#02: Lenise Bent - Steely Dan, Terence McKenna, Supertramp, The Law Of Attraction, Audio Engineering and Guitar Amp Vacuum Tubes vs Apple Pie
Lenise Bent is a recording artist. As an audio engineer and producer who has put her creativity and talent on many iconic records including “Aja” by Steely Dan and “Breakfast In America” by Supertramp, she uses the brush strokes & colors found in recording gear to help those on the other side of the glass realize their vision. She is the first female engineer on record to receive a platinum album for Blondie’s “Autoamerican” album, which features a wide range of sounds & music from the Caribbean groove of “The Tide Is High” to the danceable rap-infused “Rapture”. Lenise is also a post-production audio professional, specializing in recording and editing foley sound effects for many films and animated series and has traveled the world for Dreamworks supervising the foreign dialogue recording and producing the vocals for such animated features as “Shrek”, “Spirit: Stallion of The Cimarron” and “Shrek 2”. She also archives and repairs audio, instructs, consults and holds workshops for audio students and singer / songwriters. She is a long standing member of many audio organizations including the Audio Engineer Society, SoundGirls, and the Producers and Engineers wing of the Recording Academy.
Learn more about Lenise Bent at:
You can find OTHER EPISODES | LINKS | TRANSCRIPTION | EXTRA SHOW NOTES at:
https://thekillahcortezshow.com/episodes/episode-02-lenisebent
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Note: This episode was recorded on 8.3.22
ABOUT KILLAH CORTEZ
Killah Cortez is a music producer, musician, and songwriter based in Los Angeles. Specializing in alternative/indie/pop, Cortez is richly creative with a remarkable gift of enhancing projects and taking listeners on a journey.
Cortez has also landed reviews from The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Lyrical Lemonade, and Paste Magazine with his compositions appearing in commercials and tv shows like "Younger".
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LINKS | TRANSCRIPTION | EXTRA SHOW NOTES
“Breakfast In America” by Supertramp
“Spirit: Stallion of The Cimarron”
Producers and Engineers wing of the Recording Academy
Sub Kick Microphone
Electro-Voice RE20 Microphone
Sennheiser MD 421-II Dynamic Microphone
AKG D12 Dynamic Microphone
https://vintageking.com/akg-d12-e-dynamic-microphone-tbd-1-vintage
Bob Siebenberg - Drummer of Supertramp
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Siebenberg
Crime Of The Century - Supertramp
https://open.spotify.com/album/2wrHaulTgqqkVKx0k7Kq4r?si=85rIHdQsSC2_vi27eBkStw
The Village Studios
https://www.villagestudios.com/
Russel Pope
https://snapshot11.com/give-little-bit-remembering-supertramps-russel-pope/
Jeff ”Skunk” Baxter
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Baxter
The Doobie Brothers
https://open.spotify.com/artist/39T6qqI0jDtSWWioX8eGJz?si=Oh2PK1_kT5G80GQTq0H14A
The Troubadour
UA 1176LN
Leon Russel
https://open.spotify.com/artist/6r1Xmz7YUD4z0VRUoGm8XN?si=W4BQwirOTLOhg9ip9nRQUg
The Wrecking Crew
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wrecking_Crew_(music)
Conway Recording Studios
http://www.conwayrecording.com/
Indigo Ranch
Mad Dog Studio
http://www.studioexpresso.com/spotlight%20archive/spotlight%20maddog.htm
“You Light Up My Life” - Debbie Boon
https://open.spotify.com/track/3dFR132gzO8jxD57R2gid3?si=6ea6615bde7b4c7c
Brooks Arthur
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Albums_produced_by_Brooks_Arthur
“Aja” - Steely Dan
https://open.spotify.com/album/5Zxv8bCtxjz11jjypNdkEa?si=kpfXQfVTQqa9ioUdj1mE_g
Warner Records
https://www.warnerrecords.com/
Walter Becker
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Becker
Gary Katz
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Katz
Roger Nichols
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Nichols_(recording_engineer)
Donald Fagen
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Fagen
The Hollywood Bowl
https://www.hollywoodbowl.com/
Larry Carlton
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Carlton
Dick Lapalm
https://digital.nepr.net/music/2013/10/10/dick-lapalm-jazz-lobbyist-1928-2013/
“Home At Last” - Steely Dan
https://open.spotify.com/track/3tD42ECBPcYdGtZajQZGRH?si=9a31b12fbbc44614
Barry Manilow
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Manilow
Barbra Streisand
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbra_Streisand
Percodan
https://www.webmd.com/drugs/2/drug-6605/percodan-oral/details
Terence McKenna
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terence_McKenna
Sound Healing
https://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-17515/what-you-need-to-know-about-sound-healing.html
Al Schmitt
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Schmitt
Bill Schnee
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Schnee
Elliott Scheiner
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elliot_Scheiner
“Autoamerican” - Blondie
https://open.spotify.com/album/1VuNXmZV6eIfUwglRlM9Ya?si=CMtZBZwIRkO1aDlDu34I9Q
Audio Post Production
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_post_production
Disney
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Walt_Disney_Company
The Road To El Dorado ( Film )
Elton John
https://open.spotify.com/artist/3PhoLpVuITZKcymswpck5b?si=snrvJwQ8S6OPyw31V0ibRw
Shrek
Rio
Shrek 2
Royaltone Studios
http://www.studioexpresso.com/spotlight%20archive/spotlight%20royaltone.htm
Vacuum Tubes for Guitar Amps
Apple Pie
Chuck Rainey
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Rainey
Wayne Shorter
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayne_Shorter
Weather Report
https://open.spotify.com/artist/162DCkd8aDKwvjBb74Gu8b?si=6ogHD2K6RxaSgZ5vhw1OIg
Chess Records
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_Records
Devonshire Sound Studios
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devonshire_Sound_Studios
Lenise Bent
TRANSCRIPTION
Killah Cortez: Welcome back to The Killah Cortez Show. The following is an interview with Lenise Bent. Lenise is an American recording artist who has worked both in the music and film industry. She was one of a handful of women working in the Hollywood recording studio business in a technical role during the 1970s and was the first woman to receive an RIAA platinum album for her Engineering of "Autoamerican" by Blondie. Her credits include "Aja" by Steely Dan, "Breakfast in America" by Supertramp. "Tusk" by Fleetwood Mac, the Band, and many more. I met Lenise working as an assistant engineer at Mad Dog Studio in Burbank, California, where I assisted her on what were then my first studio sessions. Over the years, we've worked together on multiple recording projects, workshops, speaking engagements and have shared many hearty laughs over drinks and lunch. Lenise is a friend, a mentor, and one of the first people to give me a chance in this wild journey in the music industry. This interview covers a wide range of topics and uncovers some gems of wisdom for anyone who is looking to go into music, start a small business, or go into some other kind of artistic profession. Her views on how to overcome adversity and how to conduct yourself in spite of the obstacles has made a massive impact on my life. And hopefully there's something to be uncovered here in this interview to help you on your path. This episode was recorded in an undisclosed restaurant location. Disclaimer You might hear a bit of background noise. You're not hearing voices. Weaved in between the segments of this interview is a collection of songs from my "Songs for the Apocalypse" playlist. Half were selected by Lenise and half were selected by yours truly. You can find the transcription links in show notes at www.thekillahcortezshow.com . Now sit back, relax and enjoy this discussion with Lenise Bent.
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Killah Cortez: What was it like taking 12 days to get drum sounds for Supertramp, "Breakfast in America?" What does that even look like? Walk me through a day.
Lenise Bent: Okay. Well, actually, it's not as crazy as one would think. First, you would have to determine where the best spot in the room is for the drums and then setting them up. So that could have taken a day or so. You're not really getting sounds yet. So what has to be determined is choosing the microphones for the overheads, for the toms, for the outside of the kick, for the inside of the kick, snare top, snare bottom, room. We didn't do the sub woofer, you know, reverse Yamaha thing. That didn't exist yet. So that basically was what took up the time to get the drum sound. The focus was primarily on that kick drum. So you would place the RE-20 with the outside head and have a little hole at one point that you would cut. Maybe it was had a diameter of like eight inches and then you had decided what kind of padding you'd put in. Okay, a towel first inside. Well, that wasn't enough. Let's put a little sandbag in there. Well, that's not sounding so right against the beater. So let's make the hole a little bigger. Okay? So cut the hole a little bigger.
Killah Cortez: Oh you would cut it, like, with scissors?
Lenise Bent: Yeah.
Killah Cortez: Wow
Lenise Bent: Sure. And you'd try a different mic, maybe a 421 back then. The D12 thing wasn't a big deal back then. Believe it or not, people tried for 421's at that time as well.
Killah Cortez: It makes sense.
Lenise Bent: Yeah. You'd just try a variety of different microphones and the reason for that attention to that kind of detail is because Bob Siebenberg, the drummer for Supertramp, had a signature sound that was enormous and that was a big part of their sound.
Killah Cortez: Was that based off like the live show. Was he just like a hard hitter?
Lenise Bent: Not so much. It was both a "Crime of the Century" That record put them on the map. I know that that was the inspiration for many people to become sound engineers, myself included, that it truly is the record that when I heard it I said out loud for no apparent reason, I want to make records that sound like this. I had never been in a recording studio. I was studying film at college and it just hit me so hard. That whole record, the sound of that record was just so amazing that that had to be in place. That was really important to make sure that happened. And you don't just use the close mics, you know, it's the overheads, it's everything, it's the room mics, it's everything to capture that sound. So and they had the budget and at the time, not only were we setting up drums, but they were bringing in all the guitar amps and they were bringing in all the Wurlitzers and they were bringing in the plants and the rugs
Killah Cortez: Sound like they were moving in.
Lenise Bent: They did. Well, they were there for seven and a half months.
Killah Cortez: This was the village?
Lenise Bent: This was the village studio B. Yeah. Which was different than Studio B now it was actually a mirror of Studio A back then. That's how they were set up. So they could have a window in between the two main studios and they could open it up and do string dates or whatever if they needed both studios. So Studio A is pretty much the way it always was for any of you listeners who know what Village Studio A, is like.
Killah Cortez: How was it working.... because you already you liked them ( Supertramp), you already idolized them. How was it to have that experience like going to be a fan and then suddenly you're working with this artist?
Lenise Bent: Well, it was very deliberate on my part. Yeah. You know, irony. Be careful what you ask for. You just may get it. That's what happened
Killah Cortez: You manifested it.
Lenise Bent: I did. I was. I was so intense on. Making records that sounded like that, even though I didn't know what it meant. And at the time, like I said, I'd never been in a recording studio. I didn't even know that you did that for a living. I just knew it just came out of my mouth. So when I finally did go into a recording studio and have my epiphany and the angels sang, and I knew this is what I was supposed to do with my life. I went to recording school and got a job as an assistant engineer, and my goal was to work with the best producers, with the best musicians in the best studio, with the best music and the best equipment and engineers, and to learn from the best. So I made sure that was my focus. I was incredibly myopic about this.
Killah Cortez: I don't think so. I mean, it made you made you one of the best.
Lenise Bent: Well. Well, thank you. I actually had no plan B at all. I've just was this is that thing I'm going to do and went for it. And these things kind of lined up for me. Thankfully, getting a job at the Village was hugely instrumental in me getting to where I wanted to go, because at that time there were big budgets, great bands. The only way you got into a studio like that was if you had proven as an artist that you are worth investing in by these record labels. So not a lot of riff raff came in there. Not anybody could make a record unless they had independent money. And those things did happen on occasion, but very rarely, very rarely, you know, too much money to spend on somebodies, you know, little hobby. So I got to work with all of these fine people and the talent and artistry. And so when I heard that Supertramp was coming in, not everybody knew that much about them at that time where I was totally proficient in all their music. So I went to the studio manager and just said, You know, out of the six assistants who are here, I really want to work on this record. And I shared my story and and how much I knew about their music and all of that. And he said, Well, that's really great, but they don't want a girl and you know, record scratch slamming on the brakes. What?! That had honestly never come up for me yet and I'd been doing it for like two years and I just couldn't believe that that was the answer I got. It never once occurred to me. I didn't ever see why women couldn't do it because there were three other women assistants at the village. So I had no no other point of reference. I didn't really know it was the boys club that everybody says it was. And and in retrospect, I look at back and I go, Yeah, I guess there was some issues about being a woman, but it was that was just kind of the way it was. And you didn't make a big deal about it. You just rose above it and proved to yourself being authentic and being that person you want to be. I was so driven that that sort of stuff didn't stop me. So once again it didn't stop me. And I kept fighting for this. It was going to be about two months before they came in. And I kept bringing it up and they kept saying, No, no, no. There were two male assistants and like I said, a total of four women. And the night, two nights before they were to come in, I finally surrendered and was upset and gave up and went out and drank too many margaritas and actually daiquiris and went home and passed out and, you know, all upset that it wasn't going to happen. And then...
Killah Cortez: Then you get the call
Lenise Bent: I got the call at 10:00 at night, woke me up out of my drunken stupor and said, "Be in Studio B on Sunday at noon you will be assisting Supertramp". And I just went suddenly sober.
Killah Cortez: Incredible. What happened?
Lenise Bent: The two guys didn't want to do it. One guy was in a project that he was actually engineering and so he didn't want to assist again. And the other one I think had another project or it was going to be, see, this was the thing. They were going to be there seven and a half months. That meant that you couldn't work with anybody else, you couldn't work on anything else. And some people wanted to move forward faster than that. I didn't care. I wanted to have that experience. So. So that happened. So when.
Killah Cortez: She went all in.
Lenise Bent: I went totally all in and went. So when I showed up on Sunday at noon and the person who was like their sixth member, Russell Pope, who was an amazing person, rest in peace, dear friend. He's sitting at the console and he kind of turns his head to the right, kind of like a like a potato bug would sort of made me think of his body. He didn't turn, but his head just kind of turned. And he looked at me and he and he said, "May I help you?" And I said, Well, actually, the question is, may I help you? I'm Lenise Bent and I'm the assistant on your project. Where would you like me to start? And and I sort of had the big eyes, you know, very British. I don't think they had been alerted that a woman would be their assistant. But I'm I'm confident in the fact that they really didn't have an opinion about it. I think somebody had said, well, you know, we have male and female assistants. you have a choice? Well, I guess we'll use the guy. Right. I don't think it was anything more than that because from the beginning, once they got over, the shock is the various members came in. It took a while to set up the way they were going to be working on this so people would drift in and they had crew and, you know, everybody that came over from England to work with them. And so once they, you know, got over that immediate shock, it was fine.
Killah Cortez: I love the part about having no plan B because I have I have something else I'll allude to later on in this interview that. That's one of the main things that I've taken away from you as a person. But let's move forward. What was the last thing that you've listened to?
Lenise Bent: Oh. Musically.
Killah Cortez: Yeah?
Lenise Bent: Oddly enough, last night I was at the Troubadour and heard Skunk Baxter from Steely Dan and Doobie Brothers and amazing guitar player.
Killah Cortez: I've heard of those guys.
Lenise Bent: Yeah, right, right. Well, he was, you know, iconic guitar player. God.
Killah Cortez: Mm hmm.
Lenise Bent: And so he was at the Troubadour last night, so I popped over and heard him, and it was wonderful.
Killah Cortez: So you're from Compton, California? Mm hmm. I heard another interview that your very first recording was with the Compton Orchestra at nine years old. What was that experience like? And did you have an inkling then that recording music was going to become something special in your life?
Lenise Bent: Absolutely not. I had no idea. My older brother had been in it was the Compton Festival Orchestra, and it was a collection of the elementary school orchestras, students back then, boys and girls in the Compton Unified School District and Los Angeles School District. And all around we had music programs. We had art programs. So every elementary school had an orchestra that started at eight years old. We had choir. We had that was just part of your education. And so you if you were interested, you auditioned, they would test you. Whether you could tell if this note was below this note, on the phone, on the piano, dum dum, which one's higher? The second one. Okay, you're in.
Killah Cortez: Oh, no.
Lenise Bent: And I was also taking piano lessons, so. But my older brother had been in festival orchestra, and I already knew that you got to make these records. And so that was just, you know, part of the perks. And so my my other brother, Richard and I were in this particular festival orchestra. He was a year older than I was. So he played trumpet and I played flute. And and the final performance that we did, they recorded and we got these records in there. Oh, my God, they're god awful and hilarious.
Killah Cortez: You still have that record?
Lenise Bent: Oh, yes.
Killah Cortez: Oh, yeah.
Lenise Bent: Yeah. Well, I was in it for three years, so. So I have three records.
Killah Cortez: You're like, maybe I didn't pass that test.
Lenise Bent: Or or if I did pass that test, I don't think it mattered to anybody.
Killah Cortez: You came up in the seventies as a female engineer in a male dominated audio engineering field. I heard a great quote from you in regards to pushing those music industry boundaries. You said you would tell people, "I don't need you to tell me. No, I need you to tell me how". What is the significance of those words?
Lenise Bent: Well, it's huge because I kind of approach my life that way anyway. I figure if I don't do anything, I already have. No. So that inspires me to at least give something a shot, because otherwise, you know, I'll never know. But for me, still to this day. There are a lot of things we don't know. One of the great things about engineering in our industry, as you know, is that we're constantly learning new stuff and digging it. You know, it's.
Killah Cortez: You have to always be learning.
Lenise Bent: Yeah And it's exciting. It's like, Oh, what is this thing do? And what happens when I push this button and you know what happens when I twiddle this knob? And and so it's our innate sense of curiosity and joy in what we do. You have to be passionate about it. But so when somebody would say, if I ever hit a barrier, which often was the case in my recording school, the first night I was there was me and 50 guys and it was a lecture hall and they were just talking about amplitude and velocity and square waves and, and Doppler effect and, and compression and equalization, all these things. I had no idea what those were, and I just panicked because I dropped out of university to go to this trade school. And I just thought, Oh my God, I'm so screwed. And called my friend Roger, who had invited me over to his recording studio then. That's what inspired me to want to do this. He said, Oh, come over. And because I was panicking and like that and and so I did. And he he walked me through things and demonstrated the equipment. They were just talking about an equalizer. I didn't they weren't saying what or, you know, here's an 1176 limiter compressor and this is how it works. And when you put a signal through it and then you squish it and it sounds like this, okay, now it makes sense.
Killah Cortez: I mean, I bet you learned way quicker. I mean, I bet you even just one day there, you went back to school and you were just like, all right, "I feel way better about this."
Lenise Bent: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. No. He literally scraped me off the ceiling class was Monday and Wednesday nights, and then I'd go over to his studio, which was not his studio he engineered for Leon Russell. Who was those of you out there? If you don't know him, look him up. An incredible artist, composer, keyboard player, musician, musical director and member of The Wrecking Crew. Yeah. And he and absolute innovator, he was one of the few people who had a home studio at that time. Nobody did. It was expensive, took up a lot of real estate. And so he had one in his home. So that's what I.
Killah Cortez: and that was your dojo.
Lenise Bent: It was. It was. Absolutely. And so on. Tuesdays and Thursdays because I wasn't in university anymore. I would go over to Leon's house and practice what I had learned before they started engineering or, you know, working on stuff like around two or 2 to 4 in the afternoon. I'd kind of have to, you know,
Killah Cortez: Wrap it up.
Lenise Bent: Wrap it up. Yes, exactly. And get out of the way. But I would work on stuff Roger was working on. And and my boyfriend at the time was in a band with Roger. He was the lead singer. So there was stuff to record and stuff to mix and stuff to fiddle with. And so, yeah, I. And any opportunity that I got in that situation, because there were several people coming in and out who were working in other studios on other projects, and they'd say, Oh, well, I'm over at Conway. Come over there or I'm I'm up at Indigo Ranch. You should come and see what that's like. And because I was so driven that, it opened up doors for me, I guess that energy just just people knew I'm in it. I wasn't just, you know.
Killah Cortez: Well, yeah. I mean, that's that's something I think that's so huge that that can be missing. I think from today's like education system, at least for engineers or anybody who's doing audio, is that there's not a lot of places to do that like now, you know, like, like when I, when I came up, I had the opportunity to work at a studio and actually see what a commercial session is like. And now it's just it's so different what what a session is now. But I think the thing that's missing is the part where you're you're talking about where you get to practice and you get to go in and just get the reps in. I mean, I really do worry about that for for what are going to be the future audio engineers. I don't know if they're going to have the rooms, if there are enough rooms to support the people that need to come in and actually just do the reps.
Lenise Bent: Well And that's the thing. I don't think enough people understand the fact that it is an acquired skill.
Killah Cortez: Yeah.Yeah.
Lenise Bent: It's, it's something that the more you do it, the better you get. And you understand the nuances in the subtleties of what audio recording really is. It's beyond just basic recording techniques. You have to have an ear for it. You have to understand music, you have to be able to communicate. You know, it really helps to be able to play an instrument or learn the language of music. And yeah, just practicing that craft and and getting your social skills.
Killah Cortez: So whenever I speak to people about how I've built my own skill set in the studio, I always reference you as my studio etiquette mentor.
Lenise Bent: Oh, thank you.
Killah Cortez: From those early sessions of my career that I assisted you at Mad Dog Studio. And I truly credit you with teaching me how to properly act in a studio session environment and the importance of keeping the vibe up and focusing on the craft, but also, and probably more importantly, focusing on the people. Can you speak to that a little bit and maybe say how you became so good to become like the vibe master in the room?
Lenise Bent: Oh, my gosh. Well, I learned that from the people I worked with at the Village as an assistant. And one particular session, I'll give as an example. During that time, there was a lot of partying in the control rooms and there would be jokes and frivolity and alcohol and whatever, but they had a mission to accomplish. And so one particular session, though, really nailed it for me. It was with a singer named Debby Boone. And Debby Boone had had a big hit single called "You Light Up My Life", which was played to Death. And people used it in their weddings and in their Valentines. And it was, you light up my life, you give me hope to carry on. And it was just everywhere to where you couldn't stand to hear it. And she kind of people made fun of her and stuff. And so when I was told one day that she was coming into the studio, I just, you know, snotty little me said to myself, oh, I don't want to, you know, Debby Boone, you know, and well, her situation was this. She was going to be leaving the next day for a tour for six months, starting in Japan. And she needed to sing ten lead vocals.
Killah Cortez: Wow.
Lenise Bent: Before she left and.
Killah Cortez: How much time left?
Lenise Bent: Well, it was noon on Friday, and she was leaving at 6:30AM the next morning. The car was the the car was coming to the studio to pick her up and take her to the airport. Her producer, Brooks Arthur, gathered our little team together me, the engineer, and like an intern or somebody, and he said, I need all of you to help me do this. We have no wiggle room here. I need you all to help me because we have to get this done. So he immediately engaged us all and he said, This is how I want it set up. I'm going to have the lights down. If you could stay out of her line of sight so all she can see is me and we're going to get this done together. So immediately I said, Boy, nobody has ever really said that. So we started. She walks in, she starts her songs. We have to listen to bits. He's producing her vocals saying Playing back. Okay, I'll punch you in here. This is all to tape. We go through the day. We go through the night. She sleeps in her chair in the control room, drinking ginger lemon tea that nobody did back then. It was whiskey or whatever. And here she's she was such a pro. He inspired and pulled those performances out of her. We did it all. Got it all done. The car came at 6:30AM. She got and she left the studio and went to Japan. And I have never written a fan letter to anybody. I wrote one to her. To say "you inspired me. You showed me what a true professional is" and few other things. And then Brooks Arthur, that's when I learned, okay, that's. That's a producer. And that raised the bar.
Killah Cortez: Yep
Lenise Bent: 100% right there.That session.
Killah Cortez: Had a plan and executed that plan,
Lenise Bent: Like.
Killah Cortez: Led a team.
Lenise Bent: Oh, it was stunning.
Killah Cortez: Wow.
Lenise Bent: So that has been my magic feather.
Killah Cortez: Wow.
Lenise Bent: I always think of that. If he could pull that off and she could pull that off and the respect, it was mutual respect. We all you know, it was kind of scary, if you can imagine.
Killah Cortez: It's a lot of pressure.
Lenise Bent: A lot of pressure. And we just kept it. But he kept the vibe easy. We all just kept it real cool and got it done.
Killah Cortez: Yeah. I mean, that's that's the kind of session that could easily go off the rails because as soon as it feels like it's going to be slipping and you're not going to get it done.
Lenise Bent: Yeah,
Killah Cortez: Back then it could really go off the rails.
Lenise Bent: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, for her voice, for her to be such a professional singer, to know how to control her voice so she still could sing at four in the morning.
Killah Cortez: Yeah.
Lenise Bent: And to do the right things to, you know, her husband was in there rubbing her feet, you know, it was just whatever it took to get this baby bath and. That taught me more than anything.
Killah Cortez: And that right there to me is like the producer's role. Like, whatever it takes to get the thing to happen, whatever you got to do, you just. Your job is to cajole it out of the artist.
Lenise Bent: Yeah.
Killah Cortez: You tell a great story about holding the Steely Dan tapes for Asia in the trunk of your car. Can you tell that story for the listeners?
Lenise Bent: Well, I can now, because nobody's going to fire me or arrest me now, but. Yeah, there was.
Killah Cortez: Wait, is that Donald?
Lenise Bent: Oh, Donald wouldn't do anything now. So one day we were. Had been working on the "Aja" album for, like, ten and a half months. And that had been about a year for them because they started it earlier elsewhere. But at the village we'd been there for about ten and a half months, so they were kind of overbudget and kind of over their time frame. And one day we casually walked into the control room and there were probably eight suits from Warner Brothers sitting there around Walter Becker, who had gotten there earlier. And he said, "Oh, glad you guys could show up." And I just turned around and left the room going, "Woops." And we'd been out playing basketball, waiting for Walter to show up. We'd gone over to the high school, Gary Casler producer Roger Nichols and Donald Fagan and me just to shoot some baskets. If you knew those guys, imagining them shooting baskets is pretty hilarious. But we did that and then walked in, bouncing the ball down the hallway and then walked in and saw that. And Donald had the ball and he turned around and threw it at me. I grabbed it and.
Killah Cortez: Chucked it.
Lenise Bent: Hot tailed and out of that room. And 2 hours later I got called into the room. I can't believe this. But they said, okay. What Warner Brothers wanted to do. They said, you've had enough time, you're taking too long. We're going to take the tapes and have somebody else mix them.
Killah Cortez: Wow.
Lenise Bent: Yeah. And so that wasn't going to happen.
Killah Cortez: Yeah.
Lenise Bent: So their bright idea and I went along with it was okay. Every night I would load the two inch masters into the trunk of my little Toyota Corolla. And. And there's speakers in there. You know, speakers have magnets.
Killah Cortez: Oh, my God.
Lenise Bent: Yeah. Didn't even think of that. Drove them home every night and then drove them back every day in case somebody came to the studio and said they wanted to take the tapes, nobody would know where they were. Well, if you think about it, who's the first person they would ask? "Where are those tapes, where did the tapes go, Lenise?" And of course, it'd be me. Of course I'd know. And that's. That's major theft.
Killah Cortez: Yeah.
Lenise Bent: I look back at it now. I go, What an idiot. And you never do that. But I think the village would have had my back. But that's not who would have arrested me, except the village would, you know. I don't know what would have happened. Thank goodness I didn't get caught and we ended up mixing the record and everything went fine. But I would take it. It was for a couple of weeks.
Killah Cortez: What was the vibe like during those sessions? Where were they really... focused? And like working all the time? Did it feel like a study of music? Or was it like a lot of breaks? How were those sessions?
Lenise Bent: You're talking about the Aja essions? Oh, intense. Intense. Not a lot of a small talk with Donald and Walter and or Gary Katz or Roger Nichols, the engineer. I mean, he was probably the most social out of all of them. But no, they they talked a little bit. You'd get right into it. And it took me almost, oh, maybe up to two months to feel really comfortable around them. Understanding that because I'm pretty social person and other sessions had been more social and, and they just weren't. But I got to be good friends with them. Yeah. Individually.
Killah Cortez: And then they probably opened up.
Lenise Bent: No,
Killah Cortez: No,
Lenise Bent: No. That's just the way they were. I just understood it better.
Killah Cortez: And you didn't. You just didn't take it personal at that point?
Lenise Bent: No, I wasn't intimidated after that. I just, you know, that's just who they are. Yeah. Who they were. And so it's funny when I see an interview with them or I just saw Steely Dan at the Hollywood Bowl and for Donald to be doing banter in between songs, it just cracks me up because it doesn't. That's just not his comfort zone.
Killah Cortez: Yeah.
Lenise Bent: Once he's playing and doing all that stuff, he's, you know, perfectly happy. But but the small talk in between doesn't do that. So, you know, that's not him. So it was it was great, but it was intense. And they were, as Donald would say, "I don't want it perfect. I just want it right."
Killah Cortez: Yeah.
Lenise Bent: And that's both of them. And together and with Gary Katz, I mean, it was there were a lot of overdubs and they basically wanted to get the drum track because they could overdub anything else after that. So it.
Killah Cortez: Which the drums sound incredible on that album
Lenise Bent: Yeah. Yeah, well learned. I learned a lot. Well, I learned things from Roger the immortal Nichols. I don't let my cables touch and use the shortest mic cables you can all of that minutia that you think and nobody's going to hear or that doesn't make any difference. It does, ultimately, you know, when people say, why does a Steely Dan record sound so good? It's those reasons.
Killah Cortez: It's the attention to detail.
Lenise Bent: Well, and to know just the crossover things, the little things that will make the difference.
Killah Cortez: Mm hmm.
Lenise Bent: Well, so many people think you're not going to hear that stuff. And I don't know if people today even care, but. But we did back then.
Killah Cortez: What was it like working with Larry Carlton?
Lenise Bent: Oh, great. I mean, he's, you know, such a joy. Well, everybody on their sessions was there was there were no slouches all.
Killah Cortez: All assassins every single one of them.
Lenise Bent: Every single one. So it was always a pleasure. And then when I found out that they were coming in and I was asked if I wanted to work with them, I was warned "it's going to be a long time. So you may not want to work that long with them, but it'll be probably the best record you ever do."
Killah Cortez: Who told you that?
Lenise Bent: The studio manager, Dick Lapalm, who was in charge? He told me that after a particular session. I think I've shared this with you. It's one that people ask me about. What was the most intense session with Steely Dan? And it was for a song called "Home at Last" And there is a bit on there where it goes, da da da da. Well, the danger on the rocks is surely passed. Well, the well the this was going to tape in. So the phrasing of that particular those two words was critical to Donald's happiness with how the song went, because he had to sing it and he hated singing. He said, I can't stand it. Get Barry Manilow, get Barbra Streisand, get somebody else. I can't do this. And he didn't like how he sang, but he couldn't find anybody who could sing what he needed to have sung or for his music. So he had to do it. And so vocal sessions were really tough.
Killah Cortez: Yeah.
Lenise Bent: Just because he was.
Killah Cortez: Were they hard on themselves? Was he hard on himself?
Lenise Bent: he was so hard on himself, he would jam his hands in his pockets until his knuckles bled. Oh, wow. Yeah. Because he was just. Gary Katz would find a relaxant pill of some sort. We called it jerk-O-jesus. It was Percodan. Give him a Percodan. And he.
Killah Cortez: He was ready to go.
Lenise Bent: Well, he'd settle down, and then. Then we could all relax a little bit, but. So it was, you know, it was it wasn't a lot of play in their sessions. So this one where well
Killah Cortez: except for basketball court.
Lenise Bent: I mean, that was so out of character it was cracks me up to think about it but the session with well the well the so the sessions each day usually lasted 4 to 6 hours. So on Monday we start "well the well the" it happens about three or four times in the song. I can't remember exactly, but every time you'd hear da da da da da punch, "well the" punch out and again da da da da da da. "Well the" punch, you know. No again. So the first night we did the melody. "Well the Well the" Tuesday night, we doubled the melody. "Well the well the" though, so I had to be exactly like the other one Wednesday. "Well the well the" the harmony Thursday. We doubled the harmony. After that, I was having nightmares.
Killah Cortez: Yeah,
Lenise Bent: "well the well the". And so I went upstairs to the studio manager's office, said, I can't do this as "Well the Well the Well the", it's just. I'm having nightmares. I can't take it. And he goes, You get back down there and you work on that record. So it's going to be the best album you've ever done.
Killah Cortez: I love this quote from renowned ethno botanist Terence McKenna. He says, "Nature loves courage. You make the commitment and nature will respond to that commitment by removing the impossible obstacles. Dream the impossible dream in the world will not grind you under. It will lift you up. This is the trick. This is what all these teachers and philosophers who really counted, who really touched alchemical gold. This is what they understood. This is the shamanic dance in the waterfall. This is how magic is done by hurling yourself into the abyss and discovering it's a featherbed." Now, the reason I bring this up is that one of the major lasting memories that I have of you when I first started is that you really impressed upon me the idea of just letting go and having faith that the next gig is going to come, that things are going to work themselves out. And you said to me, you're going to stare into the dark and you need a hand to get you to the next thing. And you have to have faith that that hand is going to come and grab you and take you to that next step. Can you speak to that?
Lenise Bent: Man, I love that quote. It's so real. It's it's the truth. It's the truth. And thank you for reading it or quoting it for me, because sometimes we all need that reminder. But it's true in our industry, when you're going into something that is as mysterious and unstructured and creative and recording music, it's an art. It's one of the few things one of the few places where science and art come together. And so you're using both sides of your brain, and what drives you is your soul and your passion for this thing. Any of us who has chosen this as a career paths are a it's it's actually a way of life path. We've been captured by that passion, and that passion has been awakened in us. And we have to have faith that we were chosen to do this for a reason. I guess I'm just I don't know what makes me happier and I don't know what else I would do quite like this if I hadn't discovered this, but it discovered me and I responded. And you have to have that faith because there are no guarantees anywhere. And you have to participate. You have to show up and demonstrate your passion and desire and your your authentic desire to do this. And it does attract. I know we hear so much about the laws of attraction. It's it's real. It's so real. Because that's all I can attribute what has happened for me. People come out of the woodwork. I get a phone call from somebody I've never met for a project I know nothing about, and I'll be asked, Can you work and do this sort of thing? I just did an immersive audio project for a sound healing recording. I'd never done that. And so I said, "sure". And I, I educated myself and I took me out of my comfort zone to grow, to do this. And the best part was I got to practice my craft and, and fulfill my, my joy and passion for recording.
Killah Cortez: Yeah.
Lenise Bent: So that's the motivator. Does it make sense? No. Is there it makes sense in one way is that it's being true to yourself what we were raised to to get that job that pays you X amount of dollars and, you know, with benefits and and all that stuff. Sadly, in looking back, we have none of those security blankets in our industry. We are totally driven by our passion.
Killah Cortez: This is why I love so much. What you said at the start of this interview about having no plan B is that it seemed like you had already internalized this, this quote, this lesson. You kind of already somehow knew that if you put your energy into this, that that it would happen. And it did. It happened for you.
Lenise Bent: It it did and it does every day. Every single day, whether I know it or not. If I'm working or not, I take comfort and I have faith in the fact that I'm preparing for the next project or the next thing that's coming. It's coming towards me. You have ebbs and flows in our world. You'll get a great project coming in and then you'll complete that. And it's just like, Oh, now what? Yet just having that faith and desire in yourself and what it is that you want to do and showing up, participating in your community. It's a huge community of like minds. And we all support each other because we, we understand this unrealistic drive of ours. And what years ago was a very successful industry to get into, now has changed dramatically. Yet content needs to be created. Commercials and webisodes and you know, all of that sort of thing. And it all requires sound. And as they say, picture without sound is just surveillance. So all of that requires us. It needs music. It needs dialogue. It needs sound effects. It needs mixing, it needs ambience, it needs broadcasting, it needs so many things. And so it's a viable career to go into, yet it's not terribly secure.
Killah Cortez: Yeah. Yeah. I think nowadays it's, it's it is very difficult to make it as, as an engineer solely. And I think it's been the craft has been relegated to like if you're a producer, then by, by de facto you're now an engineer plus producer. But there is still a lot of value in learning the engineering skills.
Lenise Bent: Oh, gosh Yes.
Killah Cortez: Speaking of you got to work with one of the greats. I mean, many greats, but one in particular. You got to work with Al Schmitt. Do you have any great Al stories?
Lenise Bent: I don't have a lot because I didn't work with him that much. Al mixed the "Aja" album. He worked, actually. It was interesting. There were various mixed versions of some of those songs, and so Al said, "Well, I mixed that song". And Bill Schnee said, Well, I mixed that song. And I and I clearly remember being a part of the mixing team for that song at the Village, so I have no idea which one actually is on the record.
Killah Cortez: Which one made it.
Lenise Bent: Yeah.
Killah Cortez: And I wonder how many people actually mixed that
Lenise Bent: Mwell between. And Elliot Scheiner worked on it as well so that's just one example.
Killah Cortez: was Ghost Mixer a thing? Was that ever a thing? Like like you have ghost producers, but you ever have someone who like, you know, they have it in their contract that they were going to mix it, but they like the mix by someone else. So they just gave them the credit but paid the other guy.
Lenise Bent: You know what? I wasn't aware of that. If that did exist, I don't think that's what it was because the the. Positions are that were clearly defined back then. You had a producer, you had an engineer, you had an assistant engineer, then you had the band or the artist or whatever. Responsibilities were much more clearly defined. And technology was such that you needed an assistant running the tape machine, you needed the engineer at the console, you needed the producer working with the artist. And yeah, personally for me, I still like that format and working quickly and making commitments and capturing the energy and the and the emotion of the session and the excitement and all of that.
Killah Cortez: Yeah, I find I find even with a lot of modern technology, the best sessions tend to honor the spirit of that format where they don't overuse the the playlist ability of a lot of the modern DAWS
Lenise Bent: Yeah.
Killah Cortez: It's really about the performance and the vibe and the energy in the room.
Killah Cortez: What would you say has been the biggest adversity in your life and how did you find the strength to overcome it?
Lenise Bent: Whoa, interesting. Well, for me personally, and you don't want to talk about this too much, but it's your health.
Killah Cortez: Yeah.
Lenise Bent: Creating balance in your life is absolutely essential, physically and mentally, emotionally, because you will have burnout. I did. And it affected me not just mentally, but I ended up being very ill physically. I got cancer and that's pretty much a stress related disease. And I my doctor said, quit your job or die because I was not I had no balance in my life. I was working constantly, like 20 hour days, 18 hour days. I had no other life. We were just cranking out record after record. And that's not healthy. And I wasn't eating right, you know, I wasn't treating my body right. And that experience, I just finished a Blondie album that was pretty important in my career and and I was told to quit my job or die and and I was relieved because I was so exhausted and so ill and had to get well. And the pressure of the music business and the way I was doing it was wrong. And the situation I was in was not healthy. And so I did get well, clearly. Yay. And, but when I went back to work, I didn't really go back to work for eight years. I took a hiatus. Yeah.
Killah Cortez: Took the time to heal yourself.
Lenise Bent: I, I had to and just, I had other things going on. I got to be a girlfriend for a while. Yeah. And that was, and, you know, that was exciting and fun until it wasn't. And then that ran its course. And then so I came back to work, but I went into post-production because the thought of going back into the music business at that time and things had changed dramatically. You know, budgets had gone away, digital formats were coming in, all all sorts of reasons. That didn't sound like a lot of fun for me. Yeah, yet the pressure would still be there and all. So I went into post-production and applied my skills there and actually could make a really good living doing that. And but it didn't. I didn't have the passion for it. How could you when it's not, you know, you don't get tears in your eyes and goose bumps, you know, making a foly sound. Wow. Listen to that. You know, crash.
Killah Cortez: Post doesn't have the same feeling as making a record. At least not for me either. It's hard to do that.
Lenise Bent: Yeah, it's it's. I was. I had to remind myself how grateful it was that I had the skills to do this, but it's a different mindset. Yeah. Through the years it evolved to where I ended up having an opportunity to be a foreign dubbing supervisor, to produce vocals for foreign versions of movies, and which everybody just wants you to know. I got all my best gigs at parties and that was one of them, showing up at a party I almost didn't go to. Somebody was opening a mastering facility and it was a Sunday night and I was I had a rollerblading accident. My leg was all screwed up and I was just going, Oh God, I don't want to go, but I want to, you know, support her. And yeah, so I direct myself to this party and walk in and I'd been doing post for a long time and I see this person there who had worked for Disney sitting there, but this was for a mastering facility. And so there's all these musicians and all of this and people I hadn't seen for a long time. So this woman, she goes, Lenise, what are you doing here? And I said, Well, I used to be in the music business. She goes, Really? And I said, Yes. And she goes, Can you read a score? I said, Yeah, because going back to the Compton Festival Orchestra, I learned how to read a score when I was eight, nine, ten and 11 years old. So. She goes, Great. Can you be in Tel Aviv in three weeks? And I went, "Sure. Why?"
Killah Cortez: Yeah, why? Just to hang out
Lenise Bent: She goes, Well, I'm no longer with Disney, I'm with DreamWorks, and they've got this movie and they need somebody to produce the foreign vocals working with the musical director. So I said, Sure, I'll go. So that started, six years of doing foreign dubbing. Yeah.
Killah Cortez: What movie would that have been?
Lenise Bent: The movie was called "The Road to El Dorado", and Elton John had written all the songs domestically. And so it's a wonderful, wonderful animated film that I highly recommend to everybody to see. The music's fantastic, and what they do for animated features is they dub them in like 70 different languages because kids can't read subtitles. So they have a crew of people overseeing the foreign versions to make sure the storyline and the lyrics are appropriate. Because it's not a it's not a translation, it's an adaptation.
Killah Cortez: Right
Lenise Bent: So you adapt it to the different territories.
Killah Cortez: Wow what a job!
Lenise Bent: Yeah, it was fantastic. So I've had some I worked on Shrek and Rio and I worked on.
Killah Cortez: So cool.
Lenise Bent: Yeah. I've been in Scandinavia and Amsterdam and. And Shrek two. Where did I do that? Oh, I did that in in Greece and Turkey. I was in Athens in Istanbul for that.
Killah Cortez: Wow.
Lenise Bent: Yeah. So but I walk into this party and then so I got that gig just walking in and then somebody else comes up to me and says, Hi, I haven't seen you in so many years. I'm now the president of Royaltone Studios, and I'd like to give you some studio time to check out our room. And I went, Cool
Killah Cortez: you're like, okay.
Lenise Bent: And then this band comes up, this young band, and they say, "Oh, whoa, are you Lenise Bent?" And I went, "Yeah". And they said, "Oh, we love what you did with Blondie and all. And all the records you did" said "we'd love it if you'd record our EP. We've got a budget." And I said, "Cool, I've got a studio time"
Killah Cortez: Yeah, I got studio time. This all happened within the same party?
Lenise Bent: This happened at a party I wasn't going to go to.
Killah Cortez: Wow.
Lenise Bent: So all three of those things happened at this party. So any time an opportunity arises or. Something, something like that. And I go, Oh, I don't feel like going. I remind myself,
Killah Cortez: Yeah, you're like "remember the party"
Lenise Bent: and that. And I get myself together and I get out there because one of the biggest important things in our industry and to moving forward is it's not so much what you do, which is very important. It's also important who you know, but it's much more important who knows you?
Killah Cortez: Okay. Very important question. If you absolutely had to choose one, would you choose the smell of guitar amp tubes warming up or the smell of fresh apple pie from the oven?
Lenise Bent: Oh, that's not fair. That's just not fair. My. My earliest.
Killah Cortez: If one had to go off the island.
Lenise Bent: Well, you can't eat tubes. So. So.
Killah Cortez: Wow. The pie wins.
Lenise Bent: So there's that. If you want, the pie wins there, but not in every situation. My very first comfort smell memory is my brother Wayne, he was 16 years old and working at Jans Electronics in Compton and I was three years old and he would bring broken amps and receivers and stuff from the fifties. I don't know what it all was, but it had had to be turned on and warmed up and there were tubes in it.
Killah Cortez: I love that smell.
Lenise Bent: And it's. There was just something so comforting about that smell to this day.
Killah Cortez: Yeah.
Lenise Bent: When somebody turns that on, I just go right back to that that place. You know, my thumb almost goes right in my mouth and in my blankie's by my face, and I'm smelling tubes.
Killah Cortez: What what advice would you give to young people thinking about getting into the music business?
Lenise Bent: Well, it depends on what area you want to get into. That has a lot to do with it. Right now, it's the Wild West. You're only limited by your imagination. There are certain things. If it is your heart's desire, I recommend educating yourself and making yourself as valuable as possible. Again, learn an instrument. And this is something that you would speak about as well. Learn an instrument, learn music theory, learn to speak the language. Because what you want, if you're going to be in it, is you want, you don't just want a hit career. You want a long career. And so you need to have a variety of skills and be willing to apply yourself in a variety of levels. If it's tuning pianos, when you're not making a record, if it's working in a music store, if it's teaching classes or being a vocal coach or or guitar lessons or piano lessons or playing weddings or it's practicing your craft. It's all music. Say, if you're driven like I was, then you have to go for it. And so just make it the best it can be for yourself.You have to have that drive, though, to succeed. It's not easy. And I'm not going to try to talk you into anything here. It's okay if you try it out and it's not what you want. You found out. So if you take that class or you go in a certain direction or you may find being an engineer isn't what you want to do, but you're you'd be an excellent studio manager or you'd be a much better live sound person, and you would be a studio engineer or. I know a lot of musicians who, once they got in the studio and recording, either realized they weren't quite the musician they needed to be to succeed that way. But boy, did they really embrace the recording techniques and have been excellent, excellent engineers and producers. So we wear many hats. I do so many things. And as a result of that, I do have a long career. I'm I engineer, I produce, I, I archive, I repair bad recordings, I do workshops on analog tape recording or anything anybody wants me to do a workshop on.
Killah Cortez: You do podcasts.
Lenise Bent: I do podcasts. Yes, I consult, I, I volunteer, I give back and I mentor. And it because as you can see, it's a way of life.
Killah Cortez: So before we wrap, I have I actually have a few listener questions.
Lenise Bent: Oh, of course.
Killah Cortez: This one comes from Scott Chesak. He asks, the stick hit during the saxophone solo in Aja. Was it on purpose or was it an accident? If you remember.
Lenise Bent: If it was left in there? I don't know if it was an accident, but it's deliberate and I don't think it's on the sax.
Killah Cortez: It's not on the sax is on the drums. But there's like in the middle of the sax solo, I think he's doing like Tom Fills and then all sudden he hits the sticks and oh.
Lenise Bent: They would have removed that if they didn't want it.
Killah Cortez: Yeah,
Lenise Bent: It was, it was intentional and part of the charm.
Killah Cortez: Nico Barouhas asks, did the set up during the Aja sessions stay pretty consistent or was there a lot of tearing down, setting up? How was that process?
Lenise Bent: Well, if we knew that we were going to be recording a few basic tracks in a row, we'd set up for a couple of days. But back then they pretty much, you know, you brought in the A-Team of session players and they got a chance to do two or three takes. And usually, you know, you made sure you're recording from the beginning because they often nailed it the first time. And if it wasn't happening after the third take, we'd move on to something else, a different song, and maybe come back to it. Or what they would do is they would cut the songs, certain basic tracks one day with a whole set of session players, and the next day there would be a whole different set of session players doing the same song.
Killah Cortez: Would they ever spliced the two the two takes together?
Lenise Bent: no, They would just want other players because maybe that wasn't the right combination they wanted. And so that's what it was. It was basically Donald and Walter. That's how Steely Dan was at that time. And everybody else was an iconic player that they loved and wanted to work on the record. And most of the time it worked. But sometimes they wanted to try different things and different artists, so they would. So it went pretty fast. We didn't stay, do a tracking date for very long.
Killah Cortez: It was just the vocals when it was like two words a day.
Lenise Bent: Two words a day, yeah. Or well, Chuck Rainey, great bass player, they would replace all his bass parts and he would, you know, they'd punch him in. Those two notes were good. Let's I'll pick you up after that one. Okay. Let's go on to the, you know, bar bar six.
Killah Cortez: Sandra Luca asks, tell us more about recording the Wayne Shorter solo.
Lenise Bent: Oh, boy. I'm glad somebody asked that. That was a magical, magical time because Wayne had been into the studio before. So I had met him before. He had been doing his record "Native Dancer". And the funny story goes Donald really loved Weather Report and wanted Wayne Shorter to do the solo on Aja. So he calls Dick Lapalm, the studio manager, who is also a major jazz person. He'd been with Chess Records, and he was known as a jazz lobbyist, and he had just worked with everybody and promoted and managed and all sorts of stuff. So. So he asked Dick for Wayne's number, and Dick gave it to him. So Donald calls Wayne and leaves him a message on his answering machine to please call him. And Wayne didn't know who he was, so he didn't call him back
Killah Cortez: oh no.
Lenise Bent: And and Donald was just crushed and he couldn't believe it. And and Weather Report was actually recording across town at Devonshire Studios. And so he was in town. So. So Donald tells Dicky, Wayne never called me back. So so Dick phone calls, Wayne and says, Wayne, you you really want to play on this record? Steely Dans a really important group and, you know, big fan of yours. You know, you want to do this, yeah, please call Donald. So he did. And so. So they set it up and Wayne comes in and he's a Buddhist, so he had to go upstairs and meditate for 2 hours first. And so he did that. And it was interesting because Donald never really stood up very straight or did you know he wore, like, little t shirts and, you know, kind of like funky this day. He he's wearing pressed jeans and a dress shirt. That's that's press. And he's standing up straight. I mean, just. He's so in awe of Wayne coming in and Wayne was just so sweet and kind like he is. And I went in the room and they played him the part and he he did six takes and. In about half an hour and left, and they comped it. And there you go.
Killah Cortez: Done
Lenise Bent: Done
Killah Cortez: Incredible.
Lenise Bent: Yeah. And it was absolutely magical. I can I can see in my mind's eye so many details of that day and the sound and the comping. I mean, it was comped by lunchtime.
Killah Cortez: So we're getting to the end here. A couple more questions for you. If you could put a message in a song that would get 24/7 radio rotation and people would get it. What message would you send to everyone listening?
Lenise Bent: Oh, wow. I have to make it a hook here. Some people have said it really well. The message is all you need is love. We are the world. I know none of these are original, but these are all important things that it's about being earthlings on our planet.
Killah Cortez: We're all here together.
Lenise Bent: We're all here together, and we're all Earthlings. Not a single one of you can argue with that. There's no boundaries for countries. There's no division for anything else. Somebody has green eyes, somebody has red hair, somebody has dark skin. Whatever the person is, we're all earthlings.
Killah Cortez: Beautiful. Thank you so much Lenise. Tell the people where they can find you on socials.
Lenise Bent: Yeah, I have a website. Go to Lenise at Lenise Bent dot com and you'll see a bunch of stuff there. Or if you Google me, you'll see a bunch of stuff in there. But yeah, go to my website and that's probably the best.
Killah Cortez: Great. Lenise, thank you so much for doing this. Thank you so much for everything you've done in my career. And thank you for taking the time to chat with the listeners. We will see you soon.
Lenise Bent: Well, I have to thank you so much, Greg. I mean, just being your friend and us being thrown together on this planet and in our little world is one of my greatest blessings. And you're one of my favorite people in the whole world. And thank you so much for choosing me to be on your podcast.
Killah Cortez: Oh, my goodness. Thank you. All right, everyone, we'll see you.
Lenise Bent: Bye for now.
Killah Cortez: Thank you so much for tuning in to The Killah Cortez Show. Thank you again to Lenise Bent for sharing her experiences. You can find a link to her website, her socials in the description below. And you can find me by typing in "Killah Cortez" on pretty much any site I have the Killah Cortez show dot com where you can find other episodes and yeah, until next time.
EXTRA NOTES FROM LENISE ABOUT HER PLAYLIST SELECTIONS
All For You - Robert Fleischman - Perfect Stranger Robert and I started going steady when we were 12 and were together (with a short break) until we were 24. Robert was an incredible singer and was the first lead singer with Journey and wrote, along with Neal Schon, "Wheel in the Sky" and a few others from their album "Infinity". Before the record came out he was replaced by Steve Perry who was more pop. All of Robert's vocals on the already completed record were replaced with Steve's. I still have a cassette somewhere with Robert singing all the songs. This song, "All For You" was to be on that record but Robert took it for his solo album, "Perfect Stranger". It's meaning for me is that the lyrics were in my 21st birthday card from him before he ever recorded it with Journey. I have the card somewhere as well.
Evangeline - The Band - The Last Waltz. This is my very first mix though I'm the only one who knows. This song was one of the sound stage songs with Emmylou Harris. It was 3am and Robbie Robertson and producer Rob Fraboni were so exhausted from days and nights of mixing to meet the film deadline. This mix was to be on the dub stage at 8am. They were shaking so much they couldn't mix it so, as their assistant, I did. Mind you most of the sounds were already in place but the balancing of the tracks needed to be done since, back then, there was no automation, you played the console like an instrument. As far as I know this is my mix that went to the stage and is in the movie.
Riverboat Queen - Blondie Chaplin I was just learning at the Village Studios how to be an assistant on this record. Blondie Chaplin is most known for performing with the Beach Boys "Sail on Sailor" among others. This was his first solo album. So many great musicians played on this record including Ricky Fataar on drums, Blondie's band mate from South Africa When they were in the flames and discovered by the Beach Boys. The beautiful accordian is performed by Garth Hudson of the band. I've always loved being a part of this recording and wish everybody could hear this song.
County Line - Primal Kings This song is from the all analog/legacy quality vinyl record I produced and engineered with the great band Primal Kings. The whole record rocks but this song tells such a great story and mixing it with the guys was such a treat. No automation, every pass was a performance. Sadly, the manufactured records arrived just as covid closed down the world. I'm looking forward to working this timeless record and getting it out to its proper audience, it's so good!
It's a Man's Man's World - Renee Geyer Renee . It's stunning that Renee was only 20 years old when she recorded this iconic James Brown song, her voice is so rich and full of soul. Renee and I are close friends and were born on the same day same year. She recorded in America for many years with Sting, Bonnie Raitt, Joe Cocker and many others but decided to go back home to Aus where she is a national treasure. Our loss.
God Only Knows - Renee Geyer Her arrangement with piano by the late great Marty Grebb. I was in the studio when she recorded this and it brought us all to tears.