EQ Magazine - August 2008 - (Page 24)

GUITAR TRAX SIGNAL BLEED & BALLSY BLUES Guy’s enormous amp setup for the Skin Deep sessions. by Will Romano “When I record, the first thing I think about is, ‘How does the band sound live,’” says Nick Moss, a guitarist/producer who recently completed a bodacious double CD of retro-modern Chicago blues, Play It ‘Til Tomorrow with his band The Flip Tops. “I want the band to sound as if you were in a club listening to us playing live. Some records are way too separated. I don’t want that on my recordings, so I don’t close mic anything. The closest I’ll get a microphone to an amp is about six to eight inches away. Does that mean I’ll get some signal bleed? Sure. But who cares?” The concept of allowing disparate signals to bleed into a bunch of different mics is probably considered daring in the age of multiple takes, swipe comping, and sonic isolation, but it makes plain sense when you are tracking the blues. After all, the blues has never been about exploiting technology, and, back in the days of live-inthe-studio tracking, bleed was inevitable. But artists and engineers found a way to make coagulating sounds work for them, and, in the process, turned out some of the greatest blues recordings ever. Here are two examples of how signal bleed can produce ferocious blues-guitar tracks. BUDDY GUY’S MULTIPLE AMP ATTACK Producer Tom Hambridge (Susan Tedeschi, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Johnny Winter) speaks fondly of his experience recording legendary Chicago blues guitarist Buddy Guy for the 72year-old’s Skin Deep. “We would start playing, and, by minute four of the song, I’d signal the engineer to start rolling,” Hambridge says. “That way, the band would already be in the groove before the first note was recorded. Buddy’s amps were louder than hell. We just dimed ’em [turned the volume on the amps all the way up to 10]. My philosophy for those sessions was, ‘Go ahead and let Buddy’s guitar bleed into the overheads.’” To capture Guy’s signature ringingand-stinging attack, a total of six amplifiers were run simultaneously. Starting with two Chicago Blues Box amps, engineer Vance Powell employed a dual-mic approach, positioning a Neumann U67 and a Shure SM57 sideby-side and up close to each grille. “Those are Buddy’s first-choice amps,” says Powell, “but I wanted to give Hambridge some other sonic choices, so we added a Marshall Super Lead 100 and a matching 4x12 cabinet that was miked with an SM57. Then, there was a ’59 Fender Bassman 24 EQ AUGUST 2008 www.eqmag.com http://www.eqmag.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of EQ Magazine - August 2008

EQ Magazine - August 2008 Contents Talk Box Sounding Board Lyrics Born, Fink, David Kahne on Working with Paul McCartney, What a Future with no Record Industry looks like Tool Box ?uestlove Guitar Trax Bass Management Key Issues Drum Heads Vocal Cords Mix Bus Cheat Sheet Cakewalk Sonar 7 Apple Logic Pro 8 USM Mic Round-Up USB Mics Chameleon Labs 7720 Sounds Room with a Vu

EQ Magazine - August 2008

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