DesireeNevermind said:

it'll be activator all over the plates...

This seems really cheap. I mean, inexpensive.

i think we should all chip in and pay for prince to go

unique said:

PS: doesn't Terry Lewis do most of the actual production work? why would i pay $1,250 to go see "the other guy"?

unique said:

I'll chip in the $77.00 I saved by not joining that empty galaxy of his.

errant said:

I think its the other way around. Terry is more the songwriter of the two, Jimmy Jam plays everything! I heard someone say that Janet preferred to work with Jimmy over Terry. You can hear that on a few interludes. I hear Jimmy Jam called out and never Terry.

tricky2 said:

oh, ok. got them mixed up.

bboy87 said:

x a million

unique said:

funkyandy said:

If I had some money, I would do that. Hell, I don't even have money and I might. Need an American Express. Damn you, JP Morgan Chase!

BTW, for that price, is this a charity gig where he doesn't even take the money. Just the Janet recordings (which I believe has to be the bulk of his finances) that price just seems too low to be doing it for the money!
[Edited 8/30/09 18:33pm]

I am one of the lucky few who attended this event. It was an unforgettable afternoon & evening in the studio with Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis.

Quite a few mis-conceptions on this thread about where the money goes or the purpose of the event, We took lots of photos and video taped a lot of great footage at FlyteTyme.

Happy to share the facts if anyone is interested. Jimmy Jam is one amazingly kind and generous person. ... and talented beyond words! Terry Lewis as well.

flytetymefanmic said:

share away

tricky2 said:

Yeah, I believe that. Also, Janet talks more about Jimmy in interviews than she does about Terry.

Terry's more quiet with his work, I think the reason Jimmy & Janet get on so great is because he gives her a musical ear, with Terry, it's all about the lyrics so maybe that's why.

flytetymefanmic said:

That's why Janet's a lot closer with Jimmy. He connects with her on a personal level and is focused on the music as well. Terry just feels he's doing his job.

But you're so lucky! Please share!

If I pay that much money IIIIII wanna pick the damn restaurant after the recording studio a limo should be taking us right to 7801 Audubon RD to lay down the track in O+> studio

bboy87 said:

Timbaland allegedly charges $250,000...

http://www.nme.com/news/d...scal/47379



I wonder if that's per day, per song?...

GirlBrother said:

per song. it used to be about $20k per song in the 80s when people were getting the prince tracks

A few facts about the event:

http://www.grammymuseum.o..._past#jjam

It was sponsored by American Express, By Invitation Only Series- Amex Gold (I think??), Amex Platinum and Amex Black Card members got the invitation via email or their statement. Co-sponsored by The Grammy Musuem (Jimmy is the Chairman of NARAS (Grammy Awards)), hence why Terry's name may not have been attached to the event. The invitation said: For $1,250 a chance to spend an afternoon - evening at FlyteTyme West in Santa Monica with Jimmy including a tour of the studio. Bring your own tracks and get them produced by Jimmy. Dinner at one of Jimmy's favorite restaurant in Santa Monica. Limited use of cameras. When I called AMEX to book it, the concierge said that a lot of people called expressing interest, mainly parents for their kids looking to break into music biz, etc. American Express indicated it was open to like 12 or 14 people, however (for whatever reason) only 5 booked and 4 showed up (the 5th missed a same day flight from East Coast). Not sure how it narrowed down to just 5 people in the end, but it was more intimate and less formal. The afternoon and evening included the four of us attendees and Bob Santelli, CEO of the Grammy Museum, the Marketing rep. from Amex and two marketing Reps. from The Grammy Museum. I don't know for fact, but my guess is the money we paid probably went as a donation to the Grammy Museum. The musuem has an interractive display where you walk into the studio and in virtual reality, Jimmy and Terry welcome you into the studio and say "we've been waiting on you" and you interactively go though recording a live session with them. I've heard it's quite impressive.


FlyteTyme studios:

A 10,000 sq' foot, contemporary, 2 story complex in Santa Monica corporate park, industrial area. No exterior signs on the building or front door indicates FlyteTyme Studios. Access is secure via key card, surveillance and biometrics. The building is elegant, contemporary and secure as Fort Knox. I even noted, the magazines in the studio were addressed to a P.O. Box and said F T Productions, so they operate in complete stealth mode for security purposes, given the celebs who pass through there. Access is through either the secure front door or the underground, gated garage. Every wall in the entire building is replete with Gold and Platinum albums, and multiple awards the duo has received - even the restrooms and stairwells. Downstairs, includes a lobby/reception area with the FlyteTyme logo, state of the art board meeting room with two-sided glass case for the many Grammy's and musical awards received. A few small administrative offices, lots of flat panels TVs, a game room/kitchen with every electronic game imaginable and several arcade games. The game room is acoustically baffled so they can record multiple musicians or live strings or horns from the game room. The 2nd floor includes 5 separate studios - East end of the studio includes three small MIDI studios and one shared vocal booth and a Hammond B-3 in the hall which can be ported to any other studio. West end of the studio includes two larger studios including; Terry's studio w/ Yamaha C-7 piano in the adjacent sound booth. Jimmy's studio has an adjacent vocal booth. Jimmy & Terry's private offices are housed in the rear. Jimmy is currently playing an Roland XP-60 and Korg Oasys keyboard. Many of the legacy, as well as current equipment, is out and in use including a Roland TR-808, several LINN drum machines, ARP 2600, BT360's, etc. Multiple satellite sports channels are always playing muted on the flat-panel displays above the mixing board and Yamaha NS-10 monitors. Each studio is not huge, but the perfect size and use of space. Most of the in-house producers walk into one of the East end studios with a Mac Notebook, plug-in and start recording tracks via ProTools and a few nearby keyboards and drum machines.


In The Studio with Jimmy Jam:

Everything you're read and seen about Jimmy is true. He is an amazingly affable, smart, humble, talented, and genuinely nice guy. No buts or exceptions. He loves to write music and play and not attend business meetings, program synth sounds, sequences, etc. He'll only program to get the sound or beat he wants or sync to film clips which have to be precisely _n_ seconds He is a player, not a programmer. Jimmy conducted the studio tour, including stops to meet in-house producers, an upcoming artist and a few riffs played on the piano including Tender Love (he called their 'signature' piano song) and On Bended Knee. Jimmy shared a lot of stories, too many to recall. Many of which you've read in past interviews, just not the minute details.

Jimmy shared so MANY stories that were memorable including:
* He and Terry's partnership & friendship over 37 years and how they still work on a handshake (no partners contract) and revenue is (still) divided 50-50 and it works for them, but may not work for other production teams
* Terry's skill as a lyricist (can compose amazing lyrics on the fly) and vocal producer who can get the best out of every singer. Also, his distinct style of bass playing which is rarely heard on albums.
*Pride in The Grammy Awards received and star on Hollywood Walk of Fame - He brought a Grammy from home for us to hold and take photographs with.
* How "The Time" was formed from two Minneapolis bands: rehearsals and performance with Prince, Alexander O'Neal gone and returned, Morris and Jesse's arrival. Let's just say, Alexander is a true character who speaks his mind!
* Bobby Brown & New Edition - "Coming Home" album. I will never document this story in detail because Jam shared it in light candor, but this story had everyone's mouth agasp interspersed with laughter and could have been a reality TV episode gone awry. Let's just say, Bobby was "high maintenance"! On a good note: Jimmy said he absolutely LOVES Bobby's soulful singing and Bobby's skill in the studio that "nailed it" every take and "would work with him again in a heartbeat". Jimmy is so kind and affable, he found Bobby's hijinx mostly amusing and managed to make the best of his antics, where most producers would have strangled Bobby from day 1 recording the album.
* Patti Austin's professionalism and amazing vocal skill and 40+ year experience singing backup for virtually everyone's album & jingles. They never had a vocalist complete a full track perfectly on every take, background vocals, + overdubs in less than < 3 hours. All three tracks on the "Getting Away With Murder" album could have been recorded in a day (unheard of)!
* Clarence Avant - The Godfather and his mentorship and honesty when they made their 1st deal and aksed for too little money and Clarence told them the real deal and paid them more above the going rate.
* The Time reunion last Summer at The Flamingo in Las Vegas. Admiration for Morris's incredible skill as a drummer influenced by Dave Garibaldi from Tower of Power.
* How they could not get financing from banks for their own studio circa' 87, even though they were nominated for a Grammy and had four Top 10 hits on the charts.
* Lance Alexander from Lo-Key (former, in house producer) is an amazing talent with musical ideas that blew Jam away time and time again
* Songs that are most memorable to He and Terry (too many to list, but Tender Love, I'm Only Human and That's The Way Love Goes get favorable mention.
* Songs that make him cringe or scratch his head years later: Saturday Love by Cherelle and Alexander O'Neal. Composed the riff one night from atop his penthouse apt. in Minneapolis. Next day told Terry he had the idea for a song with days of the week. Terry asked was it a Sesame Street learning song? (lol) Whether brilliance or laziness, Cherelle and Alex both sing same lyrics over both versus. Jam & Lewis couldn't come up w/ any more lyrics. Listeners and critics thought it was a brilliant and innovative concept. They still acknowledge with a wink and a nod to this day on that song.
* The move from Minneapolis to Los Angeles 3+ years ago and how they ironically found the building for FlyteTyme West.
* If he could work with any artist(s) who would it be: A vocalist from a UK group whose name I can't recall, Sade and Seal

Terry Lewis:

Terry was headed out of the studio when we arrived. Very friendly and dressed in shorts, pullover, water sneakers, iPod, trademark shades and a backpack with his Tesla ($150k electric powered, Ferrari-type sports car) baseball cap. Terry returned less than an hour later and was in his studio with the engineer and in-house co-produceer and guitar player, Bobby Avila of The Avila Brothers. Terry played us the latest (or upcoming) Usher single. We all had to turn off any camcorders and iPhone video recorders. A bumping track with a reggae dance hall intro and shakahuchi synth part (ear candy) throughout the funky-hard R&B chorus. Terry was very cool, unassuming, laid back and smiled for the cameras. He was happy to see us and very welcoming, yet respectfully let Jimmy play host.

The session:

Jimmy said the time was ours to do what we wanted in the limited time frame we had. Jimmy in advance, offered up some lead sheets to sing vocals for some popular songs, his own and other classics. Rather than producing any of our own tracks or riffs we came with, we each took a pass at some vocals in the booth. Award winning engineer Matt Marin was behind the mixing board. Ironically, the four of us have corporate jobs, but do music on the side/hobby/freelance so we have all previously had been in a studio. You can't imagine the nervousness of singing in front of Jimmy, no matter how at ease he made you feel. Everyone was nervous in the vocal booth. We were all clear we were NOT there to possibly snag a record deal. After seeing the amount of talent they work with daily, you would have to be a talented superstar of amazing proportions to catch his ear. We simply enjoyed it for what it was - A day at FlyteTyme with Jimmy Jam. Jimmy graciously does not accept demo CD/tapes in hand, because it was a paid event, his standing in NARAS and to be fair and equitable to everyone, you can hand it to the studio receptionist or submit it via mail, which is detailed on FlyteTyme's web site under "Submit A Demo".

Dinner at Buffalo Club in Santa Monica:

We four attendees shared stories about our musical experiences and influences and asked questions. Jimmy is a great listener and gave all four of us the best advice and insights he had to offer. Jimmy told a few more interesting facts on how they started Perspective Records with Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss (A&M records) and how Herb was blown away by the Sounds of Blackness album, he stayed in his car in the A&M parking lot and listened to the entire album and was almost moved to tears. The ensuing years at A&M after Herb and Jerry sold the company. The brilliance of Clarence Avant's deal making style and life experiences. Quincy Jones mentorship. Prince pushing the The Time band members musically and in performance. Also, how He and Terry composed the theme song for the Minnesota Timberwolves and were diehard fans attending most every game and made an un-successful bid to buy the team (with investors Magic Johnson, Denzil Washington and others) when the team almost left Minneapolis.

The exterior of The Buffalo club has an unassuming facade. It is an elegant, old Irish Pub /Chop House type, dark wood restaurant with white linen service. In the back of the restaurant, where we dined, is a beautiful outdoor courtyard, ivy garden and outdoor bar & dining area. Wine, dinner, dessert and a great time. We took photos, exchanged contact information. Jimmy went back to the studio. According to Jimmy, Johnny Gill, Ruben Studdard and Usher were slated to come by and record later that night.

Closing thoughts:

The four attendees emailed one another and were still on a musical high two weeks later. We're glad we went. We were inspired in our own way musically and regardless of the cost, it was well worth every penny. Most of all, we appreciated Jimmy & Terry taking time out of their busy schedules to host the event. Jimmy works with other foundations and non-profit groups that occasionally bring kids through FlyteTyme and The Grammy Museum. Late October, every attendee received a hand written Thank you note from Jimmy and a FlyteTyme CD with their session in the vocal booth.



Point of clarity for "the haters" or "the mis-informed":
I can't speak for the other three musicians who attended, but we clearly did not spend the $$ on this event on the hopes of "getting a deal". Many of FlyteTyme's artists in residence, studio vocalists and musicians are clearly talented beyond words and could carry their own albums on the strength of their resume and talent. Jam & Lewis meet a plethora of talented musicians and composers daily. We simply wanted to meet some musicians we admired, get lost in the creativity of great music and see/hear the process of two geniuses first hand behind the scenes, listen, learn and go away inspired. Finally, contrary to some comments posted in this forum, Jimmy & Terry do NOT Need the money from this event to supplement anything financial! While I have not seen Jimmy or Terry's net worth publicized by magazines like Forbes, Panache Report, etc. For example, In 2006, The Neptunes were estimated to be worth $ 125M based on catalog, publishing rights, production fees (not including investments). Babyface $ 185M, Jermaine Dupri $ 65M. Jam & Lewis have been producing since 1983 before Pharell and Chad were likely born. Do the math (# years x # hits x recurring royalties) and then tell me if they need my lousy $ 1,250 from this event? NOT! Again, I don't know for fact, but my guess is the money we paid probably went as a donation to the Grammy Museum, which is non-profit.

I hope my words did these two talented guys justice. An unforgettable experience!

~FlyteTymeFanMic



[Photo above]
Dinner at Buffalo Club: Four attendees with Jimmy Jam (Black), Bob Santelli - Grammy Museum CEO (white shirt), Lynne & Stacey (Grammy Museum Marketing) and Erika (WW Marketing for Amex - not pictured)
[Edited 11/6/09 4:44am]
[Edited 12/7/09 13:12pm]

GirlBrother said:

yeah,Timbaland is one of the most expensive producers to work with.