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Jupiter Coyote Resurrection

Sifting through various video projects, Jupiter Coyote’s 2004 “Jammin At The Jammer” DVD boiled up from the cauldron of media files. 

Back story goes like this… A friend of mine introduced me to Jupiter Coyote music while working on a wiring project. Soon, I had a couple of their CDs in my car CD changer, listening to them regularly. They had a big, southern progressive rock sound that was clean, with great lyrics. The following summer, Jupiter Coyote came out to California from North Carolina and played at the High Sierra Music Festival. I brought my video recording outfit with 25-foot boom and setup in front of the stage. My friend and I met with the band members, and we immediately hit it off. The band wasn’t expecting anybody to know them well, let alone a couple guys with video cameras and recording equipment! 

Soon after High Sierra, Matt Mayes, John Felty, and I started talking about my being able to use some of their material for a multi-screen project I was working on. Over the course of several conversations, we worked out an agreement where they would lend rights from their music to be included in the multi-screen project. For my part, I would come out to South Carolina to produce a companion DVD for Jupiter Coyote’s “Hillary Step” CD. It was then that I met John Watson, another videographer, and an overall great guy. John and I put together a crew of camera operators, including myself as boom operator. 

The Windjammer is a popular and well-outfitted facility, complete with digital multi-track recording system. Long-time Jupiter Coyote sound engineer, Lin Clegg, and I got together and set up a discreet Dolby 5.1 Surround microphone mix list, including two separate rear-channel mics for live room ambiance as well as a separate kick and bass track for separate 5.1 subwoofer output. The mix was rendered as a 24-Bit 48Khz surround encoded MPEG. Sixteen years later, the sound is still great.

John Watson flew out to California, where he and I worked for three straight days on the video editing. From the start, John and I launched into a syncopated editing style that matched music tempo. John was a veteran Jupiter Coyote videographer, and together we really hit a home run. During the video, we decided to use some multiple cross-fade techniques that developed into something interesting and fun by the time “Rose Hill” played. At one point, we were able to composite all of the cameras onto a single frame, which was fun. 

If you continue to listen through the credits, you are actually listening to a track that I recorded personally with Matt and John at Matt’s ranch in Bevard, North Carolina. I wanted to have a side screen in the multi-screen production during saloon scene. Matt and John dressed up in hilbilly outfits and played banjo & guitar. I decided to use the audio from this shot, combined with thunder claps recorded in the Sierras as a backdrop. If anyone is familiar with Jupiter Coyote, there is a famous “Borneo Rain Sounds” track, and I thought it nice to pay homage to that track for the band.

You can learn more about Jupiter Coyote by visiting them at www.jcmerch.com.

 

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