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Re: LAL recording techniques



Michael Mullins's discussion of guitar recording/pa techniques is entirely
correct.  The stage amp plays an important role in shaping the sound of an
electric guitar, either because of built-in effects like reverb, or because
the player is driving the amp into distortion.  That's why tube amps were and
are still used long after transistors came around, because a tube amplifier
distorts in a way that produces a completely different (and generally more
desirable) sound than a transistor amp does.  (Nowadays, there are digital
effects units which attempt to mimic tube distortion.  There are also pre-amps
which contain a tube stage, whose outputs can then be fed into a transistor
power amp.)

In short, the stage amp is *part of the musical instrument*, not just
something to make it louder.  The latter is the role of the PA system, as
Michael explains very well.

The mics sitting in front of the guitar amps are probably cardioid mics, which
are only sensitive in the direction they're pointing, namely, away from the
crowd.  Ditto for the vocal mics.  That would account for the low level of
crowd noise they could achieve when they weren't mixing in the crowd mics.

Ken Traub