If you’re doing it to
make pure money,
you’re never going to
be happy. Because
more often than not,
you’re not going to
make that money!
If you’re making it
to please yourself,
at least you’ve
pleased yourself.
single performance. So we had to work
with his sort of “B” mics. When you hear
the album, there’s a mix of some of those
tracks that we did there with the “B” mics
and the rest of the stuff I did at my regular
studio with the “A” mics and you can’t hear
the difference!
As I say, it’s down to the monitors,
because if you know what you’re listening
to, you can adjust to anything.
microphones or should they try to get the
sounds with microphones they can afford?
No, try and get the sounds with the microphones they can afford. But make sure that
what they’re listening to is good.
money or to become famous. The Beatles
never started that way, The Who never
started that way. Jeff Beck never started
that way. They started because they wanted to make music. U2—the same. They
made music because they enjoyed making
music, and people started to like it. That’s
the way to do it.
If you’re doing it purely to make money,
you’re never going to be happy. Because
more often than not, you’re not going
to make that money! If you’re making it
to please yourself, at least you’ve always
pleased yourself. If other people like it,
that’s the icing on the cake.
The other thing is, play out live as
much as possible. You learn your gig from
the audience, from what they give back to
you. You don’t learn your gig in the garage,
rehearsing, rehearsing, and rehearsing. You
don’t get to know what people think of
what you’re trying to do.
So put the money in the monitors.
Yes, absolutely, every time.
For someone who’s working at home
and they’re trying to do a professional-
sounding recording, do you recommend
that they go rent some of those A-list
How can an artist keep their creative
spark and be willing to take chances?
You have to make music for yourself, to
make you happy. You can’t make it to have
a hit. Too many acts these days, they’re
out there to get a record deal or to make
Any other tips for capturing great guitar
recordings beyond what we’ve talked
about?
It needs to come from the guitarist in the
first place. If you take Mick Ronson, his
sounds were always unique. He’d get his
tone by going through a wah-wah, finding
the place where we all liked the sound and
then leaving the wah-wah there. You find
your own techniques to get what you want
across. It’s just a question of experimenting
and finding what works for you.
