The Sphincterphone -- I couldn't make this up if I tried
Chad Ward
of Elektra Records in the Great Years of American Pop Culture" by Jac
Holaman and Gavan Daws. It is used without permission, but as it
deals with recording techniques I think it probably falls under the
fair use conventions for educational materials.
This is from pages 239-240:
____________________________________________________________
Ned Hoheny: Like the time Sandy recorded a percussion track with a
microphone up his ass.
Jackson Browne: Sandy Konikoff was a great drummer. He had toured
with Dylan, he had played with Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks, he hung
around with the Band. This older, wiser, crazy, great guy. Probably
the craziest and sanest of us all. Kind of the Neal Casady hipster
drummer -- Sal Mineo as Gene Krupa. Always talking about a tailor he
knew in Montreal or something Ronnie Hawkins had done. Those guys
were famous revelers. We needed a drummer, and Sandy didn't have a
gig, he was cooking hot dogs at a stand in Orange County. He was a
handsome guy. Had a beard. His hair was thinning. He wore this
great Nigerian police officer's helmet, almost like a Shriner's thing.
Around the lodge at midnight you would hear a knocking sound outside,
and it would be Sandy naked except for his Ray-Bans, baying at one of
the girl's windows.
John Haeny: We used a very narrow microphone in a plastic bag. I
put the Cornhusker's lotion on, and found the masking tape, and got
Sandy to take his clothes off and go out in the middle of the studio
and play hand jive while we recorded him with the microphone in his
rear end. 'Los Stimulantos,' we called it.
Jackson Browne: I had been to the movies in Quincy, I came back and in
the dining room they're doing an overdub on somebody's tune, they're
motioning us to be quiet, and there's Sandy with a cord coming out of
his ass, and he's hamboning --
Ned Doheny: Slapping his leg and chest alternately. It's a rural
American rhythm. Glen Campbell does it real good. Mac Davis does it
real good. A most unusual sound, coming out of Sandy. He looked like
an electric rat.
Janice Kenner: Tape and hair and balls, and I'm thinking, "This is
Dylan's drummer?"
Jackson Browne: The playback sounded pretty good, actually. When
Sandy went with the Joe Cocker tour, Mad Dogs And Englishmen, they put
it on the poster, where they had a bit about each person: SANDY
KONIKOFF -- PURVEYOR OF THE SPHINCTERPHONE.
John Haeny: I have the stereo mix. The track is called "?". You
can hear when the mike fell out and we put it back in.
Jackson Browne: Of course it was Haeny's idea. Haeny was having the
time of his life.
Johne Haeny: Actually, I believe it was Frazier's brilliant idea.
Typically Frazier came up with the idea and then went into his bedroom
and locked the door.
______________________________________________________________
This is a great book and I'm having a hell of a time reading about the
early days of Elektra. I'm actually kind of surprised that Harvey
Gerst hasn't shown up in here yet (no, not becaus of the
Sphincterphone, but because he seems to have been around a lot of the
folks in the book). Then again, I'm not quite finished. Had to share
this little bit of recording history, though.
Chad
Chad Ward
Sorry, that should have been Jac Holzman, not Holaman -- vodka tonics
do wonders for your typing.
Found the book online at http://www.followthemusic.com/ after hearing
an NPR review
Harvey Gerst
>The following is an exerpt from "Follow the Music, the Life and Times
>of Elektra Records in the Great Years of American Pop Culture" by Jac
>Holaman and Gavan Daws. It is used without permission, but as it
>deals with recording techniques I think it probably falls under the
>fair use conventions for educational materials.
>This is a great book and I'm having a hell of a time reading about the
>early days of Elektra. I'm actually kind of surprised that Harvey
>Gerst hasn't shown up in here yet (no, not becaus of the
>Sphincterphone, but because he seems to have been around a lot of the
>folks in the book). Then again, I'm not quite finished. Had to share
>this little bit of recording history, though.
Chad,
I'm a little surprised myself. I looked at the index of people and I didn't see
me there either. My favorite Jac story is when Steve Marks, the president of
Acoustic Control, was trying to get Elektra to invest in Acoustic. He brought
Jac into the plant and he was showing him the facility when I popped around the
corner, nearly running both of them down.
Before Steve could "introduce" us, I started on a giant rant like, "Jeez, Steve,
I'm trying to get some work done here, and you keep bringing around these
low-life sales types (pointing toward Jac, who's trying to keep a straight
face)." "Why the hell don't you hang out with some classy people for a change,
Steve?" (Steve, in the meantime, is turning beet red.)
Finally, I paused - there was this dead silence, then I said, "Hi, Jac." He
answered, "How's it going, Harvey?" Jac did end up buying 25% of Acoustic
Control. Steve Marks was pissed at me for about a week, though.
I also had a big crush on Patty Farrella, the Elecktra office manager. I still
have the pictures I took of her back then. I spent many happy hours hanging out
at Elektra. I even got Jac to engineer our demo at a little studio in Glendale
when I was in The Men, which later on became The Association. Oh well - out of
sight, out of mind, I guess.
Harvey Gerst
Indian Trail Recording Studio
http://www.ITRstudio.com/
Greg Guarino
Ward) wrote:
>John Haeny: We used a very narrow microphone in a plastic bag. I
>put the Cornhusker's lotion on, and found the masking tape, and got
>Sandy to take his clothes off and go out in the middle of the studio
>and play hand jive while we recorded him with the microphone in his
>rear end. 'Los Stimulantos,' we called it.
>
>Jackson Browne: I had been to the movies in Quincy, I came back and in
>the dining room they're doing an overdub on somebody's tune, they're
>motioning us to be quiet, and there's Sandy with a cord coming out of
>his ass, and he's hamboning --
We've often joked about taking certain clients' vocals um,
"direct" around here. Who knew that someone had already tried
something similar?
Greg Guarino
Sorcerer Sound Recording Studios
http://www.sorcerersound.com
Eleven Shadows
Greg Guarino wrote:
> On Thu, 20 Aug 1998 02:28:10 GMT, chad...@pipeline.com (Chad
> Ward) wrote:
>
> >John Haeny: We used a very narrow microphone in a plastic bag. I
> >put the Cornhusker's lotion on, and found the masking tape, and got
> >Sandy to take his clothes off and go out in the middle of the studio
> >and play hand jive while we recorded him with the microphone in his
> >rear end. 'Los Stimulantos,' we called it.
Would the Earthworks TC30 be a well-shaped mic for applications such as these? Or
is it better to just go at it whole hog and stuff a U 47 in there? Plpease let me
know. I'm kinda new at this recording thing and feel I should have some
background information should I encounter this situation in my home studio.
Thanks!--
Ken/Eleven Shadows, back from Peru!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Eleven Shadows * ES songs on Real Audio * Music Reviews
Travels: Ladakh-Kashmir-India-HK * Tibet * Real Audio Radio Shows
http://www.theeleventhhour.com/elevenshadows
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Eleven Shadows
Lyle Caldwell wrote:
> I saw a guy stick a RS SM81 clone up his ass at a gig once. GG Allen. Died
> about a month later. Other than that one remarkable ability, he pretty much
> was bereft of talent. I would have been more impressed if he'd used a
> D112...
GG Allin is the same guy who would crap all over the stage and then eat it or
assault his audience with it. And he also said that on a certain date, he would
kill himself on stage. He didn't end up doing that, but he instead took the
common way out, ODing. A D112 would have been impressive indeed...and those
mics are well known for their ability to get the deep end...
--
Ken/Eleven Shadows, back from Peru -- yippeeee!!!!!!
Lyle Caldwell
about a month later. Other than that one remarkable ability, he pretty much
was bereft of talent. I would have been more impressed if he'd used a
D112...
Lyle
"Get sacrificed! I don't subscribe to your religion."
Eleven Shadows wrote in message <35E1F88C...@theeleventhhour.com>...
>
>
>Greg Guarino wrote:
>
>> On Thu, 20 Aug 1998 02:28:10 GMT, chad...@pipeline.com (Chad
>> Ward) wrote:
>>
>> >John Haeny: We used a very narrow microphone in a plastic bag. I
>> >put the Cornhusker's lotion on, and found the masking tape, and got
>> >Sandy to take his clothes off and go out in the middle of the studio
>> >and play hand jive while we recorded him with the microphone in his
>> >rear end. 'Los Stimulantos,' we called it.
>
>Would the Earthworks TC30 be a well-shaped mic for applications such as
these? Or
>is it better to just go at it whole hog and stuff a U 47 in there? Plpease
let me
>know. I'm kinda new at this recording thing and feel I should have some
>background information should I encounter this situation in my home studio.
>Thanks!--
>Ken/Eleven Shadows, back from Peru!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mike Rivers
> A D112 would have been impressive indeed...and those
> mics are well known for their ability to get the deep end...
Gee, first thing back from a vacation in the wilds of the rain forests
and THIS is what we get? Welcome back, Ken. <g>
------------
I'm really mri...@d-and-d.com (Mike Rivers) On the road.
Somewhere east of Lost Angeles and west of the moon
Kevin Mucha
eleven...@theeleventhhour.com wrote:
>
>
> Lyle Caldwell wrote:
>
> > I saw a guy stick a RS SM81 clone up his ass at a gig once. GG Allen. Died
> > about a month later. Other than that one remarkable ability, he pretty much
> > was bereft of talent. I would have been more impressed if he'd used a
> > D112...
>
> assault his audience with it. And he also said that on a certain date, he
would
> kill himself on stage. He didn't end up doing that, but he instead took the
> mics are well known for their ability to get the deep end...
> Ken/Eleven Shadows, back from Peru -- yippeeee!!!!!!
> Eleven Shadows * ES songs on Real Audio * Music Reviews
> Travels: Ladakh-Kashmir-India-HK * Tibet * Real Audio Radio Shows
> http://www.theeleventhhour.com/elevenshadows
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>
Kev.
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Michael Neal
kmu...@lucent.com (Kevin Mucha) wrote:
>In article <35E222A6...@theeleventhhour.com>,
> eleven...@theeleventhhour.com wrote:
>>
>>
>> Lyle Caldwell wrote:
>>
>> > I saw a guy stick a RS SM81 clone up his ass at a gig once. GG
Allen. Died
>> > about a month later. Other than that one remarkable ability, he
pretty much
>> > was bereft of talent. I would have been more impressed if he'd used
a
>> > D112...
>>
>> GG Allin is the same guy who would crap all over the stage and then eat
it or
>> assault his audience with it. And he also said that on a certain date,
he
>would
>> kill himself on stage. He didn't end up doing that, but he instead
took the
>> common way out, ODing. A D112 would have been impressive indeed...and
those
>> mics are well known for their ability to get the deep end...
>> --
>> Ken/Eleven Shadows, back from Peru -- yippeeee!!!!!!
>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
what about an AKG C1000? now there is a butt probe!!!
Michael Wozniak
Quiet, now, or I'll get out the RE20, also known around here as the
"John Holmes".
Please allow me to alter this thread ever so slightly with a pun.
Q: What is the best way to digitally edit a sphincterphone recording?
A: ProcTools!
(less painful than SAW plus...!)
Mike Wozniak
Nova Music Productions
Tucson, AZ (only 104 degrees today)
--
邢 唷��
Wally Wawro
> >> Lyle Caldwell wrote:
> >>
> >> > I saw a guy stick a RS SM81 clone up his ass at a gig once. GG
> Allen. Died
> >> > about a month later. Other than that one remarkable ability, he
> pretty much
> >> > was bereft of talent. I would have been more impressed if he'd used
> a
> >> > D112...
Check out www.farts.com.
Just tell 'em you're passin' through.
--
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