Happy Music with Jean-Jacques Perrey and Dana Countryman

Jan 8, 2007 2:51 PM, By Gino Robair

There is a mention in the liner notes that you used "Moog-style analog synthesizers," by which you're referring to your Synthesizers.com instrument?
Dana Countryman: Yes, that's the big analog instrument and the main thing we used on the album. And thanks to Roger Arrick [of Synthesizers.com], this whole project came together, because it was a dream of mine to use analog synthesizers. Although we did use some digital instruments, as well, the focus of the album was to re-create that classic, analog Moog sound of the late '60s and early '70s.

What digital instruments did you use? Obviously, you used samplers and MIDI to do the short, loopy rhythm tracks based on Perrey's original recordings.
As a matter of fact we used Digital Performer on a G5 Mac in my studio. We also used Reason a fair amount, for its sampling capabilities. We took Jean-Jacques's classic sounds, bit by bit, sample by sample, and imported them onto keyboards. Then, he was able to plunk out the crazy sounds in real time. After that, we'd go back and clean it up, rhythmically, to keep it right on the beat.

A lot of those sounds were recorded as early as 1962, and I think they sound pretty good for weathering through the years. They were very well recorded back then, on good equipment, with good microphones.

What was the compositional process like between you two? Did one of you start with a rhythm track and the other do the melodies?
He would send me a MiniDisc with some unfinished tunes on them, and I would send either MP3s, CD-Rs, or MiniDiscs over to France, where he lives. But he'd work on my tunes and finish them up, and I'd work on his tunes. We would purposefully not finish our tunes: we would give the other person enough rope to collaborate without being in the same room. And then we'd send MP3s back and forth of how things were coming together and have consultations.

Also we used Skype a lot, talking through our computers. We both have high-speed Internet access with cable modems. Through the whole process, we were able to do a lot of the preproduction work, without being in the same studio or even on the same continent. It worked well.

I have never really collaborated with another person until this project—not to this extent. It worked well because he is a very generous person and I try to be as well, in terms of compromising and being open to new ideas.

So you created your parts to his low resolution version? Did he send you the CD-resolution so you could marry it up to your tracks?
The way it worked was that, once we got the songs composed, I did a rough track with a drummer and a few of the basic rhythm keyboard parts. Then he flew in and we spent 12-hour days for weeks on end working the real meat-and-potatoes, picking out all of the actual analog lead-synthesizer lines.

All the loop work was done together in the studio. Then he, unfortunately, had to go back to Europe, and I did the postproduction work, which was the mixing and adding some additional musicians. But it was always done under the consultation of both of us. We listened to the tracks live on Skype, through my little head-piece microphone, and then he might say "Hey, go back and get the one section" or "clean up that one note. It's off just a little bit." So we tried to do as much of it as we could live, together in the studio. But there were times when we did it long-distance as well.

And he doesn't have a studio, so I was left as the person to do the overall coordination of the sound.

How did he work on the pieces if he didn't have a studio?
He does have an electronic piano: a workstation, basically. So he sent me his tunes, sometimes with his rhythmic ideas, or just the melody and basic chords. And then I would do most of the arrangement. Although, he did a fair amount of that, too.

Once he got to my studio, we would go back and retool things. So there was a lot of compromise, but it was a true collaboration. He's not really an arranger. It's not generally what he does. He's more of an idea-man, a melodic person. Also, his crazy sense of humor is something that only he truly has.

You had first suggested a collaboration when you were in France, which led to this project. What tune was that?
The tune was "Chicken on the Rocks." Originally I was working on a solo album—a synthesizer project—and I was going to bring in various guest stars, and he was one of them. My family was taking a trip to Paris, and I knew Jean-Jacques already—we'd been friends for years—and I asked him if he would play on just one tune from my upcoming project. He said he'd be happy to do that, and we went into a friend's studio in Paris and recorded "Chicken on the Rocks."

And then about six months later, we talked about working on a whole CD together, but I just didn't see how we could do that without being in the same place at the same time. His health wasn't good enough at the time for him to travel. Well, he got his health stabilized enough with his doctor's help that he got the green light to come to America. At that point, we took the track we worked on together and made it the beginning of our entire CD project.

When he was in your studio, did he help program the analog synthesizer and come up with patches?
I think I did most of the patches, but we made notes of the some of the things that we liked. Certain kinds of patches we would go back to.

One of the things I should mention about the "Chicken on the Rocks" tune, is that we used the Ondioline as the predominant lead instrument. It's that rare, French vacuum-tube synthesizer.

Did you have one?
Yes. I went over to France in 2000 and brought one back with me. Unfortunately, it needed a heck of a lot of work to repair it, but it's in basic working condition. It's a vintage instrument, so it needs a lot of care and upkeep, kind of like a Model T

Is that the one that Perrey used when you did the gigs in the United States?
Yeah. Actually, we have two in my studio right now. One is his and one is mine. We used mine for the Seattle gig. But for the California gigs, we ended up taking his. His works a little better than mine. And he's got one stored away in France as well, so we have access to three Ondiolines right now.

How did you set up the live shows? He had the Ondioline onstage, but you were playing a Yamaha DX7, and you had the analog modular synth up there, as well.
I just used the DX7 for the MIDI capability. I had it running into either the big synthesizer that was behind me, or into just a sampler. I did use a couple of the basic sounds of the DX7. I like the organ sound. There are actually some great sounds on that machine.

I basically ripped my studio apart to do the Seattle gig, because I live near Seattle, up in Everett. In California, we found a nice guy on one of the synthesizer news groups, named Dave Peck, who was nice enough to lug his mostly-Synthesizers.com modular down to our show in San Francisco.

Then in Los Angeles, we played in Hollywood at the Knitting Factory. We hooked up with the Analogue Haven store in Pomona—super-nice guys—and they were kind enough to lend us three of their synthesizers to do the show in Hollywood. We only traveled with the Ondioline as luggage.

How did you do the backing tracks? Did you run them off a disc?
We used the tracks we had created for the CD, but we left off the lead lines, which we played live. So we accented what we had already pre-planned in the studio. And we were honest with the audience about the fact that we were basically playing along with our CD. But we did add some elements to it that you wouldn't find on the CD, which gave it a definite live feel.

You are also Jean-Jacques biographer?
I've done several articles on him for the magazine that I used to publish, which I sold about three years ago. As a matter of fact, in 2003, I traveled to his home in France and interviewed him for a week and the plan is that, starting in January [2007], I'm going to begin official work on his biography. I've been gathering interviews with various people like Dick Hyman, Angelo Badalamenti, Bob Moog (while he was still with us), and a lot of associates that he worked with, particularly back in the '60s, when he was doing the bulk of his pioneering pop-electronic work.

I'm hoping to have it done by April 2007. This book has been looming in the background for too long now, and I want to get it done. Especially while he's healthy and able to contribute to this thing.

Perrey has had a fascinating career, working with all kinds of people, like Leonard Bernstein, Salvador Dali, Les Paul, and Raymond Scott. He's rubbed shoulders with lots of incredibly interesting musicians and actors: Alfred Hitchcock, Walt Disney—it just goes on and on. And he's done a lot of interesting stuff, like contributing sound effects to the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). I just found out he did some of the sound effects for Bewitched. He actually did a bunch of sound effects for ABC TV.