Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Song 4 Scales


Scales of the Ebony Fish

composer: David Campbell (music and words)

Line-up:
David Campbell: guitars, keyboards, vocals
Aaron Clark: drums
Claude Prince: bass
Guy Leblanc: synth solo


Scales is a song that I wrote back in Vancouver in 1979 for the punk-jazz band I was in called 3C-236. The song itself has none of the qualities of punk or jazz, but I really liked the 12/8 pulse. The title was taken from a science fiction book I was reading at the time (A Dead God Dancing), where something was described as being blacker than the scales of an ebony fish. I liked that line and of course borrowed it. I also borrowed the groove from Robert Fripp's "Chicago" as far as that goes.

I wasn't really intending to include the song, but the lyrics seemed to fit the album theme, and after Guy's blazing solo, I figured I'd be foolish not to.


Recorded at Fiction Music Productions March 15th 2009. Guy's overdubs at Leblanc studios September 2009.

Gear used:
Drums: Pearl
Kick: AKG D-112
Snare: Shure SM-57
Piccolo snare: SM-57 (x2, top and bottom)
Toms: AKG SE300 /CK93 (x3)
Hi-Hat: AkG SE 300/CK91
Over-Heads: AKGSE300/CK94 (x2)

Electric Guitar: Howard Roberts Fusion into a Mesa-Boogie Maverick into a Neumann TLM-103 and a Millennia Media Origin .

Acoustic Guitar: Taylor 314-CE, into a TLM-103 and a Millenia Media HV-3 preamp.

Bass 1: Status Graphite into an Aguilar tube DI.

David's keyboards: Logic Drawbar Organ, Electric Piano, Sculpture, Linplug Albino 3.

Guy's keyboards: Korg M-50

Voice: Neumann U-87 into a Millennia Media Origin.

Recorded onto 16 tracks of ADAT and transferred to Logic 8 for further tracking, production and mixing.

No comments: