Guitar-wise, we used Eric's Tele, and strat for parts that needed that single coil bite and twang. The Ric was used for thicker humbucker stuff. The Taylor solidbody is cool because it fits somewhere in between a single coil and a humbucker on the tone scale. It has the girth and thickness of a humbucker, but more bite. Both Eric and I used this guitar quite a bit on the EP.
The Matchless and AC30 were used heavily, as well as some cool mini little amps... a cute little Gretsch and an adorable Gibson (missing the bs on the badge, making it a 'Gi on.'). We had tons of fun messing with different amp/effects/cab combos, often running multiple amps simultaneously (especially when coming out seperate outputs of a stereo delay like the 'echo park.')
When it comes to mics, Eric told me (his exact words...) "An SM57 1/4" off the center of the speaker cone at a 30 degree angle. Use a protractor, a laser level, and a plumb line to make sure that it is exact. We will not move the mic EVER."
He did actually say something like that, but it was very sarcastic and we both got a good laugh. For some reason, people tend to read books about engineering that tell you stuff like this, and they follow it blindly. If music is about hearing, then it seems like using our ears is a better option when it comes to mics, placement and getting tones in general. All that to say, Eric would usually be in the control room, and have me move mics around until it sounded right for that particular guitar part. Most of the cabs were mic'd up with some combination of an SM57, Royer ribbon, or Sure KSM (large diaphragm). It's easy to talk about gear all day, but no matter what gear you have or use, ears and the way you play are WAY more important.
Being that this was my first time in the studio with Eric, I learned to be way more picky about moving mics around until it sounds right! No excuses... laziness is not tolerated!
Also notable is the Sean Cimino patented "jacked up" pick trick. We used it for edgy and edge-esque tones. It is pretty basic... just destroy a nice smooth pick edge with something sharp, and scrape it across the strings. It was often the extra push a tone needed to cut through in a mix. Thanks Sean.
This video also has some info about effects and amps:
Future of Forestry Christmas Part 4 from future of forestry on Vimeo.
Sorry if that was boring. If you made it this far, congratulations, and my deepest apologies for taking up your time.
-T.J.
1 comment:
As a guitarist, I like this post! =) How do you find putting the Echo Park and EHX Memory Man together? Does it get really spacey?
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