Recording - January 2010 - 2

PUBLISHER: ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER: Thomas Hawley Brent Heintz EDITORIAL EDITOR: Lorenz Rychner ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Mike Metlay WEB EDITOR: Justin Peacock MÚSICO PRO EDITOR: Fernando Curiel CONTRIBUTORS Bob Emmet, Brian Tarquin, Marty Peters, Paul Vnuk Jr., Scott Dorsey TAXI METER Guitars They’re not going away anytime soon, despite everything else that’s going from analog to digital, from real to virtual, from being “a box” to existing only “in the box”. But then, guitars have been around forever. My New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians shows a picture of a fourstringed guitar-shaped lute on a frieze from what is today’s Uzbekistan region, dating back to the 1st century AD. You can see it at www.guitarsite.com/ 1998images/History/guitar-lute.jpg. The player’s left hand is missing, so we don’t know what powerchord was being shredded, but the player has a defiant look on his/her face under a stylish hoodie, and the hefty pick should have produced quite some tone Maybe to Eleven? On the same frieze there is an 8-stringed instrument to be seen, probably more harp-like in action—check it out at www.hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/ 03/hm3_5_11b.html. The day before the recent AES convention in New York I got to see the Vermeer exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum, built around the loaner of the famous “Milkmaid”. Vermeer loved to paint the lute, check out the lady tuning hers (www.essentialvermeer.com/catalogue_xxl/lute_xxl.html), the lady being interrupted in her playing when a letter is delivered to her (www.essential vermeer.com/catalogue/love_letter.html), and the wide-eyed girl who looks like she has just found the “lost chord” (www.essentialvermeer.com/catalogue/ guitar_player.html). What an exquisite instrument she plays! The most fun of all is had by Jan Steen in his self-portrait—he looks like an entertainer who knows how to please a crowd—check him out at www.museothyssen.org/ thyssen/ficha_obra/110. The cool thing about the robust survival of the guitar in this digital age is the way guitars can be integrated into your studio. We’re bringing you a number of articles that deal with the many ways to make the ever-so-analog guitar become almost a computer accessory to your DAW, seamlessly. Check out the review of the Apogee GIO interface—Mike Metlay finds that it doesn’t get any simpler, it just marries the guitar to your Apple DAW, period. If you want to have analog circuitry with tubes in a multieffects processor, look at the review of the Zoom G9.2tt. The Line 6 POD X3 in another variation on the theme, and check out the other guitar-centric tools and toys in brief reviews under the Once Over header. Brian Tarquin asked three guitarists of note about their preferred signal path, particularly about preamp preferences—read in the Guitar Column what Zakk Wylde, Neal Schon, and James Ryan had to say. Steve Vai, guitar hero of the real kind, tells the editor-guitarist of our sister publication Músico Pro, Fernando Curiel, how he deals with sounds in his studio when he mixes. Fernando himself brings you the second part of his Hybrid Guitar Recording Method where he goes into much detail about getting great guitar tones quietly—by combining the best of both worlds: real guitar amps and emulations of speaker cabinets. The meters may show Eleven, but family and neighbors are sound asleep There is more in this issue, and we trust that it gets the New Year off to a flying start for you, especially if the recording and mixing of guitars is a concern of yours. Happy Recording, EDITOR: Kenny Kerner ART & PRODUCTION ART DIRECTOR: Scott Simmonds PRODUCTION MANAGER: Colin Courtney PHOTOGRAPHY: Brent Heintz PLAYBACK PLATINUM SERIES EDITOR/PRODUCER: Lorenz Rychner CIRCULATION CIRCULATION MANAGER: Tiffany Sepe ADVERTISING SALES AND MARKETING DIRECTOR: Brent Heintz CLASSIFIEDS MANAGER: Stephanie King ADMINISTRATION ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE: Stephanie King EXECUTIVE OFFICERS PRESIDENT: Thomas Hawley VICE PRESIDENT: Brent Heintz Subscriptions/Address Changes: 1-800-582-8326 281-261-2581 Advertising/Classifieds/Main Office: (303) 516-9118 RECORDING MAGAZINE (ISSN 1078-8352; USPS 002-298) is published monthly, 12 times per year, by Music Maker Publications, Inc., 5408 Idylwild Trail, Boulder, CO 80301-3523. Tel: (303) 516-9118 Fax: (303) 516-9119 email: info@recordingmag.com Periodicals Postage is paid at Boulder, CO and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to RECORDING, Subscriber Services, P.O. Box 334, Stafford, TX, 77497. Tel: 1-800-582-8326 or 832-886-1126. Subscription rate: $19.95 per year. All material is subject to worldwide copyright protection, and reproduction or imitation in whole or in part is expressly forbidden without written consent from the publishers. All reasonable care is taken to ensure accuracy in the preparation of the magazine, but Music Maker Publications, Inc. cannot be held legally responsible for its contents. The publishers cannot assume responsibility for the return of unsolicited manuscripts, photographs or materials. All trademarked names, whether indicated as such or not, are owned by their respective companies. Canada Post: Publications Mail Agreement #41491032. Canada Returns to be sent to Bleuchip International, P.O. Box 25542, London, ON N6C 6B2 © Copyright 2010 Music Maker Publications, Inc. PRINTED IN THE U.S.A. RECORDING JANUARY 2010

http://www.guitarsite.com/1998images/History/guitar-lute.jpg http://www.guitarsite.com/1998images/History/guitar-lute.jpg http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/03/hm3_5_11b.html http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/03/hm3_5_11b.html http://www.essentialvermeer.com/catalogue_xxl/lute_xxl.html http://www.essentialvermeer.com/catalogue/love_letter.html http://www.essentialvermeer.com/catalogue/love_letter.html http://www.essentialvermeer.com/catalogue/guitar_player.html http://www.essentialvermeer.com/catalogue/guitar_player.html http://www.museothyssen.org/thyssen/ficha_obra/110 http://www.museothyssen.org/thyssen/ficha_obra/110

Recording - January 2010

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - January 2010