Recording - March 2020 - 31

Robbie Robertson... Now
Recording Sinematic

On my new record, I engineered the majority of the record because 90% of the time, I'm by myself. I'm writing, I'm working
on the music for The Irishman movie, I'm writing music for the
documentary Once We Were Brothers, I'm making my new
album, I'm working on The Band 50th Anniversary. All of this
is going on in this laboratory. This setup is just an extension of
the idea I started with The Basement Tapes.

How do you bring in other players?

I write a song, I lay it down and structure it. I play keyboards,
I play guitar. Then I take that, and I go down into one of the
studios downstairs, and I bring in somebody like Pino Paladino
on bass or Chris Dave on drums, and they add to what I've
done. On some of the tracks on the new album, I worked with
this guy from London, Howie B. He's an underground DJ, and
we've worked together over the years. He understands what
I'm looking for. We have a great experimentation relationship.

So, do you mix your own projects too?

After I have all that done, then I call Martin Pradler, and he'll
help me organize everything. And then we'll mix it together.
And that's called Sinematic.

It turned out fantastic. The highlight for me beyond
the storytelling is the guitar playing. Atmospheric,
textural-there's a lot of ear candy-not your typical
guitar hero thing.
I just got the deluxe edition of Sinematic, which is
incredible. Not only is the music great, but I encourage
everyone to get the LP-sized deluxe edition book
because the artwork is great-artwork for each song,
lyrics, liner notes. It's a beautiful package.

Thanks, I'm so happy to hear you say that! I'm with you, I
love how the deluxe edition came out-I think it's killer.

What's your working method these days? Where do
you start? You don't have a band anymore, per se-
it's just you. Do you have a studio?

I have a studio within a recording studio complex. I've had
my room here since the 80s. I originally got this room as a
writing room. It's actually the original recording studio in the
building. It's not big, but it's great for composing.

What gear are you working with in your room?

I have some very basic equipment. I have a Neve 16 track
board in excellent condition, I have Telefunken microphones.
It's set up like a big cockpit. On one side I have a guitar amp
head, then I have an area that has all kinds of guitar pedals
and sound devices. It's not a setup for live performance, it's
for experimenting with sound. Then I have an old-style drum
machine, I have a keyboard, two computer screens, and I'm
surrounded by all of this. In the other room I have an incredible
array of beautiful guitars, and I have an old Steinway Vertegrand Model K upright piano. I have all of this for writing, and
over time it has evolved, so if I think of something, I can lay it
down and record it.
Over the years, I've had analog machines, I've had digital
machines, and now I have Pro Tools. And I'm still the engineer.
30 RECORDING March 2020

I did that in the early days with Ronnie Hawkins and on tour
with Bob Dylan, but I grew out of it. [Laughs]

I love the guitar intros of 'I Hear You Paint Houses'
and 'Dead End Kid'. I'm guessing that this is some of
that pedal experimentation.
Yeah, nothing's written down. If someone asked me to fix
something on this, I'd have no way of getting back to it except
by trying some stuff and seeing if anything sounds similar.

When you do your vocals, are you like a one or two take
guy, or do you spend days on the perfect vocal take?

I've never thought about perfect vocals-I'm storytelling.
On some songs, I spend time and try different things until
I discover the character-not for days, but I'll do it three or
four times, and hopefully it's there. On other things like 'Once
Were Brothers', I think I only sang that twice.

Someone says, "I want to start recording. I want to start
doing my own songs." Do you have any advice?

Just based on my own experience, you need to go into your
own world. Just get what you need to do it, even the simplest
things. Then you have got to go into the zone. Some people
want to compete with what's going on, but I was only ever competing with myself. I just wanted to make my own discoveries.
If anybody else liked it, terrific. And if they didn't, I didn't know
what to do about that. I couldn't change whatever other people
thought, but I was lucky enough, I guess, that I did some stuff
that other people enjoy too.

Robbie, this has been awesome!

I appreciate this. I had fun talking with you.

Recording - March 2020

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