Recording - July 2012 - 4

PUBLISHER: Thomas Hawley ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER: Brent Heintz

EDITOR: Lorenz Rychner ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Mike Metlay EDITOR AT LARGE: Beto Hale MÚSICO PRO EDITOR: Fernando Curiel

EDITORIAL

CONTRIBUTORS Paul Vnuk Jr., Eric Ferguson, Michael Schulze, Geoff Gray, Allen Goodman, Scott Petito, Marty Peters, Mark Waldrep SOCIAL MEDIA Brent Heintz, Paul Vnuk Jr.
ART DIRECTOR: Scott Simmonds PRODUCTION MANAGER: Colin Courtney WEB GOALIE: Colin Courtney

ART & PRODUCTION

Guitars Have you ever looked into the history of this omnipresent instrument family? Fascinating stuff, even if historians don’t all seem to agree on everything about it. Whatever its early forms—oud, kithara, harp-like instruments—some incarnations go back thousands of years! Long before the other ubiquitous instrument, the piano, became what it is today, emerging from the “gravicembalo con piano e forte” to the fortepiano and to today’s pianoforte, the guitar was looking and probably sounding pretty much as it does today. At least the guitar’s more respectable cousin, the lute. The guitar itself, we’re told by historians, evolved in Southern Spain as a four-string (or four pairs of strings) instrument, more akin to the ukulele, and only gradually gained more strings and became popular across Europe. But the lute was long ago a favorite among all strata of society. If you do a search for “Albrecht Dürer Angel Lute” you get a picture of a hip looking dude with wings and a bandana, not unlike that worn by Keith Richards (well, minus the wings, but then, with Keith, who really knows?). He plays fingerpicking style, and if we could be sure about the tuning of the strings, guitarists among us could probably notate the chord he’s playing on. The picture dates back to 1497! Fast-forward by about 441 years, to 1938, and you find Les Paul tinkering with the famous “Plank”, to come up with the first electric solid-body guitar. It’s on display at The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, OH, among lots of other Les Paul items, and much more of course. A must-see place, and don’t be in a rush, there’s a lot to take in on many floors! Another great place to dig into the history of the guitar and the music it brought about is Paul Allen’s EMP Museum in Seattle, WA. EMP stands for “Experience Music Project”, a nod to Jimi Hendrix, Seattle’s immortal son of rock. But all that was then, and this is now. This issue of Recording is dedicated to the recording of guitars, and we’ve got you covered from head to toe. For your toes we bring you reviews of new effects pedals, including a look at (and listen to) the first-ever Fender digital multieffects pedal unit, the Fender Mustang Floor. For your head, we encourage you to wrap your head around some concepts of guitar miking that come from people with experience. Michael Schulze revisits the topic of recording electric guitars, and he also offers up an article on stereo miking techniques. Mark Waldrep presents an audiophile’s take on guitar recording— if you need empirical evidence for his theories, head to aixrecords.com. Scott Petito plays with and records some mighty fine performers, among them guitarists of vastly different styles, and he shares his ways of making them all sound good on record. Paul Vnuk Jr. suggests to try reamping to augment your palette of sonic colors, and among the many product reviews in this issue you’ll find several items that lend themselves to just this technique. Frank Gambale tells us how he went about producing and performing on his latest CD that features his wife Boca on vocals. Studio owner Geoff Gray describes a successful method that uses analog tape for those instruments that he has found to benefit from it, before their tracks go digital to join those instruments that fare best when recorded digital in the first place. A man with a plan! All this sound advice in this issue is rounded out by many reviews of products that can make your life easier and your projects sound better, and not only for guitar tracks. Happy Recording!

EDITOR/PRODUCER:

PLAYBACK PLATINUM SERIES Lorenz Rychner CIRCULATION Tiffany Sepe

CIRCULATION MANAGER:

ADVERTISING SALES AND MARKETING DIRECTOR: Brent Heintz CLASSIFIEDS MANAGER: Colin Courtney
ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE:

ADMINISTRATION Thomas Hawley

PRESIDENT: Thomas Hawley VICE PRESIDENT: Brent Heintz

EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

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RECORDING JULY 2012

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Recording - July 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - July 2012