March 2022 Guitar Newsletter Recording 101

These past few years, I have spent more and more time working on basic home recording, and it has been an evolving journey. Once you place a microphone in a room and attempt to capture a particular sound, it is very much like signing up for a seminar whose topic remains a lifelong interest. There is so much involved, and the learning never stops.

It is no wonder that especially the electric guitar world is filled with artists that were not only amazing musicians but also groundbreaking engineers that designed and patented their own guitars, accessories and new electronics for their own playing and recording purposes. The innovations of Les Paul, Brian May, Eddie Van Halen and
Tom Scholz immediately come to mind. They all possessed tremendous musical talent along with intelligent engineer brains. Pictured below are some of their patents:

Les Paul's Gibson" Les Paul"

Brian May's "Red Special"

Edward Van Halen's Adjustable String Tension Control

Tom Scholz's Rockman Distortion Generator

The extreme nuances that musicians undertake to make great recordings are remarkable and lead to an endless source of questions and discoveries about how a particular sound was created. Why do vocals on very produced modern albums sound so crisp? On the other hand, why does a particular late 1960’s acoustic drum track on a worn down reel to reel tape recorder sound so warm? This is the magic of recording, an area of the arts where musical expression, calculated science and happenstance collide.

A music producer’s choice of microphones, mixing boards, the rooms to be recorded in and dozens of other decisions factor in to the sound you love coming out of your ear buds. Listening to your favorite guitar players and trying to emulate their tone makes clear how technology is a huge part of the picture. Things can get pretty detailed, and all of a sudden, you are hunting for a very particular tube for your guitar amp with the hopes that, along with just the right pick, it will nail down the sound you are longing for.

As one ventures down these roads, you discover in order to get that 60's American Surf Rock guitar sound, you will need to purchase tubes for your amplifier that are manufactured in Russia, Slovakia or China! Love the rich warm vocals of classic singers and crooners of the post WWII Jazz Big Band era? Better start a separate savings account for a vintage German Neumann U47 microphone .

Interviews and biographies of musicians and producers provide so much useful information in figuring out how a particular song was recorded. They help pin down the studio location, producer and engineer of the recording session. This detective work might uncover the instruments, amplifiers, effects and the exact mixing board used on a recording session. People in the know can even recognize the unique acoustics of a room that a drum kit was recorded in and might book a session there for exactly that purpose (Studio X, Seattle WA, Rockfield Studios, Monmouthshire, Wales).

I hope this newsletter encourages you to explore the history of recorded music and dig deeper into all that is involved in making and recording music. Recording studios and the role that producers have played has captured my fascination and brings me much joy. Pictured below are some books on home recording that I have found very helpful in case your interest in recording has been sparked. Remember, start small, don't get overwhelmed and enjoy the journey!
Chris