The ShadowMusic Web Community

That Meazzi thread - though covering lots of old ground - still fascinates me, because a number of our members write with cast iron certainty about how to do it, what they can hear when they listen to certain tracks or echo machines etc etc...

The question which exercises me is much more basic than all of that: How do you know that what you hear is what everyone else hears?

So here's an exercise for you all... I've included a brief clip from Apache below. Although I'm not much impressed by the playing, I reckon that some elements of the sound get close to "that" sound.

So come on... tell us what you hear... Do you hear a warm Meazzi, an EF86 front end, a digital clank... pull no punches!

Hi David,

I never rely on memory of "That" (or any other) sound and always do a direct comparison with the original (often section by section) before making any pronoucements. Even this can be difficult with other than Shadows-minus-Hank backings since the backing influences the perception of the lead sound considerably. Still, be interesting to see what others think.

That said I couldn't download the file for some reason???

Paul.

Very sound reasoning Paul....

Just checked the download and working fine... downloaded 15 times now I think....

Hi David...I ll go first and take a guess..probably an ESE echo unit..I dont hear any digital clicks and cant comment on EF86 valves..Although its a good sound it would nt be mistaken for Hanks original sound...I guess its easier to comment on what you dont hear............Gary

i'm going for a magicstomp.
neil.

And the sound of the guitar/amp?

strat and an ac30

It's a good sound and from what I can hear the echo pattern is correct. One thing that's making it a little difficult is that the overall sound of the recording is not as bright as the original - it sounds just as if the treble had been rolled off.

I would guess that it was a Strat. To guess the amp is far more difficult as there are many that can come up with good sounds having been adjusted correctly.

A good general Shads sound, but to me it's closer to the '89 "At Their Very Best" album with the treble rolled off than anything else. I'd guess it was a Strat too, but I agree with Roger, the recording is too muffled and bassy to be able to tell what the amp is, or whether the echo is warm or digital. I certainly don't hear any Meazzi magic (though that aspect is slightly easier to identify when using the Model 2 echo patterns). If he is trying to get as close to the original as he can, the player hasn't listened carefully enough to the original recording in terms of how and where to pick the tune. It's too smooth, with not enough bite. However, his choice of where on the neck to play certain notes seems to be accurate.

This could be another fascinating thread!

J