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When the whole world knows you by a single name, it may be that you gravitate towards people who have similarly brief titles. It's a theory maybe, but there are much more important reasons why Sting has chosen to work with co-writer and producer Kipper.
The fruits of their five-year working relationship can be heard on the 1999 album Brand New Day and the new album, Sacred Love, which is released on the 22nd September 2003. The first single from the album is called Send Your Love and will be out in August.
Kipper was still working with Sting in Los Angeles when he agreed to the GearBox interview. We asked him how working on Sacred Love differed to Brand New Day.
"Having worked with Sting non-stop for five years, including a two-year tour, my confidence in our musical and personal relationship allowed me a creative freedom I had not had on Brand New day," Kipper reveals. "I used a lot more technology on this record, I feel we managed to fuse live and programmed playing much more successfully than before. Also the grooves were generated before the songs were written so they have a more integrity.
"I work with Logic Pro and a ton of instrument plug-ins, plus my keyboard racks," Kipper explains. "I create loads of grooves, atmospheres, little cyclic riffs, and motifs – they become the album’s basic sonic palette.
"Then, every day Sting and I would jam on the ideas, just the two of us – me playing synth bass/Rhodes and Hammond/pads and him playing guitar and singing," says Kipper. "We would then sift through the sessions and collect tiny gems that were destined to become the album."
The process of refinement would continue until Sting felt inspired to write a lyric but the early work was not necessarily replaced. "Many of those early jamming nuggets actually appear intact on the finished album, especially Sting’s guitar parts on the VG8 and my bass and rhythm arrangements."
Kipper is a big Apple Macintosh user. Specifically, he's currently using Logic Audio 6 on a dual 1.25GHz Power Mac G4 with a 23" Cinema Display, audio hardware is a Digidesign Pro Tools|HD3 system with 192-IO interfaces. "My favourite instrument plug ins are the EVP, the clavinet and the vocoder," says Kipper. "I also am addicted to the three Spectrasonics instruments, Trilogy, Atmosphere and Stylus, plus the B4."
Other favourites in the studio include Kipper's SSL compressor because "it makes me sound like I can engineer"! He also cites his TLAudio Valve desk "which warms up my world" and his ATC monitors "which are a joy to listen to even for 12 hours a day".
"Simon ran our main Pro Tools system essentially as a tape recorder," Kipper explains. "He would record all my MIDI stuff and our initial demo ideas and make observations about improvements to the sound. We then recorded all the live instruments and vocals, which he could edit and manipulate. Sting constantly likes to edit the form once a song is written and this carries on right up to mastering!
"Simon mixed the record with Sting and me in Studio Mega in Paris," recalls Kipper. "We set Donal up in a separate studio with his Pro Tools rig, and we experimented and played with the songs. He always has the latest plug-ins and tricks up his sleeve, so we would try them out. For instance, we would Kantos all the keyboards and guitars and get a really inspired new intro; quantise all our loops to Manu Katché's drums or to Dom's guitars and see what happened. Donal would also do some additional programming on tracks, which would add to the palette of sounds – and he also made us laugh a lot!"
Fortunately, GearBox is a supplier that doesn't make Kipper laugh. He's been very happy with the service. "Andy and the team at Gearbox have been amazing to me during the making of the Sacred Love," offers Kipper, citing "solid advice in getting my Pro Tools|HD/Logic system working at an optimum" as well as "fantastic support all over the world". He explains: "A FireWire drive went AWOL in Italy and the next day I had a replacement drive via FedEx, and advice on volume recovery for the weirded out drive, which worked. Genuine people giving straight informed advice, they are The Guys," Kipper concludes.
Right now, Kipper is about to take a well-earned sabbatical, which he is excited to say coincides with the birth of his first child. But as always, there are musical projects on the horizon.
"I have a multitude of music concepts that I hope to realise next year," says Kipper. "I see the radical shift in the way music is sold as an immense opportunity for creative musicians to take control of our destinies. As a footnote I am always on the lookout for new talented artists who are outside the 'pop idols' box." You can email Kipper at: EKipperfishboy@aol.com
For further information please visit:
Sting
Kipper Music
Donal Hodgson
Apple Pro UK - Kipper Profile