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Tips for Recording in Commercial Studio Article 2
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Phase 2: Pre-Production Recording
Welcome to the second article in our four part discussion on recording in a commercial studio. Hopefully, you have read the phase one article, have followed my advice, and are now ready to move on to phase two. If you missed the first article, please go back and read it before continuing.
In this article, we will discuss the pre-production phase. In this phase, you will make basic home recordings of the songs you plan to record when you go to commercial studio.
Yes, I know what you’re thinking. Why would you want to make a recording of your songs at home when you’re already planning to book and pay for a quality commercial studio with an experienced engineer? After all, if you could make great sounding recordings at home you would never book a commercial studio in the first place. But while this may be true, a pre-production recording isn’t designed to sound great. Its purpose is to provide basic guide tracks for you to play along with during your session in a real studio.
To follow the advice outlined in this article you will need to own some form of home recording equipment. Practically anything with four tracks or more will work. All you really need is a few tracks and the ability to get them on a CD. You can use a portable digital recorder, a computer based digital audio workstation, a reel to reel machine, an ADAT, or even an old four track cassette machine. If you don’t have a small home recorder, I strongly suggest you make the investment. Portable digital recorders are extremely useful, as well as highly affordable—and with some less than $200, they’re certainly a justifiable purchase.
Tracking the Pre-Production Recording
There are many ways to approach pre-production and there’s no way to list them all. Instead, I will illustrate the method which works best for me. If you followed the advice in the last article, you have already decided on the speed of each song. Therefore, you already know the songs BPMs and are ready to lay down the first track, the click or drum loop track.
It really doesn’t matter if you use a click or a drum loop—just make sure the drum loop is a close match to the basic rhythm the drummer is going to be playing. Don’t just pick out a random 4/4 loop. Either find a loop that fits, or better yet, program your own on a drum machine.
If you use a click, I suggest making it in 8th notes, or double time. This means there will be 8 clicks per measure as opposed to 4. I have found this makes my playing tighter and also allows me to better swing with the beat when necessary.
Make sure to do a count in. I suggest 2 measures, or in our case, 16 clicks. In other words, the count in will be 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, ready, go. The longer count in allows more time to get the feel of the beat. A simple 1, 2, 3, 4 isn’t always enough to get a feel for the correct speed of the song.
Once you have layed down the click/drum loop on track 1, you are ready to record down a basic track of guitar or piano, whichever is the main instrument of the song, on track 2. It isn’t that important to get a great tone. You can worry about that when you get to the actual recording session. It is, however, important to get a good performance. Make sure the playing is tight, correct, and on the beat. If it’s off, it is likely to throw off you or anyone else who later plays along with it in the studio.
Finally, on track 3, lay down a vocal track. You don’t have to use a great microphone or give a mind-blowing performance. Just a good rough take is fine as long as there’s nothing on there which would distract or throw off a musician playing along with it later.
Mixing the Pre-Production Recording
Now you want to make a CD of the recording to give to your fellow band mates, as well as a copy to take with you to the studio. I’ve found it’s best to separate the click/drum loop track from the guitar/piano and vocal tracks. Pan the click/drum loop track all the way to the left and then pan the mix of the guitar/piano and vocal tracks all the way to the right. When you do this you are essentially creating two separate tracks on the CD. This is important because later when you are recording, your engineer will be able to put the left and right information on separate tracks of his recorder and, therefore, adjust the level of click/loop to music. If you don’t pan left and right, and later ask the engineer to give you more click or more music, he or she won’t be able to do it.
Don’t worry about compression, massive eq, or adding reverb when mixing. Just use basic corrective eq and make sure you have a decent, clear sounding mix.
Conclusion
Give a copy of the CD to each member of the band and ask them to practice playing to it. Since everyone will be practicing to the exact same basic tracks they will be playing to in the studio, this should give you some great takes. It always has for me.
When you go to the studio, you will take a copy of the CD with you and tell the engineer you’ll be playing to the basic tracks contained on it. He will put the CD’s left channel (click or drum loops) on say, track one and then the right channel (guitar/piano and vocal) on track two. You’ll then record by playing along with these two tracks and recording those takes to tracks three and up. Then at the mix, the engineer will simply mute the click/loop and guitar/piano/vocal tracks and what’s left will be a tight, accurate, and well performed recording.
This technique has worked beautifully for me, as well as for many friends who use it as well. Also, since you are creating your basic guide tracks at home or in your rehearsal space, you will save time and money in the studio. Plus, with the band practicing to the exact basic tracks they will be using during the session, you’re certain to get some great takes.
In the next article, we’ll discuss the tracking phase of the recording process and give you some tips which will same time, money, and frustration. Thanks for reading and stay tuned.
Tips for Recording in Commercial Studio
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Tips for Recording in Commercial Studio: Phase 1) Planning
Recording at a commercial studio should be a fun an exciting time for an artist or band. After all, few things are more thrilling than getting the opportunity to lay down music in an environment specifically designed for the task. But studios are expensive and so are recording engineers—and if you’re like me, your budget is limited.
A limited budget means you will have to do a lot of work in a short number of clock hours, a process which can be frustrating and stressful. Fortunately, there are many things you can do, both before and during the recording session, to save as much time and money as possible, and therefore, get the most bang for the buck out of your recording session.
For organizational purposes, I’m going to break this discussion into four phases: 1) planning, 2) pre-production, 3) tracking, and 4) mixing. In today’s article, we’ll talk about the planning phase.
I have seen more problems come from a lack of planning than anything else. It is most often the underlying cause of arguments, stress, frustration, and wasted studio time. Bands walk into the studio, the clock starts running, and everyone gets worried about wasted money. Tempers flare and problems arise. This is why you should try to make as many decisions as possible before the clock starts running. Make them in your practice area, basement, or garage where it’s free, not where you’re being charged by the hour. Here are a few things you need to consider before the session date.
Planning the Songs
How many tunes are you planning to record?—Are you allowing adequate time? Personally, I would rather record three songs really well than rush through ten. However, the decision is yours.
BPMs of the tunes—Decide on the click track speed of your songs before you walk into the studio. You don’t want to waste time deciding if it sounds better five BPMs faster or slower.
Structure of the songs—Work this out in your garage or basement where time is free, not when the clock is running. Are you going to repeat the chorus one more time? Is there a guitar solo? All of this should be prepared in advance.
Instrumentation—Are you planning overdubs? Overlaying keyboards? Backing vocals? Plan out all of the arrangement, which instruments will be used, and who plays what parts. If you’re on a budget, the studio is not the place to write guitar solos, write new keyboard parts, or learn background vocal harmonies. Again, do this where it’s free.
Also work out your tones in advance. Spend some time with your guitar and amp and find the best sounding tones for the songs. Keyboard players, find your sounds in advance as well. This is not to say that you won’t do some tweaking in the studio, but have your basic tones ready to go.
Recording Process—How are you planning to record the project? Will you all play at the same time to a click track? Will you work one at a time and do overdubs? There is no correct answer to this question, but what is important, is that everyone decides and agrees upon a process before entering the studio.
Sound of the Recording—Do you want a big sound with lots of reverb, a dry intimate feel, or something in between? Discuss and work this out and let your engineer know before recording begins. Trust me; this has been the cause of many studio arguments. Make sure you’re all on the same page before recording begins.
Practice, Practice, Practice—Know your tunes so well you can play them in your sleep. The better you know your songs, the quicker you can record them.
Choosing a Recording Studio
When looking for a studio, look at websites, make calls, and ask friends. Make sure the studio has the equipment to meet your needs. If you need a certain number of isolation booths, make sure they have them. If you’re recording live, ask if they have a nice sounding live room. Find out what equipment the studio has and make sure it’s high quality. Ask if they allow outside engineers or if they provide their own. Ask for demos from the studio and from the engineer you will be using. If you plan to use a studio’s house engineer, find out all you can about them in advance. It’s a great idea to meet them in person before the recording date and make sure they are personable and interested in your kind of music.
When you listen to the demos the studio and engineer provide, focus on the quality of the recording, not the quality of the artist being recorded.
Equipment Prep
Before you enter the studio, make sure your equipment is at its best. Have your guitars set up and strung with new strings. Make sure there’s good heads on the drums and that they are well tuned. If your equipment isn’t up to par, consider renting or borrowing some gear. Also, many studios stock drum kits, amps, and even guitars. If you need any of this, ask the studio in advance.
You don’t have to have custom made boutique gear, but if you have a drum kit with beat to death heads and cracked cymbals, don’t expect your engineer to be able to get a pristine drum sound. If you have a cheap practice amp, don’t expect it to sound like a boutique stack. Just remember that microphones tend to pick up the sound that’s put into them, so do everything you can to send them a great tone. Remember, all the fancy eq’s in the world aren’t going to turn a crap tone into a good one.
Also, bring extra cables, picks, and drumsticks. Make sure you bring a high quality instrument tuner and a drum machine/metronome. It also doesn’t hurt to bring an extra snare drum head, just in case. Never assume a studio has everything you need.
Conclusion
Although there’s no way to list every possible aspect of planning for a recording date, it is my hope that this article will turn your thinking in the right direction. Your situation, of course, will be unique, and there will be other things you’ll need to add to this list. However, if you follow the advice in this article, you will save time, money, and frustration in the studio.
Next time we’ll talk about the pre-production phase. If you have comments or anything to add to this discussion, feel free to leave a comment.
- Eric S. Morgan is a multi-instrumentalist, teacher, producer/engineer, and the author of the Pedal Tone Publishing book Fundamental Concepts of Music Theory. You can learn more about Eric and his book at Pedal Tone Publishing.
A Lesson in Critical Listening
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I learned a valuable lesson the other day when I received a phone call from a friend. It seems the bass player in his cover band was in the hospital and unable to play an important gig on the coming weekend. My friend asked if I could sit in or if I knew someone who could. Since I owe this friend many, many favors, I told him I would be happy to do it. The gig called for me to learn twenty five songs in five days.
Since I was familiar with the tunes, I didn’t expect this to be too much of a struggle. Learning cover tunes tends to be easier, if for no other reason than you already know how the songs go. What I realized, though, was that although I thought I knew the songs back and forth, I had never really focused on their bass lines. I discovered not only that I didn’t know many of the bass lines, but more importantly, that many had great bass lines which I had been missing out on for many, many years.
It was a great reminder that we as musicians need to listen to everything that’s happening in a song. It’s easy to get caught up in a great vocal melody or an awesome guitar solo, but what else is happening during that time? There may be a great bass line, an interesting drum fill, or an awesome keyboard line.
Our brains don’t always have the ability to simultaneously hear every single thing that is happening in a tune. So a great exercise is to pop in some music and hone in on just the bass track. This might be a little difficult at first. Bass is seldom prominent in a tune and it’s not always possible to hear every single note being played. But with practice, it gets easier and easier.
Next, go back and focus only on the rhythm guitar. Then you might listen to just the other rhythm guitar, the keyboard track, the drums, or whatever other instrumentation is happening on the track. You can take this as far as you want. You can focus on just the kick drum, the snare, the cymbals, or whatever you find interesting. I’ve even listened to songs to see when and how often the drummer switches between hi hat and ride cymbal. People interested in recording might listen to a particular instrument just to see how much reverb is on it, how high it is in the mix, it’s pan position, or how it is eq’d.
People often ask if they should change the eq settings on their equipment when focusing on the bass guitar or other instruments. Although this might help bring out the particular instrument you’re listening to, I believe it’s better to listen to music the way the mixing engineer intended. This will help you learn more about how different instruments fit together in a mix.
Although we’re all guitarists, the more we understand about how other instruments work in a band setting, the better musicians, writers, and arrangers we will be. But perhaps more importantly, it will bring another aspect of enjoyment to your favorite music. Try this exercise out for yourself and let me know how it works for you. You may just find something you never noticed before. Thanks for reading and good luck.
- Eric S. Morgan is a multi-instrumentalist, teacher, producer/engineer, and the author of the Pedal Tone Publishing book Fundamental Concepts of Music Theory. You can learn more about Eric and his book at Pedal Tone Publishing.
Interview With Bill Leverty From Firehouse
Posted by: | CommentsFirst I’d like to welcome Eric Morgan as a contributing writer to Guitar Monkee. I know you guys and gals will enjoy what Eric will be bringing to the site with interviews, articles on music theory and recording techniques. Here is Eric’s debut article. Welcome Eric! – Todd
I recently had the pleasure of talking to Firehouse guitarist Bill Leverty about his new solo album, Deep South. This album is a diverse collection which explores the breadth of the south’s contribution to American music. Eight of the ten covers are standards, but also included in the collection is a wonderful cover of “Hit the Road Jack” made famous by Ray Charles and a beautiful rendition of “Walk Beside Me” by Tim O’Brien and Darrell Scott. Filled with diverse songs choices, blazing lead guitar, intimate melodies, and intricate arrangements, Deep South is an excellent choice not only for fans of southern music, but for fans of music in general. Not only is Bill a fine musician, singer, and songwriter, he’s also a talented producer and engineer, and one of the nicest guys you could ever meet.
Eric: It’s really great to be able to talk with you again, my friend. There are so many things I would like to ask, but first, let me just say, I’ve been listening to Deep South the past two nights and I just love it.
Bill: Aw, thanks man.
Eric: Well, you know, I’m southern too, and….
Bill: God bless you.
Laughs
Eric: and, I really feel that these songs don’t get the attention they deserve and studying music in college, I can tell you for certain that they don’t. Oftentimes, the southern contribution to American music is ignored. But anyway, let’s talk about your new solo album, Deep South. What gave you the idea to do this sort of project?
Bill: Well, my original idea was to do a cover tunes album. I had gotten off the road and in the winter time, things slow down for Firehouse and we came to the realization that Firehouse wasn’t going to be able to do an album this past winter, and at the end of the winter I wanted to feel like I had accomplished something.
Eric: Right.
Bill: So I decided to do a cover tunes album, which I’ve always wanted to do anyway. The last record was all instrumental and it took forever to write it, much less to record it…
Eric: Sure
Bill: and I knew I wouldn’t have time to do that so I thought, let’s do a cover tunes album. So my original thought was to do an album with maybe one song by Aerosmith, one song by Led Zeppelin, one song by Van Halen, and blah blah blah. I thought, you know, that’s all been done. I love those bands and everything but I really wanted to figure out something different, so I thought why don’t I go back to those band’s influences. But ultimately, I wanted to go to those bands influences, and then their influence’s influences, and their influence’s influence’s influences. And you know, it all kind of comes back to the late 1800s, early 1900s, before rock n roll was even born. I became interested and fascinated with the kinds of music at that time and started to look for songs from that era that were conducive to my playing and singing style. What I found was gospel, country, bluegrass, and the predawn of blues—not talking about like, Robert Johnson blues, which was 30s and 40s, but more like the 1920s and before—like what led up to blues. It was a blues-based sound, but it wasn’t really yet blues. And that really just captured my interest a lot. So ultimately, I found eight songs which fit my style out of those genres I mentioned—mainly in minor keys, because the major key songs written at that time were mostly ragtime songs, happy jazz type things, and wartime parade type songs, which didn’t fit well with what I play. So I got eight really old songs that fit my style and then I always wanted to cover a Ray Charles song because I always thought he was a great artist.
Eric: Oh he was.
Bill: My parents had Ray Charles in the house and they loved him. He was the only artist that they loved and I also loved.
Laughs
Bill: So I put “Hit the Road Jack” on there and this other song by Tim O’Brien and Darrell Scott “Walk Beside Me.” They are very successful songwriters, yet not as well known as they should be. They put out a record called Walk Beside Me and the second I heard it I knew I one day wanted to cover it. This was the opportunity to do it. I wanted to bring awareness to them, and to this other music that came out of the south. It’s a style of music that’s like no other music in the world. Just like Celtic music from Ireland is it’s own thing, this is an identifiable music that’s had an impact on all of my influences from Lynyrd Skynyrd, ZZ Top, and Almman Brothers, which are southern bands, to Aerosmith, Van Halen, Michael Schenker, Led Zeppelin, and all these other great bands. I thought, wow, it’s really interesting how this music has had such a huge impact on so many great artists. Nobody in my genre, at least that I know of, is doing these songs, so it’s new for me and I learned a lot in doing it, not only about the songs but also about some of the different instruments that I hadn’t recorded before.
Eric: You played dobro, mandolin, banjo, and some other instruments on this project. I’m sure it was fun to get to play instruments you wouldn’t normally get to play in Firehouse. I wanted to ask you about that because after my sister passed away, we did a Christmas album—three of them actually, and let the proceeds go to a scholarship fund. And the fun thing for me was getting to play instruments that normally no one in the band would let me play….
Laughs
Eric: like the mandolin, banjo, harmonica, upright bass, or whatever. So I’m sure that was a lot of fun for you.
Bill: Yeah, it’s funny that you would mention that, because this was a way to get out of my comfort zone and get out of the Firehouse box. I still like that box, but there’s so much other stuff out there that doesn’t fit what Firehouse does. I got a banjo on one of these songs and if I brought a banjo into Firehouse they would probably look at me sideways and say does that really fit Firehouse?
Laughs
Bill: But with my own thing I can pretty much do whatever I want.
Eric: Although you play different kinds of songs on this project, as well as different instruments, there’s still plenty of blazing lead guitar. Did you use the Randall MTS amps for the electrics?
Bill: Yes, for all the electric tracks and the modules I used were the SL plus for my dirty, the tweed for clean, and I used the Vox module, it’s called a Top Boost. Those were the main three, but I also used the Marshall-type module a little bit, all through a Randall cabinet. And I experimented with different pickup configurations, ones that I normally don’t use and different settings like on a tube screamer. Like, the rhythm on “Trouble So Hard,” I turned the drive all the way down and turned the level all the way up and it got a more snappy kind of sound. I also compressed it a little more than I normally would, just to give a different tone. And then I experimented with layers, like on that song I layered six guitars to get that rhythm.
Eric: Wow!
Bill: Yeah, like a couple tracks of tweed, a couple SL pluses, and a couple of the Vox module, and kind of put them all together.
Eric: Did you use different guitars?
Bill: Well, I used the Grem guitar (Bill’s signature model) for most of the leads, but on others, like Boll Weevil, that was all Telecaster.
Eric: Really? Was that your B Bender Tele?
Bill: Yes, I really love the B Bender; it’s a lot of fun.
Eric: Oh yeah, they are.
Bill: It’s a cool instrument.
Eric: I don’t own a Tele; but I love them. I wish I did. I have in the past but I don’t right now.
Bill: It’s fun how you can take, like an F triad, and use the B Bender to turn it into a Dm. You can do that with chords. You can take a three note chord and change the chord, and it’s a real cool thing. I do that in Boll Weevil, bend an F into a Dm. It sounds like something you don’t hear that often.
Eric: I love that sound. I did a show with a guy that had three different things, a hip bender, a B Bender, and some other kind of thing. He basically sounded like a steel guitar.
Bill: I want to try to learn more of that—maybe get another guitar, one that has the G bender or whatever it is and try to learn to do that because it makes me get down there and play more. That’s the bottom line. You really need to get yourself motivated to go down in the studio and turn it all on and start working. And when you have some kind of new toy like that it makes you want to play more.
Eric: So you mic’d your amps on this project?
Bill: Yeah, I used a Royer 121 on the cabs.
Eric: Oh cool. Yeah, I love them. They’re great mics.
Bill: I used them on all the electrics.
Eric: Just the one mic or did you combine?
Bill: Just the one mic so there’s no phase issues to deal with. It’s just a nice mic that takes eq really well and it’s punchy and I just love them.
Eric: I really love ribbons in general.
Bill: Yeah, I do too.
Eric: Can you tell me a little about your studio?
Bill: Yeah, it’s a Pro Tools HD3 rig and it’s two rooms—one’s a drum room and both are treated with foam and bass traps. They’re not the biggest rooms in the world but you can make them sound big.
Eric: Sure, yeah.
Bill: I’ve got some API preamps, and some Neves, an old Focusrite pre, and a Tube Tech CL1B limiter that I love.
Eric: Oh yeah, I’ve worked with those and I absolutely love them.
Bill: Yeah, it’s a beauty. And then I’ve also got a Distressor that I use on electric guitars. You can get a lot of different sounds out of it. It’s a good overall, well-rounded kind of compressor that you can’t hear. I mean if you want to hear it you can make it where it does that—that breathing, but you can have it squish things pretty well without really hearing it. I kind of prefer that because I don’t like hearing the compressor kick in and breathe.
Eric: Right. Do you feel that albums today are getting too compressed and limited?
Bill: Well they’re certainly getting loud and you loose the dynamics. I purposely mastered mine with less of the limiting.
Eric: I noticed that and I like that because to me, if I want it louder I can just turn the stereo up.
Bill: That’s what I prefer. I mean, I’d rather soft parts be soft and loud parts have more impact than have everything just really, really loud. With a lot of the songs like “Run On,” it’s got a little guitalele on one side, it’s got a really clean tele on the other side, it’s got a real light brushes, drum thing going, and the vocal is a very low baritone, so it just didn’t sound as good to have that song compete in volume wars. I wanted to have sort of a consistent sound. I wanted drums to be more of an intimate small kit. It wouldn’t sound good having the big bombastic drums over the top of a mandolin.
Eric: Exactly, you do what fits the song. So you mixed the album yourself?
Bill: Yes.
Eric: Did you master it yourself, also?
Bill: Yeah, I sure did.
Eric: That’s great. It sounds great, it really does. I know, as a studio guy, how much work it takes to do an album all by yourself.
Bill: I don’t think a lot of people know that.
Eric: No, they don’t.
Bill: And I’m glad that you do.
Laughs
Bill: It’s a stressful thing because when you’re done, you’re letting go of this baby, there’s no turning back. You’re sending it to the pressing plant, you put it out on Itunes and there’s no going back and saying oh gee, my vocal was a little flat on that.
Laughs
Bill: You’ve got to make sure you’ve got it all together. Getting it all built up to sound the way you want is a lot of work.
Eric: I really like the way your background vocals sound.
Bill: Well thank you, thank you very much. Some of them I layed more than others. It just depends on the song.
Eric: Background vocals are something I find lacking on a lot of records I hear.
Bill: Well, I can tell you there’s no Autotune on this record.
Eric: That’s cool, very cool. It’s on every other record out today.
Bill: I just don’t like the way that sounds and…
Eric: I don’t either, but most of the time I’m using analog anyway so it doesn’t matter.
Bill: Laughs. Well, there you go. I’m one of those guys that would rather just go back and sing it again. If you go back and re-sing or replay it takes several minutes whereas with Autotune, you can spend hours messing with it.
Eric: Sure. I think a lot of times you can fix things faster by just doing it again.
Bill: Yeah, you learn also. You become a better singer or guitar player if you go back and do it again instead of trying to edit it. I’m not trying to improve my editing skills. I’m trying to improve myself as a musician.
Eric: Right, I think the editing is cool for certain things, like for the CD that went with my book. If I had to do that on a 2 inch reel to reel I would’ve went insane with all the splicing. But with music, I usually prefer to just go back and do a punch in or whatever. By the way, I thought your voice sounded really good on “Rain and Snow” and “Wade in the Water.”
Bill: I appreciate that. On “Wade in the Water,” I messed around with different keys to try and find one that would fit my voice. I settled on B flat. I tune a half step down so I’m playing in B but it’s technically B flat. It’s just the right range where I could sing it with more of a gravelly or gritty delivery. But that’s a really neat song.
Eric: I grew up with these songs.
Bill: That’s awesome! I wish I had.
Eric: Well, you know, being from Kentucky, bluegrass and old time music is everywhere. The thing is, though, my dad used to take me to these little impromptu get togethers with musicians. They would play bluegrass and these old songs. But at the time, I was 9 or 10 years old and I thought they were lame because they weren’t Van Halen or whatever.
Bill: Right! Yeah that’s what I used to think.
Laughs
Eric: And then you get older and you think, wow this stuff’s great.
Bill: You know, when I took my blinders off and I thought wow, I really like this stuff. But when I was younger it had to be Van Halen or whatever.
Eric: Sure.
Bill: There’s a whole lot more out there that I like if I just listen to it with the attitude of hey, what do I like about this – instead of, what don’t I like about this. And also, getting in there and playing these songs and recording them, you get more of an appreciation for the song than if you just listened to it one time.
Eric: You know, one thing I can tell you about this album: I really think I’d like to have my students listen to it just to learn about arranging and to realize that you can make a song anything you want it be. If you can make Boll Weevil rock out, then anything is possible.
Bill: Had you ever heard Boll Weevil before?
Eric: Oh yes, definitely.
Bill: What’s so cool is I had never heard Boll Weevil before and I went to this website called playingbyear.com and he’s got like 500 songs on there and they’re all these traditional bluegrass songs. He sings and plays one verse and then he’s got the lyrics for the rest of the song. You learn the basics of the song by listening to him play the first verse and I just thought Boll Weevil was so cool.
Eric: Right. So, you read up on the story of the Boll Weevil?
Bill: No, I was familiar with what the Boll Weevil was and how it devastated families and all that stuff. But when I recorded it I decided I was going to have to make this into a modern hard rock heavy song, but with the bluegrass traditional melody intact—dress it up, the arrangement, as you say, to make it a heavy thing but with a little bit of electronica in there. I wanted to kind of get the point across that the Boll Weevil was the hardship that people back then were going through, but today’s Boll Weevil might be the collapse of the economy because of the housing industry, or the auto industry, or whatever else. We have our Boll Weevils today; they’re just not called Boll Weevil. We’ve eradicated them but something else has popped up and that theme is still very relevant today.
Eric: Definitely. One other thing, I really loved the dark acoustic guitar solo on “Walk Beside Me.”
Bill: That’s a guitalele. It’s a six string ukulele. It sounds like a classical guitar except an octave higher or whatever. I play it with a pick. I appreciate that, man. I had never recorded it although I’ve had it for about twelve years. Yamaha gave it to me when I was in Japan one year and I’ve just used it to practice and just tinker with. Making this record I thought, you know, I need to pull every instrument out of my closet and set them up in the room and think, what will fit this particular song? I let the song talk to me. Sometimes the electric got the call, but other times it was the mandolin or the dobro—and on “Walk Beside Me” it was the guitalele.
Eric: How did you mic the acoustic guitars?
Bill: The acoustics were a U87 pulled back a little bit back from the octave fret and then angled a little toward the hole, but not much. When I’m recording acoustics what I do is sit in my chair and lean back. And I tune that way because when you lean back the tuning changes a little bit.
Eric: It really does. It’s something you always have to fight with.
Bill: Oh yeah. And then put my foot up on the subwoofer so my leg is holding up the guitar and I’m very comfortable. My computer keyboard is by my right hand so I can control the DAW and play the songs in a very comfortable position. I find that when I sit up straight and have my foot forward, I just don’t get comfortable playing and I can’t relax very well. I find that when I can lean back it really helps me get a better performance.
Eric: You know, I deal with that a lot. Even if you just rest your arm on say, a bass guitar, it minutely affects the tuning.
Bill: Yeah, tuning is a bear to fight with. Sometimes you play just right and go back and listen and you go, ugh, it’s out of tune although it looked like it was in perfect tune when you used the strobe tuner on it. But for some reason, something happens and it goes sharp or flat.
Eric: Well I’m glad to hear someone else struggles with that.
Laughs
Eric: Well Bill, I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me. I really enjoyed it. Congratulations on a wonderful album and I look forward to hearing more great music from you in the future.
Bill: Thank you for taking the time to talk to me. I really appreciate it.
You can check out Deep South and all of Bill Leverty’s albums at Bill Leverty’s web site. Also visit Firehouse’s official website at Firehouse Music.
Eric S. Morgan is a multi-instrumentalist, teacher, producer/engineer, and the author of the Pedal Tone Publishing book Fundamental Concepts of Music Theory. You can learn more about Eric and his book at Pedal Tone Publishing.
