Les Paul - How did he do that?

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Rich Smith

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I’ve never understood how Les Paul achieved such good overdubbing results with the equipment he had available. And I thought it might be a useful topic for discussion.

Anyone know what equipment he used and how he worked with it?
Anyone want to speculate?

Rich Smith
 
Rich Smith said:
I’ve never understood how Les Paul achieved such good overdubbing results with the equipment he had available. And I thought it might be a useful topic for discussion.

Anyone know what equipment he used and how he worked with it?
Anyone want to speculate?

Rich Smith
Click to expand...

Here's the story as I understand it. I recently watched the biography/documentary "Les Paul: Chasing Sound".

He had a typical Ampex tape machine. Maybe it had two heads, an erase head and a record/playback head. He ordered a second record/playback head from Ampex and installed it, himself, before the original head (the tape would pass this head before it passed the original, stock head).

What I definitely remember is that it was full-track mono, and it wasn't "multitracking" as we know it today; instead, it was more like internal bouncing. The recorded signal would be read by the playback head that he installed, and this signal would be combined with the incoming signal from the performance, and recorded onto the tape at the "stock" head. So, this means that there were no "redos" - if you made a mistake, it was in the tape, and you'd have to re-record EVERYTHING that came before that take. Three guitar tracks? Do 'em over, too!

Most people wouldn't be able to work this way, but Les Paul being an amazing guitarist, and his partner (I forget her name) being an amazing singer, could probably nail it in one or two tries :)

So, I think that's how it worked. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong.
 
Sheeeesh...

The thought of full-track "multi-track" recording is awesome. Wow. I've been having fun thinking about what it will be like to track on my Ampex deck that has no tape counter, but overdubbing on a full-track...that's...awesome.
 
Paul first did bouncing and overdubbing using a record cutting lathe before tape was available.
 
MAN!!

Y'know, the potential for an artist's talent to be worked into a product is greater when the work takes time, patience and effort.

Think about a little statue of something carved by hand out of soapstone or something...now, you can cast that same statue and make countless copies in the same time that it takes to carve one by hand, but which one is going to be of more value? I argue that, to a majority the hand-carved version will hold more value. Why would that be? Because of the work put into it. There is a personal contact with the artist in a way...a unique rendering of the artist's vision...no two will be exactly alike.

So I take that idea and transpose it to the disparity between overdubs cut to vinyl vs. drag-and-drop looping and/or keyboard shortcuts to copy/edit/paste...I argue that sometbing gets lost not just because of the medium but because of the process as well.

Good things take time...great things take more time.
 
didn't he also order some stuff from ampex and assemble his on 8 track in the late 40's early/50's?

In addition to sort of "inventing" the solid electric guitar, he also made an octave guitar.

I think he used variable speed to get octave up and bass sounds from his guitar.

He might have been the first to use tape delay for slapback.

Using overdubs, he turned his wife into the ford sisters.

When they performed live, he used to hide her real sister off stage with a mic singing harmony parts.

A deceased musician friend saw him live back in the day
and said he put a bunch of his electronics into a big stage box he called his "Paulveriser".

I mean, Les Paul.

It just goes on and on.
 
zorf said:
didn't he also order some stuff from ampex and assemble his on 8 track in the late 40's early/50's?

In addition to sort of "inventing" the solid electric guitar, he also made an octave guitar.

I think he used variable speed to get octave up and bass sounds from his guitar.

He might have been the first to use tape delay for slapback.

Using overdubs, he turned his wife into the ford sisters.

When they performed live, he used to hide her real sister off stage with a mic singing harmony parts.

A deceased musician friend saw him live back in the day
and said he put a bunch of his electronics into a big stage box he called his "Paulveriser".

I mean, Les Paul.

It just goes on and on.
Click to expand...

Yep I read that in Guitar Player long time ago. Les said in live shows the people were amazed. Then one day a little girl asked him where was the other singer. They sang unison very well. Les also designed the reveb chambers under capitol records at Hollywood and Vine. http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=42320
 
lo.fi.love said:
What I definitely remember is that it was full-track mono, and it wasn't "multitracking" as we know it today; instead, it was more like internal bouncing. The recorded signal would be read by the playback head that he installed, and this signal would be combined with the incoming signal from the performance, and recorded onto the tape at the "stock" head. So, this means that there were no "redos" - if you made a mistake, it was in the tape, and you'd have to re-record EVERYTHING that came before that take. Three guitar tracks? Do 'em over, too!
Click to expand...


They didn't call them "suicide overdubs" for nothing.
 
I saw a PBS special on him about a year ago called Les Paul - Chasing Sound and it was excellent. If it ever airs in your area it is definately worth your time to view it. Very Cool.
 
Lee M. said:
I saw a PBS special on him about a year ago called Les Paul - Chasing Sound and it was excellent. If it ever airs in your area it is definately worth your time to view it. Very Cool.
Click to expand...

Netflix has it too. I watched it using the "Watch Instantly" feature... if anyone has Netflix and wants to see this video, they can see it now without waiting for the disc to arrive in the mail.
 
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