Instruments Played on Bedroom Eyes

EZPowell: My vocals are my best instrument :)
	EZPowell: I found this fretless bass in a music store about 8 years ago. It can be made to sound very good when recording. Ibanez basses have a fast neck, which is a thinner than normal neck. A thin neck bass is more versatile when playing. When it comes to bass, there is sometimes nothing like the sound of a sliding fretless bass. I fell in love with fretless electric bass long before I bought one. It can sound very sweet indeed. This bass is my favorite instrument. Check out this fretless sample.
EZPowell: This is a 5-string fretless bass. I call it The Monster. The active pickups give it a better sound for raw recording than the 4 string Ibanez above, but it's tough to play. The 4 string above is good for fast work. This 5 string is good for hammers and short slides, and totally thumping low end. This bass has surprisingly good sound quality. Check out this low end sample.
	EZPowell: This electric guitar is an Epiphone Les Paul Standard. This instrument sounds very good when played the right way, in all the right places. Check out this electric lead guitar sample.
EZPowell: This is a Jean Baptiste alto sax with a very expensive mouth piece. The result is a difficult to play saxophone that sounds very good. The more expensive an instrument is the easier it becomes to play. With a few short practice sessions I can build up cheek muscles to play it good. Check out this alto sax sample.
	EZPowell: This electric-acoustic guitar has a very scratchy, tinny sound and can sound very good played live through a chorus effect box, and using a bass amp :) I do sometimes prefer simple electric guitar rhythm to acoustic guitar. Electric rhythm can add more of a rock feel to my recordings. Acoustic recordings are sometimes best done with a large hollow body acoustic, and using a condenser mic. It gives the sound a warmer feel to it. I have used this particular tinny accoustic guitar recording on a condenser microphone, plugging the piezo bridge pickup through a chorus box, and an in-the-hole transducer. The result was a little too thick :) But it was an interesting experiment. I have used this instrument for a lot of guitar work composition and that is where it's value lies. However, my best melodies come from instruments such as piano, saxophone, or even just my voice. Check out this tinny acoustic chorused sample.
EZPowell: This keyboard is not present in many of my recordings. As a piano chord and melody pitch reference, it has been priceless in many of my recordings. Check out this keys sample.
	EZPowell: There is nothing like the sound of nylon strings when it comes to guitar. Unlike steel stringed guitars, which produce a lot more high frequencies (sometimes just noise) , a Spanish or nylon stringed guitar can give guitar lead and rhythm pieces a very distinctive and much warmer sound. Check out this nylon string guitar sample.
EZPowell: So far I have not used mandolin in recordings. Mandolin is often used in country music. I like some country rock music. I will someday include mandolin in recordings. It is an excellent high register rhythm instrument.
EZPowell also has various other bits and pieces including both ribbon and condenser microphones, speaker cabs for both guitars and bass, a small PA, a modest Hartke bass amp, a not-to-be-named tube pre-amp, a sweet DBX compressor, effects boxes and rack units for things like slapback delays and reverb. For recording EZPowell uses Logic Pro, Pro Tools, and a Toneport amp modeler. He also uses other bits and pieces including lots of percussion, an Ibanez SRX500 bass, clarinet, recorder, tin whistle, pan flute, bamboo flutes, and so on. You name it and I might very have tried some recording with it somewhere along the way :) Recording equipment used was Logic Pro 5.51 plus a direct box. Equipment, instrumentation and talent is seriously updated for future CD releases. And then there are drums. EZPowell does not play drums so he uses loops. He uses the best available acoutic drum loops, recorded by Simon Phillips. These recordings are very much all about a great kit, a perfect room, and a fantastic drummer. Simon Phillips has done a lot of work with some very big names. EZPowell also makes very limited use of Beta Monkey drum loops.