Here’s a new recording, a cover of Keith Emerson’s Karn Evil 9, 2nd Impression, originally off the ELP album Brain Salad Surgery.
If you know me you know that Keith Emerson had long been one of my big musical idols. As a kid I was really into synthesizers and admired his pioneering synth work, although in those days most of his piano stuff was way beyond me. When Lizzy was a baby I quit playing in bands and had a big hole in my life. I bought a piano (up until that time I only had synths and my Fender Rhodes) and decided to finally learn how to really play, to get to the next level on piano as opposed to “keyboards”. I played a variety of stuff but focused mainly on jazz, and eventually stride, because without a rhythm section you can get across a whole song in a stride style. In the rock/pop realm there are only a handful of musicians who write on piano and have stuff that’s musically interesting and hangs together without a band – Lennon/McCartney, Steely Dan, Stevie Wonder, Randy Neuman, Joe Jackson and a few others.
And then there’s Keith Emerson. Emerson Lake and Palmer were pretty much the prototype for a large swath of subsequent prog rock, and at the heart of it is Keith’s keyboards. I set out to learn a few of his big pieces, and they are head-and-shoulders above anything else I’ve studied in terms of imagination, complexity and difficulty. So I thought it would be a good idea to really work up a few and learn his secrets. I mastered three: Take a Pebble, The Endless Enigma, and Karn Evil 9, 2nd Impression. Here’s one aspect of it: his music sounds high energy because it takes a lot of energy to play. He loves fast tempos and wide melodic intervals, so your hands are really moving a lot. Better be warmed up before you break into one of these numbers.
My version is a bit different, hopefully somewhat my own. I memorized it long ago and since it’s drifted from the original, so some parts are condensed and others expanded. Also, I play without the bass and drum accompaniment. Perhaps the biggest change is I use a Rhodes rather than a grand piano, to bring out the jazzy aspect of the piece. Although Emerson is widely regarded as a classically influenced pianist, he also has great jazz chops and sensibility, and was a big disciple of Dave Brubeck among others, and some of his best stuff is as much jazz as classical. I’ve often wondered why he didn’t do more in that direction. After all other prog guys Bill Bruford have tried their hand at it to the point where you could make the case that there is such a thing as British jazz. I guess once you’ve conquered arena rock there’s no great compulsion to stow the cannons and go for something more intimate and subdued.
(Aside: I read in the news recently that Keith survived some alarming emergency abdominal surgery. Stuff like that reminds you that everyone’s human. I wish him a speedy and full recovery, and hope to see him touring again before too long.)
My version is a bit more rubato, and perhaps not quite as strident or uptempo. The method I used was to record to a click track, merging together multiple takes. Once I was done I felt it sounded a bit stiff, so I ended up going back in and penciling in tempo changes to simulate the kind of feel that I give the tune when I play without a click track. That turned out to be pretty successful.
As far as the mix goes, there are actually six piano tracks. I triple tracked the part with three different samples, each in stereo. The main track is a straight-up Rhodes. Second is a Rhodes with tremolo and other effects, mixed to the left to provide some sonic motion. Third is a grand piano, mixed to the right and way down low, almost subliminal, to provide a bit of plonk on the low and trinkle on the high notes, just a bit of general attackiness. I put the effects on a bus rather than as channel inserts, to try and unify the sounds as one voice. I’ve been reading some books on mixing (more on that in another post) and got some ideas I wanted to try. The effects chain consists of some pretty heavy compression, followed by a really short delay and then a plate reverb. The return is mixed in just enough to add some presence without sounding overly processed. Then, since I’m not doing a legit mastering step for this song, I threw a limiter on the main bus on the way out. I think it came out quite nice.
