A New "Live at Bernie's"

carolkoh

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Also known as "What Gary and Genesis are up to now."*

What some may know is that one of Gary's favorite demo records, Anne Bisson's "Blue Mind" was re-mastered by Bernie Grundman and released as a 45 RPM, and the effort was sponsored in part by Gary L Koh, Genesis Advanced Technologies and in part by Wuti Larnroongroj, Brilliance Music. *(Available at Elusive Disc). Only the first 1000 copies are on Blue Vinyl.

Here's the interesting thing that happened while Anne, Gary, Wuti and Bernie were shooting the breeze down at Bernie Grundman Mastering was that they ALL talked themselves into a Direct to Disc effort - another "Live at Bernie's" album.

Once again sponsored by Genesis Advanced Technologies and Brilliance Music, the effort was months in the making, finding excited collaborators, and to that end, we have, besides Bernie to Master, a Fazioli piano, Michael Ross to produce (a choice of mics from Allen Sides' microphone cache at Oceanway Studios) and Anne's favorite artistes to record with her.*

Photos and updates to come as I have them. :)
 

carolkoh

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artistes.jpg

The artistes having a drink and reviewing the first day's session - from left to right, Pierre Tanguay (drums & percussion), Anne Bisson (vocals & piano), Jean-Bertrand Carbou (acoustic bass). They managed to do it all in a four session on Saturday, but returned Sunday "just in case" so... there may be more than one lacquer floating around there! :)
 

carolkoh

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Gary flew in on Thursday with a bunch of Genesis cables and set-up was done Friday – all day Friday. In order to make a direct-to-disc album at Bernie Grundman's – Michael Ross had to build a complete recording studio..... in 6 hours flat! There must have been at least a mile of cable and a ton of gear (hmm... metric or imperial? :D)

Then that recording studio had to be tied into Bernie's mastering suite and both workflows that are usually done weeks apart had to be integrated to produce that direct to disc recording.

As Gary said while he was there watching the progress of the process, “It is dawning upon me the magnitude of effort that goes into such a direct-to-disc album, and why it is so rarely done.”

MRoss.jpg
 

carolkoh

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From Gary on Saturday:

What a thrill it is to be working with such a professional team!!! We are far ahead of the curve with all four sides already in the bag. But everyone wants to come in tomorrow (Sunday) to do all four sides again.

You never know, having a spare might rescue the day if something happens to one of the lacquers we've done today. RTI may be the best in the business, but there's a risk that something might go wrong in the plating process.

And with the direct-to-disc process being "live" and each "take" comprising 3 tracks, there is always the chance of improving a side. It's all the more exciting for me because the more "takes" we do, the more the chance that there will be a lacquer for me to bring home!!

BGrundman.jpg
 

JackD201

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I want a copy signed by both chief fish keeper and the chief cook and dishwasher :)
 

garylkoh

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It was an exhausting, exhilarating weekend..... and the hard work for me is just about to begin. The musicians were fabulous, and we now know why Bernie has such a legendary reputation, and why Michael C. Ross is one of the most sought-after recording engineers in Hollywood (film and music).
 

carolkoh

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Some of the borrowed gear that was used for the project: Kubula-Sonsa cables. Here's a shout out to Joe Kubala*for the loan of miles of microphone cables and interconnects to wire all the gear together during the direct-to-disc recording by*Michael Ross*at Bernie Grundman's Studio.

Gary : "It definitely made a difference and contributed to the excellent sound we achieved."

Kubala.jpg
 

JackD201

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Gary, you would make my year of you could reserve me one with a dedication from you and Carol :)
 

carolkoh

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From Gary:

Recording a direct-to-disc LP is an exhausting and stressful endeavor. You have 3 musicians all playing 3 songs in a row perfectly to make a side. If you count the vocalist and pianist and leader of the trio as 2 instruments, it's even more challenging!!

After every "take", the musicians and recording engineer would have to decide to run the take again immediately or stop and have a listen or even take a run at the next side. Here, we are all listening to a side and trying to make a decision: Was it musically strong enough? Were the musicians all in the groove? Sonically, any problems? (we had a refrigerator kick on in the middle of one track!)

Imagine - all that work! BUT professionals that they were, they went back on Sunday to do it all again, just in case they could improve on what they'd already accomplished. :D


Here's the group listening and discussing the merits of one of the takes. Left to Right - Jean-Bertrand Carbou (acoustic bass), Pierre Tanguay (drums), Anne Bisson (vocals and piano), Wuti Larnroongroj (Executive Producer), Scott Sedilo (back to camera - Assistant Engineer), Gary Leonard Koh (Executive Producer)

take.jpg
 

LL21

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fantastic to see behind the scenes. It always seems easy when you put on the disc and press play...nice to have an opportunity to appreciate all the hard work! Any RBCDs of this to come?
 

carolkoh

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Link to a live video Gary took at RTI - where they "silvered the lacquers"

https://www.facebook.com/garylkoh/videos/10155100545743559/ - fascinating to me, watching from afar.

Everything was coordinated, booked in advance so all parties could be there every step of the way, from recording to producing the first LP stamps. :)

From Gary:
""Portrait of the silvered lacquer of the direct-to-disc Anne Bisson album just before it goes into the nickel-plating bath for the next 24 hours.

When we met with Dorin, the plating manager at RTI, he said that the last direct-to-disc lacquer he remembered doing was in 1989!! There may have been others, but not to his recollection.""

RTI.jpg

I'm sure when Gary gets back into town and has a little time to format and share photos, he will share more. You can follow him on his Facebook Page where he shares many interesting things.

https://www.facebook.com/garylkoh?fref=ts
 

carolkoh

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Any RBCDs of this to come?

Hmm... good question. LoL. I don't think we've even thought of doing CDs.

I just found out - we did not get a Fazioli piano. It got commandeered by Herbie Hancock and he wouldn't give it back (yet). Instead, we got a very, very nice Steinway. :) Bernie Grundman called up Steinway of Los Angeles about "borrowing" a piano, and they offered him the pick of three!!

Gary's back now, with a few "extra lacquers" Ooo... even the rejects are breath taking and goose bumps producing!
 

LL21

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Hmm... good question. LoL. I don't think we've even thought of doing CDs.

I just found out - we did not get a Fazioli piano. It got commandeered by Herbie Hancock and he wouldn't give it back (yet). Instead, we got a very, very nice Steinway. :) Bernie Grundman called up Steinway of Los Angeles about "borrowing" a piano, and they offered him the pick of three!!

Gary's back now, with a few "extra lacquers" Ooo... even the rejects are breath taking and goose bumps producing!

Thanks, Carol. I just got the pricing for 3 CDs from the Chasing the Dragons folks, and will be ordering...just an RBCD guy here! So if you decide to go RBCD, let me know please!
 

Gregadd

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Wow!
 

garylkoh

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Sep 6, 2010
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One of the pitfalls of the direct-to-disc process is that the music is cut direct to lacquer. This means that the number of albums we can press is limited by how long the mother will last making stampers. The process is musicians --> lacquer --> master --> mother --> stamper.

The lacquer being soft and fragile can only make one master. You can make more than one mother from the master, but the quality is significantly compromised. This is what can be done with popular albums. Multiple mothers are made, and sent to other countries with pressing plants. With this direct-to-disc title, we are going to focus on quality and will only make one mother and we will only make stampers as far as the quality is maintained. I will listen to every batch, and will pull the plug if the quality starts to deteriorate.

However, in anticipation of making available tape copies, we also in-parallel made a direct-to-2track tape recording! This is the ATR lovingly maintained by Bernie's Chief Technician Thomas 'Beno' May. Potentially, the mastertape can be used to re-issue the album after the mother wears out.

Direct-to-2track.jpg
 

garylkoh

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Sep 6, 2010
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Making a direct-to-disc album doesn't just happen one day in the studio. It takes a village, and a year of preparation. The musicians practiced for 6 months, and 2 weeks before the studio was booked to make the recording, they performed the album before a live audience. That was how seriously Anne Bisson, Jean-Bertrand Carbou and Pierre Tanguay took this project. And the results are easily heard on the album - the Anne Bisson Trio: Four Seasons in Jazz Live at Bernie's.

It's been a LONG journey, but it is finally coming to reality. We got enough pressed a month ago to have a limited pre-release during the Hong Kong AV Show. Today, RTI is getting enough pressed to supply Elusive Disc. So, once they get their shipment, those who pre-ordered (thank you very much for your support) will be hearing their copies real soon. To whet your appetites, here's a video from the rehearsal concert:

 

Tango

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Making a direct-to-disc album doesn't just happen one day in the studio. It takes a village, and a year of preparation. The musicians practiced for 6 months, and 2 weeks before the studio was booked to make the recording, they performed the album before a live audience. That was how seriously Anne Bisson, Jean-Bertrand Carbou and Pierre Tanguay took this project. And the results are easily heard on the album - the Anne Bisson Trio: Four Seasons in Jazz Live at Bernie's.

It's been a LONG journey, but it is finally coming to reality. We got enough pressed a month ago to have a limited pre-release during the Hong Kong AV Show. Today, RTI is getting enough pressed to supply Elusive Disc. So, once they get their shipment, those who pre-ordered (thank you very much for your support) will be hearing their copies real soon. To whet your appetites, here's a video from the rehearsal concert:


I like your previous 45 very much. I was complaining to Woody how come they had it in HK but not in Thailand a few weeks ago..haha. Just bought this album and really looking forward tp listen to it. Thanks for creating good vinyl for us.

Kind regards,
Tang
 

Tango

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Oh..I forgot. Mr. Goh, it would be nice to have this on reel too ;).

Kind regards,
Tang
 

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