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Drum Mic

A phone call came in to the studio late one evening in July 2006 asking whether there was any time available during the following week to record a telephone interview.  It was an unusual request – we normally record rock bands – but booked a session for the following Friday.  I asked who we were to expect, and was told it was Mitch Mitchell, legendary drummer with the Jimi Hendrix Experience.  All that was required for the caller from Los Angeles would be ten or fifteen minutes for Mitch to talk about his time with Jimi.  The ensuing file was to be sent over by ftp to be placed in the US Congress Library of Recording.

On the day of recording Mitch was late arriving, and when he did arrive his appearance was not how I had expected the exhuberant rock drummer to look – but then his heyday with Jimi had been some thirty years ago!  Now he would go totally unnoticed anywhere.  Having said that we had to prise him off the studio drum kit when the phone rang from LA for the third time.  We got Mitch comfortable installed with the mic open and he started talking. 

He spoke initially about seeing some young ladies tap-dancing and thinking that it seemed an interesting thing to do.  There was a small drum kit at the dance school which he was eventually allowed to ‘put a foot in’.  In Mitch’s eyes there was a direct link between the timing and syncopation of tap-dancing and drumming.  Later he took up fencing for the same reason – this was through someone who had been a stunt double for Errol Flynn.

Time passed, and the recording file size was growing bigger all the time, eating into the hard drive.  I could see the drive running out of space, not expecting such a long recording, and I had to call a short break to switch drives.

Then we continued. after Terri had helped him remove his shoes.  Mitch had a very rich career – child actor, singer on early commercials for television, session musician, drummer with Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames and of course the seminal Jimi Hendrix Experience.

Eventually he got round to his anecdotes about Jimi, how he auditioned and won the job, life with the Experience, and the death of guitarist Jimi.

All in all the recording ran for about two hours – about 2 gig of wave file.  Mitch had a very deliberate style of delivery with a lot of pauses for thought.  We have since edited the full recording, without losing Mitch’s flavour, and the final version now runs at a shade over an hour.  We hold this as a unique and priceless treasure.  Probably Mitch’s final interview – but certainly his most in-depth.

After the interview had finished Mitch was in no hurry to leave and he sat in on the kit again.  This was an opportunity not to be missed and I plugged in a guitar, Terri hooked up a mic, and we sat and jammed until he had to get off back home again.  What an experience!

We meet and work with many known names in the music business but Mitch stood out as a wonderful, warm and easy going man.  The Jimi Hendrix Experience may now be complete in spirit but the world will miss this drumstick wizard who has been the inspiration of drummers around the world.

To hear a short sample of Mitch speaking follow the link on Mitch @ Little London Studios website.

About the Author:

Mike and Terri Harris are partners in Little London Studios, based in Hastings, East Sussex. Over the past eight years they have worked with a number of known names, especially from chart bands of the seventies and eighties now re-emerging with different lineups and new material. Articles from the studio files are intended to give a bit of insight into the recording and management business.

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – The Mitch Mitchell Story – in His Words