You’re Gonna Lose That Girl by the Beatles is on my computer. The clip from their second movie (in colour), ‘Help!’. I did like that movie more than A Hard Day’s Night for a long time, and when I first started smoking jazz cigarettes, it made sense, considering that The Fabs themselves said they were so stoned while making the movie. High knows High.
Watching the clip could possibly explain why so many musicians and bands think recording in a studio would be just like that. It isn’t really. It might have been then, but for a while it’s piecework, like fitting pieces of a puzzle. And with digital equipment, it’s that much easier.
I worked in recording studios from 1992 to 1997-98. Actual times may vary. I worked with some big names in music, some on top, some on their way up. More often than not, the artists were fine and pleasant. Sometimes the people around them were awful.
I heard David Bowie’s assistant, Coco Schwab, was difficult, but I got along with her just fine. She informed me that Absolute Beginners was her favorite David Bowie song. Sometimes Iman would call for David. My job was to answer the phone, and so I would always ask who was calling, to which Iman would reply, ‘Mrs. Bowie’.
My imagination pictured Iman in curlers, smoking a butt and sweating over an ironing board calling to tell David to pick up some mile and bread on his way home. Meatloaf’s people were annoying, insisting Marvin Lee Aday’s nom de stage was spelt as two separate words, like the way the New York Times would publish, Mr. Loaf.
In 1995 Metallica took over the studio for a number of weeks. They were pleasant, Jason was the best, Kirk enjoyed cigars with me, James was lumbering and Lars was aloof, though his then wife Skylar was charming. The people, mainly management, were something else.
I had words with their manager over the phone about some poo poo thing and one of their managers didn’t like what I was telling him and threatened to pull out of the recording dates. I called his bluff and told him to go ahead. And then nothing happened.
It was a good ride in the world of recording studios. Not much glitz or glamor and not much money since you could always be replaced by someone who would work for less pay, so no stability.
A friend of mine was scheduled to work on a Mariah Carey session and being an assistant engineer, his job was to write down settings on various meters and machines in the control room. Mariah Carey was sitting in front of the meters and since one simply did not speak with the then Mrs. Tommy Mottola, he tried to look around her. She felt he was staring at her and had him removed from the session.
The atmosphere at Skyline Studios was relatively pleasant when compared to Right Track Recording, which was not pleasant at all, despite Barry Bongiovi’s efforts. I admit having had a crush on Barry Bongiovi.
