, there was nothing to be 
heard.  When Kate attempted to telephone him, she was told by assistants that 
he was working on it.  Then, a month later, a couple of Paisley Park tapes 
arrived.  Palmer played them.

       "He'd looped a four-bar section from the chorus of the song that Kate 
had written and just smothered 48 tracks with everything you could possible 
imagine:  Guitars, keyboards, drums, voices.  I sat there and thought, `Well, 
this is great, but what are we going to do with it?'  So, I made a general 
mix of the whole thing, gave if to Kate, and she puzzled over it for months. 
We kept going back to it over the course of a couple of years, and 
eventually, with a lot of editing and work on her part, she turned it back 
into the song that it was."

       Basically, then, a case of pick `n' mix; "Here it is, take what you 
want"?

       "That's exactly what it was.  Because she'd said to him `I want you to 
sing this bit here and I want you to sing that bit there', and he'd sung it, 
but he'd done it over the loop that he made up.  So, we had this piece of 
vocal that she wanted but it was everywhere, all the way through it, so we 
had to take the bit that we needed and put it in where we wanted it--we had 
to reconstruct the verses so that they worked with her lyrics.  Then we took 
out the original drums and replaced them because it was now basically a more 
up-tempo song.  At the same time, we also tried to turn it back into a Kate 
Bush song, and although in a lot of ways it didn't turn out as we'd hoped--I 
have to be honest--it's still very interesting.

       "There was one vocal section which Prince actually didn't do and Kate 
was so pissed with this.  Then, one day she hit on the idea of getting in 
Lenny Henry, who's actually a great singer.  It was like he'd worked in 
studios his whole life--he had no trouble doing it.  Kate sang him the part 
she wanted him to do and then he sang it.  Then she asked him to do a harmony 
which he worked out with her.  I used a little bit of compression, just to 
make the voice sound a little more throaty."

[END OF ARTICLE]
............................................................................
                                                            Peter Manchester
      "Why should I love you?"                 pmanchester@ccmail.sunysb.edu
                                                    72020.366@compuserve.com