Fashionable Facsimiles
Jul 1, 2003 12:00 PM, By Robert Hanson
Somewhere, at this very instant, huge bar tabs are amassing in the spirit of recording projects that will never see the light of day. It's no secret that musicians love to talk about potential side projects. Few, however, ever have the time between busy recording and promotional schedules to actually deliver. Just ask Depeche Mode's Martin Gore: It's only taken him nearly two decades to complete his second solo recording, the aptly titled Counterfeit
Like the original Counterfeit (Warner, 1989) EP, this second installment of cover songs enjoys Gore's indelible touch. The selections range from what seem like obvious choices by David Essex and Brian Eno to some slightly uncharacteristic tracks by Bob Dylan and Elvis Costello. All of the songs, however, stand on their own and include the same glitchy, minimalistic electronic elements.
Gore and producers Andrew Phillpott and Paul Freegard, who both worked with Depeche Mode during the recording of Exciter (Mute/Reprise, 2001) and the subsequent tour, began the recording process for Counterfeit
“The experience was really good fun,” Phillpott recalls. “We had the luxury of being able to do it at our own pace and really explore. We were really just trying to push Martin to do things he wouldn't normally do. And he was up for it, which was good. It was all quite self-indulgent in a good way.
“We had four computers set up,” Phillpott continues. “I'd work on one, Martin would work on one, and then we had a master one that we'd dump everything into. We were running three with Logic and one with Pro Tools. We also had a Radar. We used the ARPs, but it was more like sound design after these sources were actually recorded. We would sort of pick the song, do a very rough vocal first, and then Martin would sort of spaz around on the synths and stuff. Then I'd take it all and work on it in Pro Tools with headphones and sort of structure it and fine-tune sounds.”
After the release of Counterfeit
With this album, you seem to be paying homage to a lot of your heroes. How did you decide on the set of songs?
Some of them were important to me growing up. Some of them I only discovered during the actual recording process. Some of those songs are by artists who are obviously heroes of mine — people like Lou Reed and Iggy Pop, John Lennon and even Nick Cave. And then some of the artists are not major influences — people such as Julee Cruise, for instance. I only actually heard that song at some point last year while we were recording the record. I think when you're in the middle of the recording process of a covers record, you have a different head on. You're listening to everything with a sort of antenna that's looking out for songs that are possible candidates.
When you were creating sounds and working out the production elements, did you approach it differently than you would a Depeche Mode album?
I didn't feel pressured to make anything commercial, and I don't do that anyway with Depeche Mode. But it somehow just felt really different. After the first three or four songs had been started, there was sort of an atmosphere set that runs through the record that is very laid back. We sort of went for that after the first three or four tracks were underway. They all seemed to make sense going in that vein.
You recorded this album in your home. What was the basic setup?
It's just a small studio I've got set up at home. I really wanted to do everything at home this time just so I could spend time with my family. I find that if you make records in a studio somewhere and work stupid studio hours, you have no family contact. So it was important for me to do that this time. We recorded to Pro Tools. We were also running Logic. There were lots of synths, lots of soft synths; we used all kinds of stuff. I've got three old ARP 2600s that we occasionally get a sound out of.
While making this record, did you miss any aspect of working in a larger studio?
Maybe when it came to mixing: It's always nice to hear things in a proper studio when you're mixing.
Throughout the years, how has your way of working changed based on how quickly that recording technology has changed?
I find that these days, your options are pretty much limitless. You have to try and limit yourself more because, otherwise, you can just go 'round and 'round in circles. I remember a time when, if we had a part, we would get a sound for it that we liked, record it, and that would be it. Now, we kind of get a part together and create hundreds of sounds and then start chopping them up in Pro Tools and getting them to morph together to make them more interesting. And obviously, that can go on and on and on. But you just have to decide when it's time to stop.
How do you decide that it's time to stop?
I think it's when you hit the boredom limit. Sometimes, we obviously work on songs for a very long time. And sometimes, that's one of the frustrating things about electronic music. You know the end result sometimes and where you want to go and how it should sound. And you know that it's going to be time-consuming to get there whereas in a rock band, you go in and everything is more instant.
Because this was a covers album, how did you begin the process of fleshing out the tracks musically?
Well, I didn't want to do straight cover versions of any of the songs. Really, it was just trying to find an initial skeleton for each song that somehow kept the important elements from the original as just a basis, something to build on, and then take it from there. The most difficult thing about doing cover versions is finding a new approach that works while keeping the atmosphere and intent of the original.
Do you begin that process by starting with the vocals, or do you first concentrate on the music?
It usually begins more musically, but I'm usually singing along. Once we get something very basic happening, I might do a quick vocal take so we know that we're not going totally off-track with it.
Do you still start things off from a piano or a guitar?
Not so much when I'm doing a covers record, because the chords are kind of there already. The basic song is already there, so I don't need to do that. That's more for when I'm writing my own songs. I like to know that there is a strong song there before I start moving on to electronics.
Describe what the working relationship was like among Phillpott, Freegard and you.
Everybody chipped in. Often, Andrew would be off working on his own in his headphones. And even for those basic skeletons that I was talking about, sometimes Andrew would be working away for a couple of days on his own while Paul and I were doing something else. He would say, “Have a listen to this,” and he'd play us something. And we'd say, “Oh that's really good. That's a good direction to start in.” Everybody was working in a very hands-on manner.
Why don't you walk through one of the tracks that was more difficult productionwise?
You mention the word difficult. I think, for me, “All My Love” was one of the more difficult ones to get an atmosphere for that works, because, somehow, tampering with John Lennon songs is kind of sacrilegious. We really went 'round the house on that one. I think we had four or five different versions that we scrapped before we actually hit on this one. The final version is very electronic; it has a sort of Tangerine Dream feel to it, really. There were just lots of them that were really kind of jerky electronic, and they really didn't sound right.
What did you try out instrumentwise?
For all of the tracks, we pretty much used similar things, really. We didn't go out on massive limbs and try something really odd and weird. I have a pedal-steel guitar in the studio that got used once. But apart from that, there wasn't anything wild we were trying out.
As a songwriter, did this experience provide any new inspiration?
I always find that it's good for me to take long breaks from songwriting, so I feel like I've been bottling up creativity for quite a long time now. I haven't written any new songs since the end of the Exciter album because, after that, we pretty much went straight into rehearsals and on tour. And after that, my head went straight into thinking about this covers record. We were probably in the studio for eight months last year. Now, I'm going to get back to some songwriting at some point. Hopefully, I've got a well of ideas.
Based on this experience, would you consider doing the next Depeche Mode record in your house or in your own private studio?
With the last few Depeche Mode records, we keep talking about it. And it usually comes down to really stupid factors why we end up going to a studio. We usually want to work in smaller towns, and there usually are not soundproof spaces in towns. And you end up having noise problems, so we end up usually going into studios that have SSL desks or whatever and end up not even using the control rooms, which is what we did for our last album. We end up having our own setup in the live room and then using the control room as a vocal booth. It's really ridiculous. We should get out of studios. It's just a stupid waste of money.
SELECTED MARTIN GEAR
Apple Mac G4 computers (4)
ARP 2600 synths (3)
BLUE Bottle mic
Clavia Nord Lead 2 synth
Cycling '74 Max MSP
Digidesign 888 I/O
Digidesign ADAT Bridge I/O
Digidesign Pro Tools
Doepfer MAQ16/3 analog sequencer
Emagic AMT8 USB MIDI interface
Emagic Logic Platinum
iZ Radar 24 multitrack recorder
Mackie d8b digital mixer
Native Instruments soft synths (all)
COUNTERFEITING SOUND ON THE FLY
Bringing electronic music to the stage is a daunting task for even the most seasoned musicians and engineers. In addition to working with both Martin Gore and Depeche Mode in the studio, Andrew Phillpott also shouldered much of the work involved in taking these two acts to the stage. During the most recent Depeche Mode tour, Phillpott mixed the band's numerous tracks of backing material (comprising mechanized bass lines, ambiences and other unplayable items) live from a pair of iZ Radar 24 multitrack recorders. While providing a stable playback medium, the use of linear playback tracks limits a group's ability to improvise arrangements.
“For the [Martin Gore] tour, I did it different than I had done for Depeche Mode,” Phillpott explains. “I had a Radar for the staple items like bass and kicks. But then I had three laptops. One was running Ableton Live, and during the day, I'd sort of prepare loops and stuff I might use in the evening. Another laptop had Logic with Reaktor and a couple of other things, and then another one was a backup of everything. It was actually much more improvised. Onstage, it was me, Peter and Martin. I played some guitar, and Peter played keyboards. It was good because it actually meant we could change stuff on the fly. Ableton is definitely a cool little tool.”
| Want to use this article? Click here for options! |  |
