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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. |
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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 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.
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