This month’s Colin’s Music Corner podcast tracks all feature equipment of my dad’s, in particular his old Gibson Les Paul. It’s kind of weird to play what is considered an heirloom with historical significance, but since it spent most of its life with us, it’s like an old friend.
Beyond the usual pedals and loopers, in the this episode I incorporate an EBow or energy bow, which is a handheld electromagnet that excites the strings, creating infinite sustain.
I used an ancient Supro amplifier on the EBow tracks, and big, lush chords on the Les Paul would sometimes overpower the little oblong speaker. It has a tremolo circuit, which can add a shimmery tremor to the overall sound.
The first and last pieces are from one session using an old, magic box called the Maestro Echoplex. It is a unit that uses looped magnetic tape to record and play back the original signal either as a short delay/echo or as a two minute loop. You can also manually increase the number of echo repeats to the point of self-oscillation.
In Sound-on-SoundTM looping mode the Echoplex is always listening, and you can tap in and add notes anywhere in the loop. It’s finicky and strange, and for some reason the oscillations and crinkly sounds remind me of old black and white films.
My fretless bass also makes an appearance this episode. The third track features a loop that is not quite in common time, the improvising looper’s live dilemma! In this case, I added an extra eighth note somewhere in there. The added bass gives that quasi-alternating meter more intentionality. The fourth track is a bass feature, with an ambient EBow backdrop.
I hope you get as much enjoyment listening as I had working with the old gear. Tune in next month for some spooky October soundscapes!
