RECORDING January 2023 - 51
Steve Gadd with Tony Levin on bass
Photo courtesy of Tony Levin
You have worked in THE best
studios in New York City. What were
some of your favorite rooms?
Back then, there was so much work going
on; they all had pretty good rooms.
But, A&R 799 and A&R 48th
Street were
really good rooms; the last Hit Factory
had a big room; Record Plant, Electric
Lady, Media, Sound Exchange, Rudy
Van Gelder's place and Power Station
had some great rooms. Clinton was
good; I did a lot of work in those rooms.
You used the word " big " ; do you
equate that with a good drum sound?
Big as in it could accommodate a full
orchestra, whether you needed one or
not. I learned along the way that high
ceilings are good for drum sounds. I
liked that they could handle a big ensemble
of musicians, whether you were
working on a jingle or an album.
After the Army, Steve headed to New York City. In college, he had become
good friends with and played in a band with bassist Tony Levin (King Crimson,
Peter Gabriel, Chapman stick-yes, that Tony Levin). [We interviewed Tony in the
August 2022 Issue-Ed]
When Steve joined the Army, Tony went to New York and started doing sessions.
When Steve returned, Tony introduced him to some of the 'cats' he had been working
with in the city, opening the door to the beginning of Steve's session career.
Sessions
By the end of the 1970s, Gadd was
one of the world's most popular (and
imitated) drummers. In Japan, musicians
purchased transcriptions of his work. All
the top Japanese drummers wanted to
sound like him.
Chick Corea once commented, " Every
drummer wants to play like Gadd because
he plays perfect. He has brought
orchestral and compositional thinking
to the drum kit while at the same time
having a great imagination and a great
ability to swing. "
For Steve, it wasn't always just
about other people's music. In 1976
he joined the group Stuff with Richard
Tee, Gordon Edwards, Eric Gale, Chris
Parker and Cornell Dupree. Steve also
recorded numerous albums and toured
with Al Di Meola, Roberta Flack, Gato
Barbieri, Stanley Clarke, Joe Cocker,
Chick Corea, George Benson, Maynard
Ferguson, Jim Hall, Paul Simon and, of
course, Steely Dan.
Today at 77, Steve is just as busy as
he ever was with one of the most intense
recording and touring schedules in the
business, spending time in the studio
and on the road with James Taylor, Eric
Clapton and his own Steve Gadd Band.
I had the opportunity to sit down with
Steve and discuss some of our favorite
topics, ranging from music to recording,
touring to travel and our love of English
Bulldogs. Steve is not a technical guy
when it comes to recording. He focuses
100% on the music. In a very Zen way,
Steve has faith that if everyone works together
and focuses on the music, it will
all magically work itself out.
For this article, I wanted to focus on
the hands behind the microphones. Let's
face it, if you have Steve Gadd playing
drums, a stack of Shure SM57 mics will
work just fine!
Everyone overdubs everything these
days. Do you prefer recording with
a big ensemble or overdubbing
your way to success?
I like it all. Whatever gets to the music
is okay with me. I just want a space that
doesn't get in the way of me getting in
the moment and connecting the music
and the players.
Aja had a ton of people playing
on it with Steely Dan. Were your
parts recorded as a section
or was it pieced together?
Aja was a little different than the other
things they were doing. We played that
as a band and did it live. Bill Schnee
was the engineer, and Gary Katz was
the producer. Everyone rehearsed and
recorded as a band.
Bill is a great engineer. Who were
some of the other engineers
you enjoyed working with?
Jay Messina, Geoff Emerick, Bruce
Swedien, Al Schmitt, Bernie Kirsh, Elliot
Scheiner, Hank Cicalo, Ed Rack, Donnie
Hahn, Jim Boyer, Phil Ramone--some of
whom worked under Phil. There were a
lot of good engineers, and I really relied
on them to do their thing.
RECORDING January 2023 51
RECORDING January 2023
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of RECORDING January 2023
Fade In
Fast Forward
Roland SPD-SX PRO Sampling Pad
Session Log with Marc Urselli: Trasfrontera Japan, taiko drums, Kaoru Watanabe and Anna Sato
Soundware Showcase: Toontrack Hitmaker SDX
PreSonus Studio One Version 6
Hugh Padgham: Behind the Gates of the Hitmaker
LEWITT BEATKIT PRO
Soundware Showcase: Spitfire Audio Abbey Road Orchestra: Low Percussion
Studio 101 with Joe Albano: An Intro to Drum Recording
sE Electronics T2
Solid State Logic SSL CONNEX
API 3122V
Inside the Studio with Mark Hornsby: Steve Gadd
Plugin Outlet: Strymon BigSky Plugin
Panda Audio Future Impact v3
EFNOTE 3X & EFNOTE 7
Readers’ Tracks
Fade Out: New (Year’s) Studio Resolutions
RECORDING January 2023 - Intro
RECORDING January 2023 - Cover1
RECORDING January 2023 - Cover2
RECORDING January 2023 - 1
RECORDING January 2023 - 2
RECORDING January 2023 - 3
RECORDING January 2023 - Fade In
RECORDING January 2023 - 5
RECORDING January 2023 - 6
RECORDING January 2023 - 7
RECORDING January 2023 - Fast Forward
RECORDING January 2023 - 9
RECORDING January 2023 - Roland SPD-SX PRO Sampling Pad
RECORDING January 2023 - 11
RECORDING January 2023 - 12
RECORDING January 2023 - 13
RECORDING January 2023 - Session Log with Marc Urselli: Trasfrontera Japan, taiko drums, Kaoru Watanabe and Anna Sato
RECORDING January 2023 - 15
RECORDING January 2023 - 16
RECORDING January 2023 - 17
RECORDING January 2023 - 18
RECORDING January 2023 - 19
RECORDING January 2023 - Soundware Showcase: Toontrack Hitmaker SDX
RECORDING January 2023 - 21
RECORDING January 2023 - 22
RECORDING January 2023 - 23
RECORDING January 2023 - PreSonus Studio One Version 6
RECORDING January 2023 - 25
RECORDING January 2023 - 26
RECORDING January 2023 - 27
RECORDING January 2023 - Hugh Padgham: Behind the Gates of the Hitmaker
RECORDING January 2023 - 29
RECORDING January 2023 - 30
RECORDING January 2023 - 31
RECORDING January 2023 - 32
RECORDING January 2023 - 33
RECORDING January 2023 - LEWITT BEATKIT PRO
RECORDING January 2023 - 35
RECORDING January 2023 - 36
RECORDING January 2023 - 37
RECORDING January 2023 - Soundware Showcase: Spitfire Audio Abbey Road Orchestra: Low Percussion
RECORDING January 2023 - 39
RECORDING January 2023 - Studio 101 with Joe Albano: An Intro to Drum Recording
RECORDING January 2023 - 41
RECORDING January 2023 - 42
RECORDING January 2023 - 43
RECORDING January 2023 - sE Electronics T2
RECORDING January 2023 - 45
RECORDING January 2023 - Solid State Logic SSL CONNEX
RECORDING January 2023 - 47
RECORDING January 2023 - API 3122V
RECORDING January 2023 - 49
RECORDING January 2023 - Inside the Studio with Mark Hornsby: Steve Gadd
RECORDING January 2023 - 51
RECORDING January 2023 - 52
RECORDING January 2023 - 53
RECORDING January 2023 - 54
RECORDING January 2023 - 55
RECORDING January 2023 - Plugin Outlet: Strymon BigSky Plugin
RECORDING January 2023 - 57
RECORDING January 2023 - Panda Audio Future Impact v3
RECORDING January 2023 - 59
RECORDING January 2023 - EFNOTE 3X & EFNOTE 7
RECORDING January 2023 - 61
RECORDING January 2023 - 62
RECORDING January 2023 - 63
RECORDING January 2023 - Readers’ Tracks
RECORDING January 2023 - 65
RECORDING January 2023 - 66
RECORDING January 2023 - 67
RECORDING January 2023 - 68
RECORDING January 2023 - 69
RECORDING January 2023 - 70
RECORDING January 2023 - 71
RECORDING January 2023 - Fade Out: New (Year’s) Studio Resolutions
RECORDING January 2023 - Cover3
RECORDING January 2023 - Cover4
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