A 3000 mile wide recording studio
The Atlantic Ocean has great acoustics!
I’m still able to work with Lole in Hendaye after moving back to New England. It’s still the same latitude! Still the same attitude!
The recording studio is located in the top floor of Lanetik Egina, Hendaye’s music school. It is less than a kilometer away from the Spanish frontier, but the locals, many being Basque, simply call it “the other side”. Les Hendayais speak French, Spanish and Basque-not so much English.
In the recording process, I’ve learned a lot of studio French. Lole’s picked up a lot of studio English. Sometimes while recording, we’d throw in some Spanish or Basque to really get the point across. “Backing vocals should come in aquí” or “Il faut remettre le piano HEMEN”
Here’s some French vocabulary that may be helpful for drummers…
La grosse caisse – Bass drum.
Le tom basse – Floor Tom.
La caisse claire – Snare drum.
Les toms – Hanging/Rack toms.
La charleston – Hi-hat.
Les cymbales – Cymbals.
Still trying to figure out the French word for bullet mic.
Interestingly, “drums” in Basque is danborrak and “time” is denbora. It’s all about keeping time!!! When I studied Basque, and what I THINK I was able to glean was that some letters in words can change up, but the words might have a related meaning. Did I get this right? That happens in English too, right? Still not sure!
Previously, while working in person in the studio, and between bouncing tracks from my computer to his system, Lole and I would spend time trying to decipher the translations of American TV shows that were popular in France. Dukes of Hazard? Shériff, fait-moi peur (Sheriff, make me scared!) Law and Order? -New York Police Judicidaire! CSI? -Les Experts! A few other things got lost in translation as well, including humor. I joked that maybe one track needed a calliope. I explained to him what that was. He spent the afternoon looking for a calliope sound in his instrument library. I was kidding. I felt bad.
Ma musique est toujours entre les bonnes mains. Ça continue! Stay tuned…