Recording - August 2010 - 34

Brian Tarquin gives us an engineer’s-eye view into the guitar recording secrets of one of the most famous players in history. Read on...

IN THE STUDIO WITH JEFF BECK
By Brian Tarquin

AS TOLD BY STEVE LIPSON

certain importance to having worked with Trevor Horn, and Steve has used that experience very much to his advantage. I had the pleasure of speaking with Steve on how one might go about recording an international guitar hero such as Jeff Beck.—BT

Emotion & Commotion is a bit of a departure from the Jeff Beck we know from days past, where odd time signatures are met with screaming whammy bar solos. How did you record the songs? Steve Lipson: Probably everything I’m going to say is the worst-case scenario for those who are interested in recording. I used Pro Tools, we did everything individually and used the smallest, cheapest amplifier there was available, a Fender Pro Junior for about $400.
Yet you captured his tone very well. Yes, I think it comes from his fingers. In a way he is not that bothered about big amps in the studio. He doesn’t like big amps anyway, from what I can gather. He just plugged into the amp and said that it will do! And off we went. What did you mike him with, any particular favorites? A Royer R-122V (ribbon mic with vacuum tube circuit and military-grade tube) with an sE Electronics Reflexion Filter screen. I close-miked the amp in the same room as us, we didn’t have a separate recording room. We recorded the Royer through the Chandler LTD 2 straight into Pro Tools. Did you record through a particular console? No, I just have a bunch of outboard gear, Pro Tools and an Avid ICON D Control surface. Where do you begin to describe the illustrious and diverse career that the guitar icon Jeff Beck has enjoyed for the past half century? He is the quintessential guitarist’s guitarist and has received the Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance five times. In 2009 he was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame, the award presented by his old friend and former Yardbirds bandmate Jimmy Page. Producer/engineer Steve Lipson was in charge of Beck’s most recent release, Emotion & Commotion. Steve has worked with numerous artists, including The Animals, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Whitney Houston, Grace Jones, Jars of Clay, Paul McCartney, Pet Shop Boys and Simple Minds. He also produced Annie Lennox’s first three solo albums. Not surprisingly, Steve started out as an engineer for The Rolling Stones, soon becoming a protégé of Trevor Horn at ZTT. In the UK there is a
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RECORDING AUGUST 2010

Jeff Beck has always been an idol of mine—how was it working with such a guitar hero? Also, being the producer, did you have a large part in picking the songs? It was brilliant working with him because he is an idol of mine as well. I worked with him years ago; we did music for a TV program that was a half an hour. Sitting three feet from him whenever he was playing was extraordinary. But after a while it’s like anything else, you get past that and you treat him like anyone else to get a good performance. Still, when I left the room and listened to what he did, it was magnificent! It’s funny, I’m a guitar player and when I play something it sounds like rubbish, but when he plays the same thing it sounds unimaginable. I read a couple of reviews stating that he didn’t stretch himself on the record—that remark is so ignorant it’s hysterical. He stretched himself quite a lot on this record, because the simplest things are the hardest things to play. He is the master of it! Like the opening piece, “Corpus Christi Carol,” the way he delivers those notes is amazing. They are simple notes and anyone could play those notes, but nobody could play the emotion of those notes the way he does.

Recording - August 2010

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