INTRODUCTION
The track my group chose for a sound a like project is “Super Freak” by Rick James. Although research material for this track is scarce I have gathered information by using my ears and finding out as much information as I could. Despite the challenge I am learning a lot about Rick James and disco funk production from the late 70’s and early 80’s.
ANALYSIS OF SUPER FREAK
1.The song structure/arrangement for Super Freak is as follows:
Intro/verse/pre chorus/chorus/verse 2/pre chorus/chorus/hook/chorus/verse 3/trumpet solo/outro
2.Instrumentation includes:
Tenor Saxophone, Drums, shakers and flexatone (Percussion), vocals, Oberheim OB-Xa Analogue Synth
At the very beginning of the intro is a drum flam followed by a full drum beat, famous bass guitar melody, synth chords and piano chord chops for 8 bars. At the end of the 8th bar is a crash cymbal.
During the verse the synth parts are taken out leaving Rick James vocals the bass and piano stabs. During the 8th bar of the verse the flexatone is struck adding flavour and marking the half way point of the 16 bars. After the 16 bars there is a change in the verse introducing an extra synth part. There is also a call and response harmony sang by Rick James and the Temptations.
The pre chorus again introduces a new element to the song with the bass line changing notes, the drums crashing cymbals at the end of each bar with a fill at the end leading into the chorus . The synth parts and piano are not included in the pre chorus. Rick James is accompanied with harmonies from the Temptations.
Similar to the intro the chorus brings back all the instruments including the synth, piano stabs, bass guitar, drums crash cymbal, lead vocals and harmonies.
The second verse is similar to the first verse for 8 bars utilising the bass piano stabs and striking the flexatone included during the verse and on the 8th bar. However this time call and response backing vocals are also used. For following eight bars the synth is used adding variation and dynamics to the verse .
The extra synth part is once again used after 16 bars along with the call and response part before the second pre chorus. Other instruments heard are the piano stabs, crash cymbals and same bass melody with a few extra rhythmic notes.
The pre chorus uses the same bass line and synth melody as the first pre chorus. The drum fills and cymbal crashes are also very similar if not the same along with the harmonies by the Temptations with Rick James screaming out the lead vocals.
For the second chorus the bass, synth,drums, piano chord stabs and lead vocals can be heard. However this time instead of harmonising on the word super freak, Rick James sings this part alone but interrupts the full chorus by introducing the hook sung by the Temptations. He then sings his chorus for another bar and goes back to the Temptations hook.
The 3rd verse follows straight after the hook only this time the verse is cut after the 8th Bar. Instruments used in the verse are bass, piano chops, drums, crash cymbals and again the flexatone is struck on the 8th bar.
After the 8th bar there is a saxophone solo. To enhance this change in arrangement the alternate synth part is played during this section. Other instruments include bass, drums and piano chord chops. I notice that the crash cymbals aren’t used in this section. Perhaps this was to not take away the focus from the sax solo.
The sax solo playing for 14 bars in total is also the part used to outro the song fading out by about the 14th bar.
3.Rhythm:
Super Freak is in 4/4 time and uses eighth notes. The use of double kicks after the 1st beat count is noticeable and makes the beat funky along with the catchy bass line. Drum fills utilise the flam and cymbals. No toms are used.
4.Dynamics:
I found that the change in dynamics are not obvious throughout Super Freak. The section that stood out and really builds in energy is the pre chorus where cymbals crash and Rick James builds up energy with his vocal delivery leading into the chorus. However I found that instruments were carefully placed throughout the song making sure they would add a change to the arrangement but not create too much chaos by clashing with other instruments.
5.Production:
Super freak was co written and produced by Rick James and Alonzo Miller. It was put together quite quickly while sitting in the studio with everything else on the Street Songs album completed. Rick wanted to write a silly song ,came up with a lick and elaborated on it with vocals. He created the bass first then added guitar and keyboard. Making use of the tuning feature on the Oberheim OB-Xa which he had wanted to include as part of his production he came up with the ghost like synth parts. He also made use of his passion for opera and classical music by adding the voice structure to melodies he came up with. This was also very evident in the delivery of his own vocals particularly in the pre chorus parts.
Although it is hard to pin point exactly what effects and equipment were used during the production and mixing stages of Super freak, I noticed traces of reverb used on the vocals and synth parts. Another effect used during the second verse with the call and response vocals was a George clinton P-Funk effect created by speeding up and slowing down the tape machine. A lot like the Transpose feature in Ableton.
When tracking the drums for our sound- a- like project one thing I noticed was the use of panning in this song. Using a pro tools panning plug in to inspect the track showed that the bass was panned far right but sounded like it sat in the middle of the mix when the plug in was bypassed.
6.Performance:
Super Freak was initially constructed by Rick James coming up with many of the parts and exchanging ideas with Alonzo Miller. What is difficult to work out is if Rick created and performed the drums himself. This is quite possible as he used to play drums for a band. He may have however used another drummer along with a saxophone player.
The song feels like it was recorded with a band together jamming out all the written parts. It has an energetic live feel and sound. I’m guessing the Temptation harmony parts were recorded as over dubs but they may well have been recorded live with the band.
7.Vibe:
Super Freak has a funky, upbeat, catchy, disco, synthesised, operatic and wild vibe.
8.Technology:
Considering this song was written in 1981 I presume they used equiptment such as analogue synths, possibly drum triggers or hydraulic drum heads, outboard reverb units, analogue console, outboard compressor, and definitely tape machines.
“RICK JAMES SUPER FREAK”
RECORDING THE DRUMS (SESSION 1)
On Friday 21st of March we had our first Sound A Like recording session. Recording the drums was one of the most involved and challenging parts to match for Super Freak. I think we have achieved a descent result so far.
When we get to the stage of adding the claps to the snare it will glue the drums together making them sound closer to the original. I have been looking into ways of achieving this classic clap. The most obvious way is by using recorded hand claps . The second option could be to duplicate a snare track and put it through a drum trigger plugin on Pro tools replacing the snare with a classic 808 clap. This track would be added to the recorded kit snare track.
An article I found mentioned that classic George Clinton and Rodger Troutman funk clap was achieved by using Tape machines. This was achieved by speeding up the snare and tuning the drum machine clap down. Perhaps there could be an alternative way of doing this.
Briefly running through signal flow on the large Audient desk was refreshing because of my interest in analogue recording, the use of outboard gear and using the patch bay.
This was a larger desk than I have operated in the past so was more involved than previous signal flow and patching I have already experienced. Further learning was required.
The next stage was to figure out each team members role for the recording session.Due to a few members not being available our roles doubled giving me the duty of Microphones and Patch Bay operations. I found it important to go with the flow as much as possible, drawing on my past patch bay experience whilst getting my head around newer information.
We were then introduced to the studio equipment kit for miking the drums and discussed our plan of attack to match the drums on Super Freak. There seems to be very little information available about the original recording.
What we had worked out was the dominant drum parts were the kick drum and snare. There were no toms used and the hi hats and crash cymbals sounded distant like they had been miked using overheads.
We were after a damp snappy sounding snare hit. To make sure we didn’t get a longer ringing on the snare we miked the snare top with an SM 57 and decided to put my empty wallet on the snare top to dampen it even more. We also miked the snare bottom.
Our very skilled session drummer ran through the process of tuning the snare drum. Tapping around the snare making sure the pitch was fairly consistent around the whole snare (No obvious changes in tone). Tuning the top in a criss cross manner is a technique I use when tuning my hand drums.
Although I got the general gist about tuning the snare bottoms I plan to explore this even further to achieve the specific sounds I am after and to become an expert on what is required.
The kick had more of a click sound rather than a boomier kick sound on the original so we put spare items of clothing and anything else we could find inside the bass drum to dampen the boom of the kick. The Sennheiser e 901 kick drum mic was positioned on the outside of the bass drum close up to the skin. Apparently another method to achieve this result is to put the mic halfway inside the bass drum. Also adding a little padding to dampen the boom.
For the overheads we used 2 pairs of Neumann TLM 300 condenser mics. It was important to place left and right mics at an accurate distance away from each other and the cymbals to avoid phasing issues. It was also important to tilt and face the diaphrams towards the cymbals.
Although it wasn’t vital we all agreed to use a Royer 101 Ribbon Mic to capture some room sound. Having this as an option could add an extra effect and ambience to the drums . Preview it sounded quite warm and effective.
After setting up the mics, tuning the drums and getting our pro tools session outboard gear and desk ready for our drummer to record came our duties in the control room. Although I was assigned to looking after the patch bay further patching wasn’t required. Another important role explained to us was communicating with the drummer.
I decided to participate in this role. I felt like I dealt with this role reasonably well though some of the technical info went over my head but I was learning. I gave it a good go. What I found important about this role was keeping the drummer informed, taking notes, remembering and listening out for parts that the drummer could improve .
Having a track dedicated for the original reference track is essential for sound a like projects. This way we could compare the recorded performance to the original as well as hearing the recorded drums by them selves.
REFERENCES
Amazon.com: Evans Hydraulic Black Drum Head, 14 Inch: Musical Instruments. (2016). Amazon.com. Retrieved 27 March 2016, from http://www.amazon.com/Evans-Hydraulic-Black-Drum-Head/dp/B0002X6GU8
Disco drum recording – what was used? – Gearslutz.com. (2016). Gearslutz.com. Retrieved 27 March 2016, from https://www.gearslutz.com/board/so-much-gear-so-little-time/128074-disco-drum-recording-what-used.html
Flexatone. (2016). Wikipedia. Retrieved 27 March 2016, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flexatone
James, Freak, S., & (Instrumental), S. (2016). Rick James – Super Freak (Part. 1 & 2). Discogs. Retrieved 27 March 2016, from https://www.discogs.com/Rick-James-Super-Freak-Part-II-Give-It-To-Me-Baby/master/148400
Oberheim OB Series. (2016). Soundonsound.com. Retrieved 27 March 2016, from http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/sep98/articles/retro_oberheim.html
Super Freak by Rick James Songfacts. (2016). Songfacts.com. Retrieved 27 March 2016, from http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=5744
AUSTRAJAM PRODUCTIONS 2016
AustraJam Productions 