EQ Magazine - February 2009 - (Page 30)

GUITAR TRAX Steve Lukather. STEVE LUKATHER’S 7 WAYS TO TONAL BLISS by Brian D. Holland Known for its ’70s and ’80s classics such as “Rosanna,” “Africa,” “Hold The Line,” and “I Won’t Hold You Back,” Toto was launched by a group of top session musicians whose ability to blend pop rock melodies with progressive instrumentation was quite innovative for the time. A significant member since its inception, guitarist Steve Lukather brought Toto into the 21st century, finally putting the band to rest in June 2008. Besides his years with Toto—as well as his numerous tours with a variety of artists—Lukather’s talents have adorned hundreds of recordings. With a list of credits too numerous to mention, the multitalented musician, producer, arranger, songwriter, and vocalist has worked with some of the most notable engineers and producers in the business. Because of those experiences, Luke was not about to completely trust his own engineering chops while making his most recent solo release, Ever Changing Times [Frontiers]. For that, Lukather entrusted much of the sound sculpting to Grammy-winning engineer/producer Steve MacMillan, who worked on Toto’s Minefields (1999), Through the Looking Glass (2002), and Falling In Between (2006), as well as tackling projects for Lionel Richie, Supertramp, Rod Stewart, Seal, Celine Dion, and Kelly Clarkson. Although the project brought two friends together, it wasn’t a situation where the duo completely defaulted to the tried-and-true studio techniques they had used in the past. The Ever Changing Times sessions were more of a “collaboration” between trusted old-school methods and processes that opened up some new directions and new sounds. Here, Lukather and MacMillan discuss some of the techniques they used to track perhaps the guitarist’s edgiest and most natural guitar tones to date. DON’T REHEARSE Lukather: The five-piece band we used for the album was all recorded live in the same room, and we didn’t rehearse, because I don’t believe in rehearsing for records. You can rehearse the magic right out of stuff before you go into the studio. I’m of the old school, and I believe in sitting in the room with a bunch of musicians and capturing the interplay that happens. As a result, I like to say the tracks turned out “perfectly imperfect,” and that’s what gives them the vibe and energy. You know, for all the crap Toto took for being soulless, we 30 EQ FEBRUARY 2009 www.eqmag.com http://www.eqmag.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of EQ Magazine - February 2009

EQ Magazine - February 2009 Contents Talk Box Sounding Board Dave Cooley Low vs. Diamond Hank Williams III Travis Franz Ferdinand Guitar Trax Bass Management Key Issues Drum Heads Vocal Cords Mix Bus Cheat Sheet Apple Logic Pro 8 Cakewalk Sonar Near-Field Monitor Roundup Gadgets &�Goodies Sounds Room with a Vu

EQ Magazine - February 2009

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