Yussef Kamaal - Calligraphy Dissection
- Jordan Aston
- Apr 17, 2019
- 4 min read
Updated: Apr 17, 2019
Yusseff Kamal is a jazz/ electronic dance group out of London. Their music is often also described as house. Since I’m recording a jazz/house trio of a very similar vein, this group seemed perfect to reference especially since there is a live session of them playing with drums bass and keys which is the layout of Mon Riser (the band I’m recording). Yusseff Kamaal has since split up with Kamaal Williams moving forward to work on his own music but he is present in this particular live recording. This video was recorded by Mistral Productions as part of the Brownswood Basement Sessions.
Track: Calligraphy
Artist: Yusseff Kamal
Live from: Brownswood Basement Sessions
Label: Brownswood Recordings
Members: Yussef Dayes/ Tom Driessler/ Mansur Brown/ Kamaal Williams
Producer: Gilles Peterson - Mistral Productions
Engineer: Mistral Productions
Recorded at: Brownswood Basement Sessions
Released: December 29, 2016
Tempo: 143bpm
Key: Am
Song Length: 4:58
Genre: Jazz/ Electronic Dance
Arrangement
The way that these guys write music is much less structured than one might think. Seeming extremely complex and perfect to every note and hit, they improvise on jams for an extended period of time and go back over recordings to pull out parts that they liked and piece together the music before recording ‘the final version’. “There’s no plan, as such,” says Williams. “There are ideas, and there are feelings, and there are grooves, but there are no plans. I’ll have a seed that I plant in the group and it grows by itself.” (West. 2018) I wanted to reference this group as soon as I saw this video because that is exactly how Mon Riser come up with their music as well. There is no discernible ‘structure’ like a pop song on the radio but rather parts, moments, waves and layers fabricated from the minds of the musicians on the spot and then crafted into a journey that will make a little more sense to the listener later. Capturing the essence of this live feeling is important to me and I feel like it was done well in this live session.
Instrumentation/ Microphone & Recording Techniques
This live recording consists of drums, bass, keys and guitar. There are no vocals, it’s the interplay of the instruments that makes this an interesting track to listen too. Much like Mon Riser which consists of drums, bass and keys. The bass guitar has a very warm and very smooth sound. It’s running along at a fast pace throughout the song and it sounds like there is a low pass filter being used. It’s mainly all low end with the bass and is nice and present in the mix right in the centre. Slightly compressed but dry, it’s doing a lot of work in the mix so keeping it tight using subtle compression and EQing out the high’s has created a strong fundamental grounding for the track. It’s also very clean and sounds like barely any saturation if any has been used. The Nord keyboard has been recorded stereo and is what is giving the song the width. Filling the mix out with mid-range textures it sounds like only subtle mixing has been done here as well. Perhaps a high-pass filter and some subtle compression. Often sitting a little further back in the mix it’s what is creating space for the intricate melodies and rhythms surrounding it. The guitar is very forward in the mix and is leading the song a lot of the time. Taking up the higher register it’s where your ears go first almost every time. It sounds like he is using a wah/ reverb/ distortion and delay.
As for drums, well what a performance to say the least. I’ll also be working with a drummer which speed like this guy. I feel it’s important to capture all the little nuances that flare out of this playing style. For example, the snare rolls and 32nd note trills on the hi-hats. To do this I’ll have to close mic at least the snare just like in the video. There is a microphone over to the right-hand side of the drum kit to capture the toms no doubt. Perhaps a Glyn Johns technique would be suitable for my recording as there is only one tom but three cymbals (including the high hats). One large diaphragm condenser above the kit facing down at the snare and one over to the right-hand side of the kit to pick up the ride cymbal and toms. A kick mic inside the kick drum to pick capture the feeling of the kick rather than too much attack from micing outside of the kick drum.
You can hear in the recording that the kick and the bass guitar lock in with each other nicely to create a ‘feeling’ rather than a sound that’s too ‘apparent’. The snare is VERY loud but mixed beautifully, it’s the most attacking element to the song and sounds like it’s been compressed and had the low end filtered out of it. Perhaps just the absolute tiniest bit of reverb to give it little life. The high hats have no harsh mid frequencies and are panned over to the right to create the audience perspective. The tom mic is panned hard right to give the mix even more stereo field. When you hear him do a drum fill around the kit, the sounds travel from far right to far left.
I think the main points I will take away from this track teardown are the drum micing and mixing techniques. I plan on using some sort of variation of the Glyn Johns technique, on the day of recording that means adjusting the microphones as many times as needed to fine tune the sound of the drum kit and the room. Another thing to consider would be any bleed coming from other instruments in the room since it is a live recording. For my recording the only other instrument that will be making sound within the room is the bass guitar amp. Keeping it low to the ground and facing away from the kit will help minimise bleed.
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