The Guitar Player's Resource
Welcome readers to yet another installment of Zone Recording. This time I will be talking about some recent clinics that I have just completed with none other than the amazing Jennifer Batten.
These were held in Vancouver in two different locations on September 7th and 8th of 2006. They were put on through Erikson Music for the Grand Openings of Long and McQuade music stores in Vancouver. The clinics were sponsored by Digitech and Vox.
The shows started at 7 and went until 9.
My duties were to take care of the Vox and Jennifer was showing the Digitech GNX3000.
We chatted about mixing and recording a bit. Jennifer is using Logic as her host program and was playing to a few backing tracks from her newest album she is working on. The tracks sounded great and the drum sounds kicked ass
She mixes most of the music to around 80% and then has a "specialist" come in and tweak the rest. One of the problems as an artist is that if someone else comes on board to finish the project, it might be difficult for them to get exactly what you were going for. We spoke about automation of mixes and their importance into making all the parts we hear in our heads come out. A great tip she shared was that if someone is going to finish off your mix (and they might not have the same host program), to commit all the automation to the files. This way there is no second guessing for the mixer!
Great tip Jennifer...
I can tell you this - we both love the Digitech Whammy Pedal!
I like to use it more as an 'octave above' tool, while Jennifer likes to use it as a whole step drop. It makes it sound like a slide is being used, and the aural delight to the ears is spectacular!
A freak picture of myself... The guitar faces just can't be helped!
Now that you have stopped laughing hysterically, I can move on.
For our guitar sounds, we both had a little different approach for the clinic. The VTX was miked up with 2 SM57 tight on the cones. These were then panned hard left and right in the mix.
Jennifer used the 3000 direct into the board panned hard also. The direct sound was great, and for clinics it kicked ass. On larger shows she mentioned it would be pumped into a power amp feeding some 4x12's.
Gotta love power!
We did play a couple of tunes together, one being a 12 bar blues in E and the other being an arrangement of "Amazing Grace".
Nice head!
Oh well. Thanks for stopping by. Thanks to Jennifer for making this a cool experience. More info can be found at www.jenniferbatten.com.
May the tone be with you.
David Martone is a guitarist from Vancouver, Canada who has released seven solo CDs which showcase his musical diversity and brilliant guitarmanship.
His 2007 CD is entitled "When The Aliens Come", which features a progressive sound incorporating jazz, rock, fusion and metal influences.
