7 ms·

This is pretty damn cool. I haven't heard many stories of artists actually doing this work themselves.

waterlesscloud 11y ago
One of my favorite things along these lines is this 1951 video of Les Paul explaining how he uses multitrack recording to produce his records. The first part of the video is great, mocking the idea of some sort of computer that generates the music itself. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rITJyZVTfy4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rITJyZVTfy4
- 91bananas 11y ago
  It's pretty unbelievable to think that this was almost considered voodoo at the time, yet now ANY recording is done in this way. Thanks for the link. Very cool as well.
scarecrowbob 11y ago
It is indeed pretty cool, but you probably have lots of these stories. Les Paul is probably one of the more famous stories. Most really good music technology innovations are from musicians themselves. EHV is a world-class player, but the only reason we're reading this kind of story is because of that virtuosity-- lots of folks mess around with their instruments like he was doing, though most aren't as dangerously bad at it. The stories you hear about folks making new music stuff are usually because the folks are good at making stuff, so it seems more like engineers/tinkerers who happen to play music, when that description might be flipped if we looked at how folks think of themselves.
sp332 11y ago
You'd probably like It Might Get Loud. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1229360/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1229360/ It's a documentary of (and conversation among) the Edge, Jimmy Page, and Jack White. They show some of their methods for getting the sound they want from their instruments.
- 91bananas 11y ago
  Only a couple minutes in, already in to it. Thanks for sharing.
vlunkr 11y ago
Sonic Youth were also known for modifying their guitars to get different sounds. They said they couldn't afford lots of equipment when they started.
fr0sty 11y ago
Brian May of Queen built his guitar with his father while he was a teenager and used it for most of his career: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Special http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Special
- 91bananas 11y ago
  This is cool for an entirely different reason for me too. I've seen this cover band Queen Nation before that is shockingly good. They dress like Queen, act like them, and sound really good whilst doing it. I've often wondered what the guitar player was playing, it was unlike anything I've seen before. http://www.noozhawk.com/images/uploads/081413-QueenNation-630.jpg http://www.noozhawk.com/images/uploads/081413-QueenNation-63... I appreciate that he is using a left handed clone as yet another tribute to the original.
sbilstein 11y ago
The bass player from Rage Against The Machine is known for winding his own pickups. There's actually a substantial DIY guitar community out there; its awesome. I've been digging into guitar pedals building myself.
- rorykoehler 11y ago
  You can get kits like here: http://buildyourownclone.com/ http://buildyourownclone.com/ Then you can just mix and match parts and build according to instructions to make your own unique sound. Very cool and fun.
BrianEatWorld 11y ago
Local H has always been a duo and so Scott Lucas has had some really cool setups in the past. At one point, he had replaced the two strings on his guitar with two strings of a bass and then ran different sets of pickups to different amps so that he could effectively play both traditional bass style parts and guitar parts at the same time. Heres a video of him demoing his older setup: http://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/video-local-hs-scott-lucas-on-his-unique-guitar-bass-setup-564205 http://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/video-local-hs-scott-... I saw them a few weeks ago and he no longer uses the same setup, but I've always thought it was inventive.
- jkestner 11y ago
  I love the idea of the need shaping the tool. For similar reasons, I designed a 30-inch scale guitar that could handle the E and A strings from a piccolo bass, and had my luthier make it. So it's tuned like a guitar but with the low strings at bass register. Had to have two tension rods to handle the difference in tension. Works well for finger-picking. I'm not a virtuoso, but was inspired by some others trying to get more range, especially Charlie Hunter (whose fanned frets are nuts), various metal guys, and the Chapman Stick.
  - ZenoArrow 11y ago
    That sounds like a cool instrument, would be interested in hearing what it sounds like, do you have any clips of you playing it? I like the idea of a guitar that can easily reach lower registers. Whilst 7-string (and in Charlie Hunter's case, 8-string) guitars are possibly more versatile, I'm quite partial to baritone guitars. This sounds beautiful to me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_06O8XnJQo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_06O8XnJQo Talking of unconventional instruments, you may be interested in hearing these microtonal guitars, I think the second one in particular sounds pretty good: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRsSjh5TTqI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRsSjh5TTqI

One of my favorite things along these lines is this 1951 video of Les Paul explaining how he uses multitrack recording to produce his records. The first part of the video is great, mocking the idea of some sort of computer that generates the music itself. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rITJyZVTfy4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rITJyZVTfy4

91bananas 11y ago
It's pretty unbelievable to think that this was almost considered voodoo at the time, yet now ANY recording is done in this way. Thanks for the link. Very cool as well.

scarecrowbob 11y ago

It is indeed pretty cool, but you probably have lots of these stories. Les Paul is probably one of the more famous stories. Most really good music technology innovations are from musicians themselves. EHV is a world-class player, but the only reason we're reading this kind of story is because of that virtuosity-- lots of folks mess around with their instruments like he was doing, though most aren't as dangerously bad at it. The stories you hear about folks making new music stuff are usually because the folks are good at making stuff, so it seems more like engineers/tinkerers who happen to play music, when that description might be flipped if we looked at how folks think of themselves.

sp332 11y ago

You'd probably like It Might Get Loud. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1229360/ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1229360/ It's a documentary of (and conversation among) the Edge, Jimmy Page, and Jack White. They show some of their methods for getting the sound they want from their instruments.

91bananas 11y ago
Only a couple minutes in, already in to it. Thanks for sharing.

vlunkr 11y ago

Sonic Youth were also known for modifying their guitars to get different sounds. They said they couldn't afford lots of equipment when they started.

fr0sty 11y ago

Brian May of Queen built his guitar with his father while he was a teenager and used it for most of his career: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Special http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Special

91bananas 11y ago
This is cool for an entirely different reason for me too. I've seen this cover band Queen Nation before that is shockingly good. They dress like Queen, act like them, and sound really good whilst doing it. I've often wondered what the guitar player was playing, it was unlike anything I've seen before. http://www.noozhawk.com/images/uploads/081413-QueenNation-630.jpg http://www.noozhawk.com/images/uploads/081413-QueenNation-63... I appreciate that he is using a left handed clone as yet another tribute to the original.

sbilstein 11y ago

The bass player from Rage Against The Machine is known for winding his own pickups. There's actually a substantial DIY guitar community out there; its awesome. I've been digging into guitar pedals building myself.

rorykoehler 11y ago
You can get kits like here: http://buildyourownclone.com/ http://buildyourownclone.com/ Then you can just mix and match parts and build according to instructions to make your own unique sound. Very cool and fun.

BrianEatWorld 11y ago

Local H has always been a duo and so Scott Lucas has had some really cool setups in the past. At one point, he had replaced the two strings on his guitar with two strings of a bass and then ran different sets of pickups to different amps so that he could effectively play both traditional bass style parts and guitar parts at the same time. Heres a video of him demoing his older setup: http://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/video-local-hs-scott-lucas-on-his-unique-guitar-bass-setup-564205 http://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/video-local-hs-scott-... I saw them a few weeks ago and he no longer uses the same setup, but I've always thought it was inventive.

jkestner 11y ago
I love the idea of the need shaping the tool. For similar reasons, I designed a 30-inch scale guitar that could handle the E and A strings from a piccolo bass, and had my luthier make it. So it's tuned like a guitar but with the low strings at bass register. Had to have two tension rods to handle the difference in tension. Works well for finger-picking. I'm not a virtuoso, but was inspired by some others trying to get more range, especially Charlie Hunter (whose fanned frets are nuts), various metal guys, and the Chapman Stick.
- ZenoArrow 11y ago
  That sounds like a cool instrument, would be interested in hearing what it sounds like, do you have any clips of you playing it? I like the idea of a guitar that can easily reach lower registers. Whilst 7-string (and in Charlie Hunter's case, 8-string) guitars are possibly more versatile, I'm quite partial to baritone guitars. This sounds beautiful to me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_06O8XnJQo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_06O8XnJQo Talking of unconventional instruments, you may be interested in hearing these microtonal guitars, I think the second one in particular sounds pretty good: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRsSjh5TTqI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRsSjh5TTqI