Tag: Ted Templeman

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Eddie Van Halen & Ted Templeman Produce Private Life – 2022 – VIDEO – This Day in Rock History

Van Halen History:

This Day in VH 11/2/1989: Eddie Van Halen records with Private Life.

Greg Renoff: Front row, L-R
🔈Engineer Jeff Hendrickson
🔈Ted Templeman
🔈Eddie Van Halen

Wikipedia:

Jennifer Blakeman started her professional musical career playing in bands around Shreveport, Louisiana while in college, with an eye to pursue a career as a session musician and entertainment attorney. After coming to the attention of Eddie Van Halen who enlisted her to help create a unique signature keyboard sound for him, she spent several years working closely with him programming his keyboards, most notably for the Van Halen OU812 album.

As an early member of the band Private Life, a hard rock formation produced by both Ted Templeman and Eddie Van Halen, she co-wrote, recorded and released two albums with this band, Shadows (1988) and Private Life (1990) through Warner Brothers Records. Later Blakeman worked as a touring keyboardist and backing vocalist for British rock artist Billy Idol, the Australian pop rock band Savage Garden (most notably on the Affirmation album), British pop artist Billie Myers, American singer David Cassidy, and many other artists.

Her compositions and recordings can be heard in films including Wayne’s World, Gremlins and Superstars and Cannonballs.

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The Doobie Brothers’ Michael McDonald on Co-Writing Van Halen’s “I’ll Wait”: I probably made more money from that song than I made from all the Doobie songs – 2022 – INTERVIEW – Steely Dan

Dean Delray: Rock & Roll Hall of Fame singer/songwriter Michael McDonald stops by Let There Be Talk for a great conversation on his amazing career with The Doobie Brothers, Steely Dan and his solo career.

You can listen to the entire interview via the embedded iTunes widget below. An excerpt from the conversation has been transcribed.

INTERVIEW EXCERPT (transcribed by full in bloom):

On Recording Keyboards w/ Engineer Donn Landee:

Michael McDonald:

I think some of the synth sounds that became popular later on in early rap music, which were really kind of squirrelly sounds, I think they actually sampled them off of early Doobie Brothers records. And at the time, they were considered some of the worst sounds ever developed for any record.

I remember our engineer, Donn Landee, whenever I would do keyboard overdubs – especially with synths – Ted (Templeman) would make up some excuse for why he had to leave, and poor Donn would be left alone with me. Donn, without reservation, would make it apparent to me that this was the last place on Earth that he felt like being right now. He would sit at the console and go, “Oh, jeez.” Ted would be out the door. So, I would be sitting there for hours, and we’d finally get an okay strings or brass sound, and I would go, “Ok, it just needs a little,” and Donn would go, “Don’t touch it.” I’d say, “Well, no, just a…” All of a sudden, this sound would go from lush to “Weeeeeee.” (laughs) It would be another two hours to get the sound back.

Actually, I knew one day he had it. I was working on some sound for way too long, and he was over working on a reverb unit. At one point, the frustration of listening to me and not being able to fix this unit, he just took it and hurled it across the room into the wall. (laughs) I realized it was probably time to call the session for the day.

On Producer Ted Templeman & Donn Landee:

Ted was kind of Renaissance producer to me, as were a lot of those guys in that era, Russ Titelman, Lenny Waronker. They had an amazing scope of what an artist had to offer. Ted always brought out the best in us. Whatever it is we thought we had going on with originals, we would rehearse for weeks maybe a month up at our house in San Francisco and come up with these, what we thought were great arrangements of the songs. Typically, we would go into the studio, and Ted would rip them apart and start from scratch, many times. The work we did was worth something, but Ted could really deconstruct things and put it back together to where the focus would be more on what the song really had to offer. I always marveled at that; we all did. We all felt very fortunate to have his input, and we all looked forward to it.

He did everything from play drums on some of the tracks to helping come up with some of the background parts, guitar parts. He was a real jack-of-all-trades. Even though he didn’t really play any of those instruments, he knew what worked musically.

Donn was an artistic and talented engineer. His ear went so far beyond just the technical part of it. We’d get a track to a certain point, and we’d leave it with him to mix. He would do a rough mix, and he would decide what went on certain versions of the mix. In a way, he would kind of arrange the song himself, omit certain parts that he thought were getting in the way of the record having something to offer sonically for radio. We were always amazed when we heard the mixes. We’d be like, “Wow, that’s something else.”

Then when they’d master, the mastering always made a big difference. Everything they did really brought the music to the next level in very noticeable ways for us.

On Co-Writing Van Halen’s “I’ll Wait”:

The track was done, and Eddie Van Halen did all the synths on that. The band had actually cut the track, but they didn’t have a melody or lyric. It was just kind of a track. Ted gave me a copy of it and said, “Don’t play this for anybody, but see if you can write a lyric.” Apparently, that became, “Well, you and David (Lee Roth) get together and come up with a lyric, so that he feels good with it.”

I got together with David in Ted’s office. My experience was, he seemed okay with it. We didn’t really make any real changes, just kind of ran it by him, and they went in and recorded it. And I put it down on cassette with their track, and I sang over it for him. So, he went away with that.

They cut the song, and the record came out. Low and behold, I wasn’t on the writing credits. (laughs) You would’ve never known (that I was a co-writer) had I not bitched and moaned about it. Eventually, we worked that out. Those guys sold so many records, for my 1/5 of the share of the record, I probably made more money from that song than I made from all the Doobie songs up to that point. They were selling crazy amounts of records. That was that new generation where, you know, “We just sold 100 million records on the last record, and we only sold 90 million units on this record, so they’re going to drop us.” Before that, if you sold platinum (1 million units), you were like the shit.

Anyway, it was great experience. I always loved Van Halen. I remember the first time we heard Van Halen; Pat (Simmons) and I were in the studio talking with Ted, and Ted came in and said, “You’ve got to listen to these kids.” He had their demo. It was “Pretty Woman,” which came out much later for them, but one of the first demos they turned in to Warner Brothers was “Pretty Woman.” Here’s Eddie playing a version of “Pretty Woman” that Roy Orbison never dreamed of…it was crazy. We were just like, “Oh, my God.” And I think it was “You Really Got Me” was the other song they did by The Kinks. We were blown away by Eddie’s playing. We had never heard anything like it. Of course, the rest is history.

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Van Halen Producer Ted Templeman on Marq Torien: “I had a thoroughbred on the first BulletBoys’ album, and right now, I have a donkey” – 2022 – Interview

VWMusic recently caught up with Jimmy D’Anda, formerly of BulletBoys, recently of George Lynch & The Electric Freedom. Dig it. You can read the entire interview @ this location. -> An excerpt from the interview can be found below.

INTERVIEW EXCERPT:

The great Ted Templeman essentially championed BulletBoys. From your vantage point, Jimmy, what was it about the band that he gravitated to?

Jimmy D’Anda:

Well, I’m gonna be honest with you, because that’s the one thing that I’m learning to be better at in my older age. [Ted] said to me one time — and this was all honesty because he’ll compliment, but then he’ll be honest, even when it’s a little hurtful.

On the Freakshow record, Marq had lost his voice. He had gotten nodules from screaming, smoking cigarettes, weed, and doing cocaine. He ruined his voice. So, Ted had said, “Jimmy, the reason I signed BulletBoys was because of Marq’s voice.” He said, “You guys are great musicians, and the songs are fun and they’re playful, and it’s rock ‘n’ roll at its best, but I signed this band because of Marq.” He goes, “I had a thoroughbred on the first BulletBoys’ album, and right now, I have a donkey.” You know, in that instance – because I had never heard those words, that he had signed the band because of Marq’s voice, and then hearing about how he felt about Marq losing his voice – it was a difficult time because we weren’t getting along with [Marq]. The three members weren’t getting along with Marq, and there was talk of maybe trying to get Sebastian Bach to leave Skid Row, and there was talk of bringing somebody else to the table.

But I remember just so vividly thinking, “I’m gonna be a part of that Van Halen lineage,” because Van Halen is one of my all-time favorite bands. The same direction that Alex Van Halen got behind the glass, I’m gonna get from the same person. That, to me, I would sit there and just be in awe. And I had to keep it cool because you definitely wanna nerd-out, and you ask questions about the Van Halen’s and you wanna know about Roth and you wanna know about that stuff. And for the most part, he would tell me that stuff. He knew I was a kid; he knew I was nineteen years old, and he knew he was able to talk to me about something that he can’t just say in public. He liked that and I liked it, too. Again, for me, it was such a magical time.

What was it like for you working under Ted’s direction for the debut album?

Well, I didn’t know this, but after me and Ted had become closer throughout the years, he had said to me one time, “I have always had a connection with every drummer in every band that I’ve produced.” I don’t know if you know this, but Ted Templeman was a drummer in his band; he was a drummer growing up before he became a producer, so he always kind of had that understanding of what it means to be a drummer and be the guy in the background who doesn’t get a lot of attention. But if he doesn’t do his job, it doesn’t matter what the fuck is happening up in front; guitar player, singer, doesn’t matter; if your drummer sucks in your band, you’re not gonna have a fuckin’ good band. So, he goes, “Jimmy you’re my guy, so I need to get the inside with you sometimes. I might need you to kind of infiltrate for me. When I want something done, I’m gonna go through you, and you’re gonna help me get it done.” I’m like, “Absolutely.”

There were moments when he had a lot of magic; I’m not gonna lie to you. He would come up with ideas, and we would be like, “Holy shit! That’s great!” He personally, himself – because we’d had the cover idea for doing the O’Jays “For The Love Of Money” track – he was the guy that goes, “No, no. Here’s how we’re gonna play it.” And he dissected it, gave everybody their parts, and then we played it. So, that kind of stuff is like, “Wow.” I mean, he had it all in his head; he could figure that stuff out.

On the first day of recording, I started doing the first song, which is a song on the record called “Kissin’ Kitty.” I didn’t know what was happening, of course, you get that rush, you’re looking at that whole painted glass window and you see Ted Templeman there – and of course Jeff Hendrickson; when Don Lanning left Ted Templeman, Ted got the best engineer he could find, and that’s Jeff Hendrickson.

So, they go, “Okay, ready. Rolling!” You hear that, and then you start playing. Then Ted hit the talkback button and said, “Stop, stop, stop,” so we stop – and I’m full-throttle playing drums – and then I stopped, and you could see them talking. Then Ted goes, “Hold on. We’re going again.” Then he goes, “Okay, rolling!” And then, of course, they do their whole, “Take two!” I start playing again, and then Ted stops again. He hits the talkback, which cuts out every bit of sound everywhere else and all you hear is his voice in your headphones, and it’s like God’s talking to you. I look over at him, he looks at me, and then he’s looking at Jeff and they’re talking. You can’t hear, because it’s just silence. Then he hits the talkback and he goes, “Hey, Jimmy. How ya feeling today?” And I was like, “Oh, shit, this is about me,” and then I go, “Uh, I’m fine. Is everything okay?” He goes, “Yeah, let’s try one more. Here we go.” Then I start playing, and he hits the talkback … “Hold on!” And I’m like, “Oh, shit. Something’s wrong and I don’t know what it is, but it’s me.” Then on the talkback, he says, “Hey, guys. Why don’t you guys take ten. I’m gonna go talk to Jimmy.” I feel like I’m gonna poop and throw up at the same time, it’s like, “Oh my God. Oh, fuck. They’re replacing me. Fuck, he’s gonna replace me.” I’m freaking out.

Then he comes out to the drum room, and a piano is kind of behind me with a piano bench right there, and he gets it and he pulls it up next to me a little bit, and I turn around but I’m on my drum throne. I go, “Hey, Ted. Is everything okay?” He goes, “Yeah, I just wanna come out and talk to you for a minute.” And he had asked one of the runners to go grab a couple of Heineken beers, and it’s not even lunchtime yet; it’s like, maybe, 10:45. So, he sits next to me, and the guy runs out with a couple Heinekens. Ted pops open one and he hands me one, he clinks cheers, and he just started talking to me. He goes, “So, where are you from?” I said, “I’m from Boyle Heights, right down the way.” He said, “Oh, cool. I live up in blah blah blah…” And I go, “Oh, great.” And he said, “Do you have family…” So, we started talking and we finished the beer, and then he goes, “Okay, how do you feel?” And I go, “I feel fine.” He goes, “Okay. Let’s go.”

The guys come back in, they do their thing … “Okay, rolling!” I start playing the song and then we get the song done. The song ends, and Ted had this thing – you can ask any Van Halen guy, any Montrose guy, anybody that’s ever worked with Ted Templeman – when the take is the take, he stands up and puts his finger up to tell you to be quiet. It’s quite visible; it’s not like, “Is he telling me to be quiet?” You know he’s saying, “Shhh!” And I remember he did that. We were like little kids; it was like “Tag, you’re it. Nobody can move.” Nobody even was breathing.

So, now, fast-forward to later on, I walk in there and there’s a moment there between [Ted] and I. I go, “Hey, Ted, what was that whole thing about earlier?” He goes, “Jimmy, you were so nervous. Your tempo was completely shot. Your tempo was out the window. I could see you looking at me like somebody you idolize, and I needed to take that away.” So, he came out, and basically, we became friends right then. So, it wasn’t this little kid from Boyle Heights with the Van Halen producer; it was a producer and his drummer. He just kind of took all the scariness out of it, and I didn’t even see it happen, it just kind of happened from that experience. So, when I think about Templeman, I think about that story right there.

This is a very detailed/cool interview, and there’s a lot more to go. You can read the entire feature @ this location.

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Bulletboys Guitarist Talks Van Halen Producer Ted Templeman – Mick Sweda Interview Excerpt

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This excerpt was taken from the full in bloom interview with Bulletboys guitarist Mick Sweda.

LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW VIA THE EMBEDDED YOUTUBE CLIP / SOUNDCLOUD WIDGET BELOW.

YOU CAN ALSO LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW VIA APPLE PODCASTS.

INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION:
Mick talks about working with legendary Van Halen producer Ted Templeman, during the first Bulletboys album recording sessions.

Mick Sweda Interview via YouTube

Mick Sweda Interview via Soundcloud

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Producer Ted Templeman Talks Van Morrison, The Doobie Brothers, Ronnie Montrose….via Billboard

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Billboard recently spoke to Ted Templeman.  The famed producer talked about his intimidating but ultimately triumphant first co-production with Van Morrison.  An excerpt from the interview can be found below.

How did you come to work with Van Morrison?

I was working as a listener at Warner Bros. Records. A&R ace Lenny Waronker, along with WB general manager Joe Smith, had helped me sign The Doobie Brothers, and we were co-producing their first record. One day Joe told me I should take a trip to San Francisco with him to learn the ropes. We flew to up and drove to Marin County to meet with Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead. Len cautioned me: “Ted, don’t eat or drink anything he offers, it might be laced with acid.”

After that, we drove to Fairfax, California to see Van Morrison. He and Joe talked about his next album. Van was quiet, polite and self-effacing, and I took an immediate liking to the guy. His Irish brogue was hard to understand sometimes, but I could tell he was a super-smart cat. We talked for a while, then Joe and I headed back to Burbank. A week later, Van called and asked me to come up and listen to some tunes. He played new song ideas, and we listened to records, and found we had a common interest in Jazz. We both liked The Modern Jazz Quartet, Mose Allison… We listened to the Les McCann and Eddie Harris track “Compared To What” three or four times in a row… Then he played me some new song ideas that were terrific. But I was completely surprised when he said “Wanna work on a record with me?” I couldn’t believe it… he was giving me the chance of lifetime! His talent is undeniably beyond compare. His ballad lyrics have the warm sensitivity of Shelley or Keats on “Tupelo Honey,” yet he can deliver vocals with the power of Hemingway on a song like “Wild Night.”

You’d already done the first Doobie Brothers album? Or what had Van heard of your production work?

He’d heard nothing… and wouldn’t have known of the Doobie Brothers, because “Listen To The Music” from their second LP wasn’t even written yet. He had no idea. He doesn’t think like that. He just said, “You wanna work with me on this?” I said, ‘yeah’ and we decided to co-produce. We went right in to the studio. He’d decided to give this young rookie a shot.

What studio was this?

Wally Heider’s in San Francisco. We had a wonderful, understanding engineer, Stephen Barncard. I’d go in and get the musicians warmed up and microphones ready, then he would get sounds while I drove across the Golden Gate Bridge to Fairfax, pick up Van, who had no driver’s license. It was great, because he’d selected the musicians, and they’d be ready to go when he walked in. Not like I called in studio cats; he knew exactly how to put a band together. They knew what to expect. If he’d rehearsed them, he’d sometimes walk in, pick up his guitar… tell them which song he wanted to do, then go: “one, two, three, four” and boom… they’d start.

I was nervous, but he was understanding. He’s stop and say, “So Ted, are we getting a good sign in there?” In his Irish brogue, he was saying “sound.” He sang every track straight through, live with the band. That’s how he captured the spontaneity. That’s an important lesson I learned from him. I used that approach in all my future projects. Never burn out the band doing take after take…. just get the little parts ironed out before hitting the record button.

There were certain terms that confused some of us. Americans think of songs in terms of verse, chorus, bridge, etc., but Van called a bridge “the middle eight,” which makes perfect sense. I was nervous as hell. I was afraid of over-modulating [distortion] and tried not to look unhappy or puzzled…because musicians look at the expression on the producer’s face. So here I am, trying to make sure we didn’t mess something up, while at the same time being in awe of Van’s talent. His pitch is perfect, and his vocal ability and musical instincts are second to none.

Ronnie Montrose, who you later produced with future Van Halen singer Sammy Hagar, is on this record.

Ronnie Montrose was a godsend to me; we got to be really good friends. He had a sense of humor that would make Van laugh, and that’s an important thing. He was the guy who kept the fucking session alive, and I’m not joking, because I was too serious. I was scared. I was nervous, and he kept things light and happy.

Read the entire interview @ this location.