By
Chuck Kirkpatrick
I've been asked hundreds
of times about this recording session; the mics, the amps,
who played what when & where.
I hate to say that 40+ years has taken its toll on most of my
memory, but I will attempt to recall what I can about what is
probably one of the top 10 most significant recording sessions
in history.
I had already been working
at Criteria for several years, and when Atlantic Records
decided to set up camp in Miami, our business quadrupled.
We had three studios booked 18 hours a day, recording dozens
of Atlantic/Atco artists. At this particular time, my tastes
in music were pretty much narrowed to vocal harmony groups,
and the "Proctor Amusement Company" band was
the showcase for my vocal arranging chops. I pretty much
had to 'tolerate' everything else - rock, soul, rhythm&blues
- during the course of a working day at Criteria. When
I was told that I'd be assigned to an Eric Clapton session,
my thoughts were, 'Oh no...another loud distorted guitar
band....'. Little did I know my entire musical perspective
would change within weeks.
I expected Eric Clapton to arrive looking
like the disheveled, drugged-out, speech-slurring funky
stereotype of a "blues musician". When he introduced
himself wearing a white tailored suit and speaking with
the classiest British accent, I was quite surprised. Eric
was the perfect gentleman and in complete control. The
rest of the band were all very quiet and polite guys, save
for Bobby Whitlock. Bobby was the youngest of the crew
and I think perhaps the most insecure at the time, having
been plucked from relative obscurity and thrown into a
session with seasoned veterans. Jim Gordon had done a ton
of sessions in L.A. for dozens of artists, and Carl Radle
had racked up his own impressive share of credits. |
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What few people may know is that "Derek & The Dominoes" began
jamming and writing stuff in England months before they came
over here to record. One of the more interesting things I got
to hear were the 2 track live tapes that were made during these
sessions with the most minimal equipment.
The sessions began early September of 1970 in Criteria's famous
studio B - the very first room in Criteria's history. After the
addition of the cavernous studio A was completed in 1968, B was
renamed.
Jim Gordon's drums were recorded inside a circular drum booth,
built by studio handyman, Al McAdam. It had a raised plywood
floor (which I believe to this day attributed to the very round
sound of the toms and kick). The drum booth was not totally enclosed,
but had an opening 3/4 of the way around to allow the drummer
to maintain visual contact, and to be able to hear what was going
on outside in the room. The mics used were basically Neuman U-87's.
My original choice of C-12A's was vetoed simply because the Neumans
were used by everybody else at that time.
About 85% of the time, Eric played through
a Fender Champ amp with one 8" speaker turned all the
way up and mic'd with a Shure 546. His rhythm parts were recorded
with him playing through either a blonde Fender Bassman or
Bandmaster using the stock 2-12 cab. Radle went direct and
mic'd amp (may have been an Ampeg B-15 or Bassman....can't
remember) with the signals mixed. Whitlock played the studio's
B-3 and Steinway 9' grand piano.
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The first day or two was
spent just setting up and getting sounds. The spark that
lit the fire under this session was just about to happen;
that being the meeting of Duane Allman and Eric Clapton.
Following the infamous
Allman Brothers concert, where Duane opened his eyes mid-solo
to see his mentor Eric staring right back at him from the
front row, the after-party returned to Criteria sometime
around midnight. I was waiting patiently (or rather impatiently
as "it" had
not hit me yet what I was about to witness) to begin working
on the album. In the dim light of studio B, I remember
seeing Eric and entourage enter through the side hallway-door,
followed by Duane and several Allman Brothers. There was
a shaking of hands and the almost schoolboy-like innocent
loss-for-words as two idols who had worshipped each other
from afar came face to face for the first time.
After several minutes of conversation,
the two made their way to the set-up and picked up their
guitars. I could not tell you now what was played nor for
how long that night, but the next day the sessions were
underway with Duane as the official 5th member of Derek
and the Dominoes.
It should be noted that because of the
workload at the studio, it was necessary to use rotating
engineers. Besides myself, Ron and Howard Albert, Karl
Richardson, and studio owner Mack Emerman also participated
in this session. |
I recall only one outside musician playing
on this session, and that would be Albhy Galuten. At that time,
Albhy was functioning as little more than the house joint-roller
and 'go-fer'. His quirky ways and nearly always barefoot appearance
made him a source of entertainment around the studio. Little
did any of us know of his true talents and intelligence. When "Key
to the Highway" was tracked, Whitlock was on Hammond B3.
Albhy somehow quiet slipped into the studio and on to the Steinway
piano bench. He played a very simple but effective part on the
track and everyone liked it - except Whitlock, who now felt "threatened" by
Albhy and promptly called Atlantic's New York office and had
him thrown out of the session.
One of the first tracks I remember working
on was "Keep
On Growing". Eric began with a simple rhythm part, then
overdubbed multiple solos. I believe Duane was bought in later
to add his own solo. Vocal overdubs for "Growing" were
done with Clapton and Whitlock sharing a singe Electro-voice
635 dynamic microphone. During one take, Eric and Bobby came
back in 8 bars too early after the guitar solo, singing the one
word "Lately.....". They both stopped singing and waited
for the next 8 bars to pass before coming in again. When that "Lately" popped
in during playback, they asked me to erase it. In my boldest
moment of the entire session I said, "It really sounds kinda
neat...why don't you leave it?" Thus, my one small contribution.
"Thorn Tree in the Garden" featured
Eric, Duane, and Bobby all on acoustic guitars and was recorded
totally live using two microphones as a stereo pair.
"Layla" was initially just the
four. Duane would later be overdubbed, Because of the nature
of the song's two-guitar intro (one playing the lick and sustaining
the last note as the second enters playing the 'sliding' rhythm
part), I cannot remember which part Eric played first. He may
have done both parts together (cutting off the sustained note
to start the rhythm) and then overdubbed later. There were
at least 6 or 7 tracks of guitar on that one.
One of my favorites, "I Looked Away",
was all Eric on guitar with minimal overdubs.
Perhaps the most memorable
day of all three weeks was the day both Duane and Eric
came in to overdub guitar solos on "Why Does Love
Got To Be So Sad". Taking turns, each went out in
the studio to do his solo section of the tune. Tom Dowd
was to my left at the producer's desk. As the takes proceeded,
you could sense a sort of old-west 'fastest gun' vibe beginning
to set in between Eric and Duane. Each time one would come
in and listen back, the other would say, "I can do
my part better" and go back out to play again. Well,
the first two or three takes by both men were 'keepers'
in Dowd's opinion, but these two were 'in the corral' now
and ready to come out blazing. I remember looking over
at Dowd after about the 16th take and seeing him shaking
his head in his hands in disbelief. Every solo got better
and better, and you could see sparks flying off the fingers
of both players. My God...I witnessed a shoot-out between
Eric Clapton and Duane Allman!
By now, my whole musical psyche was definitely
changing. One could not hear or witness what I had and
not be affected. By the end of this three week session,
I was a different musician and person. The guitar took
on a whole new meaning for me as did my approach to playing
it. During the course of all this, "Proctor Amusement
Company" had become "Game", and with Mack's
blessing we were rehearsing regularly in studio A. We were
teaching ourselves Dominoes tunes before the album was
even released! |
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When the sessions were finished, the whole
place was buzzing from the energy. We all anticipated a quick
release with rave reviews. Much to everyone's surprise, Atlantic
did not release the album for nearly 6 months, and the promotion
behind it was minimal. As a result, the album initially "died on the vine".
It would be a year or two before enough people really listened
to the album and realize what a masterpiece it was.
Since then, there have been many re-releases
of "Derek
and the Dominoes", most notably, the re-mixed and re-mastered
version which I don't really care for. There was a very different
method of stereo panning used by Tom Dowd that would be considered
far from the norm now, but worked in its own way. The remastered
version was totally different. There's the infamous vinyl boxed
set which includes replications of the track sheets where yours
truly's signature 'block-print' is seen on many. As testament
to my initial indifference, my entry into the engineer log was
simply "Staff" and not my name, which to this day I
sorely regret.
I still have to pinch myself when I remember what I can about
my being there for what I call the greatest guitar record
ever made.
Chuck Kirkpatrick
has worked on numerous million selling and legendary
recordings. While working as a house engineer at the
now legendary Criteria Studios in Florida Chuck's
impressive ‘60s and early ‘70s, historic engineering
feats included a number of well-known
rock artists. Chuck
currently performs with the group "Rock
And Roll Circus" and can be reached at ckirkp1021@aol.com.
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