Larry's sense of timing amazes Eno

[U2girl]

U2 drummer wows Eno with millisecond timing - RT Ten

 

[cobl04]

"or whatever it's called"

 

[LuckyNumber7]

Haha that was golden.. Eno is hilarious.

 

[The John Tree]

Thumbs up for the Eno hilarity, but holy shit, that's impressive on Larry's part.

 

[Canadiens1131]

"I was working with Larry Mullen, Jr on one of the U2 albums," Eno tells the New Yorker magazine. "'All That You Don't Leave Behind', or whatever it's called."

I read that with Eno's exaggerated, almost-pompus British locution and laughed

 

[lemonfly]

A few years from now Brian will be saying "I was working on that U2 album, No Sunrise On The Horizon".

 

[gvox]

Um, why is Eno's click off by 6 milliseconds to begin with?? Creating a click is a no-brainer: if using a computer or any decent sequencer you can dial it in exactly on the beat at 0 milliseconds. If Eno himself punched in the pattern and failed to check and if necessary quantize it, that makes sense, but otherwise he just got sloppy there.

I'm thinking alot of good drummers would pick up on the 6 milliseconds over the course of a song, especially if there's a loop running thru it, eventually those 6 milliseconds per beat add up to a fairly noticeable issue later if there's a repetitive fixed-length loop involved. Of course other musicians might not pick up on it, but even Edge's delay would be affected but he likely just adjusted to it.

The 2 milliseconds tho?? That's just ridonkulous!!

 

[U2DMfan]

The click wouldn't be off, IMO. A loop or track would be off relative to the click.
So my guess is Eno didn't adjust a loop to the tempo, which threw it off.
Or he did adjust the loop, and it threw off the timing of tracks which were already established. He wouldn't notice because it wouldn't "add up". It would be the same '6 milliseconds' off in the first minute of the song as in the fourth minute of the song.

If it did "add up" Edge likely would also have noticed because his delay would start getting out of whack, not to mention Eno probably would have noticed too. A 4 minute song would have a 1.5 second 'error' in it by the end (if my quick math is right). And it also explains why Eno is so incredibly impressed by Larry noticing.

There's no reason to fuck with the click at all.
It is your constant. Don't mess with it.

 

[LemonMelon]

Las Vegas Staring At The Sun was approximately 3.5 minutes off.

 

[Gonna Run 2 U]

Larry played live with click tracks during Rattle and Hum era. While recording drums on my computer i never use a click track it fucks with your natural sense of timing as a drummer.

 

[gvox]

U2dfman: it essentially turns into a what came first the chicken or the egg question..it could be that the loop was slightly off and he punched up the click after and repeated. Either way it would add up to a fairly noticeable difference that shouldnt have taken him 4 mins to discover

 

[cobl04]

I think we're getting off topic here...

"I was working with Larry Mullen, Jr on one of the U2 albums," Eno tells the New Yorker magazine. "'All That You Don't Leave Behind', or whatever it's called."

 

[rivergoat]

You'd think he'd remember the name of the album - I mean, they've been his gravy train for years - jesting aside, isn't that just a bit insulting??

goat

 

[djerdap]

You'd think he'd remember the name of the album - I mean, they've been his gravy train for years - jesting aside, isn't that just a bit insulting??

goat

I really wish Interference would here and there find a sense of humour...

 

[corianderstem]

Wasn't that the album where Eno didn't get some songwriting credit or something, and it caused a teensy bit of bad blood? Am I totally misremembering that?

 

[djerdap]

Wasn't that the album where Eno didn't get some songwriting credit or something, and it caused a teensy bit of bad blood? Am I totally misremembering that?

He talks about it here:

Brian Eno is MORE DARK THAN SHARK

 

[Tinwal]

YouTube - CJ Eiriksson on Recording U2: Adam Clayton Laying Down Bass

A producer talking about recording about Adam Clayton's bass. Far less interesting. You're welcome.

 

[DoctorGonzo]

Larry took drumming classes before the "Pop" sessions so he could act like a human beat-box on the forthcoming album. I guess it paid off.

 

[super fly guy]

Ken Bruce on BBC radio 2 just told this story on air! He said Larry was recording an album for somebody,try his own bloody band!lol

 

[jonnytakeawalk]

Larry Mullen Jnr has shaper timing than a computer according to Eno

U2 drummer wows Eno with millisecond timing - RT Ten

U2 drummer wows Eno with millisecond timing

U2 drummer Larry Mullen has sharper timing than a computer according to legendary producer Brian Eno.

Eno made the discovery while recording with the band after Mullen rejected his use of a click track to keep the beat.

"I was working with Larry Mullen, Jr on one of the U2 albums," Eno tells the New Yorker magazine. "'All That You Don't Leave Behind', or whatever it's called."

"I said, 'No, that can't be so, Larry'," Eno recalls. "'We've all worked to that track, so it must be right'. But he said, 'Sorry, I just can't play to it'."

Mullen thought that the click track was slightly off and insisted it was a fraction of a beat behind the rest of the band. "I said, No, that can't be so, Larry," Eno recalls. "We've all worked to that track, so it must be right." But he said, "Sorry, I just can't play to it."

Eno eventually adjusted the click to Mullen's satisfaction, but he was just humouring him.

It was only after the drummer had left, that Eno checked the original track again and realised that Mullen was right: the click was off by six milliseconds.

"The thing is," Eno says, "when we were adjusting it I once had it two milliseconds to the wrong side of the beat, and he said, 'No, you've got to come back a bit'. Which I think is absolutely staggering."


Incredible

 

[LemonMelon]

Bono is more shapely than a computer.

http://www.u2interference.com/forums/f189/larrys-sense-of-timing-amazes-eno-210421.html

 

[sharebear]

Color me skeptical...or at least thinks this is one story being blown up.

Larry *loves* his click.

 

[KristenCaNaDiAn]

 

[The_Edge89]

Apparently wasn't pulling my leg then. He's said the same thing before somewhere.

 

[digitize]

"'All That You Don't Leave Behind', or whatever it's called."

 

[jonnytakeawalk]

Ha ha Eno was a producer on it wasn't he? Mustn't be a fan

 

[popacrobat]

He was annoyed he didn't get songwriting credits on that CD i believe.

 

[Rachel D.]

Larry is really a robot.

 

[Explorer10]

I don't think I've ever notice Larry's timing slipping in any song. And on many songs that I know off by heart, I notice a slight change or slip. He's an awesome drummer.