Recording - July 2011 - 2

PUBLISHER: Thomas Hawley ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER: Brent Heintz

EDITOR: Lorenz Rychner ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Mike Metlay MÚSICO PRO EDITOR: Fernando Curiel

EDITORIAL

Guitars The ancient Greeks called it kithara, you may call it an axe; B.B. King calls his Lucille, and Les Paul’s invention was The Log. You can go see The Log, in Nashville, TN, in the The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum—if you haven’t been, start making plans, it’s worth a trip and a long visit. And just as fascinating, with many more significant guitars on display, is the Experience Music Project in Seattle, WA, but pack your gumboots and umbrella before you board the plane... Playing an instrument with strings on a resonating body is an idea that has been around for so long, its origins are shrouded in the mist of time immemorial. And if that’s the ’60s for you, you know who you are (if you can remember them, you weren’t really there...). In some ways things haven’t changed all that much for guitar slingers. In ancient Greece they had strict rules about what scales were appropriate for which occasions—woe to the kitharist who played a happy mode for a solemn event, Zeus was sure to strike him down with a thunderbolt. Nowadays, the thunderbolt might come from an inadequately grounded amp, and it’s only the chickenwire that saves the hapless picker from getting hit by beer bottles if he plays “Louie Louie” in the wrong key. Recording guitars is the topic of this issue. We promised to cater to the needs of recording guitarists and those who record guitars. What are those needs? Well, to begin with, it’s about tones and sounds: the more the merrier. If you own an amp of brand X, you’re lusting after another of brand Y, and why not the one of brand Z? Ditto with the guitars, and with the effects. They all sound different, and you want them all. Now you can have them all, without maxing out your credit card and renting a warehouse for storage. Read this issue of Recording and be amazed. Some dedicated people spent many hours evaluating products for you, and here are the results. Paul Vnuk Jr. and Christopher Short burned the midnight oil to audit and describe close to a hundred amps, cabs, and effects that you can get for a few dollars each, modeled by IK Multimedia as part of the Amplitube 3.5 collection, which now is free, as in zero dollars. Read on page 46 what you get for nothing— it’s a lot, and then be amazed at what you can get if you actually spend a few dollars! Our Mike Metlay and Darwin Grosse took over Subterranean Scumbarge Studio A and Dizzy Heights Audio for days-long sessions, and checked out not just three TC Electronic pedals but 14 miscellaneous products that are quite amazing. Mike also looked at a number of guitar-related products for the iPod and iPad—there’s some serious gear for a variety of tasks. That’s not all. We bring you a few more product reviews, and since it’s not just about what you have but about how you use it, we offer you these articles on studio techniques: Har shares his insights into the best use of effects pedals, how to string them together and how to keep the chain noise-free—no mean feat at your feet. And Brian Tarquin looks at ways to avoid the muddy low end that can come from ill-advised use of the oh-so-trendy 7- and 8-string guitars. He flushes that mud right out of the studio! Our Brent Heintz visited the ASCAP “I Create Music” EXPO 2011 and reports on the Fade Out page—mark your calendar for next year; having attended a couple of these ASCAP EXPO events myself I can join in with Brent in recommending that you put it on your agenda. Happy trails, and— Happy Recording.

CONTRIBUTORS Har, Darwin Grosse, Brian Tarquin, Paul Vnuk Jr., Todd Gascon, Bruce Kaphan, Allen Goodman, Marty Peters, Brent Heintz
ART DIRECTOR: Scott Simmonds PRODUCTION MANAGER: Colin Courtney WEB GOALIE: Colin Courtney

ART & PRODUCTION

EDITOR/PRODUCER:

PLAYBACK PLATINUM SERIES Lorenz Rychner CIRCULATION Tiffany Sepe

CIRCULATION MANAGER:

ADVERTISING SALES AND MARKETING DIRECTOR: Brent Heintz CLASSIFIEDS MANAGER: Stephanie King
ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE:

ADMINISTRATION Stephanie King

PRESIDENT: Thomas Hawley VICE PRESIDENT: Brent Heintz

EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

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RECORDING JULY 2011

Recording - July 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - July 2011