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Doug Manring
Q&A
I
found Oasis to be awesome, a
real “headphone epic”. What inspired the overall sound? I
want to thank you for the kind words about Oasis.
I like your term “headphone epic”. Yeah, that is exactly what I have
in mind. This is definitely NOT music you throw on in the background at a
party! I appreciate you taking the time to delve into it. One of the
things about my music (and a lot of the music I’m inspired by) is that
it offers rewards to those who take the effort to really listen to
what’s going on. I hope you’re finding that to be true. I always have
that in mind during the whole writing/recording process. Are
you influenced by Joe Satriani? A
few people have remarked that there is a similarity to Joe Satriani, which
always surprises me because I’m not into him at all. I’ve heard one
album, and have a couple tunes on a misc. tape somewhere, but that’s
it…interesting. I
expected comparisons to Peter Gabriel. One thing I did with some of the
finished mixes was to A/B them with Gabriel tunes. If my mixes sounded too
pale in comparison to his, then I went back to the drawing board. Can
you tell about your guitar influences and describe your tapping
techniques? My
guitar playing techniques are inspired directly from Michael Hedges and
Jeff Beck. They include tapping on the neck with the right hand, very much
like playing a Stick, but I use a lot more pull-offs and ringing open
strings, slapping chords and their harmonics, a lot of beating on the
guitar, quite literally (you can tell I am originally a drummer!). I like
bending and shaking the guitar (particularly Gibson SGs) to create very
subtle vibrato, chorus and pitch bending (this is inspired by Pete
Townshend). Three
tunes on Oasis, I employ an “open tuner” device by Hipshot, which
allows you to change the pitch of selected strings WHILE playing. I’ll
use any kind of right hand technique that will get THE SOUND. I’ll
fingerpick, stroke, rake, pat, pull, over the pickup, over the neck, right
in front of the bridge for some twang, anywhere on the length of the
string. I like to play with the meat of my thumb for some things, I use
some bass playing techniques…anything I can come up with, but NO PICK! I
haven’t used a pick on guitar in ten years. My “pick” now is the
carefully trimmed nail on my index finger, and I use the robust middle
finger nail for the more bashing kinds of things. (I guess you could say
that my first fingernail is a “medium” and my middle fingernail is a
“heavy”.) There
is no regular tuned guitar on the album either. My main tuning is CGCGCD
low-to-high, and I use DADGAD a lot, plus a few other things. My basses
are tuned CGDG or CGCG. Your
songs seem to be influenced by real life events, for example, was
“Marionette” about something that happened to your father? I
fooled a lot of people with “Marionette” which was not at all about my
father. I wrote it before he died, and he died rather quickly, so there
was minimal controversy over whether he could be maintained by artificial
life support…thank God. “Marionette”
was largely inspired by the long drawn out death of Japan’s Emperor
Hirohito, who lingered for months in a vegetable state in a sadly
humiliating ordeal. My father’s fatal heart attack occurred during some
sessions I was doing for Oasis which included “Marionette” and that obviously put some
real intensity into the performances (I did the drums just a week or two
after his death). As I recall, I did most of the lead vocals lying on my
back with all the lights turned off. Can
you explain in detail how you handle the mixing process? I
spent a few months mixing Oasis. Since I knew it would be a challenge, I devised a basic
working protocol that allows me to efficiently anticipate and deal with
each hurdle as it comes ... and in the long run , mixing Oasis was not nearly as difficult as I expected. One of the MOST
important things I do starts with the very first track of each recording.
I staple a piece of paper to the track sheet, marked “MIX NOTES” and
any time I get any ideas concerning the mix DURING the whole recording
process (which often will span many months), I jot it down: “use 200 MS
delay on 2nd guitar”, “pan vox 3 to 9”, “make sure backing
sequence is not too loud”, “listen to P. Gabriel’s ‘Rhythm of the
Heat’ for ideas”, etc. Also,
I handle any rough mixes I do as rehearsals for the final mix. I write
down all the settings for any rough mixes and reference mixes I do
throughout the production. By doing this I always have the final mix on my
mind throughout the entire recording process. When it comes time to do
that final big “MIX”, I’ve already gone over it many, many times, so
I’m mentally prepared, AND I have some tangible notes and reference
materials prepared as well. I can’t overemphasize how helpful this is. I
set aside three days to a week per song to do a mix. I spend a session or
two just to establish the physical layout, the track assignments,
patching, labeling, chase all the bugs out of the wiring, and establish
the rough levels. It will take one to three sessions to do all the EQs,
levels, balancing, and effects (usually in that order). I’ll put tape
markers on all the hot faders to indicate their positions and changes, I
will WRITE DOWN a sequential cue sheet of every move I have to make during
the mix, including the reset moves that need to be done before starting
another take. Again, I can’t say enough about how helpful it is to take
notes. It organizes your head and that’s what mixing is all about. By
the way, all my Oasis notes are
stored in a big binder, so if you’d like to see some examples, I can
Xerox some for you). During
this phase I do most of my listening on small speakers (JBL Control Ones)
at the lowest possible volume, half the time in mono on one speaker. But I
will often A/B with my big speakers (JBL 4312s) and headphones (Sony
MDR-V606s and the like), I will also occasionally listen at different
volumes as well. I avoid ear fatigue by changing the listening perspective
often, and by taking little breaks to get some fresh air. With
all the levels and cues established, I will usually want to have a session
just to rehearse all the moves a few times, but I try not to do too much
of this because I don’t want to wear out the tape. Then I’m very ready
to do the final mix. I do it wearing headphones, so my attention is
unobstructed and I can keep check on any noise. I record an audio cue
right onto the master Tape before each take, telling the date, take number
and any changes in relation to other takes. I’ll do two or three takes,
let it rest for a day or two, then come back and see if I need to try
again. The nice thing about DAT is that you can do dozens of takes without
worrying about the tape costs. Generally, I kept it down to about three
takes of each song to chose from, no more than five…I may have nailed
one or two in a single take. I’ll spend a couple months listening to the
takes so that I’m really sure of which one is IT. On a couple tunes, I
was not satisfied, and went back to remix from scratch, the whole process
... time consuming, yes, but it was worth it. “Marionette” was one I
remixed several months after rejecting the first mixes ... not only was I
more satisfied, but this is the tune that has drawn the most reaction from
my listeners ... so it was definitely worth the extra effort. If your not
under any deadline, I think it’s great to be able to take your time
whenever possible…we’re creating art and it needs time to season and
grow on us. But even on a time critical project, this process has served
me well. The last commercial project I did, I did about half of the
“final” mix while recording ... I could automate the settings in
ProTools and it made it very easy to finish quickly. So
to summarize, I think it’s important to always have the final mix in the
back of your mind throughout the whole recording process, with that mental
preparation, doing that big MIX is a lot less daunting. Could
you tell us your opinion about keyboards…how you use them and are you
going to be using more keyboards on your new material? I
wouldn’t mind using more keyboards on future projects, especially since
I am getting better at playing ... however, the sounds I want would
require actual vintage instruments which I don’t currently have the
space for. Piano, Mini-Moog, a funky Rhodes ... and I really want a
Hammond organ and a Leslie 147 ... and NO, samplers cannot do what the
real things do. One fluke was my “Mellotron” ... that is actually a
sample ... a horrendous sample with a great big hiccup in it, as trouble
prone and ungainly as the real thing. I figured that it would take the
same amount of time and trouble to get a real Mellotron to function long
enough to record as it did for this sample ... and since a Mellotron is in
essence a sampler anyway, it would not be all that too sacrilegious not to
use the real thing ... boy, what a pain-in-the-ass it is to work with ...
but I sure love that sound. Your
fretless guitar in “Matsuri” was interesting ... is it hard to play?
Also, did you use a DX7 for the sequence? The
percussive sequence in “Matsuri” was indeed my trusty DX7, triggered
by an Octopad ... incidentally, I have many photos and video shot during
the actual Oasis sessions ...
it’s great to have for reference and just to reminisce. The fretless
guitar is a weird bird, but if you think of it like slide guitar, then
it’s not so unfamiliar (of course it helps to have had experience
playing fretless bass), there’s a little more of it in “The Gate”
... I used an Ebow on it on that track, so it gets very violin-y. Your
whole approach to arranging and lyric writing is quite refreshing. Are you
consciously avoiding the standard rock’n’roll love song? Thank
you very much for appreciating my lyrics and arrangements ... you hit it
right on the head ... I think there is a lot of untried lyrical territory
for rock music, and there are already plenty of great love songs ... I
mean, how can I top “Love Me Do”, “Peggy Sue”, or “Every Breath
You Take”? I like doing a sort of “linear” kind of arranging that
doesn’t necessarily use repeating verse/chorus/bridge cycles. Could
you please explain your compositional process? My
compositional process?? Well, It’s anything goes, really. There is no
one sure fire way I write music. I think the only common denominator
underlying all my writing is the idea: “you don’t DO it ... you LET it
happen”. For me, I’m ALWAYS writing ... all the time ... I always have
musical ideas in my head ... and ironically, to get some solid work done,
I have to consciously “turn off the faucet”. So, composing for me is
not so much a search, because most of the time, the ideas are already
there ... it’s more of an opening a door or gate to see which ideas will
come shooting through ... then carefully experimenting and weighing which
kind of approach will best express the given idea. I
will start by noodling on any of several instruments, or by writing down a
concept and/or some lyrics ... in some cases, I get such a clear vision,
that I can compose the whole thing entirely in my head. Sometimes, I’m
really moved by something I hear, and I decide to try writing something
based on that. Generally though, I will noodle on whatever instrument
I’m currently interested in ... I definitely find that certain
instruments will inspire compositions, even down to different brands of
electric guitars ... I have one Strat that seems “to have a lot of tunes
in it”. A lot of the tunes I’m recording now were generated on the
mandolin ... I particularly like to compose on the bass ... ‘cause if
the bass line is happening, you’re pretty much home free ... plus, with
bass ... you can sing the melodies over it and tap the rhythms with your
feet like a one-man band ... see, who needs a sequencer, ha-ha! If it’s
called for, I can quite readily sit down and sequence something from
scratch ... this also is an easy and natural process for me ... I was
quite prolific during my “sequencer phase”. Now with ProTools, I can
generate compositional ideas, and entire pieces, in fact, solely through
extensive editing ... I’m pretty intrigued with this and have a few
tunes on the board now that have used this approach in varying degrees ...
it seems to offer the advantages of both sequencing and live performance.
If possible, I like to write lyrics-before-melody than the other way
around ... which is more difficult and time-consuming for me ... but it
doesn’t always happen that way. I don’t feel that there are any rules
to writing, only options ... and the skill one needs to have is to be able
to effectively organize, then capitalize on those options. Could
you give some ideas about EQUIPMENT (for a live show) ...what to bring ...
and what NOT to bring! I think last time I brought too much and it was a
real pain to set up and take down ... perhaps even ways to smooth setup
and take down EASIER? Well,
you hit a real important issue right on the head ... gear in live playing
in not always about ideals, it’s about REALITY ... what’s really out
there and how are you going to function within it. I think it helps to
classify gigs on a kind of scale ... the importance of the gig related to
the convenience of the gig dictates how much and what you will bring. You
must also carefully consider the issues of: *
TIME - how much set up time is there, how much sound check time is there,
how long is the show, what is the relationship of set-up time to show
time? *
SPACE - is what you intend to bring going to fit into the space provided,
is there going to be room to carefully do your set-up, are there
environmental conditions that can affect your equipment (moisture, dust,
sunlight), are you sharing the stage with other acts? *
MATERIAL - to perform the material you intend, what is absolutely
essential, what are desirable/expendable luxuries? *
PURPOSE - why are you doing this show, in what way does it fit the
expectations of the audience, how much trouble/effort is it worth? With
all this in mind, I’ll try to illustrate this little “gig
assessment” process with a few of my shows from this year: *March
- “Kodomo no Rock” children’s rock show; venue: a preschool
classroom. The
demands and ideals for this show are very high ... keeping 50 or 60 3-to-5
year-old kids entertained for 45 minutes, I want a snazzy show with lights
and excellent sound, so that it can be loud but not uncomfortable for
them. The show needs to go down at breakneck speed with lots of cues,
I’m playing to a backing tape that won’t stop or slow down or cover
for me if I tire or make a mistake ... so I want to be absolutely
comfortable, undistracted and confident onstage. I need gear I an count on
... so I want my own system with me. For that reason, and for the simple
reason that the venue doesn’t have any gear whatsoever, I bring
everything: PA, lights, instruments, tools, even curtains. OK, that’s
cool ... but there is a serious time crunch to consider: I have at best an
hour and a half to go from the back of the truck to showtime, and thirty
minutes to clean it all up after because they have to use the room. This
is a very high pressure situation that I wouldn’t touch unless I was
REALLY sure I could pull it off. Fortunately, I know this show inside and
out, I’ve done it dozens of times in all manner of situations, I have
planned and rehearsed the set-up as well as the performance ... so I can
focus my attention on the audience, I have this show rehearsed to the Nth
... I can play it in my sleep. With that kind of confidence and planning,
I could take on the challenge and pull it off. Tips
for this kind of gig: *
When you’re dealing with a lot of equipment and not so much time,
maximize every minute and make every move you make count. I make
CHECKLISTs for every procedure involved with preparing the show ... I got
the idea from watching airline pilots and astronauts, who obviously work
with a lot of delicate hardware in time critical high stress situations.
Checklists clearly indicate what has to be done and in what order, insure
that you don’t forget to do something, and I found that they really help
me to calm down as I busily prepare for a show. *
Rehearse and time the set-up! *
Don’t tie your cables in knots that take 2 minutes to decipher, wind
them carefully so they unravel naturally without kinks or knots. *
Every item of equipment should have an assigned place in the stage area
... it should go from the truck right to that spot ... so you don’t have
to keep moving things around which wastes time, and so you can find things
when you need them (you’ll notice pro band’s cases are often marked
“stage right”, “dressing room”, etc.). *
October - a “Monster” band gig; venue: a basement club with full PA
and lights. This
is a compromise type of situation ... obviously, I want to have a great
sound ... but here, even though we have PA and stuff provided, we have to
share the stage with two other bands ... that’s three changeovers and
three sound checks in one night ... that’s fifteen or twenty people
milling about one stage ... that’s a recipe for confusion! Here, I go
simple and safe ... I just bring a two-channel amp head and a speaker
cabinet, a familiar rig I can trust. There is a channel footswitch and
that is ALL ... so it sets up real quick, and cleans up real quick ... no
maze of foot pedals for all these strangers to accidentally trip over. I
need a lot of guitars with The Monster, and that’s a bit of of problem
... tonight I have five, all in different tunings, and it’s a chore to
secure a spot where I can get them all tuned up. I bring all my own guitar
stands, so I’ll have enough, and so I can be assured that an unfamiliar
stand won’t collapse with my $2000 Les Paul ... the guitars come out for
the sound check (which incidentally, is largely meaningless in this kind
of gig ... don’t fuss over settings no one is going to remember at show
time ... just get warmed up and get a feel for the stage, that’s all you
can do), then they are put away, then brought out again right before we go
on, tuned up and brought out just before we start ... then they are
whisked back to their cases after the show, even before I change out of my
sweaty duds. Why so many guitars? As I am often asked ... well, because of
the various tunings, each is different ...
the set is a tight 40 minutes with the next band in the wings
waiting to rush on, there’s no time to re-tune between numbers, and
audiences hate that anyway. On other gigs, I have eliminated one or two by
changing the set list as not to include certain tunes, and there are a
couple numbers I can play in either one or another tuning. Tips
for this kind of gig: *
Even though full PA services are provided, I ALWAYS bring my own vocal
mike!! Aside from having a mike in front of you that you’re familiar
with ... don’t allow yourself to have to sing your heart out into a mike
that some else has just spat and sweat on ... you don’t want to have
this grossed out look on your face every time you step up to sing!! *
GUITARS!!! Whether you have five or just one ... my rule is “last thing
put out and first thing cleaned up”. I’ve seen too many fools stick
their precious just-tuned guitars up on stage while people are still
milling all over carrying things back and forth ... and then LEAVE them
indefinitely after their show. Guitars invariably get knocked over,
broken, fondled and molested ... STOLEN ... (remember John McLaughlin’s
custom double neck Rex Bougue “Double Rainbow” guitar? That was
destroyed when a lighting truss fell on it ...). If they are not being
played, guitars should be in their cases and tucked safely away !!!! A tip
I got from Rick Derringer (great guy!) is to put guitars on their stands
backwards, with the backside facing out. That way, if someone spills a
beer, hair tonic, or vomits (all things that are known to happen backstage
...), it only gets on the backside of the guitar. I also discovered that
it makes it quicker for changing guitars between numbers, which is
something I have to do a lot. *October
- solo guitar show; venue: a small folk club with a modest PA The
idea for this show is to take as little as possible, one: because I have
to share the stage with four other acts, two: artistically, I want this
show to be simple and “naked”, and three: I have to go to the gig by
train and must be able to carry everything with me in one load. I have two
guitars, an acoustic and an electric, mics for the acoustic, and my vocal
mic, a DI box for the electric, a tuner, and a DAT and video camera for
recording the show (I always bring those along ... even though it’s a
royal pain to deal with, having a record of the performance is
invaluable). I brought my own mics because the club’s mics aren’t that
good (I’ve played there before), and I usually don’t trust house DI
boxes, because they invariably have a dead battery. This is a time tight
deal, so set-ups and clean-ups have to go real quick ... but with such a
simple set-up here, I can focus on doing the performance. *
November - solo performance; venue: a small bar with a modest PA This
was a walk-on, an open stage night ... no pressure at all, completely
informal. I just took an acoustic guitar, now equipped with a Fishman dual
mic/pickup which I can just plug in to their system. I didn’t even bring
a tuner. I mention this “show”, because the issue here is one of
appropriateness. It would be silly to walk into this situation with with a
lot of gear, fuss over settings and whatnot. It’s a bar, the people
there are not going to pay that much attention to the music ... that’s
not a judgment, that’s just the way it is. The tip here is to just go
with the flow, play a couple numbers and don’t try to force a certain
mood ... this is the opposite of the other shows I mentioned. General
Tips and Words-to-the-Wise: *
Live playing forces you to assume an attitude opposite of what the Bible
teaches ... that everyone is an idiot except you ... TRUST NO ONE!! I know
that’s awful to say, but I have seen it happen too many times, gigs
severely impaired by people trying to “help out”. Politely refuse
offers, or counter offer by inviting those individuals to the studio to be
trained. *
Don’t let people touch or handle your guitar(s) before the show,
especially if it has just been tuned. Some people excrete a salty muck
that sticks all over the neck and strings, even if they handle your guitar
for 30 seconds ... *
The general issue of equipment is not how much or how good, but WHO’s
handling it. Stick with what you know and can rely upon. I try to avoid
mixing gear with other systems, especially when time is tight. *
The gear that you bring should be road-ready ... every item should have a
sturdy container that both protects and helps to organize things. *
Always bring a flashlight and a good pair of WORK GLOVES!! OK,
I hope this was somehow useful ... there’s still a lot of things I left
out ... this really requires a textbook (which do exist ... I use an old
textbook for staging dramatic performances). Let me know what was
informative, what wasn’t ... what and if you would like to hear about in
more detail ... I can also offer photos and videos of some of these
set-ups. Sometimes
I hear “digital distortion” when I am playing back some of my stuff on
DAT. Is this due to dirty heads? Not
exactly. It is due to either a sticky tape path, or misalignment of either
the deck or the tape itself. TAPE PATH is the thing with DAT. If it is
anything less than pristine, then you are going to have big problems. DAT
maintenance is of utmost importance. I’ll tell you what I’ve
experienced and what I do about it: DAT
is a very very fragile format, both the decks and the tapes themselves are
prone to damage and misalignment. Whereas the decks can by-and-large be
fixed, a faulty DAT tape is forever unusable. So with that in mind, think
ahead and protect yourself: *
ALWAYS make back-up copies of any important tape, so if one dies, you have
at least one other backup ... ALWAYS DO THIS, you’ll never regret it!! *
For master tapes that you intend to use on various decks, or send to
someone else to use, like you’ve done with me, I think it’s a smart
idea to record the program material TWICE or even three times ... until
you fill up the whole tape. Some decks/tapes playback better at the head,
some in the middle, some at the tail ... so if you offer the program
material a number of times across the whole length of the tape, you offer
the user more chances to get a clean playback. Once when I appeared on a
TV show using a DAT backing tape, their machine couldn’t play back the
first take ... but I put three or four passes of the same backing track on
there and sure enough, one later down the line played back just fine, and
I avoided disaster (it also makes constructive use of blank tape left over
after your program material is finished ... it’s a real waste to have a
90 min. tape with just 10 min. of material on it). *
Keep close track of the brands of tape you use, and which ones you have
trouble with. I found that there was an older brand of Sony tape that my
deck “hated” ... i.e. would foul up in the transport, mess up the
transport, and get eaten in the process. Find the brand that works best
with your deck and stick with it ... I’d say almost 90% of my DAT tapes
are made by Victor ... that was the brand my machines “liked”. *
If you are a serious DAT user, I strongly recommend having at least one
other deck, particularly if the only DAT deck you have is a walkman. Tapes
that won’t play right on one deck will probably be OK on another ... and
if they don’t, then you can confirm that the tape has a problem and not
the deck. The DAT transport is very complex and fragile ... and though the
walkman is extremely convenient, the inevitable bumps, shocks and drops it
will endure will constantly disalign that delicate tape path. I recommend
buying at least one high quality stand alone deck, and having your walkman
realigned at least once a year. I have had as many as four DAT decks at
one time, though currently, I am using two. My DAT Walkman has been
serviced so many times that the bottom plate is dotted with service
stickers! The Walkman wears out quicker ... and mine will no longer read
start IDs properly, even after being realigned. My stand
alone deck has been serviced only once, and thanks to my preventive
maintenance, continues to run smoothly. *
PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE!!! DATs NEED a lot of it. DATs need to be clean! I
run a cleaning tape through my DATs on the first day of every month, no
matter what ... I will run a cleaning tape through before doing an
important mix-down or live recording ... or when I’ve had any trouble.
Twice a year, I open up my machines and clean the transport by hand, using
Q-tips doused in head cleaner (do not attempt to clean the head by hand,
it is impossible and will damage the head). When putting in a tape that
has not been used for a long time, I will “exercise” it by fast
forwarding it through to the end and rewinding it back to start at least
one time before playing it. Always rewind tapes to the head for storing
and if you can, avoid high humidity ... if the tape surface gets sticky,
you’ll have DAT spaghetti in nothing flat. *
When trouble strikes ... STOP ... and eject the tape immediately.
Carefully put it back in, rewind and start again. Anytime you hear any
kind of unusual whirr or sound in the drive, even if the sound is OK ...
STOP, eject and start again. If you lose ABS readout, STOP ... if you get
that digital distortion, it’s a warning ... STOP! If
the tape has been eaten, all is not necessarily lost ... stay calm, go
slow and don’t try to yank it out ... use an unmagnetized probe to
carefully lift the tape off the posts ... and wind it back inside the
shell by hand. It will play again but will probably glitch at the points
where it was damaged ... though I’ve been real lucky lots of times and
have rescued eaten tapes with hardly a glitch. I
have even successfully spliced a severely damaged DAT tape back together
after cutting out a chewed-up section ... this emergency procedure saved
some very important program material on the remainder of the tape ... OK,
if I write any more, I’m going to have a DAT maintenance manual on my
hands! I hope this info is useful and not redundant. I’ve been fond of
DAT and have made A LOT of use of it for the last ten years or so ... but
I have to tell you, I’m gonna sigh a big sigh of relief when I get all
my master tapes transferred to CD-R ... So
you DO use the “tapping” technique? I have tried some, but I am not
that advanced in it. It’s
kind of like slide guitar in that if you really want to be fluent with it,
you have to make a real commitment to playing that way ... I
guess the trick is to “start it” by doing a pull off and forming a
pattern with the left hand on one string, and continuing the pattern with
a finger from the right hand, where it is pulled off again? The
“trick” is to see Michael Hedges do it and copy what he does ... a
little joke. Yes, there are so many ways you can start up a pattern, or
“cycle” as I often refer them as. You can think in purely dextral
terms, with things that just fall naturally under the fingers ... you can
choose to lead with a tap/pull-off cycle with either the left hand or the
right hand; you can think in terms of highly expanded chords using both
hands to create a voicing even the farthest reacher couldn’t get; you
can think in sequencer like patterns; melodic patterns, this list of
possibilities just goes on and on ... One thing about my approach that I
feel makes my playing unique is that I use tapping primarily as a rhythmic
tool, not so much as a melodic device. I’ll have to show you a video of
some of my solo guitar performances ... that’s where the fingers really
get a workout. Can
you do multiple pull offs on various strings at the same time? Absolutely!
I often use integrated cycles requiring that I tap on four or five strings
at one time ... some strings can be employed as drone strings, which are
tapped at a chosen note and pulled off to ring their open note and create
a thick harmonic texture kind of like an organ. I use both my right hand
index and middle fingers extensively to tap (it’s harder to get the
necessary leverage to use the 3rd and 4th fingers, so the sound with them
is kind of dull ... I do use my ring finger in some patterns, and
occasionally my pinky for when I need a long reach, but they’re better
suited for pulling up on the strings in a clawing or raking motion). What
I’ve done is expanded on the hand posture that bass players use, with
the two fingers hanging down. Then it’s a very simple shift to move the
right hand over the neck and use those fingers to tap ... this posture
insures stability in the hand while being able to keep it relaxed. Check
out a video of Who bassist John Entwistle sometime ... you’ll see that
his unique right hand technique is virtually tapping ... he doesn’t hold
down any notes, but he does literally drum on the strings ... it’s
amazingly fast, yet requires surprisingly little exertion, so there
isn’t much hand fatigue. I originally learned how to play bass that way,
so it was a natural extension of that technique. I wasn’t particularly
inspired by the Eddie Van Halen technique ... a lot of triplets on one
string (in fact, I was always more inspired by Van Halen’s rhythm guitar
work than his solos ... THAT’s where his genius is, in my opinion). I
found it interesting that you also create vibrato effects by bending the
neck. That was a technique I started doing a long time ago, but nobody
told me about it, I just started doing it. I was not sure if it was good
for the guitar though, so I did not do it too often (is it ok ...won’t
damage the neck to do this technique?) Yeah,
thanks for noticing that little detail ... it’s definitely NOT good for
the guitar, but some guitars handle it better than others (for me, the
Gibson SG models from the 60s are the best because they are naturally
flexible, some Strats are good, but it’s probably safer not to do it
with a bolt-on style neck) ... and of course, it depends on how radical
your technique is. Adrien Belew does it so hard you can literally SEE just
how much he is bending, and it makes me wince. I’m not interested in it
as an exaggerated or even purposeful technique ... I like to view it as
one of the things that naturally occurs when you play very physically ...
and it is directly inspired by Pete Townshend ... there is some GREAT
video of him ... it is so integrated into his playing that you never
perceive it as an effect or a trick ... and without it, it just wouldn’t
sound like Pete Townshend. I think it is just SO cool ... The
OPEN TUNER device sounds interesting. I might get back into open tunings
again. It is still a rather unexplored territory so you have given me some
inspiration!! But
this too, is like tapping or slide ... a casual commitment is not going to
give you what you need to tackle it, you have to be ready to re-learn the
whole neck. One little trick I do is to keep the G-string as is, so with
any tuning I use, I at least know where I am on the G-string. I chose the
G-string because it’s in a critical location and because “G” is the
note I can most easily recognize. Check it out, these are the tunings I
use (in order of preference; all low-to-high): CGCGCD, DADGAD, AADGBD,
CGDGBD, AAEGAE, and open E, D, & G ... and regular tuning, dropped-D
tuning ... I also will often make use of a capo. I tune my basses CGCG or
CGDG, and I’ve recently started playing the mandolin, which is tuned the
same as a violin, GDAE. My
Open Tuner outfitted guitar has levers on the 1st, 5th & 6th strings,
and a B-bender on the 2nd. I nominally tune it DADGAD, which is one of my
more familiar tunings. The levers can instantaneously change it to CADGAD,
CGDGAD, CGDGAE, CADGAE, DADGAE ... and the bender can bend the 2nd string
from A to B anytime I bump it with my hip ... pretty intense. I used it on
“It’s Not Fair”, “The Future” and “To Be Continued ...” from
Oasis. I have another guitar
that is outfitted with the Hipshot “Trilogy” bridge ... this has
levers on every string, and each lever has three stops, so there are
literally hundreds of combinations. However, the levers are very small and
stiff compared the flick-action levers on the Open Tuner ... you can’t
use them as you are playing. NO
PICK HUH?!! I do notice a difference in sound between playing with a pick
and using the fingers. With fingers, you can be more subtle. However, I
feel that you can get certain sounds with a pick that you can’t with the
fingers ... each to its purpose. Yes,
I would have to agree ... but that certain “pick” sound that I have
given up on is so prevalent in other players that to not use it makes my
playing all more unique sounding ... I feel. Interestingly, I have
recently been using a pick again to play bass ... I’m looking for a
really hard hitting bass sound, and to do it without a pick just destroys
the edge of my nail. With a big thick bass string, the pick feels good,
too ... but I can’t stand it on guitar strings. I
am really amazed at all the detail you put into your mixes. You could
write (another) book on ‘Mixing in a home studio environment”, or
perhaps an article for Electronic Musician or Mix magazines. ( I am
Serious) I think that a lot of home recording enthusiasts could really use
your tips! Thanks
so much for the encouragement! I haven’t thought about it because I’ve
seen so many well informed, well written articles on the subject already
... there didn’t seem to be a need for any more ... but I think you are
right, there are probably some folks out there that would like to hear my
ideas as well ... I think I’ll try sending a sample to EQ. If
you record several takes onto a DAT tape, how do you make a “Master”
tape with all the songs in the correct order ready for CD transfer? Do you
use 2 DAT decks? Yes
... and remember, with DAT ... ALWAYS make at least two copies. With two
decks, you can clone tapes while having a shower or cleaning up after a
session. The DAT tape I submit to the CD plant is actually a clone, the
raw master tapes never leave home. I make a “Sequence Master” (and
COPY it at least once!) cloned off the tracks I’ve chosen from the raw
masters, in order and with the proper space between songs and with all the
index numbers and ABS established. With Oasis,
I took three copies, each on a different brand of DAT tape to the studio
to make the PCM master for the plant. Now that I have ProTools, I can very
accurately sequence a master for a project, with intricate overlaps and
to-the-second timing ... I’m just about to do that for an upcoming
release. Then it’s a cinch to bump off as many copies as you want onto
DAT. Maybe in the future, I can just send the plant a ProTools file on MO
... actually it’s more likely that I will submit future masters on CD-R
... and for smaller projects, just write them myself. I
was also amazed you do the final stage with headphones. This is what I do
also. BUT, I have been “told” that this is a NO-NO. You should only
mix with small monitors. I don’t know what school that directive comes
from, but I like to HEAR everything when I do a mix. If I use speakers, it
is really hard to hear the stereo placements and such. OK,
first of all, I do NOT mix in headphones, I mix using a combination of
listening media ... THAT is the most important thing to remember. The role
that headphones play is for very critical listening, particularly for
detection of noise, phase cancellations or bad connections. By the time I
get to the final stage, the balance and EQ are decided, all the creative
and aesthetic options are decided ... all I need do is properly execute
the mix and keep an ear out for trouble. That requires 100% attention and
a completely undisturbed path from speaker to ear, which is what
headphones can provide. Whoever said “no-no” may have been referring
to doing your sound balance ... that is something you definitely should do
on speakers. If you do not have a pristine listening environment, you
pretty much have to do the final stage with headphones on. Any home studio
or ad hoc set-up even with pro gear will not provide that tuned room that
a proper studio control room will have. Without a tuned room, you have to
use ‘phones, or risk not being able to hear parts of what you’re doing
... and I’ve seen plenty of pros out there doing it ... so don’t worry
about it. Worry about how your mix sounds over a variety of listening
positions and strive to have it sound good on any kind of equipment. For
example, Oasis sounds best on
headphones, but it also sounds killer through a boom box (which is very
important, because that’s what many people use to listen to music on).
Another thing to keep in mind is that I do put a certain emphasis on
headphones simply because that is what I use for my own general music
listening. Many people bring their own monitors to whatever studio they
work in. There are producers and engineers who can only judge their mixes
on their car systems, and literally install a little FM transmitter in the
studio, so they can go out in the parking lot and hear what they did ...
boom box listeners are advised to bring them along ... listen to it on
your TV speaker, transistor radio ... whatever. I
would be interested to know what sequencing type stuff you did in your
heyday sequencing years ... what sequencer, or mac program, keyboards,
etc. Do you create Midi files? Q: can you play back General midi files
NOW? This will probably make you squirm a lot ... you might want to read in increments and run out for air sometimes!! OK ... ready? All I ever really used was a DX7 and a lowly Korg SQD-1 sequencer ... I had an RX-11 for drum sounds and later on, a Roland S-330 sampler. When I got my first Mac, I got Performer with the intention of uploading all my files from the SQD-1 ... but at that time I was working on Oasis, and I was quickly losing interest in sequencing, didn’t want to spend the time and energy to learn Performer and DUMPED it ... Are you OK? You didn’t faint or anything? I have to say that the SQD-1 was a great machine. It operated a lot like a tape recorder, so it was very familiar and straightforward. I did nearly all my sequencing in step time and usually built the song a bar at a time from start to finish. Memory allowing, I always tried to make each drum fill different from the rest. It was a good combination with a DX7 ... the touch sensitivity would affect it in interesting ways. It sometimes glitched in a very organic way, rather like another player, so when it did, I usually kept it in ... I did two albums with guitar, voice, and a MIDI rhythm section, and the same set up for all my gigs throughout ‘86 and ‘87, then I did four solo albums and a couple other big projects using various combinations of MIDI driven sounds and real instruments. I have done zillions of live shows with a sixteen track, then eventually DAT backing tapes, which were also a mix of MIDI gear and actual instruments. © 2001 Doug Manring |
