I watched it, cap;
I assume you are currently at work, so I'll save any "exchange"
until you are back on the board. I will say, as you know, that tone
originates from the guitar itself. Fenders inherently sound different
from Gibsons because of the physical construction of the guitars and,
of course, the pickups that come stock on the axe. Amps play a huge
role in the tone created, but in my experience, most of the guitar players
that I knew and recorded plugged into the board directly, while sitting in
the control room, or into a direct box in the studio when a session was
"live" with everyone playing at the same time.This technique, widely
practiced, left any tone manipulation entirely up to the engineer/producer
sitting at the board using outboard gear.
I've seen many variations of this technique including having both a close
miced amp, as well as a direct line mixed with it, either before the sound hits "tape,"
or in post production. Occasionally, amps were placed outside the studio itself,
sometime in another room or even in a hallway or stairwell to get some live
reverb. This may sound somewhat ethereal but I think unique tone comes
from the players hands themselves, and their familiarity with the guitar they are playing.
All of this is historical, because given digital technology, lots of guitar parts are
overdubs that are "phoned in" from locations other than the actual studio/control room.
Specifically, I recall being at breakfast with Sonny Landreth one morning when
"E.C." called him from England, wondering what exactly he wanted him to play
as an overdub during the making of a recording being produced of Sonny and
some illustrious guests. In this case I assume Clapton recorded it dry and the tone was
created by Sonny and the engineer in post production and mixing.
AI
