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Nathan Hubbard Skeleton Key Orchestra was formed in 2001 with the goal
to form an ensemble able to integrate notation and improvisation. In
addition to this, I was striving to bring together different parts of
the San Diego creative music community. My large-scale ensemble output
at this point was only a handful of pieces, most notably the pieces
a search for truth (for wind ensemble and extended percussion),
shards of memory (remembering Morton Feldman) (for orchestra),
as well as several pieces for traditional big band. At its inception,
I saw the SKO project as a chance to extend much of the music I was
currently working on, most importantly the music of the quartets Return
To One and Cosmologic, the percussion trio NOD and various ad hoc ensembles
surrounding the Trummerflora Collective. The first two performances
of the (at that time) twenty-two-member group went well, and my efforts
to record the concerts resulted in two very nice gig tapes. I soon realized
much more work was ahead of me, and I began presenting smaller (10-15
member) versions of the group, as well as starting the "splinter
group" project, smaller groups based around the large group. All
of this rehearsing and performing allowed the musicians to work together
more, and it also caused many more compositions to be written. So at
some point I realized I needed to document the large ensemble music
I was writing and record this group. Almost all of my projects have
been self-produced, and it was an (almost) unspoken requirement that
I record this project myself. I was also excited to bring some of the
different recording ideas I had been working with in small formats to
this larger palette. As I researched more and more large ensemble recordings,
I found myself becoming disenchanted with the recording quality of many
of these products. Clearly, many of the inherent problems of presentation
and organization often force such issues to become null and void. Bay
Area based alto saxophonist/composer Marco Eneidi's liner notes to his
recording Marco Eneidi & The American Jungle Orchestra (Botticelli
Records 1012/13) give a poignant demonstration of much of what I'm talking
about. My thought was to have a production level CD, using many concepts
used in pop and rock but rarely found in improvisation recordings. I
have always loved the idea of many improvisation recordings - minimal
miking, with the pieces recorded live in the order performed. However,
as time goes on, I find myself equally excited in the possibilities
of the studio as an instrument. This interest has been influenced by
everyone from Myles Boisen to Tchad Blake, Robert Wyatt to John Zorn.
In addition to the ideas of overdubbing and editing, I added my interest
in home recording, lo-fi recording techniques, sound processing units,
extended miking techniques and the use of different rooms/environments
to the sonic palette I was working with.
Several earlier projects had an influence on the direction this recording
took. The Return To One album Firecliffs (Circumvention Music
CD 033A-B), recorded summer 2001, was a changing point in my thinking
and writing, as I found myself orchestrating more, using the studio
as an instrument and overdubbing parts, allowing the music to breath
in a different way. I began to realize that my interest in the large
ensemble medium lies in the bringing together of varying forces and
different instrumentations. You can hear these ideas translated into
the SKO project in the use of pipe organ, harp, contra-bass saxophone,
flute quartet, homemade instruments, electronics, field recordings,
etc. After Firecliffs, I began working on the solo recording
Born On Tuesday (Circumvention SA-81), recorded summer 2002,
a recording that allowed me to (re)define a production ethic and find
my own solutions to the inherent difficulties in any such project. For
me, this was accomplished by dealing with the music and the time period
it was recorded - for this project, focusing on the acoustics of the
room, extended miking techniques and the changing grains of sound between
low and high fidelity. Certainly my interest in lo-fi pop, electronica
and dub music allowed me to rethink my production values on such a project.
Born On Tuesday made me realize that every project should have
its own unique production aesthetic, building on past experiences while
finding new solutions in the music and the moment.
So first, finding a room big enough to comfortably house 22-26 musicians,
and the equipment to record them, outside of the very costly professional
studio. Over the period of the previous several years I had been accumulating
the necessary equipment to record my own projects. With the help of
group members we were able to collect the missing equipment needed to
complete the recording. The smaller group compositions were recorded
a choir room at San Diego State University, which I felt had the right
"room sound" I was looking for, along with ample space for
performers. Most of the small group pieces were recorded with no editing
and only a few overdubs (usually percussion). The larger compositions
were recorded several weeks later in a large warehouse in San Marcos,
which had the necessary space for the large group, a layout perfectly
situated for a control room and other important additions (a popcorn
machine and a soda fountain). Due to the enormous scope of the larger
pieces, different sections of these compositions were recorded and later
edited together. This allowed me to put together the needed ensembles,
insure that all the instruments were miked to my liking and to allow
for multiple takes. Depending on availability and practicality, some
parts were overdubbed at later sessions. This mostly consisted of percussion
and strings.
The use of editing and overdubbing allowed me to layer parts and add
any missing elements, process instruments and use different locations
and production aesthetics to define the tracks.
Examples -
1. The opening section of Sleeping Against Other Warnings features
a flute quartet with percussion. This section was recorded live with
Ellen Weller and Lee Elderton playing C flutes, Ward Baxter playing
alto flute, Jason Robinson playing bass flute, Isaac Tubb playing the
Tibetan bell part and myself playing the lower frame drum part. Later,
I overdubbed the maraca part and the high frame drum part and double
each drum part several times to thicken the track. This section of the
piece was written around an ostinato played on several tuned lobster
pots and mixing bowls, and due to scheduling conflicts with the percussionists
in the group, these parts were overdubbed later. When these instruments
did not record to my liking, I substituted tuned Simmons drums doubled
with piano strings played with mallets. The Simmons drums gave the attack
and timbre and the piano added sustain and a more mellow sound. I also
double-tracked the Tibetan bell parts several times, allowing me to
pan the tracks for a wider sound.
2. In section Z of Sleeping Against Other Warnings, the two guitar
interlocking line (played by Al Scholl and Jon Garner) was recorded,
sampled and looped. I then overdubbed the two interlocking pipeophones,
sampled and looped the parts, and then overdubbed the two interlocking
vibraphone tracks. These vibraphone tracks were sampled, looped and
then pitch-shifted them down an octave in the computer. After this was
accomplished, Shannon Perkins recorded her poetry solo and later Stephanie
Robinson added an improvised chordal accompaniment on pipe organ.
3. In section C of A Murder Of Crows, Justin Grinnell and myself
recorded the double rhythm section groove canon (two trios of drum kit,
electric bass and marimba) in two takes, using a click to clearly line
up the difficult 37/16 meter. The overdubbing allowed us to tweak bass
sounds and change drum kits (we were trying to avoid muddiness on the
track by focusing on different registers and timbres for similar instruments).
The two rhythm sections were then panned, EQ'd and compressed. In general
I was interested in a "rock drum" production, with as much
punch and meat as possible. Later, Michael Dessen overdubbed his solo
and I added the rubato orchestra backgrounds, which were recorded at
an earlier session and sampled. After this I dub mixed the double rhythm
section tracks, using one section as the focal point and bringing both
sections in only at key moments. This gave the track much more breathing
room. Finally, I added several samples as a "middle ground"
texture and Al Scholl overdubbed several tracks of guitar as accompaniment
to the trombone solo.
3. The studio sections of East on 53rd Street were loosely based
around several production methods from my work with Joscha Oetz's group
Perfektomat. For the main groove section, I programmed the two different
interlocking drum parts into a drum machine, recorded it, and then recorded
two different drumkits doubling the parts, allowing sampled versus live
sounds to be mixed and matched. Early in the piece, processed acoustic
bass and lo-fi percussion were added to these drumkit tracks as background
layers for Ward Baxter's processed tenor saxophone solo. Later in the
pieces live handclaps and bells interact with drum machine hihat and
kick drum parts behind Jay Easton's contrabass saxophone solo, and as
that section progresses, processed loops from members of the ensemble
add to the groove played behind solos by trombonist Steve Vertigan and
trumpeter Isaac Tubb. Finally, Marcelo Radulovich sampled various sections
of the piece for his processed ending coda, giving the piece a complete
transformation from beginning (an acoustic group recorded outside) to
end (processed samples of material that has been put through several
cycles of recording, sampling and processing).
4. Several sections of different pieces called for organ sounds from
the keyboard/electronic section. Stephanie Robinson informed me that
her job as organist and choir director gave her access to a pipe organ,
and that we could use this pipe organ to overdub the parts. We arranged
a time to meet at the church, where Stephanie added the organ pedal
section to the opening of raincastle and added a chordal accompaniment
to the poetry solo on sleeping against other warnings.
The concept of real time and postproduction processing of tracks was
used in several different ways. Examples-
5. Don't Look Says The Crow opens with an improvised trio of
piano, vibraphone and synthesizer. This trio melds into Damon Holzborn's
processed version of the improvisation using Max MSP. These two sections
are overlapped by a notated brass section, which was recorded earlier,
allowing the performers to react to the pitch, rhythmic and density
information from the brass and how that informs the improvisation.
6. On the track Sleeping Against Other Warnings, the use of reverberation
and delay added to the overall vibe of the track. The tracks opens with
several Tibetan bells overdubbed, panned and run through a digital plate
reverb, smoothing and shaping the multiple tracks into a unified whole.
Later in the piece, overdubbed pipeophones were run through an Echoplex
tape delay and then amplified into my bathroom heater. The miked springs
in this heater caused a real life spring reverb sound, and the combination
of these two processes gave the pipeophones a unique sound space, adding
to the track without sonically taking away the focus from the voice
and sampled guitars.
7. In the piece A Murder of Crows, much of the source material
given to performers for sampling was from previously recorded improvisations
by SKO. I sorted through gig tapes, edited improvisation sections out
of larger pieces and made CDs of this material for performers to sample
as needed. After my selection and editing, different performers decide
how much material they want to sample, from small bits of sound to using
the entire recording. Once these decisions were made, the sampled material
was processed in real time in different notated and improvised area
with the large group. For me this process continues the never ending
cycle of material being played and performers reacting to this material,
constantly using new material as well as renewing material from the
past.
8. The overdubbed percussion on East On 53rd Street was recording
using various lo-fi concepts, often using cheap Radio Shack microphones.
These microphones were generally used as room mics, usually run through
amplifier modeling pedals and/or an overdriven Pignose amplifier to
"dirty up" the sound. In several cases, the microphones were
placed inside the instruments (most notably a metal guiro) for a super
close-miked sound with many sound reflections coming from the inside
of the instrument. Often the tracks were recorded with several different
microphones to mix and match in the final mix, but I often found myself
using only one microphone, depending on its unique character and the
focus of the track. In addition to this, I also used several digital
"lo-fi" computer plug-ins to add more character to the final
outcome.
9. The transition between the pieces Making my Way Thru It and
Waiting In Vain was produced by running the octet recording through
an Echoplex tape delay several times. This segue ways directly into
Waiting In Vain, allowing my original intention for the trajectory of
the piece - notation to repetition structures to open improvisation
to processed material, directly into the second piece.
Several different pieces used the idea of production by recording
in different locations, often allowing the acoustics to define the sound
and/or affect the performance. Examples -
10. East On 53rd Street opens with a West African inspired hand
drum ensemble + brass band playing in an alcove outside the DHCC warehouse.
Using binaural microphones and a minidisk recorder, Justin Grinnell
recorded this section by walking towards the group from a distance of
half a mile. This section was edited to the rest of the piece (which
was recorded in the studio), giving a shift of perception and expectancy.
11. The poetry section at the heart of East On 53rd Street was
recorded in my backyard late at night, with a backdrop of crickets and
other background sounds adding an eerie ambience to the mix. Wayne Shorter's
recording of the composition Dindi on the album Supernova influenced
this section, which for me allowed a moment of pause and reflection
within the bluster and activity of the surrounding sections.
12. Don't Look Says The Crow ends with an ensemble improvisation
recorded in the yard of DHCC. This section was recorded with two engineers
moving about the space with handheld recorders, while most of the ensemble
used homemade instruments (dopplerophones and wobble boards) and the
brass section improvised with the reverb effect of playing their horns
thru several long (30') metal sewer pipes in the area. The two recordings
were later synced up in the computer and panned appropriately.
I would like to dedicate this article to the now defunct Seattle based
ensemble New Art Orchestra, who's group aesthetic, beautiful playing
and amazing music continues to inspire me-NMH
(May-November 2004)
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