Ag97 sp

CLASSIC TAB: chuck berry “johnny b. goode”

T H E MetBIG al ISSUE! AUSTRALIA’S BIGGEST EVER HUMBUCKER SHOOTOUT

The return of

plus Periphery • cancer bats

Killswitch engage

dragonforce

Bring me the horizon

red fang • anthrax

Stonesour $9.95 NZ $11.90 (INC. GST)

VOLUME 97

KAKI KING BRITISH INDIA BRUCE MATHISKE

97

9 771329 768001

|| COVER STORY

No Rest For The Sabbath Triumphs! Tragedy! Magic! Cancer!

Management scuffles! Reality television! Black Sabbath’s sonic architect Tony Iommi and bottomend powerhouse Geezer Butler tell Andrew P Street about the road to their unlikely reunion album and tour.

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|| COVER STORY

F

ew bands have as storied a history as Black Sabbath. They were one of the definitive bands of the nascent British metal scene, setting the template with their first two albums Black Sabbath and Paranoid in 1970. From there it was huge stateside success, increasing amounts of drugs and booze, a tail off in quality, several departures by frontman Ozzy Osbourne, a revolving door of frontmen and rhythm sections around the still-formidable figure of a guitarist Tony Iommmi through the ‘80s and ‘90s, tentative reunions, occasional tragedies and some fairly awful music (the last Sabbath studio album, 1995’s Forbidden, has been accurately described as “crap” by then-vocalist Tony Martin).

However, even those burned by late-period releases should take note of the forthcoming 13. Not only is Geezer Butler back on bass duties, but Ozzy himself is back in the fold. In fact, 13 is the first near-as-dammit “classic” Sabs record since Ozzy was dismissed in 1979.

And if that weight of legacy wasn’t enough pressure to take into the studio, there’s the fact that they’d tried rekindling the old magic once already, and failed miserably.

In 2001 Iommi, Butler, Osbourne and drummer Bill Ward met up with the intention of making an album. “We tried and it just wasn’t up to our standard,” Butler explains. “I think we did six or seven songs back then and it just didn’t feel right.”

“It wasn’t the right time,” Iommi shrugs.

“Not only was it not the right time because there were too many things going on for everybody, but we didn’t have any material ready.”

The timing couldn’t have been worse. Aside from the lack of material, Ozzy had just started making this reality show about his family for MTV. You may have heard of it.

“He was first doing The Osbournes then so it was just the wrong time for us,” says Iommi.

“The timing wasn’t right: he wasn’t into it, he didn’t know what he was doing.”

Butler’s more candid. “That was the whole problem. We were serious about going in to do an album, but Ozzy was sort of caught in between that and the TV thing and was on the phone all the time and flying backwards and forwards to do it. It was just ridiculous. It didn’t feel like a band – which it wasn’t. Me and Tony and Bill were trying to come up with stuff without our singer there, and you just can’t do that.”

The reunion fizzled out, but it rekindled the friendship and creative partnership between Iommi and Butler. While Ozzy focussed on the show, they and Ward reached out to their former frontman Ronnie James Dio, who’d become the band’s frontman when Ozzy was permanently sacked in 1979.

Unwilling to continue as Sabbath, they named themselves Heaven & Hell, after the one undisputed classic album from the Dio era.

After a few tours Ward bailed and, in the same spirit, drummer Vinny Appice was recruited in his place, exactly as he had been when replacing Ward in 1980.

The subsequent album The Devil You Know got broadly positive reviews and Classic Rock voted their 2007 tour “Comeback of the Year”.

Plans for a second album were laid. Everything was looking positive. And then Dio started

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I never used to play bass until we got together – I used to play rhythm guitar.”

complaining of stomach pains.

“We were on tour and he was saying, ‘Ooh, I’ve got some pains in my stomach,’” Iommi recalls sadly. “He was taking Tums and antacids and things – I remember just before we went on stage one evening, I said, ‘You’ve got to get that checked out,’ and he went, ‘Yeah yeah yeah, I’m gonna do it once we finish the tour’. And he left it too late, really.”

Butler’s voice drops. “We came off tour and we were in the middle of writing another Heaven & Hell album, and then Ronnie’s got stomach cancer. And everything was going great between me and Tony, we were on a really good writing thing together, and we were sort of lost as to what to do.”

And then Butler got an unexpected phone call.

“Ozzy called and said, ‘Look, let’s try this album thing again’. And we did, and it just felt like the right time: I don’t know what it was, it’s just that magic spark that happens between bands when you know it’s right.”

“It was really, really good – we had a great vibe going, we had a laugh, we had fun like we used to, y’know?” Iommi agrees. “This time I had a lot of stuff that I could put on CDs and play to everybody and they’d pick out which ones we were going to work on. That started the thing rolling and everybody was really vibed up for this and really wanted to do it. It was definitely the right time.”

“We got together and within the first two or three weeks we knew we had something really good together,” continues Butler. “It felt so different than when we tried to force it before.

This time we just let it come naturally. In 2001 when we tried it there were all these outside forces trying to pressure us into making an album and it just didn’t feel right back then.

This time it was just second nature.”

Of course, this being Sabbath, things couldn’t go smoothly for long.

“Half way through the writing Tony found out that he had cancer,” Butler growls. “And of course with Ronnie just dying we knew we had a limited-time thing. And even though Tony’s responded really well to the treatment and everything, it really makes you realise that nobody’s here forever. We were like, ‘If we’re going to do something, we have to do it well and we have to do it now.’”

“And of course with what happened with Ronnie, I do really think of that a lot,” Iommi sighs. “So with me, I just try to keep with it – and that’s why I’ve stipulated I have to have these treatments every six weeks. My doctor said I have to, so that’s the way we have to work. And everybody’s fine with that. And yes, there is a thing of, ‘Am I gonna be here next year?’ and well, I don’t know.”

So the band are still touring, despite the requirements of cancer therapies?

“It’s OK. I’m still having treatments, and I will be having treatments forever, I think, but I don’t feel too bad,” he says reassuringly. “I just have to be careful with not staying up late, you know, getting proper rest and eating properly and things like that really. I get really tired, but apart from that I’m OK. And I think going on tour will really help me as well – and it’s certainly helped being around the other guys when we were recording. It takes your mind off it, and we get into a good spirit: have

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|| FEATURE

“I spent a lot of time in the hotel room just sitting down while I was watching TV, and literally down picking an E for 45 minutes, just to try and get my forearm back.”

scott ian

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ANTHRAX

Scott Ian is still one the most active men in metal today. At 49 he’s still found jumping all over stages worldwide, spreading the good word of ‘80s metal legends Anthrax.

Australian Guitar managed to pin him down for a few minutes to talk about his interesting guitar collecting habit. photo by tracey nicholson Reckon you could run us through your rig for today?

I actually can’t, my rig was put together by Dave Friedman in LA and my tech V-Man and my other tech Anders who works for me generally in The States, have tweaked it and I have no f**ing clue how it works, all I know that it’s my Randall Signature heads and it runs midi somehow through some ground control thing. I don’t do any of the switching, not that I have much switching from clean to heavy, and there’s a TC Electronics Spark Pedal in line that I use basically as a boost, that gives me a little extra gain and tightens up the low end a little bit. And my Jackson Signature Model guitars, Shure Wireless, what else is in there... I think that’s all I really used today. I have a couple of other pedals, I have an EVH Phaser in there which I think I used once today, and a TC Electronic course in there too. That’s it, I can’t tell you how it works but that’s what’s in there!

Are there any holy grail guitar items that you want to track down for the rig?

I’ve got a soft sport for certain guitars, but I was never really a big gear collector. At some point maybe 10 or 15 years ago, I started collecting signature model guitars from other artists. I don’t have enough money to collect crazy vintage, 57-Les Pauls or a 62 Strat or whatever, but even if I did I don’t think I could ever resolve dropping $250,000 on a guitar, even if I was a billionaire I don’t know if I could do that I’m just too practical that way. I wish I would’ve known what was going to happen in the ‘80s, because then I would’ve bought some amazing guitars dirt cheap comparatively back then when now that shit costs $100,000. But I started collecting signature model guitars because there’s a lot of guitar players that I really dig. I’m really into that now, and I’ve got quite a few, I just saw Gibson’s putting out a Joe Bonamassa Les Paul signature, I saw that online yesterday and I kind of got that feeling, that little kid feeling when a new G.I. Joe toy came out and you’re like “I’ve gotta get that how am I gonna get that.” The one thing about having my own Jackson signature model is I can trade my guitar with other guitar players, so I recently traded with Rob Flynn for his Love Death-V, I traded with Kirk Hammett for his Gibson-V, I traded with Brendon Small and got one of his Thunderhorse guitars and I feel like I traded with someone else recently.

I’ve never thought of that option with trading guitars.

Oh it’s great, it’s like when we were at home when we were kids and we’d trade baseball cards. Whenever I bump into people and I know they have a model that I want I’ll be like “dude

do you wanna trade,” and they’ll be all like “fuck yeah let’s trade!” In a way it doesn’t cost anything to trade signature models, but there’s a couple of real pricey ones out there, like I don’t know if I’d ever be able to trade one of mine for one of those Jimmy Page Les Pauls that’s like $25,000. I do covet that Page and I will get one of those in the next two to three years somehow.

You’ve been tearing up stages for a while now. Is there a physical toll? Do you have a warm up and down process that keeps you able to do so much all the time?

I have to warm up a lot more now, it came a lot easier when I was younger, but usually you do feel it certainly. As you get older everything gets harder, like hangovers are a million times worse, so certainly I do quite a bit of stretching before a show and even guitar now, I used to never warm up. I only started warming up on guitar in the last two or three years, I used to be able to just walk out and go [makes metal shredding noise] no problem, but then I started to notice that it would take me three or four songs before I was really in a groove. That’s when the little bell went off and said “you should be warming up,” that way you’ll hit the stage and you’ll be ready. Once I physically knew that I was off my game because I wasn’t warming up I fixed it.

Do you ever improvise to keep things fun?

There’s not that much improvisation in Anthrax,

I would say compared to some of the other thrash metal bands, maybe there is a little bit more room in what we do. But really there’s not much and that doesn’t make it less fun, I don’t get tired of playing any of these songs.

You know when you look out and you’re playing to a crowd, and especially like today when it is maybe the first time that many of them have seen us, and they’re loosing their fucking minds for it, it doesn’t take much to get motivated, to get up and play “Caught In A Mosh” for the 1000th time.

What’s your daily guitar habit like when you’re at home and when you’re on the road?

It’s terrible [laughs]. Leading up to this tour I hadn’t played guitar since December 6th which was the last show in Europe, that was basically two and a half months. I rehearsed for a week with our drummer just to put a set together and get an idea of the festival set and the headline set, but I basically didn’t touch a guitar for two and a half months while I was home. So the first couple of days we were here, I spent a lot of time in the hotel room just sitting down while I was watching TV, and literally down picking an E for 45 minutes, just to try and get my forearm back. I’m still not 100 per cent but today was close, tomorrow I’m thinking that I’ll be 100 per cent back to full chops and if not tomorrow then certainly by Thursday at our headliner in Melbourne.

THE METALLICA CHALLENGE Kirk Hammett’s down with the flu and Metallica need a fill in guitarist for tonight’s show – how many tracks can you get together?

Probably a lot that aren’t in their set, most of the ones I know are off Kill ‘Em All so I certainly could do “Whiplash” I could do “Seek And Destroy” I could do “Phantom Lord”, I could probably make my way through “Motorbreath”, umm what else on that album. “Jump In The Fire” I don’t really know well enough, “Hit The Lights” I could probably get through, almost the whole first album. And then the second record, oddly enough “Trapped Under Ice” I could do that if they needed me to. I could probably fake my way through “Call of Ktulu” if I wanted to, but not all of James’ clean stuff in the middle, I know all the heavy parts and the intro. There’s got to be at least one or two more off “Ride The Lightening” that I could play. Then by Master I start to fall off, by that point in time Anthrax was so busy that I didn’t really have time to learn many more.

FINAL SCORE: 12/20

RESULT: bronze medal

aUSTRALIAN gUITAR II 47

|| SHOOTOUT

Pickup Line:

Big ‘Bucker Shootout We look at a few of the best passive alnico-loaded ‘buckers out there right now, from the sedate to the just plain filthy. By Peter Hodgson

W

hen the humbucker pickup was invented, it was primarily to serve a particular purpose: to eliminate the buzz that regular pickups up to that date were generating. This buzz – a 60-cycle hum on American power grids, 50-cycle here and in Europe – was a bit of a problem for musicians and audiences back in the day, especially

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in the days before power conditioning and adequate shielding. The general theory behind a humbucker is that if you hook up two pickup coils wound in opposite directions, they’ll cancel out the hum. And it does that job perfectly. But there’s a tonal trade-off too: a humbucker sounds fuller than a single coil, with less ‘string noise’ and a more rounded

attack. A cheap humbucker of the no-name variety found in many entry level guitars can sound dull, lifeless and flat, but throw in a high-quality replacement and your sound will come alive. In this article we’re going to look at different bridge position humbuckers, what guitars they’re suited to and what kinds of music you might expect to make with them.

DiMarzio Gravity Storm

Why Alnico?

There are a few different kinds of magnets used in pickup construction, but the most common is Alnico, an alloy of aluminium, nickel and cobalt. It’s available in varying strengths.

Alnico II and the hotter Alnico V are the most common, but the super-hot Alnico VII is currently gaining traction. Ceramic magnets are generally thought of as having a more modern, slightly colder tone than alnico. Alnico pickup are generally more warm-sounding and will help you to get nice vintage tones that ceramics might struggle to achieve.

S

teve Vai has used a number of DiMarzios over the years, from stock models like the PAF Pro and X2N to his own signature pickups, including the Evolution, the Breed, the Blaze and the Evo 2. But the Gravity Storm is unlike any of Vai’s previous pickups. Where the Evo is harsh and percussive with a pronounced upper midrange kick and a clear preference for obscene amounts of harmonic overtone overload, the Gravity Storm is a fat, roundedsounding pickup which is equally at home with

power chords or rich inversions as it is with syrupy legato licks. For perhaps the first time in his pickup-creating career, Vai (and DiMarzio designer Steve Blucher) has created a hum bucker that could be described as ‘sweet.’ It has a matching neck pickup which is almost single coil-like in its attack, taking up far less sonic real estate than the average hum bucker but cutting through the mix more clearly as a result.

Who’s it for?

The most obvious target audience is that of the hard rock player, particularly the Vai fan, although the thickness of this pickup is more akin to something Satriani might play.

It handles complex chords so well that it’s bound to please a lot of prog players too, and fusioneers might also appreciate its articulation and dynamic range.

Magnet: Alnico 5 DC Resistance: 15.19k

Seymour Duncan Full Shred

T

he Full Shred was designed in the 1980s, with Vivian Campbell (Whitesnake, Def Leppard, Dio) testing out prototypes before the pickup made its public debut in his signature Kramer Nightswan guitar. Although Duncans are often thought of as more ‘organic’ sounding pickups to the likes of DiMarzio, the Full Shred is the first Duncan to really take hold of that modern rock sound. It’s enjoying a bit of a resurgence at the moment in the hands of quite a few prog and dent players, and several Schecter models are using it as standard

equipment. The sound is thick and harmonically rich, and you’ll notice that as you move from low power chords to middle-of-the-neck melodies to upper-fret screaming leads, the pickup seems to almost change personalities so that it’s always doing just the right thing, no matter where you take it. In other words, you won’t really need to set up different rhythm and lead EQs with the Full Shred because it seems to almost do that for you. A neck version is also available with reduced output and more treble, but it also pairs quite nicely with Duncan’s ‘59 and Jazz neck pickups.

Who’s it for?

Hard rock, metal and progressive players who need a thick rhythm sound that can lay down a solid foundation, but who also require plenty of harmonic colour for solo work. The Full Shred works great when plugged directly into a cranked Marshall but it’s also a very pedalfriendly pickup.

Magnet: Alnico V DC Resistance: 14.6k aUSTRALIAN gUITAR II 57

|| HOT GEAR Sterling by Music Man John Petrucci Signature Series JP70 Seven String Guitar RRP: $1295 URL: www.cmcmusic.com.au

TC Helicon Harmony Singer RRP: $279 URL: www.ambertech.com.au

TC-Helicon has created a vocal stompbox that fits the needs of every singing guitarist out there looking for production quality, harmony, reverb and tone in one incredibly easy-to-use pedal. This all-in-one compact pedal allows up to two harmony voices guided by an in/thru guitar connection, has three high-quality reverb styles with adjustable level, and an adaptive tone sweetens the overall vocal quality.

The newest addition to the John Petrucci Signature Series from Sterling By Music Man has arrived in the form of the JP70 Seven String. Born of the overwhelming requests of fans and players worldwide, the JP70 takes guitarists to new lows and musical highs.

Crafted to John Petrucci’s exacting Music Man JP7 specifications, the JP70 features sleek styling along with a comfortable contoured forearm scoop, “JP Shield” inlays, 24 jumbo frets, two matched specially designed ceramic magnet high-output pickups, three-way pickup switching, locking tuners, all black hardware and the venerable Music Man style recessed Modern Tremolo Bridge, making this a seven string axe to wield with power. The JP70’s blazing fast maple neck sports a rosewood fretboard, Music Man’s five bolt ‘perfect alignment no shifting’ attachment system, a neck scale of 25.5”, and a 16” radius. The JP70 is available in Trans Green Burst and Trans Purple Burst finishes from all Sterling by Music Man dealers.

Fishman Triple Play Wireless Guitar Controller RRP: $699 URL: www.dynamicmusic.com.au

Already adopted by world-renowned guitarist and composer John McLaughlin, the new Fishman Triple Play™ Wireless Guitar Controller makes composing, performance and recording easier and more fun than ever. “After experimenting with various MIDI guitar interfaces for the past 37 years, there is finally something that truly works!” McLaughlin said. “What I mean by this is that you can really play your guitar with Triple Play and it feels musical, without any bugs or snags.” Guitarists now have the flexibility to compose with a wide range of instruments while getting full, accurate notation through Triple Play’s interface in order to share music with other band members. On stage, guitarists can use Triple Play to combine their guitar with any virtual instrument or hardware synthesiser to access a wide range of instruments, samples and sounds to expand the depth and impact of live performances.

The easiest way to seamlessly integrate a guitar with a favourite DAW, build entire arrangements with drums, bass, keyboards, horns, strings, voices and more, all from the Triple Play Wireless Guitar Controller.

Sterling by Music Man Ray 34 and Ray 35 in Trans White Blonde RRP: Ray 34 TWB $1495; Ray 35 TWB $1595 URL: www.cmcmusic.com.au

Blondes are more fun. The iconic StingRay bass continues to dominate stages and studios around the world. The no nonsense design, the unmistakable tones from the three-band preamp and pickup, the ash body, and the familiar pickguard shapes have supported the most important music of our generation. Now, Sterling by Music Man’s first 2013 Music Man StingRay design basses have arrived – and they have the looks. Featuring retro vibe translucent white finishes which allow the natural grain of their ash bodies to shine through, the Ray 34 and Ray 35 trans white blondes are true bombshells. Using the same materials and components as the original, the Ray 34 and Ray 35 TWBs pay respect to the StingRay legacy. Lightweight ash bodies, Music Man designed active threeband pre-amp, Alnico magnet humbucking pickups, hard maple necks, heavy duty Music Man designed bridges and saddles. Look for a Translucent White Blonde Ray 34 at your nearest Sterling by Music Man dealer.

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Markbass Little Mark 250 Black Line RRP: $595 URL: www.cmcmusic.com.au

The Black Line version of the Markbass Little Mark 250 offers all the same features of the standard Little Mark 250. Markbass Black Line products are made using the same cutting-edge technology, high-quality components and the same quality control standards that apply to all of our products. The Little Mark 250 Black Line is a smart, inexpensive choice for those who don’t need the full power of a 500W head, offering up to 250W rms of Markbass tone. It’s great for practising, rehearsing, and small gigs.

The Little Mark 250 Black Line’s solid-state pre-amp has a warm and natural sound, and faithfully reproduces the true tone of your instrument. The DI output features a pre-post EQ switch and output level control, so that you can optimise the signal you send to the mixer or recording unit.

RED Brand Copper Bronze Acoustic Guitar Strings RRP: $19.95 URL: www.dynamicmusic.com.au

Acoustic warmth is the pinnacle of your acoustic guitar voice. Without it, your guitar will sound tinny and soulless.

80/20 bronze has 80 per cent copper and has been used since the 1800s for acoustic guitar strings. Phosphor bronze strings were introduced in 1974 containing 90 per cent copper and because of this a warmer, more pleasing sound. RED Brand Strings asked the question, what would 99 per cent copper sound like?

The result is the first and only brand of copper-bronze acoustic guitar strings. With the highest copper content of any string brand, RED Brand gives acoustic guitars precise articulation, a louder overall sound, greater projection and a warmer, richer tone from the moment you tune them up. The final product is 99.5 per cent copper and has a side effect of greater volume consistency across all the strings, a happy accident!

Finally a significant new material has been introduced for acoustic guitar for the first time since 1974 by Everly Strings, the people also behind Cleartone.

Everly Star Picks RRP: 50c URL: www.dynamicmusic.com.au

PreSonus StudioLive 16.0.2 / 16.4.2 / 24.4.2 RRP: See Below URL: www.nationalaudio.com.au

Here’s how the PreSonus StudioLive new pricing and factory rebate deal works...

National Audio Systems (NAS) have dropped the RRPs of the PreSonus StudioLive range of consoles and are currently offering a factory rebate on all three models.

In the case of a StudioLive 24.4.2, the new RRP is $3799 (down from $3999) PLUS you’ll get a factory rebate of $800, meaning you pay $2999!

Model StudioLive StudioLive StudioLive 2

RRP

16.0.2 16.4.2 4.4.2

Rebate $1599 $2699 $3799

You Pay $300 $1299 $500 $2199 $800 $2999

The guitar pick… reinvented. Would you like to own a guitar pick long enough to wear it out? The genius is in their simplicity. Phil Everly (The Everly Brothers) took a standard 351 shape guitar pick, cut out a star shape in the middle, registered the patent and has been changing the lives of guitar players one pick at a time ever since. The star-shaped cutout is where your thumb and finger meet for the perfect no-slip grip. No weird shapes, wrist straps or sticky goo – the tighter you hold it the more grip you get! Star Picks are available in all the most popular gauges from paper thin to hard as nails in both plastic and celluloid materials. Since there are no major modifications to the standard shape, the picks feel as familiar as the old standby. Never drop your picks again. It’s just plain embarrassing. aUSTRALIAN gUITAR II 69

|| TECHNIQUE

LEAD WORK

with BEN HAUPTMANN

I

n this column I am going to show you, within the first five frets on the guitar, how to approach any new tune or chord progression that you might come across and need to improvise over.

This can then be transferred to the other areas along the neck and will also show you how you can get through any chord progression in one position not relying on moving patterns around the fretboard. I will be using the first three bars of the jazz piece “Giant Steps” to outline these examples as it changes three key centers. The first step to this concept is to know the arpeggios/chord tones and modes for each chord. I have composed six examples and will give an outline of how each one has been created and how you can use it.

EXErCISES 1 AND 2 The first example begins ascending, uses every note from each arpeggio in the progression, all within the first five frets excluding the open strings from the 5th to the 1st. You begin on the lowest note you can find on the instrument, in this case being the F# or 5th degree of the Bmaj7 chord. Play up the arpeggio in 16th notes until you reach the chord change then change to the closest note from the next arpeggio, in this case being the F# or 3rd of the D7 chord. Continue this process through the whole progression ascending and descending as you reach the limit of the range of notes within the first five frets.

Example 2 begins descending and uses the same rules.

EXERCISEs 3 AND 4 The next two examples use the same rules found in the first two examples but use modes instead of arpeggios. The first example beginning as an ascending line and the second, descending.

EXERCISES 5 AND 6 The last two examples are melodic phrases using arpeggios 60 II aUSTRALIAN gUITAR

brought to you by www.rotosound.com

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#œ #œ œ

œ # œ# œ# œ

2

1

D7

4

3

1 4 3 1

and modes. The rule applied to these examples is that the line must land on a chord tone of the down beat of each chord change

2

B b7

G maj7

4

5 3

4

5 3

2

5 3 2 3 5

2

4 5

and always be played within the first five frets not using the open strings of the 5th to 1st©strings. This was covered in the column entitled

3

E b maj7

1

5

3 1

1

3

3

4

‘Cutting The Changes’ and is a great way to uncover melodic phrases within a more confined area on the instrument.

|| TECHNIQUE

HOME RECORDING

RECORDING ACOUSTICALLY Australian Guitar’s Ross Waldron wrestles with all the issues surrounding recording acoustic guitars so you don’t have to (too much).

A

chieving a great acoustic guitar recording is not always an easy task with so many factors to consider throughout the process. A lot of the following advice may seem obvious, but if you wish to achieve the optimum sound possible when recording guitar it’s advisable to get prepared!

Instrument I am often asked, “What is the best way to get a great guitar sound”? My usual response is to suggest that starting with a great sounding instrument is a stellar beginning to an excellent recording. If I run an expensive microphone through an expensive preamp and place it in front of a cheap dodgy sounding guitar, then chances are I’ll still have a cheap, dodgy sounding recording. Buy, beg or borrow (don’t steal!) as good an instrument as you can realistically procure and you’ll find that half the work towards getting that great sound is already done. Check that the intonation is set up correctly before recording so that there are no unwanted buzzes or anomalies in the fretboard.

String gauge String gauge choice is a crucial link in the recording chain. Firstly, for any serious recording you really should use new strings.

Keeping in tune is imperative so it’s good to get in the habit of checking the tuning between takes.

Heavier strings may give a fuller sound but may often have unwanted resonance and muddiness as well as being harder to play.

Bending strings becomes more difficult and playing can become punishing on the fingertips.

Keep in mind that stringing your guitar with a heavier gauge will affect the tension on the neck and raise the action, so if the guitar is set up for lighter gauge strings then it may need the truss rod or bridge readjusted to cope with the extra strain. Intonation problems may occur too so double check after you make dramatic gauge changes.

Lighter gauges are easier to play but will produce a thinner sound with less sustain and projection on an acoustic guitar.

As you move your hand around the fretboard, excessive string squeaks can sometimes be a problem. Although string squeak is a natural part of an acoustic guitar performance ambience, it occasionally gets a bit harsh and distracting. If the squeaks are proving to be too irritating, try using flatwound or polymer coated strings, commercial string lubricant, baby powder or just washing your hands before playing!

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Room As you are probably aware, the room makes up a huge component of recorded sound.

Finding the right balance between live and dead sounding can be quite difficult. Most professional recording studios are built to achieve a balanced sound in general but no two rooms are the same and experimentation is necessary to achieve a desirable sound. Acoustic guitars thrive on a live sounding room. It’s nice to add artificial reverb to a dead sound to liven it up but it’s better to get the sound as close

to how you want it when tracking. To achieve a more live sound, try recoding closer to reflective surfaces in the studio – doors, glass hard surfaces. Placing a flat surface such as plywood or MDF under the instrument can also work.

Movement and Clothing It’s undeniable that musicians often get so lost and caught up in the moment during a performance that certain movements (or even pelvic gyrations…) occur that may become integral to a performance. However, in the

studio environment too much excessive movement can undo a great sound and mic setup. Keep in mind that microphones are by nature susceptible to the proximity effect* so excessive movement and swaying can affect the consistency of the recording, particularly when using a stereo microphone setup. If keeping still proves to be a constant problem for you then it might be worth investigating the use of a gooseneck or internal microphone for your guitar.

Be aware that anything you wear could be a potential source of extraneous noise that may possibly interfere with the recording. Belts, buckles, synthetic fabric, jeans rivets, shirt buttons, loose watches, squeaky shoes and jewellery are common culprits for unwanted noise. Sure, the rhinestones on your polyester jumpsuit might look awesome but they probably aren’t necessary in the studio!

Picks Using a different gauge pick for multilayered parts is a great way to add depth to a recording in a subtle way. Doubled guitar parts will benefit from using varied thicknesses for each take. Think of it as a different player performing each take and try to take on their persona for extra variety.

Put on a different hat or change your shirt. It sounds silly but can actually work to inject some extra character into a performance. Bring a heap of varied picks and maybe some costume changes into the studio!

Microphone choice When recording acoustic guitar, the classic choice for a clear pristine recording is a small diaphragm condenser microphone, but it really isn’t mandatory. This type of microphone will generally have greater high frequency accuracy

and sensitivity than a dynamic microphone.

Using an omni polar pattern may result in a more transparent sound than a cardioid but will probably pick up more room sound than desired so cardioid is usually a good choice. A good position to start placing a microphone is about

15-30cms away from the 12th fret, not directly at the soundhole. It’s good to remember there are no absolute rules set in stone to record a guitar. Experimentation is necessary. Although a mono mic setup is standard, it is not always the best way.

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|| TECH TALK

SO YOU WANNA SOUND LIKE...

BLACK STAR RIDERS

BY PETER HODGSON

T

he mighty Thin Lizzy pioneered what is now simply a part of the rock guitar vocabulary: the twin-guitar harmony melody. There had been guitar harmonies before Lizzy attained fame, but they were the first band to really take it and run with it in a rock context. And it made a huge contribution to defining their sound. If you listen to classic Lizzy material today, it has a certain complexity that helps it to rise above other pub-friendly rock bands of their generation. It’s the music of a few too many beers sure, but it’s like those beers are being downed by folks who have extensively stocked bookshelves of poetry and 20th century literature and a working knowledge of European history, if you know what I mean. There’s a sort of sophistication there which reveals itself in the melodies and chords even while the rhythm section drive might suggest an altogether more ‘meat and potatoes’ approach.

Today Thin Lizzy has evolved into Black Star Riders, a new band which features current Lizzy members Scott Gorham, Damon Johnson, Marco Mendoza and Ricky Warwick along with drummer Jimmy DeGrasso (ex-Megadeth). So with the band’s debut album hitting the streets, how do they approach that Thin Lizzy sound?

Do they celebrate it? Avoid it? Hint at it? “Well, y’know, there’s two different camps, really,” Gorham says. “Damon keeps saying we’re not going to get away from the Thin Lizzy sound just because of the fact that I’m in the band, 86 II aUSTRALIAN gUITAR

y’know? It’s my style. But when we decided that this was not going to be a Thin Lizzy album, it was going to be a Black Star Riders album, I was kinda shying away from the heavy harmony guitar thing and all that. But Damon and the other guys really wanted to keep that in there.

And it’s not because I hate harmony guitar. I just wanted to steer the thing in a whole brand new path. But now that we haven’t done that, I’m glad that we didn’t, because what we’ve come up with harmony-wise is a little bit different from the old Lizzy way of doing it, and it’s kind of furthered it in a cooler way, if you can imagine that.”

Johnson adds, “That’s the thing. Scott is so incredibly humble about it and he always has been, but the fact is that he is a vital part of this particular piece of real estate in the history of rock guitar, the history of rock, period. I would say to him, ‘Bro, you own that. You created that. You’re part of it.’ So for me and Marco and Ricky it’s just an honour to be asked to play in Thin Lizzy to begin with.”

Tonally, both Gorham and Johnson are Gibson Les Paul guys. “I made the entire album with one guitar, one amp, one wah pedal and an overdrive,” Johnson says. “If you’ve got a tone that you like and the other guys like and the producer digs, just go with it!” Gorham favours a Les Paul Axcess. “I love it. I walked into the Gibson HQ in London and as I was walking to one of the offices I noticed a Les Paul that had a (Floyd Rose) vibrato system on it. I took three

steps back and went ‘What the f*** is that? Man, I don’t want one of those, I f***ing need one of those.’ What they did for me is a little special; they shaved the neck down for me and they chambered it a little. It’s featherlight now, and I think they’re doing most of those like that now. They’re really light guitars. If you talk to a lot of guitar players these days, you’ve got so much digital outboard stuff pedal-wise that you don’t really need to go for that really thick, dense wood to try to get the tone any longer. So these days your neck and your back isn’t killing you like you’ve got a wet back of cement around your neck for two hours.”

Lizzy fans might remember the Les Paul Deluxe with minihumbuckers which Gorham used in the ‘70s. “That got stolen from me,” he says. “I did the first two albums with that.

It’s not like it’s an expensive guitar or that it was ultra fabulous. It’s more of a sentimental thing for me. I just wanted to keep it, but some asshole stole it. It’s kind of a drag.”

|| TESTING 123

VHT Special 12/20 RT Combo

THE VHT SPECIAL 12/20 RT COMBO HAS THE TONE OF A HAND WIRED VINTAGE PRACTICE AMP, BUT COMES PACKED WITH SOME VERY USEFUL MODERN FEATURES. by reg barber

V

HT’s ‘special’ line of amplifiers offer guitarists hand wired and turret board designs at very affordable prices. By building their amplifiers overseas and using classic designs, based on the early American combo circuits, VHT have served up a boutique style amplifier for a fraction of the price of a hand wired amplifier.

BOUTIQUE TONE WITHOUT A BOUTIQUE PRICE TAG The VHT Special 12/20 RT may be based on early combo designs, but it has a lot more features than a vintage amp. Several very useful modern features join the traditional single tone and volume control. The standby switch can be flicked into either pentode or triode mode, halving the output volume and creating power tube break up earlier in the triode mode. The power of the amplifier can further be reduced with an inbuilt attenuation knob, a great feature for achieving organic tube tones at bedroom levels.

The RT part of the VHT Special 12/20 RT is tube driven reverb and tremolo. The inbuilt tube tremolo features depth, texture and tremolo controls, along, with a speed and slow/ fast button. The depth control selects the low frequency roll off point, the texture switch changes the high frequency response, and the tremolo control changes the intensity of the effect. The reverb control adjusts the amount of reverb in the signal and the chicken style knob can be pulled out to create more depth. Both the tremolo and reverb are foot-switchable.

The back panel of the VHT Special 12/20 RT reveals even more features not found in a vintage amp. Pedal users will love the 9-volt DC jack that is designed to power up a pedal board.

The back panel also features an effects loop with an adjustable level, and a line output for DI recording.

The VHT Special 12/20 RT ships with 6V6 power tubes but will also take EL34 and EL84 power tubes with VHT yellow jacket style adaptors. The rear panel has a high/low power selector, when high is selected the amps output will be 20 watts, low power selection gives you a 12 watt output. The single 12 inch VHT ‘Chromeback’ speaker is capable of handling 60 watts and an additional 16ohm speaker cab can be connected via the external speaker jack, this does not disengage the internal speaker however. With all the power options available you have an amp that is capable of going from 1 watt to 20 watts of output.

REVERB DICK DALE WOULD BE PROUD OF The VHT Special 12/20 RT sounds great, especially for an amplifier in its price range.

There is the feel and dynamics you can only get with a tube amp, with plenty of warmth and the tone you expect from a hand wired amplifier.

The VHT Special 12/20 RT has the sparkle and headroom of an early Fender amp, especially in the low power mode, with power tube break up occurring at about 10 o’clock on the volume control. When the volume control is dimed the break up is musical, with a bit less bite and more warmth than a small Fender practice amp, and I imagine this would become more obvious as the amp is warn in.

There is plenty of reverb on tap here; it can get way into giant cave territory, perfect for surf rock tones. The reverb sounds great, the way that only a tube driven spring reverb can sound.

The tremolo is more of the same; there are plenty of tweakable options from low-end throb to cutting high-end harmonics. The boost feature and a dimed volume control can easily get you into rock rhythm territory, but it is pedals in the effects loop and inbuilt 9-volt power that can get you into higher gain settings.

THE

WHAT WE RECKON PROS Hand wired Designed for pedals Great sounding tube driven reverb and tremolo Plenty of output power options

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CONS Dark voicing for humbuckers

CONTACT Dynamic Music (02) 9939 1299 www.vhtdirect.com.au

PRICE: $1099 FEATURES • Tube driven effects loop • Line out • 9-volt pedal power supply • Effects loop • Tube driven spring reverb • Tube driven tremolo • Pentode/triode switching • Multiple power tube options

BOTTOM LINE The VHT Special 12/20 RT has the vibe of vintage Fender practice amp, but with many useful modern features and a little less chime. The darker tonal voicing lends itself more to single coil guitars rather than neck humbuckers, but the inclusion of the 9-volt power output and effects loop mean you can tweak your sound easily with your favourite distortion or EQ pedals. What is best is the price, the VHT Special 12/20 RT is very affordable considering this is hand wired, boutique style amplifier.