Bernie Worrell on the making of MOTHERSHIP CONNECTION

**P-Shark: The Revenge** · 03-28-2012, 09:57 PM

“P. Funk [[Wants to Get Funked Up) was definitely classically influenced,” says Worrell. “I did the horn arrangements and played the strings on this record. See, my thing is mixing musical genres. It’s really something I love to do. In this particular piece, they did the playback and then I went into overdub mode. I layered against what I first did with the overdubbing. This is how the song took shape until the end of it.”
READ FULL ARTICLE

**soulster** · 03-28-2012, 11:39 PM

I find it quite strange that Worrell felt he had to explain the they recorded in analog, and that they edited with razor blades! It was 1976!!! Of course it was analog! Digital recording would become available for three more years! And, how the hell else are you going to edit tape? What is the average age of Soul Culture's audience?

“We had some marathon sessions during that time. We had two and three engineers in the studio with us at all times because you have to give your ears a rest. I don’t know how those guys did it. There was the main engineer and the assistant. The main engineer had to take some breaks and get some sleep sometimes. All of our recording was done on analog.
“The most time consuming part of the process was the editing portion. You had to cut the recording tape with a razor blade. Now that is an art within itself. It is probably a lost art today except for us antique people, but this how we came up. We didn’t know any different,” he laughs.

**P-Shark: The Revenge** · 03-29-2012, 12:20 AM

Originally Posted by soulster

I find it quite strange that Worrell felt he had to explain the they recorded in analog, and that they edited with razor blades! It was 1976!!!

1975

Of course it was analog! Digital recording would become available for three more years! And, how the hell else are you going to edit tape? What is the average age of Soul Culture's audience?[/QUOTE]
He's just letting folks know how they did it back them compared to how its done today. Just enjoy the article and stop nitpickin for once
dammit

**soulster** · 03-29-2012, 08:43 AM

Originally Posted by P-Shark: The Revenge

1975

Of course it was analog! Digital recording would become available for three more years! And, how the hell else are you going to edit tape? What is the average age of Soul Culture's audience?

He's just letting folks know how they did it back them compared to how its done today. Just enjoy the article and stop nitpickin for once
dammit

[/QUOTE]

I'm an engineer type. I notice stuff like that. Dammit!

I just found it odd that he thought people needed to be told it was analog.

**Hotspurman** · 03-29-2012, 10:33 AM

Originally Posted by soulster

He's just letting folks know how they did it back them compared to how its done today. Just enjoy the article and stop nitpickin for once
dammit

I'm an engineer type. I notice stuff like that. Dammit!

I just found it odd that he thought people needed to be told it was analog.[/QUOTE]

I'm not an engineer, but I spent enough time in studios during the late 1970s and early 80s assisting on editing sessions. I thought it quite fun as we played a snippet of a track that we wanted to edit, marked it with chalk, fast fowarded to the next logical bit of the song in order to make a seemless edit and then played the tape in a much slowed down form to make sure no one could tell where the join was!

I was also in a studio when digital was getting started and engineers were able to 'punch in' individual words on a song, thus creating the best possible version for release - that is certainly how much of Julio Iglesias' English recordings were done.

I think Bernie's explanation of this procedure is purely for the benefit of today's audience, who perhaps aren't aware of how antiquated the system was thirty or so years ago.

**soulster** · 03-29-2012, 12:41 PM

Originally Posted by Hotspurman

I think Bernie's explanation of this procedure is purely for the benefit of today's audience, who perhaps aren't aware of how antiquated the system was thirty or so years ago.

I know. That's why I wondered about the age of the intended audience. Or, perhaps the interviewer was quite young.

On the other note: thank god for digital editing on DAWs! It's faster, easier, and much more versatile. I hated razor blade editing.

**timmyfunk** · 03-29-2012, 06:07 PM

Originally Posted by P-Shark: The Revenge

“P. Funk [[Wants to Get Funked Up) was definitely classically influenced,” says Worrell. “I did the horn arrangements and played the strings on this record. See, my thing is mixing musical genres. It’s really something I love to do. In this particular piece, they did the playback and then I went into overdub mode. I layered against what I first did with the overdubbing. This is how the song took shape until the end of it.”
READ FULL ARTICLE

Excellent post PShark. And yes, Bernie is obviously speaking to the current generation who knows so little about the analog age.

**motony** · 03-30-2012, 03:48 PM

thanks for article, man that seems like yesterday.Love the whole Parlifunkadelicment Thang!

**destruction** · 04-02-2012, 10:56 PM

Insightful and a well paced read....it had a freshness....thx.

**daddyacey** · 04-03-2012, 01:42 AM

Thanks P-Shark , this was a good read and informative.

**timmyfunk** · 04-03-2012, 01:44 PM

Can someone please tell me why this album has never been the subject of "Classic Albums" segment? Most of the principle players are still alive.

**P-Shark: The Revenge** · 04-03-2012, 01:53 PM

Originally Posted by timmyfunk

Can someone please tell me why this album has never been the subject of "Classic Albums" segment? Most of the principle players are still alive.

I'm not quite sure I know what you mean. Is that a Vh1 series or something?
btw, there's been confusion of the official release of MC. This looks like the correct date. I'm not positive but I think I copped mine in Dec, 75
Parliament – Mothership Connection
Released: December 15, 1975
Label: Casablanca Records

**timmyfunk** · 04-03-2012, 05:49 PM

Originally Posted by P-Shark: The Revenge

I'm not quite sure I know what you mean. Is that a Vh1 series or something?
btw, there's been confusion of the official release of MC. This looks like the correct date. I'm not positive but I think I copped mine in Dec, 75
Parliament – Mothership Connection
Released: December 15, 1975
Label: Casablanca Records

It was a VH-1 series, but then they started doing DVD releases that weren't shown on TV.
That release date sounds pretty accurate.

**timmyfunk** · 04-03-2012, 05:51 PM

Originally Posted by P-Shark: The Revenge

I'm not quite sure I know what you mean. Is that a Vh1 series or something?
btw, there's been confusion of the official release of MC. This looks like the correct date. I'm not positive but I think I copped mine in Dec, 75
Parliament – Mothership Connection
Released: December 15, 1975
Label: Casablanca Records

Would it be safe to assume that you've read the article in Wax Poetics on Roger Troutman. In that article, Bootsy elaborates on how "More Bounce To The Ounce" was created. Your post reminded me of that.

**tamla617** · 04-03-2012, 05:56 PM

great stuff pshark the revenge thanks

btw i'm old enough to remember steam engines,i still like to know how they work tho'

**chidrummer** · 04-04-2012, 12:01 AM

Great article about a great time in music.

Digging a little further, I found something didn't know, the second Mothership will be part of a semi-permanent exhibit at the Smithsonian starting in 2015. Wow.