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MICHIGAN
MUSIC |
May
1, 2001 ISSUE |
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The
Cave Man |
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Interview
& Commentary By
Bob Dennis |
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| In the
beginning I just thought he was a smart-ass, later I learned
that he was a dedicated and talented smart-ass. I mean who
would wear a tux and sunglasses at one of his best friend's
wedding? But this is Frank, and the rules don't quite apply
the same way to Frank. |
| When I
decided to have a web-based service (way back in 1994), I
immediately thought of Frank with his sharp-edged wit and 80 wpm
typing skills working alongside of me in the endeavor. More
than six
years later this is becoming a reality as Frank accepts a
position with Alexander & REQ as technical editor. |
| So I asked
Frank, What got you into this field anyway? His
response came in an e-mail: |
| "As
early back as I can remember, my uncle Bob was a
musician/aspiring recording engineer. I used to go over
his house and sit there for hours watching him and his
buddy recording their Devo-esque stuff on his ultra-hip
(in 1977...) Tascam Porta04 (which was one of the earliest
4 track cassette recorders for "home musicians")
and creating new sounds with synthesizers and guitar
effects. |
| "By the time I was 6-7, and had been hanging around the equipment for years,
they figured I was old enough to actually PUSH some of the buttons I had
been coveting for so long, and let me push record and stop a few times and
occasionally I'd even touch faders! |
| "As I continued getting older, my uncle continued getting new pieces of gear,
which he was always willing to let me check out. I remember a trip out to
what I believe was Nalli's around 1982 to pick up his very first drum
machine, which I then proceeded to play with the rest of the day... |
| "In the years to come, I would get my own gear, and eventually, I wound up
showing HIM cool new things, and we still get together to this day to
BS about audio stuff and computers." |
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| If you took
all of the greats in the field of recording you would have a bunch
of people that all had some real drive to get into the
field. For Frank it was his uncle, for me it was the bass
range of frequencies that were on the stereo system at the TV
repair shop I hung out at when I was 11 and 12, developing into my
interest in "hi-fi" sound systems. |
| Frank
continued: |
| "During my high school years, I completely submerged myself in rap
music. It was a fairly new thing at the time, you couldn't walk into a
record store and find a "rap" section. You had to search hard
and long to find that stuff sometimes. These were the days of the pioneers
- Run-DMC, LL Cool J, BDP, on through to the ultimate -- N.W.A.!
As usually happens, my friends were into rap as well. Living outside
of Oakland, CA in the late 80's was a good place to be for guys like us.
Working weekends at the mall, we'd frequently be visited by people such as Too $hort and MC Hammer, trying to sell their tapes out of the back of their trunk
to anyone who looked like they might be even remotely interested. We
were... And hey, if these guys can do it, so can we! So...I headed
on down to the local music store and inquired about a drum machine of my
own. Then I found out how much they cost, and promptly tried to figure out
another way." |
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| By 1991,
fresh out of high school at 16, Frank had gotten the money
together for a synthesizer, sequencer and drum machine, moved back
to Detroit and began his Recording Institute Of Detroit training. |
Frank
G - Going To A Cure Concert - 1992 |
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Even
though I knew the answer, I asked Frank how he got his first job
as a recording engineer: |
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"Then, soon before I was to complete my advanced recording class and
internship, fate struck. Someone didn't show up for their session, and
Sidestick Recording was short an engineer. The client was due soon, and
not wanting to turn the client away, the manager went for either, a) the guy he
thought showed the most promise for the job, or b) the only guy stupid enough to
say yes... OF COURSE I want to be a Sidestick engineer, what the hell do you
think I'm doing here? ...and my career was officially on the way.
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"The session, of course, was hell. The client wanted to sync the 24
track (which was a kinda...fidgety Ampex MM-1000 that had seen better days) to
his MIDI gear which I had never seen before, it was a rap session, yet he
brought a guitar player and a huge rig, etc. We had to share microphones
between 3 studios, and of course I didn't have them reserved so I had to record
vocals through an SM-58 (I know you guys who are used to performing live are
convinced that the SM-58 is the greatest microphone ever made, but the only
thing a 58 is good for in the studio is as a hammer. (Did I say that?) Everything that could go
wrong did, but by the end, the client was happy, I was happy, and the studio was
happy. The song we recorded that night eventually wound up being released
on a compilation of Christian rap songs that did fairly well in its market." |
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Frank
stole my quote about the Shure SM-58!!!!! Before you get
upset, Shure makes some real good mics, but the SM58 was
designed over 50 years ago. The fact that you CAN use
it as a hammer and afterwards still put out a signal is a
testimony to how great the mic really is on the road - but we like
newer models for studio work, such as the Shure Beta
series... |
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Sidestick
Recording was RID's studio (later renamed "Golden Section
Recortding") with the first Tascam DA-88 format 24
track recording setup in the area. Frank worked several
years with the studio as an engineer and then as the chief
engineer. The position was really part time engineer and
part time book assembly-person. After a few years Frank
wanted to move on to a job that was just engineering... |
| So I
asked Frank about how he got to work on some really successful
recording projects: |
"After
Golden Section, I was doing the editing for ICP's Riddle Box
cd,
and they were talking about starting their own studio, etc. Since I was
spending 90% of my week working with them anyway, I put 2 and 2 together, and
wound up taking all my gear out of my suite one night and piling it up in
Violent J's living room. After hanging around so much, I wound up
going on the road with them as their live sound guy. You haven't lived
until you've taken a Wireless 57 that's not working because it's drenched in
Faygo, slammed it capsule first into a bucket of ice water, taken out the
windscreen, wrung it out, turned the mic back on, and handed it back to the
performer in under 15 seconds...we did it several times a night. Most of
my interesting ICP stories are neither audio related nor suitable for general
audiences. After working on 3 platinum recordings (well, they're platinum
recordings now...) and touring the US and Canada, we parted ways, and I took
some time off. This was 1997."
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| Frank
is serious about the Faygo (a Michigan-based soda pop
company). For those not in the know, ICP is Insane
Clown Posse - now an Island Records rap act famous for
spraying the audience with Faygo and appearing as rap artists/wrestlers
at NAW and WCW events. They've managed to sell 4 million copies in
the last two years. |
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Frank G's
in the center running the sound (?) as the Posse get beat up
(or are beating up) during an NAW event.
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After
ICP and until a few months ago Frank was working at a studio
specializing in video taping inspirational speakers together
with Eric Kilgore, who had been the Recording Institute's training
supervisor during the time that Frank was busy cleaning Faygo out
of microphones for the clowns. Frank talks about how
that gig ended. |
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"I
started doing their website, maintaining their
equipment, setting up their intranet, and everything else
in addition to being expected to turn out a video
every few days. Unreasonable expectations and broken
promises caused me to become very disenchanted, until one
day, without warning or explanation, the owner fired me.
Eric quit less than a month later....and we'll probably
wind up together again... But
I had nothing to do again! and no money.... and a
new house...and a wife.... so, I bought another bunch of
gear (hmm...I'm beginning to notice a trend...) and
decided to start my own video production company. I
figured, hey, if my last employer can do it, anyone can.
Enlisting my 3 co-workers (Eric, Marty Krist, and John
Mitchell, all former RID'ers themselves) we formed
Reductive Productions. Less than a month
later, I showed up at Golden Section (renamed yet again,
to Studio C) to assist Marty on a session. I turned
around and ran into Bob, who obviously remembered what a
devastatingly cool evil genius I am, not to mention the
fact that I used to make him money, wanting
me to work with him yet again, so here I am!"
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We
are happy to get Frank back into a job that he can enjoy and work
hard at. Our roving cameraman caught him hard at work
as the Alexander Magazine/REQ technical editor. |
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Frank
working hard as our technical editor.
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Copyright ©
2001, by Robert Dennis, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED |
Published in Recording
Engineer's Quarterly and Alexander magazines with permission |
USE OF THIS ARTICLE SUBJECT TO
USER AGREEMENT |
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