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"Tom Moulton: In His Own Words"
Philadelphia records had a warmth and emotional truth that people could relate to. They had a certain depth--all the elements I admired in a record. And the professionalism at Sigma Sound Studios was A-plus. Their idea of rushing was my idea of a nice...easy...pace. Their records always sounded like they cost a million dollars. Music that WASN'T recorded with a lot of money--those records needed the Sigma sound that Joe Tarsia created.
One day, Harry Chipetz, Sigma's general manager, suggested that I mix a track for Keny Gamble and Leon Huff. I wanted to mix something unreleased, find a hidden gem, to show them what I could do. That's when I heard "Do It Any Way You Wanna." I thought, "Ah Ha! I'm gonna prove to Huff that he can have a hit without strings."
At first, Kenny and Leon asked me to mix it again--they said it needed an intro. But I convinced them that when you hear the WHACK!!! at the start, you know it's serious. The groove was agressive and I wanted to make it tense, that feeling that something's gonna hit the fan. That beginning says, "Come on, listen to me, react to me." After it was released, sure enough, I was outside Colony Records in midtown Manhattan and I saw this guy, strutting down the street, the boom box on his shoulder, gooving to it, just as I visualized it.
Again, it was Harry's suggestion that I put an album project together and I came up with the concept of "Philadelphia Classics". I was thrilled, honored to cherry-pick the songs. The hardest to mix was "Don't Leave Me This Way." The track kept speeding up, and Teddy Pendergrass never went back to the hook, the "AAAHHHH, BABY!" When he's vamping, he's almost frantic--"PLEASE, PLEASE DON'T GO." But the beginning is very mellow. So my engineer, Arthur Stoppe, suggested using an oscillator, which takes little pieces out, so the music goes faster without changing pitch. I played the 4/4 on the bass drum throughout the album. They built me a special mallet, a foot pedal on a stick, with a cut-out for my hand, because I couldn't get it with my foot.
In "Love Is The Message", the string part was great--you're sort of hanging over a cliff, like the floor is gone and you're floating. You want to create something you can grab onto, so you won't fall. One way to take it to another level, I thought, would be to put down a piece of carpet to cover up the cable--I didn't want Huff to know we were actually going to record a new part. Then I got on a stepladder and loosened the "Record" bulb! I pointed out the string part to Huff and said, "We're gonna run it down, just to see how it feels." The bass and drums were kicking and the strings were laying out--and Huff played that subtle groove, filling it in just as I'd hoped he would, a laid-back groove, not overplaying. Afterwards, Huff shook his head and said he didn't think it was gonna work, and I just said I was sorry that I took his time. When the remix came out, Huff said he couldn't remember playing the solo. I just said, very innocently. "Hey, it was on the tape!"
In mixing, I try to be the totally objective side of the producer. I've never once said I wanted to make things better--I just take them to another level. I always felt I should be the producer's ally and find the things that make the record win. If it's exciting, I want it to be more exciting--because your body can absorb it easier when it has flow to it, and the body is being taken somewhere with the music. I don't want you to strain to listen to something; I want it to get in there and RATTLE YOUR BONES! If it rattles ME, it should affect YOU.
I'm so proud of this album, It holds up today because the SONG and the ARTIST came first. Put that in capitals! A good hunk of my life is right here in this record. I was furious with myself when i realized I'd spent my entire thirties in the studio. But these records were worth every moment of love and care I spent on them. It's rewarding to know that they've given joy and pleasure to people all these years. They're like children who grew up the right way.
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AMEN to that, Mr, Moulton. Just thought you guys & gals might be interested.
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Make My Feet Wanna Dance!
Markydefad
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: markydefad on 2002-06-01 23:57 ]</font>
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