EQ Magazine - April 2009 - (Page 26) Let the Right Sounds In The creative benefits of embracing “possibilities” when they present themselves is perhaps best illustrated on Gift of Screws by the development of the track, “Great Day.” “I was in the studio, and my son, Will, was hanging out, and he started going, ‘Great day. Great day,’” says Buckingham. “I asked, ‘What is that?’ He said, ‘I don’t know. I just made it up.’ I thought, ‘I’m going to see if I can make it into a song.’ I don’t necessarily think I was intending it, but that song ended up being a capsule report on everything else that followed—in kind of like a ‘cubist’ sort of way—with its fingerpicked acoustic parts, counterpoint vocals, and flashy leads.” Likewise, the mysterious rhythmic pitter-patter rhythm at the opening of the tune is an example of Buckingham’s willingness to use anything at hand to subvert obvious sonic choices. “You know how mixing consoles have that little padded area where you put your elbows?” he asks. “Well, I pounded on that pad to create that rhythm. Sometimes, I use a leather chair. You set your tempo up with a click track, and you just hit the padding with your hand. This is something I’ve done over and over again— probably as a reaction to the ’70s, where you had this fat kind of very clean and in the forefront sound for the drums. Maybe that was because of disco, but if you go back to the early rock stuff, the drums were more elusive. There was so much more atmosphere. So since Tusk, I’ve often looked for alternatives for the function of things such as the snare and hi-hat— anything that would get away from NEAL PRESTON & ANDY KENT SLA M DUNK. Sound so good it’s slammin’. Our U37 USB studio condenser microphone produces a smooth extended frequency response and the famous CAD sound that kicks the others to the curb. Record studio quality sound directly to your computer. And if you guessed it’s affordable, you’ve guessed right. Because an ear is a terrible thing to waste. Lindsey Buckingham in the mid-’70s. CADMICS.COM 26 EQ APRIL 2009 www.eqmag.com http://www.CADMICS.COM http://www.eqmag.com
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