STRIKES AGAIN!, DAY ONE
Saturday was a nice, long Strikes Again! session.
We're working on 5 tunes and got quite a bit done on 4 of them. For guitars we've used a little Rivera 55 watt head into the HiWatt cab and the Hot Rod Deluxe (still a workhorse). Jeff, the guitarist, played his '72 Tele Custom, which is another fantastic Japanese reissue. I was very impressed with the playability of this guitar - it felt more like an America reissue. Highly recommended - if I were in the market for another guitar this would be my first choice.
Our big goal is to get as much down before Christmas as possible, as Jeff will be leaving town for a while. Drum sounds came fairly quickly, and we'll be going for a big, roomy sound when all is said and done. Lots of compression. We now have some spiffy new software compressors to try out, so this should be fun.
Bass guitars were cut for several of the tunes, and I went with the 3 channel option - direct bass, bass trough a Line 6 Bass Pod, and Hartke amp. All three channels are discreet, so we can blend them to get the tone we want as guitars are added. Sometimes the bass seems like it's perfect when it's cut against the drums, then you lay a few guitars over it and wish you had more bite. We have the option of bringing in the amp track or even reamping the direct track. Endless tonal options, right up until the very end!
Digital Performer was having some hiccups on playback, but I did some diagnostics yesterday and found the problem. Arrggghhh. It was set to analyze incoming audio (for things like pitch and time shifting, etc.) as soon as it was recorded, which usually meant it was doing analysis as we were playing back, hence the hiccups.
The best part of Saturday was the sheer goodwill that eminated from these musicians. The guys were completely egoless, friendly, and very appreciative, and it made the session a real pleasure. When we start feeding off of each other's good will and good vibes it can really be a blast. I myself, want to do this every day.
5 Comments:
I'd like a little credit for being the one to suggest to Jeff that he get a Tele after I saw them play at Trash bar last year. He had borrowed a Tele for the show and it really made the different parts he was playing stand out.
Once again - the greatest guitar ever.
All those things - most of the playability, for me, is in the way the neck feels, which has to do with both the neck and the bridge.
Generally, for me, it's the ease of fretting (not necessarily the same as a low action), lack of fret buzz or dead spots on the neck, intonation, smoothless of the back of the neck, and the overall way the strings relate to the bridge. That is, sometimes the strings just feel better to my right hand - I don't know exactly how to define it.
The balance, weight, and feel of the instrument as a whole are important too. Some guitars just seem easier to control than others, and the things that seem to matter can be different from guitar to guitar.
It's a combination of the action, the tension on the neck, the uniformity of the tensions on the individual strings, the quality of the fret work and, for me at least, where my hand falls over the strings.
Ever since I started ponying up for fret work by a high-quality repairman, I've been completely spoiled. It's hard to play anything that hasn't been set up just the way I like it.
Comfort is huge.
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