DR EVIL DICK

activities: research

20 Idiot Bastards Project

We bring you now a special presentation to provide some extra insight into how and why Evil Dick and the Banned Members (TM) went about interpreting Frank Zappa's "The Idiot Bastard Son" for the upcoming Cordelia Records CD, "20 Idiot Bastards"...

We're Only in it for the Money

The fairy tale begins way back on 24 March 2007 when I received the following e-mail from Andrew Greenaway of The Idiot Bastard website: "Evil - would you be interested in contributing a (cough) experimental version of The Idiot Bastard Son to a CD? Cordelia Records have suggested I put together a CD of twenty interpretations... sounds a little mad, but what the hey - Anything Anytime Anyplace For No Reason At All, right?" Now, it's not very often things like this happen so I said yes immediately. As for deciding on a backwards version, that was also an immediate decision but I thought I better hear it backwards before committing. I downloaded the track onto my computer, reversed it and had a listen. Wow. It sounded great! I felt as though I was discovering unreleased Zappa; except, maybe this was Evil Dick? Anyway, it gave me all the encouragement I required. In order for the Banned Members to play it, I would need the score... Unfortunately, Google only located this terrible MIDI file (and there are more here) and so, somewhat reluctantly, I knuckled down to the odious task of transcription. N.B. In fact, a guitar chart was eventually tracked down in a long out of print 'The Frank Zappa Songbook Vol. 1' but by then it was too late.

We're Only in it for the Money

So, which version of IBS should the transcription be based on? I grew up listening to the overdubbed version of ‘We’re Only in it for the Money’ and enjoying every second of it. It was only upon finishing my PhD that I bought the Rykodisc ‘restored’ version. I played it, loved it for its quaint drum sound and then put it on the shelf and forgot about it. When the offer of this project came along, I went straight for the overdubbed version (doh!). Anyone who has compared these two versions will be aware of the dramatic difference in sound quality. I was literally straining my ears to hear parts on the overdubbed version that are crystal clear in the restored version. Still, in straining my ears I ended up feeling that for the past twenty years I hadn’t actually been listening to it at all.

Evil Dick

Transcription Blues

Although it's desirable for any transcription to be correct, the degree of accuracy required really depends on the kind of music being transcribed and the purpose of the transcription. Pitches and rhythms are easy to jot down; sounds are much harder. When transcribing IBS I faced both challenges, plus the fact that it was often difficult to differentiate instruments lower in the mix. Consequently, the EDBM transcription contains a few holes but nothing serious. It's as accurate as possible given the source material and my ears; I even made a number of small discoveries about the recording, for example, the final line "Where are they now?" doesn't appear to be sung by Zappa.

The process of transcription was made somewhat easier thanks to audio software. The track was imported into a sequencer program and placed into a tempo map. This allowed each bar of IBS to correspond with a bar of the sequencer, making it possible to play the transcription in time with the track. Unlike so much of today’s popular music, IBS is not locked in a 120bpm groove. In fact, it begins at around 110bpm and gradually gets faster, peaking at about 126bpm before slowing a little towards the end. Most listeners never notice this tempo variation because it complements the composition.

Little Pete

Listening to music is an incredibly complex activity. So complex in fact that we usually end up ignoring most of what we hear and rely upon points of salience to navigate our way. Previous listening experience also plays an important role because there is less need to concentrate on aspects of music we have experienced before. This frees up the brain to focus on other parts of the music. Close listening to IBS is fascinating. Many of the lines contain abrupt edits that are lost in the mix but would be shocking were they more prominent. There is an amazing mount of overdubbing going on too, a fact which probably accounts for the mix’s lack of clarity in some parts. Guitar lines come and go and are full of invention. At times, there's so much going on it beggars belief.

Jools

Several instruments add harmonic accompaniment. At various times guitar, piano and harpsichord (at least, it sounds like a harpsichord) share the chord sequence adding colour and texture. For the transcription, the chord sequence was reduced to triads. These relatively uncluttered chords were then set against the bass guitar line. Transcribing the bass was a relatively straightforward procedure, its position in the mix for the most part out of the way of the other instruments, although some of the rhythms and durations were still a little difficult to determine.

With the basic harmony in place, the next stage was to figure out how the upper instruments (i.e., flute, clarinet, guitar) operated harmonically and rhythmically. These instruments were the most difficult to hear as separate melodic lines. In some cases effects are used on them to change their character making it difficult to determine the original source of the sound. The solution was to bend my ears - literally. Those flappy bits of skin we call ears have an impact on what we hear; change their shape and your hearing alters. Anyway, this is the score I ended up with (once reversed) and here are the MIDI files (accidentally defaulted to piano and drums) for The IBS and SBI The. Unfortunately, my software mixes up sharps and flats, and I couldn't be arsed to correct them. One of the spin-offs of all this was the creation of a forwards version for synthesiser.

As for the vocal part, that was easy. I simply reversed the lyrics, syllable by syllable so the first line was "Now they are where blend" and the last line was "Son stard-bar ot-di-ear thee" (Thee ear-di-ot bar-stard son). I changed it to "ear" to stop me singing "eye-di-ot"! if that makes any sense... You can download the vocal part here. It contains a couple of errors but I'll let you find them.

Recording/Mixing/Mastering

EDBM spent a few weeks learning IBS before we recorded it. I decided to record everyone (Little Pete - bass, Brettany Bassoon - bassoon, Jools Street - guitar/violin, Anne Bowden - flute) in the bathroom, the room next door to my 'home studio'. There's little excitement to be told about this stage, except that I learnt a lot from the process. Recording the drums was obviously a problem with only two microphones but I found a creative way around this. The vocal was also a tricky area but eventually I nailed a reasonable recording of myself singing in my psychotic gnome voice. Recording the bassoon was made a whole lot easier with the discovery of (don't laugh) the Samson C03 Multi-pattern Capacitor Microphone. We enjoyed using this so much we even recorded a little extra piece of Bassoonary which involved me jumping up and down and Brettany blowing his arse off. In addition to what the band played I prepared a little section of musique concrète for the middle of the song. This was constructed out of various different things I had 'lying around'. Actually, there were two versions of this, a long one and a short one. I haven't included them here because they will give too much away but they may turn up once the CD is released. I spent about 20 hours trying to master the track using a freeware mastering package before giving up and sending it to Audiomaster. They did a great job, even if some of my low budget recording techniques were somewhat brought to the fore.
(Evil Dick, 11:52pm, 25 August 2007 - Mum and Dad's house.)

See also:
PhD Research