The man who transcribed Chin Dem in 90s

[whatashame]

So, in one of the oh-so-many articles about making of Chinese Democracy (years ago, Classic Rock, etc) it was said that when Josh Freese left and Brain was brought in, Axl wanted Brain to play Freese's material with Brain's feel. In order to do so, Freese's material was transcribed, and the transcription was given to Brain to learn.

Freese's music was sent to a man, and a month later he sent back a brick-thick transcription of his music on paper. Brain learnt that, and played it his way, bla bla bla.

Now, I know it's no news to anybody who read those articles, etc.

But, my question is - and I sincerely apologize if it is has been asked before me, before the album release, or before Christ - fellow die hards surely have a lot more interesting topics to discuss - has anybody ever thought it's kinda strange they wouldn't let band members get a copy of the music (infamous Bumblefoot learning IRS with a laptop and a set of headphones), but they'd send a copy of the whole album (and unreleased songs, since in late 90s they didn't know which songs would make the 2oo8 cut) to some dude to transfer the sound into symbols?

Thoughts anyone?

[Jakey Styley]

That was before leaks were such a big, scary thing.

[evader]

But, my question is - and I sincerely apologize if it is has been asked before me, before the album release, or before Christ - fellow die hards surely have a lot more interesting topics to discuss - has anybody ever thought it's kinda strange they wouldn't let band members get a copy of the music (infamous Bumblefoot learning IRS with a laptop and a set of headphones), but they'd send a copy of the whole album (and unreleased songs, since in late 90s they didn't know which songs would make the 2oo8 cut) to some dude to transfer the sound into symbols?

Thoughts anyone?

Maybe they just sent that transcription guy 30 drum recordings from Freese that didn't have any of the other music - like the Rockband stems. They wouldn't even necessarily need to have put song titles or even the band name on them. They could have just been labeled "song 1" and "song 29". As much as I love Brain and Frank's work on CD, I'd really like to hear what Freese did, because even though Brain was told to re-do it note-for-note, he certainly didn't do that on CITR, and Frank certainly didn't do that on CD.

[Mr. Dude]

But, my question is - and I sincerely apologize if it is has been asked before me, before the album release, or before Christ - fellow die hards surely have a lot more interesting topics to discuss - has anybody ever thought it's kinda strange they wouldn't let band members get a copy of the music (infamous Bumblefoot learning IRS with a laptop and a set of headphones), but they'd send a copy of the whole album (and unreleased songs, since in late 90s they didn't know which songs would make the 2oo8 cut) to some dude to transfer the sound into symbols?

Thoughts anyone?

Maybe they just sent that transcription guy 30 drum recordings from Freese that didn't have any of the other music - like the Rockband stems. They wouldn't even necessarily need to have put song titles or even the band name on them. They could have just been labeled "song 1" and "song 29". As much as I love Brain and Frank's work on CD, I'd really like to hear what Freese did, because even though Brain was told to re-do it note-for-note, he certainly didn't do that on CITR, and Frank certainly didn't do that on CD.

Isn't some of Freese's work intact on CD (the song)? Or was that redone too?

[evader]

But, my question is - and I sincerely apologize if it is has been asked before me, before the album release, or before Christ - fellow die hards surely have a lot more interesting topics to discuss - has anybody ever thought it's kinda strange they wouldn't let band members get a copy of the music (infamous Bumblefoot learning IRS with a laptop and a set of headphones), but they'd send a copy of the whole album (and unreleased songs, since in late 90s they didn't know which songs would make the 2oo8 cut) to some dude to transfer the sound into symbols?

Thoughts anyone?

Maybe they just sent that transcription guy 30 drum recordings from Freese that didn't have any of the other music - like the Rockband stems. They wouldn't even necessarily need to have put song titles or even the band name on them. They could have just been labeled "song 1" and "song 29". As much as I love Brain and Frank's work on CD, I'd really like to hear what Freese did, because even though Brain was told to re-do it note-for-note, he certainly didn't do that on CITR, and Frank certainly didn't do that on CD.

Isn't some of Freese's work intact on CD (the song)? Or was that redone too?

The booklet credits Freese as co-writer on Chinese, but credits only Ferrer with the drum recording. And, despite the booklet giving "Drum Arrangement" credit to Freese on other songs, that's not the case on Chinese, so I assume the final album arrangement is significantly different from what Freese initially wrote. It is certainly different than Brain's drumming on the demos.

[EvH]

Franck's drumming on the title track is very disappointing compared to the demo.