Kensington Sound
Located in the heart of Kensington Market, Kensington Sound is Toronto’s oldest operational recording studio. Since 1972, Kensington Sound has worked with hundreds of artists and is home to multiple gold and platinum records.
Latest
On The Edge
- “The engineer looked at me panicked, wide-eyed.”
“What? We have to perform with backing tracks? Why can’t we just use
live musicians?”
I am speaking to Julian Shapiro in New York City. Julian manages the
Drifters, the legendary ‘doo-wap’ band from the 50’s that scored
countless Top Ten hits such as ‘Under the Boardwalk’ and ‘Save the Last Dance’ from the 50’s straight through to the 80’s. I met Rick Sheppard, their lead vocalist at a bar in Toronto and have been their musical director for the past 25 years. Julian and I are discussing the upcoming appearance of the Drifters at Toronto’s CNE, a huge, annual fair held in the fall. There are apparently two acts: Gloria Gaynor (she of ‘I Will Survive’ fame) and ourselves.
“Yeah, well, Gloria Gaynor wants to perform to backing tracks to save money and her contract stipulates that no other act on the bill can have live musicians.”
“But Julian, we’ve never done a show without live musicians. This is going to be nerve-wracking!” What if Rick and the boys screw up an intro or come in late for the chorus in a song? It would be a nightmare!” (Somewhere unknown, Freddie Krueger raised an eyebrow.)
“Well, a lot of artists are doing this now (a sad commentary on how much live music revenue has slumped in recent years) and we don’t have a choice. You’d better start putting some tracks together.”
So, being the musical director, I reluctantly spent the next couple of weeks recording instrumental tracks for the entire Drifter show, not an easy task. Rick is an incredibly gifted performer and loves to react spontaneously to reactions from the audience and also the dynamics of the musicians in the band. I spent hours trying to get my Mac music software to live and breathe like a live band playing full-out onstage. Luckily my long experience on stage with the Drifters paid off and the tracks came out surprisingly convincing.
The day of the concert approached more quickly than I wanted. The lads arrived from New York and checked into the Harbour Castle Hotel on Queens Quay. We then rushed down to the CNE for a soundcheck. I had played the backing track CD on my laptop, home system and in the car, checking and double-checking to make sure that it played the whole show seamlessly and with no glitches because once we hit ‘Play’, the Drifters would be locked in and at the complete mercy of the CD. Before the soundcheck started, the sound engineer gave the CD a visual once-over. He gave me a thumbs-up.
“Wow. Brand-new! Got to like that!” Then he loaded into his fancy-schwanzy CD player that had so many
flashing buttons, I fully expected it to dispense an espresso.
“Yeah, that’s a $2,000 CD player. Won’t be having any problems with that puppy.” The soundcheck went flawlessly. The Drifters were blown away by the music tracks. Before this, they had only heard rough mixes.
We then went back to the hotel where we rehearsed for a solid two hours, practicing the beginnings and endings of each tune over and over again. I could feel our confidence building.
The limousine took us back to the CNE. We paced back and forth in the Green room in the basement underneath the stage. The butterflies in the stomach started flitting around. Then a knock on the door. “One minute to show time. Side stage please!” Well, this was it. I took a deep breath. With the Drifters standing behind me, I whispered a small prayer and hit ‘Play’. The opening music blazed out of the speakers. I yelled
into the wireless microphone sidestage behind the curtains.
“Ladies and gentlemen, are you ready for showtime? Please welcome, direct from New York City, the dynamic Mr. Rick Sheppard and the Drifters….!!!!!!!”
And then the Drifters paraded onto the stage, saluted the audience and the show began. As for me, well I’m sure there was a puddle of sweat underneath me within about ten minutes but to my amazement, the show went on and on, smooth as silk. I began to relax. One song after another, without a hitch. We were in the intro to ‘Save the Last Dance’ – only two songs left. The CD skipped.
“….Whaa…..the …..? Shit, was that a skip?” The engineer looked at me panicked, wide-eyed. “Not sure, I don’t think so….oh ….oh….goddamit…shit……aaaaarrrrgghhh….!!!!!” The CD began skipping like a freaking Mexican jumping bean….. ”SHIT!!!!!!!”
I quickly gave the cut-off sign to the engineer who stopped the CD player. Dead silence. Then, a few giggles from the audience. On stage, the Drifters, motionless, statues in tuxedos looking helplessly at each other.
Nightmare On Lakeshore Boulevard had come to life. Freddie Krueger was now in the house. Rick looked over towards me imploringly, eyes shining. I helplessly shrugged my shoulders and again gave the cut-off sign. During all of this, the engineer had been frantically playing the CD through headphones to see if he could get it to go.
“Goddamit! No f….in way….!.”
I looked back at Rick on stage and shook my head emphatically. Now what? Most performers would have been paralyzed. But these are the moments when the true professionals rise to the top.
Almost without missing a step, Rick turned to B.J. the baritone singer.
“Hey B.J., what do you have for us?” B.J. puzzled at first, quickly caught on. He smiled, put the microphone close to his mouth and then fell dramatically to his knees. Then he began to snap his fingers. The Drifters began to join in. In a booming baritone voice that shook the speakers, B.J. began to sing:
“….Weeeeeeeeellll……………….”some people say a man is made out of mud. A poor man’s made out of muscle and blood. Muscle and blood, skin and bone. With a mind that’s weak but a heart that’s strong. You know
sixteen tons and what do you get….? Recognizing the old classic ‘Sixteen Tons’, the audience began to
cheer and sing along. It was truly a magical moment and a God-send that pulled the whole thing right out of the fire. Quickly realizing this golden opportunity, I asked the sound engineer for a wireless microphone and told him I was going to go out after the end of the song to send the Drifters off.
“Hey, man, you’re not the emcee! Give me another minute, I think I can get the CD to work.” “Not a chance. We’re not even going to try. Just watch me. Here I go!”
I strode out on to the stage, clapping my hands as the song ended and crowd rose to give the Drifters a standing ovation. “Ladies and gentlemen, how about that??!! What a treat! Let’s give a huge round of applause to the amazing Drifters!!! We’ll be back after a short break so stay right in your seats for the legendary Gloria Gaynor…!!”
I followed the Drifters off the stage and a visibly relieved Rick turned to me with a beaming smile. “Thanks for bailing us out of there, Vezi. Good call!” And that is how we survived a near complete disaster. Freddie slunk away, temporarily defeated. But things didn’t end there. Gloria Gaynor’s crew had brought two CD’s – a main one and a backup. As fate would have it, both failed during the concert. She did not cope nearly as well as we did but that is a whole other story. Suffice it to say, Freddie’s knives came out after all. Just desserts, I’d say.
-Vezi
