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tux
shorts interviews
william merchant,
engineer in command
of thMobile
his secrets
are his own,
his past is public property
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the
tension headache
location bag
"Wherever
there's music that needs to be put to tape, we will be there. For something."
-
William Merchant
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wm: |
you
know all my paychecks bounced, don't you... i mean, both of them... |
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ts: |
if you were really going to air the studio's dirty laundry in this forum,
i would have appreciated it if you'd have warned me in advance...
that it was gonna be
a contentious interview. |
wm: |
sorry, but it's all coming back to me. |
ts: |
how long have you been associated with tension headache? |
wm: |
associated with who? |
ts: |
tension headache... with the tension headache studio. |
wm: |
good lord... umm, it would have to be 20-some odd years, now, wouldn't it... |
ts: |
wow! do they have, like, an ira going on, or anything like that? |
wm: |
a what? |
ts: |
you know, like a retirement thing. |
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wm:
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for
me?? |
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ts:
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uh huh... |
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wm:
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unfortunately it's an incredibly part-time job. |
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ts:
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you do it because you love it, then. |
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wm:
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love it? it's all just a tax dodge. all the money goes to that dennis character
- oooh.. sorry. |
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ts:
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ok, we can take that up in a different interview. now, i don't know if you're
like a magician who doesn't tell his secrets, but what's in the bag goose? |
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wm:
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let's see, the bag... it's been awhile since i looked in there really...
it also depends on what era we're talking about, the bag is many things,
and also what gig. |
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ts:
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you actually customize the contents of the bag for each project? |
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wm:
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no, it just depends on what we can get our hands on. |
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ts:
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but generally speaking, what might one find in there? |
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wm:
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a lot of cable. a lot of stomp boxes. all the early processing was stomp
box, til we went digital with the (yamaha) spx90... a walkman pro TCD10,
a deck that can really take a beating. really just whatever we could beg
borrow or, uhhh.. get. the location bag is the sort of gig where your adapters
collection is WAY more important that what kind of mics you have or what
signal processing you use. |
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ts:
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you pride yourself on your field work, your ability to bring home the goods
under any conditions. what was the strangest location you've been called
upon to do? |
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wm:
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the lake george sessions. where everything had to go out in a motorboat
to a wooded island. largely acoustic situation, no electricity, so everything
was battery operated... usually at dusk or in the dark, by flashlight...
motorboats going by, it was a verite project. seems to me i remember having
to repair the tape deck right out on a picnic table with nothing but a
swiss army knife and an eyeglasses screwdriver. i think i swapped out
a broken belt for a rubber band, as i recall.
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ts:
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no phone, no lights? no motor cars? |
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wm:
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...not a single luxury. i
guess that's about as bizarre a location as you could think of.
then again - we did
record suzanne vega's very first demo in a woodshop... |
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ts:
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do you apply a particular aesthetic or philosophy to the work that you do
with the tension headache location bag? |
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wm:
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huh?? aesthetics? well... i guess have two - fast. and nasty. get the most
with the cheapest the quickest. even with two mini-mixers, running a total
of 8 inputs plus 2 stereo, with effects sends, i was usually set up long
before anyone was ready to play. i had it set up so that any one player
could go through at least 2 separate effects, a delay and some sort of reverb. |
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ts:
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it's clear from listening to something like an iggy and the nigerians
session, for example, that you aren't merely a recordist. you actually use
the technology as an instrument, you're more of a mixologist. |
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wm:
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ya, i'm the spice man. and i fix what's.... wrong. on the fly. or i bury
it so deep under reverb and effects that whatever's wrong sounds intentional. |
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ts:
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what do you see as future projects you'd like to do... |
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wm:
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...finish the roof i'm putting on my.... |
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ts:
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...with the tension headache location bag?
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wm:
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...oh. the location bag?... yeah, um, sorry, whoops... well. "Wherever
there's music that needs to be put to tape, we will be there. For something." |
