Slash thinks recording a live guitar amp is a “dying art”: “A lot of producers don’t even know how to do it properly”
With the abundance of solid in-the-box amp simulators out there today, more and more artists are opting not to use mic’d up amplifiers when making records. Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash says such a form of recording is a “dying art”.
In a new interview with Goldmine, the guitarist details the recording of his new blues album Orgy of the Damned, which was recorded using live instruments.
READ MORE: Slash gets “super nervous” before every gig according to Velvet Revolver bandmate
Asked why he chose producer Mike Clink to work on the album – who also worked on numerous GNR albums, including Appetite for Destruction (1987) and Use Your Illusion I and II (1991) – Slash replies: “Mike Clink is a great producer, but more importantly… he’s one of the most fantastic, real-deal engineers.
“He knows how to get a great sound out of a guitar or drums or a bass or whatever. He knows what he’s doing.
“He’s almost one of the last of the Mohicans because it’s a dying art to be able to record a guitar through a cabinet. A lot of producers don’t even know how to do it properly anymore.
He continues: “Mike was the guy that I knew could get these analogue sounds that we were producing and get them on tape properly and make it sound really good, which is exactly what he did. He’s also a great guy to work with, too.”
But while he’s still firmly a fan of recording analogue gear, Slash has dabbled with amp modellers in the past. In 2021, he tipped his hat to AmpliTube 5 – an amp sim software made by IK Multimedia – calling it “so damn easy to use”.
He specified, however, that amp sims only have a place in his writing process, and not his recording process.
“Being on the bus or my hotel room, I’ll take an idea and record it on AmpliTube and then download it and send it over to the guys,” he said, also praising the software’s sound quality: “Whatever it is, you can do it really, really quickly, efficiently and have the sound quality be excellent.”
Slash’s new blues album Orgy of the Damned is out now. Take a listen to his cover of Howlin’ Wolf’s Killing Floor featuring AC/DC’s Brian Johnson below:
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
