I'd like to direct everyone's attention to a photo from the article I posted showing the scale of the 200' broadcast antenna relative to the deck where the recording was made if I am understanding where all this took place. And the photo is pretty much centered on the base---not the mast.

https://www.enr.com/ext/resources/Is...5678&width=900

Like Godzilla looming over your Deck !!! nice pic

It's an amazing photograph that really shows off the scale of the antenna mast relative to the top of the building. There has to be an equally amazing story how this photo was made.

The mast and the 200' antenna would be awe inspiring if they were at ground level, but the thought that they are 1,250 feet in the air is just about more than I can comprehend.

With all the various radio and TV broadcasts going on, there has to be some extremely sophisticated engineering in place just so they are able to broadcast clean channels.

One has to wonder what they have planned for the 100th anniversary of the building. Given the incredible history of the Empire State Building, what can one possibly do to celebrate that kind of story?

The photo from the article you posted blows me away!

Yes indeed, the deck is exactly where the recording took place.

"The building’s large antenna was originally designed to be a dirigible mast and the observation deck was for passengers boarding and exiting."
https://hdc.org/buildings/empire-state-building/

I remember seeing a documentary about that. It never worked out due to the wind conditions at that altitude. It turned out to be an extremely dangerous situation.

Here's a few cool drone shots taken during the live performance...

how did you get access to those images

I screen grabbed them from the video.

"Everybody had a good time!"

As many of us already know, on January 30, 1969, The Beatles staged their final live performance on the rooftop of their Apple Corps headquarters in London’s Savile Row.

Norah performed two rooftop tribute performance videos of Beatles songs from the Let It Be album (“I’ve Got A Feeling” and “Let It Be”,) recently captured with her band on the observation deck of New York’s Empire State Building.


Norah Jones joined by:
Sasha Dobson – vocals
Gus Seyffert – bass, vocals
Brian Blade – drums, vocals

I seriously love Brian Blade's drum groove on these tune! Outstanding performance, just listen to what he's doing with the bass drum!

Great capture and mix...is that your original livestream mix Steve, or are we hearing a post-broadcast remix by BlueNote/Capitol folks ?

He is truly a Groove Master. Speaking as a drummer, I would gladly listen to a band where the percussion consisted only of "Brian Blade's Right Foot"

Great work as always, and thank you for sharing this Mr. Remote!

Thanks man. Much appreciated.

Blade's right foot is seriously groovecious!

Norah Jones' longtime production manager, and FOH mixer for this performance, Jamie Landry mixed these tunes. Since there was a crunch to get the delivables done, I helped by processing all the vocal tracks, then sent them back to Jamie.

Talking about Brian Blade's right foot, we had a DPA 4099 on his right knee. That and the two M160s overhead mics were the principal sound for these mixes.

I'm sure you did a great prep job, leaving him little to polish off before a tight deadline...

I recently watched the video of the Beatles' rooftop concert including the footage of the sessions that led up to it. I've always had the opinion that Ringo has a unique vibe as a drummer.

The Empire State Building has its own unique vibe. It was the world's tallest building from the time of its completion in 1931 until 1970. Taller buildings have been built, but it was the first, has that certain unique Art Deco architecture, and still has so much mystique that it draws 4 million visitors a year. https://www.esbnyc.com/about/facts-figures

Not that many places in the world have anything to compare.

To put this in further context, the tallest building in Nashville, TN is the AT&T building built in 1994, reportedly 617' tall --roughly 1/2 the height of the Empire State Building. And the AT&T building is the tallest building in Tennessee.

I haven't a clue what was involved in securing access to the observation deck of the Empire State Building to make this recording, but I suspect it may have been one of those once in a lifetime things.

IMHO, it's all about teamwork. I couldn't have done my work if it wasn't for Jamie and Norah's amazing team of skilled individuals. They did all the heavy lifting for me. And, I'm greatly appreciative for that reality.

Returning to the video of the Beatle's rooftop concert and sessions that led up to it, a number of people credit keyboardist Billy Preston for positively changing the vibe of those sessions that made the music and led to the Beatle's rooftop concert.

It's very cool that Ms Jones included these tribute songs in her performance.

Hey, that was a great more on Norah's part. Such a great performance honoring that last Beatles live rooftop performance.

BTW, I just pre-ordered the 'Get Back' DVD from Amazon. Looking forward in seeing it again, and again...

I want my own copy of this documentary, so I can FF, RR, and pause it accordingly. I don't like how those functions work with the online service.

The 4099 is a supercardiod, right? Just curious, which direction was it pointing?

The 4099 was pointing in between Blade's right knee and the snare drum.

hey Steve ... are yours Red (Loud) or Yellow (extreme) model ??? and YEs the Knee Mic Strikes Again !!

The 4099 that we used for this particular gig was Jamie's mic, so I'm not sure which one he had on Blade's right knee. I would assume it was an extreme SPL version.

My 4099s are the original ones, before they introduced the 4099 CORE versions.

In honor of the upcoming 'Come Away With Me' (20th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition) release, Norah published her live performance of ‘Don’t Know Why’ which was (as we already know) captured on the Empire State Building observation deck back in December of 2021.

Norah Jones was joined by Sasha Dobson on vocals, Gus Seyffert on bass/vocals and the only and only, Brian Blade on drums/vocals...



Here's a link to this video along with other Video Work that I've been involved with over the years.

thanks for sharing this with us

Thanks bro!

A lot of great stuff came from this one-time live performance capture.

It was well worth the efforts.