Robben Ford Discussion

Daved · Posted: Sun Apr 24, 2005 9:56 pm Post subject: ( }:-D Studio Report

Just got home from a day in the studio recording 4 songs towards the "bonus tracks" on the planned Robben Ford retrospective CD.

Robben used various combinations of both his Dumble and Fender Super Reverb along with his Epiphone, Black Baker, and Sunburst Les Paul.

Jeff Babco played Wurly electric piano and Baby grand, along with Jimmie Earl on bass and Vinnie Calaiuta on drums.

Steve Perry (Journey) dropped by towards the end of the day to say "Hi" to his friend Nico, who is doing the engineering, met the band and after hanging to listen to the recording of the last song of the day (Everyday I Get The Blues), was so blown away that he stuck around for a couple of hours to hang & hear playbacks of the rest of the days recordings.

Robben will be doing overdubs and vocals and mixes over the next 2 or 3 days.

Alf has sent me the new version of his Zendrive pedal (with 4 knobs rather than 3) and a prototype of his new Zendrive 2 pedal (with 12AT7 preamp tube) for Robben to try out. We plan to do that during session breaks over the next few days.
_________________
B C-ing U!
( }:-Daved
"This boy's diseased with rhythm!" -Bing Crosby (Road To Rio, '49)

PierreL · Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2005 12:58 am Post subject:

Thanks for sharing the news Daved ( rather exciting ones by the way Cool

). Killer band , that's cool.
Could you tell us how Robben uses his Zendrive ? When he is touring abroad and does not bring his Dumble ? Or does he use it with the Dumble as well ?
And also ( sorry to bother you with that ) , could you share his settings ( I should get mine ths week hopefully ! )
A Zendrive 2 with a tube...maybe I should have waited Smile

Aeolian · Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2005 10:06 am Post subject:

Thanks Daved. Is the rundown of songs a national secret? Everyday sounds cool. Can't wait to hear what Robben does with it.

No Tele? Is Robben hearing these new songs in a different light? Less traditional, maybe a bit more fusiony? Those among us who love this side of Robben await this new release with baited breath.
_________________
There are no such things as wrong notes, there's only the look on your face.
My Stuff: www.stevekirbymusic.com

Daved · Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2005 11:49 am Post subject:

Liz & Aeolian:

I'm not sure of the names of 2 songs (Those two may actually have just been instrumentals... at least, at this point anyway).
The people at Stagg Sreet Studios gave me space in another nearby studio to set up my work station for tweaking, restringing, and generally prepping a stack of guitars for studio use, where I could hear the music well enough to know if there was a problem requiring my attention, but not enough to clearly pick out conversations or lyrics... I spent a great deal of my time in there yesterday.

The last song they did was "Everyday I Get The Blues" (Sunburst LP/Dumble) and the first song they did was, I believe, called "Riley B. King" (Epiphone/SuperRev)... a song which was originally recorded to go on the ill fated, unreleased, last Verve CD and which made me think of something the early Byrds might have done, but without the jingle-jangle guitars.

Guitars I prepped were:
- Sunburst LP
- brand new Goldtop LP
- Black Baker
- Tele
- Epiphone
- Martin acoustic
- Sakashta acoustic
_________________
B C-ing U!
( }:-Daved
"This boy's diseased with rhythm!" -Bing Crosby (Road To Rio, '49)

Daved · Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2005 12:12 pm Post subject:

Aeolian · Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2005 2:51 pm Post subject:

Daved, This brings up an intersting stylistic question. How much level difference is there between clean and overdrive settings in Robben's set up? Some folks use the OD in order to jump up in level for a solo, while others could solo on the clean tone at roughly the same level if desired. Robben has such incredible control of dynamics with his hands, it's hard to judge how much he is using any level boosting.

Along the same lines, I curious how Robben's level was handled on the GA&Friends gigs. At times he can be heard dropping in background fills with overdrive, but then the solos stand out in level. Did he manage his levels from the stage, or were there some incredibly on the ball SR folks involved?
_________________
There are no such things as wrong notes, there's only the look on your face.
My Stuff: www.stevekirbymusic.com

scottl · Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2005 3:01 pm Post subject:

BlueRunner · Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2005 7:58 pm Post subject:

And just what is Robben DRIVING down to the studio these days? Took my aging Accord in to the local dealer the other day for a repair, and the service rep was heavily distracted, listening to the "Tiger Walk" CD on his computer. Seems Robben had been in just the day before for some work on his car, and had turned this guy into a total fan. (Aside from being a Honda service rep, he's also a guitar player, so I told him he'd better high-tail it up to one of the clinics.)

Ventura County is still just one big small town.

Cheers.
_________________
- BlueRunner

Aeolian · Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2005 8:39 am Post subject:

Probably that same Legend he comes to the clinics in. Acura/Honda, same smell. Great cars. I put 185K on mine and it's finally gotten to the point where I don't want to invest enough to make it Ojai-able. I laughed when I saw him drive up in that thing, never would have thought we'd have the same taste in cars. Mike Bloomfield and white Tele's sure, but you'd think someone who grew up in a rural area, and lives in a semi-rural area now, would be driving some sort of truck. Oh well, Robben keeps his private life private, and I respect that. If he wants to drive a luxury sedan or an old F150, that's his business.
That's great about the mechanic getting into Robben. Wonder how he found out? Robben is so unassuming, you couldn't see him bragging about being a monster guitarist. Maybe he accidently left some working tracks in the car and the mechanic heard it. Very Happy

_________________
There are no such things as wrong notes, there's only the look on your face.
My Stuff: www.stevekirbymusic.com

roadwarriorfortheblues · Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2005 11:02 am Post subject: Songs are like germs...

Daved · Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2005 4:09 pm Post subject: Re: Songs are like germs...

BlueRunner · Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2005 7:07 pm Post subject:

Definitely looking forward to Robben's take on "Riley B. King." I have the Keb' Mo' album, and Robben's four-bar solo on Mo's recording is one of those moments that leaves you begging for more ... for a long time.
_________________
- BlueRunner

Mjusic · Member Joined: 20 Jan 2005 Posts: 26 Location: Germany

Hi there!

Daved! Haven't seen you on road w/Robben these days. No guitar-tech needed??? Guess because it's this very short touring.
Talking 'bout Robbens Gear...
Came to the location, still empty, made my move to the stage to check everything out. Cool

I first saw a rig with a Alesis QuadVerb and a MidiMouse Controller pluged to a Fender "The Twin" Amp, but i was shortly after told that this was Mark's Equipment!!!. Robben was only using a Fender "The Twin" w/no Effects or even Wah-Pedal. Only his white little Zendrive w/4 Knobs. He was changing the settings during the songs a lot. Robbens guitar, very nice, don't know what model. Thrus Rod Cover was missing.
Robben was tuning the guitar a lot. Between the songs, tuning of course, he turned to Dewayne and said "well, differrent stuff, slips away everytime" Smile

Aeolian · Posted: Tue May 10, 2005 3:49 pm Post subject:

roadwarriorfortheblues · Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2005 10:05 am Post subject: Cake & ice cream....

B.B. King will be celebrating his 80th birthday on Friday, Sept. 16th Exclamation

Daved, can you give us any update on the planned RF retrospective CD ?
_________________
Travelling by train of thought