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MICHIGAN
MUSIC |
June
15, 2001 ISSUE |
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The
Teenage Musician's Friend
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THE STORY OF DENNIS WOLFE
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INTERVIEW
& COMMENTARY BY
BOB DENNIS |
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PHOTOGRAPHY
BY NICK DAVID |
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I
met Dennis during a tour of the Recording Institute Of Detroit
(RID) facilities. During the appointment, I found out the
various activities that he crams into his life. I
began to get the idea he was a good talker (which he is) and
suspected he was a jack of all trades and had mastered none.
But after a few meetings I found that he was really for real and
tries to do an excellent job at all that he does. |
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We
found that we had a similar passion for education in recording and
music and in particularly for assisting the high school student
that wants to learn this exciting field - and we both were
teachers. Dennis teaches at East Detroit High School - a
mere 3 blocks from RID. One thing led to another and we
found ourselves getting funding for training for 10 of the top
East Detroit High School students who had a passion for technology
and for music recording at RID. |
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In the process of
working with Dennis I decided I wanted him on the RID team - so he
has become the newest RID instructor. Because of activity of
the John Philippe Marino Scholarship fund in funding recording
courses for Detroit-area high school students, we need another
instructor for recording seminars that are geared to high school
students and recent graduates. Having taught high school
recording courses, I know that it takes a knack and I immediately
began to see that Dennis has the knack. |
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After
a school day of teaching Chemistry and Biology, Dennis
teaches students in the school's Tech Club and also coaches
track. Any teacher who can deal with high school teenagers
all day and still want more is a very special kind of
person. |
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Now I'm trying to produce and
sell bands... |
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Dennis doesn't stop there. In the evening and on the
weekend, he is at his Eastpointe, Michigan studio (Nectarine Studios)
recording and producing - often more teenagers in bands and
groups. It wasn't until this interview that I got the full
picture behind his extrodinary drive. I'll let him tell you
his story. |
| Bob
Dennis:
So you work for East Detroit Public Schools? |
| Dennis
Wolfe: Yep, since 1990.
I teach chemistry over there. I've taught all the way
up to their highest level courses, which are at college level.
I also teach Biology and I used to teach 8th grade mathematics.
I use a lot of technology in my teaching, and I'm in charge of the
school's technology club, where the kids are trying to get into audio production/recording and live mixing
situations. We're trying to put together a vocational
course, with the Recording Institute of Detroit.
In the meantime, I'm coaching track. |
| B.
D.:
Ha! And in your spare time you have a studio, a record label, and a rock
band? |
D.
W.: I AM in a rock band... In fact, the stuff I played for you last time
you were here...the stuff that you LIKED...that was MY band. |
| B.
D.:
It seems as though if there is something that is
deep to your heart, it is is helping out teenage people who want to get into music and
help them meld music and technology. |
| D.
W.: Absolutely... That's what makes me happy. I'm concentrating my life on
that now. I went through a rough divorce a few years ago, and I had to find
something else to dedicate my life to. She didn't want to continue with me,
in part, because I was still 'immature' enough to be in a rock band.
It wasn't about growing up, y'know? That's who I
AM! I bought my first recording gear in '84. ...including a
then state of the art Effectron II, which I still use.
I learned recording on my own, kinda hit and miss, it took me
forever to figure out compression, etc. I went from there and got into
digital recording in 98, when it got more affordable and user friendly, then
I used my divorce settlement to buy a studio. Now I'm trying to produce and
sell bands. My record company is, not necessarily
about selling records, but selling contracts to bigger labels.
You can't compete with the big boys on this scale, but you might be able to get enough attention into a band to
shop them to a major label. |
B.
D.:
[We're sitting in the middle of his
"studio room" - the former living room of
his apartment:] Do you rent this place out as a commercial facility? or is it all label
work? |
| D.
W.: We do both. We have 1 - 2 cash customers a week. We end up making
5-10k/yr doing that, so I figured, why not keep the studio busy all the time
working on label stuff to be far more cost
effective? We've been working on a project for 6 months and we're
hoping to have our first small scale releases this summer. "Forbidden Nectar" and "Fudge" One of those bands
are guys in their 30s who do good alternative rock. The other guys are in
their 20s and they're really good too. We also have a rap act, that you
just heard some of in the background, They come in and work for a few days
at a time on a groove, and we're expecting that to be done soon. |
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Why not keep the studio busy all the time
working on label stuff...? |
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| B.
D.:
Very good. One nice thing about Eastpointe, is that it's a really
nice little community right on the outskirts of Detroit. Many people
consider Detroit not so nice, but I disagree. |
| D.
W.: Me too. I've spent a lot of time in Detroit and never got shot there.
I come to Eastpointe and I get shot! |
| B.
D.:
Even in a nice safe community bad things can happen. Tell us what
happened. |
| D.
W.: Well, what happened was I was working up here, with an act that's going
to be working up here this summer, in fact, and my band was up here, and it
was july 3, of last year, in fact...and this fella showed up here who had
been up here before as part of an
"entourage..." |
| ED NOTE:
NEVER trust an "entourage"!!!! |
| D.
W.: ...and he knocked on the door, which I had forgotten to lock, and he came
in and was like "hey, you remember me?" and I was like "yeah, I remember
you, you've been in here a couple times" I couldn't remember his name, and
I asked him his name and I couldn't understand what he said when he told me,
but I know he gave me a nickname. Basically he wanted my phone number to
get some recording time. I gave it to him and he left. |
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About 45 minutes later, the band and everyone left as well. I went downstairs with them to
charge my van's battery. I left my van running out there and came back
inside. When I came back, a vacant car that had been sitting there was now
occupied by two guys, one of them was him. I went to my van and turned it
off, (as it was sitting out there running with the keys in
it). I went up to them, didn't really make anything of it, just "hey, what's up" y'know? I
thought maybe they were having car trouble and needed to use the phone. He
said yeah and came up with me to use the phone. The other guy stayed in the
car. |
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We came in, he got on the phone, and he just sat there for...too long.
I'm thinking ...hmmmm... he doesn't seem to be saying much. Finally, he
looks over at the table and says 'what's that over there?' and I thought to
myself, deep down, I'm in trouble. I just kept looking at him and said
"what's what?" and he said 'that book' and I thought to myself, here's this
guy that's probably a drop out from school asking me what a book is. I said
'it's a book about America' cause it is a book about
America. |
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I had given him a line that there was someone waiting for me in the back, and I noticed he had tried to edge his way over there to see if there really was someone
else here. So I asked him to hurry up and finish cuz i had to go, and just
at that time, there was a knock at the door and I thought, crap, it's the
other guy. He said, go down and answer that. And I said "I aint answering
shit!" It's time to get out of here. What is it that you need, anyway, do you need money? He said Yeah! So i had about $30 sitting there, so I went
over and gave him a five... |
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...wrong move, man! He said, what? is that all you
have? and I backed up and he pulled out a gun and I turned and he shot and
hit me in the back of the head and went down into my neck. I remember the
POP and thinking "I'm dead." I was thinking about meeting God, and then POP!
again, that one went through me neck I said "my god, you're killing me" and
I remember it clearly, I spun around and held out my hand on instinct and
Blam! he shot me through my hand (which I play guitar with) and the bullet
went through my arm and came back out. We fell in here, and I started
clawing at the windows trying to get out, then he shoots again and misses
me...the bullet hole is right there in the wall, I spun around and leapt
through the air with my last thought and knocked him down. |
| I looked for the
gun, he was on his belly, I got up and ran through the door onto Gratiot,
yelling for someone to stop, and of course, no one did. So I ran down the
block to the Eastpointe police station. Ran in there and said I've been
shot and they took care of it from there. I remember being in the emergency
room, then I woke up 2 days later - still alive. It was an amazing thing.
I woke up on the 5th of july, and on the 6th of july I actually played with my
band, under the effects of some painkillers...with a bullet hole through my
hand. I needed to do that! I barely remember that night, but then I didn't
play for another two weeks. But I'm better now.
They caught the guy 2 weeks later, and he pled guilty. |
| B.
D.:
How do you look at life now? |
| D.
W.: Every day I wake up, and i'm like
Hurray! I'm alive! My life has gone through a lot of turning
points: marriage, kids, divorce, shooting, etc. but all along there has been
music - throughout my entire life. Big things are still in my future. |
| R.
D.: Tell me how you see high school students today with
regard to music. |
| D.
W.: Well, the thing that's great about them is that they're so computer
literate compared to our generation. [I nod
and smile] There is a huge interest! ... they're so much more intellectual than we were due to media
influences etc. They're more sophisticated, yet still immature.
If we can entertain them (Because that's what you need to do to get their
attention) - we can teach them. If we embrace technology and integrate it,
we can educate kids in the music industry quite easily because there's so
much interest. RID and East Detroit High
School are pushing to install a vocational program to
get kids educated in digital recording. It's going to be a wonderful thing.
Kids at that age usually have no exposure to that.
If you walk out of a high school with the ability to use Pro Tools and understand micing
techniques, you're in great shape! I want to prepare kids to be successful
in the industry. |
| B.
D.:
You had how many years at doing sound before taking a course? |
| D.
W.: Um...we're talking about, almost 17 years. 17
years of trying to do it through reading manuals and trial and
error! [After a while] I started reading electronic musician and getting ideas and learning more of the right way to
do things. That's really where I started working on education. Everything
started to sound better now that I was understanding more.
Over at RID, and through reading Alexander magazine, I learned a vast amount of material, and
techniques that I never would've tried on my own. I learned why some of the
problems I'd been having on my own were occurring and finally managed to
solve them. |
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The training has opened up a side of things
that I never realized existed. It makes me feel young again.
I can do this! ... and it makes life worth living - literally! |
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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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