Maynard James Keenan photo credit Lauryn Schaffner for Alternative Nation
DJKotek posted a new review of Tool’s Music Clinic event in Cleveland featuring Adam Jones, Justin Chancellor, and Danny Carey. They discussed recording their new album, and Adam Jones mentioned that he’s been listening to Justin Bieber.
Keep in mind, I was trying to write as fast as I can, While holding one hand in the air and trying to watch. So there is a lot of paraphrasing in here but this is what I got.
Set list:
Grudge
Eulogy
ID-> Jambi
46 & 2
Aenima
Adam – “Let’s get the first question out of the way, the new record is being recorded. We always like to record the songs over a finished drum track so Danny is done all his parts and Justin is about half way done”
Questions:
Q – What are you listening to right now?
Danny – Prog tock, John Mclaughlin, Ethnic/Indain music, Herbie Hancock
Justin – Death Grips, A little electro
Adam – Justin Bieber (lol), a lot of everything, some 80’s electro
*he said some one elses name too but i didnt get it down in time*
Q – Does your sound engineer do any producion (help with writing)
Adam – We’re done writing before we go to the studio so no, we’re self produced, we just trust our engineer to makes us sound good and consistent.
Q – Do you have any Arcived live recordings that haven’t been released?
Danny – We have tons of stuff. We almost record every show. We didn’t want to share it with the record companies though (half joking)
Q – Why was the Saliva version of “Pushit” different from the album version, What was your perspective going from the original version to the album version?
Justin – The version on saliva was a little less aggressive, Just a different mindset i guess
Adam – When we first wrote it, we recorded it right away. Over time, playing it live, we discover new things that we later decide to incorporate, The song just evolved that way and it ended up being the version from the album.
Q – Danny, have you ever tried any special new techniques for playing drums? like using Pasta noodles as sticks? What about while wearing boxing gloves? Slippers? … LOL
Danny – LOL
Q- During the writing phases, After hearing the same riff so many times, how do you stay confident that what you’re creating is still good?
[Can’t remember who answered this one] – If the riff stick with you, if you remember it after you go to bed, It’s probably good, and worth building on.
Q – What are your influences, And how do you take from your influences without being actually copying them?
Justin – I listen to my influences a lot before writing, more for subliminal influence than actually analyzing it for ideas.
Q – Why do you prefer analog recording techniques?
Adam – Its like apples and oranges, and we want the whole fruit basket. Analog has it’s own sound that we like using.
Q – Danny, would you ever consider doing a side project with your modular synth machine and special drum solo’s you do live?
Danny – Those special solo’s were develped with tool so it’ll probably stay with tool
Q – Even in your straight 4/4 time songs, its rare to hear you relying on a 2&4 backbeat snare pattern, Could you explain your approach to creating stable groove over complex rhythmic patterns that still remain digestable and marketable?
Justin – There are always a couple different options when applying a groove to a riff, sometimes when we write, danny will start playing a beat with the “1” in a completely different spot than we intended. It makes it complicated to re-learn the riff in new context but it gives a totally different perspective
Danny – I try to stay true to the groove of the riff and not really worry about it’s marketability
Adam – I learned a lot from danny regarding polyrhythms and other rythmic concepts. When we Jam, we always record everything and try everything a bunch of different ways. Then we bounce out a cd for everyone and we take it home and listen to it later from a listeners perspective. A lot of it comes down to a balance between Unison, Counter Rhythms and Poly Rhythms.
Gear Notes:
Bass Rig
– Vintage Tremolo
-Digitech Bass Whammy
– DAL POW 2plus
– Chorus Ensemble
– Digital Delay
– Flanger Fb2
– Sola Sound Tone Bender
– Foxx Fuzz Wah
Guitar Rig
– Access Virus synth Customized by literally cutting it in half and removing the keyboard and replacing it with Hammond Organ foot Pedals (I believe he uses this to launch samples and sound FX)
– Flanger FB2
– Digital Delay
There’s also a volume pedal and a wah pedal, Not sure what the brands are. Probably some others that i missed, but Adam’s rig is actually pretty simple compared to Justins
Drum Rack (I’m not going to go in depth on this because its pretty easy to find info on Danny’s drums online)
He uses Mandala drum pads to launch samples off his laptop using the program NI Battery
Mic setup
Drums:
SM57 on Snare and Rack Tom
Neumann U47 – Floor toms
AKG C214 – One on Ride cymbal, super close to the bow. One Overhead the 2 main crashes, One positioned behind the China cymbal on his left and another behind the china cymbal on his right
AKG C451 B – In front of his Hats
Bass:
4X12 Cab with Neumann U47 positioned top right between the top 2 cones
4X10 Cab with Neumann U47 positioned center left near the edge of the top left cone
Guitar:
2 – 4X12 Cabs, One with a Numann U47 positioned near edge of lower left cone
The other Cab was mic’d the in the same position but it looked like a different mic, No idea what it was.
I could be wrong about the Neumann U47’s but i couldnt get close enough to see exactly what those mic’s were, but these look nearly identical. Though at $4000 a piece, damn. Wouldn’t surprise me though.
