This is the Technical
Information Page for all the nifty devices and instruments that
were used in the creation of
Tristan and Iseult: A Celtic Love Story,
especially for all you gearheads. Read on and see how a couple of
old friends and collaborators created a modern digital
recording...
Recording Equipment -
When we first began recording this album, we were using a Tascam 488. We actually had several songs in the can when Lane discovered that there were some really nice digital recorders on the market that didn't require you to sell your children to gypsies in order to obtain one! We started over from scratch, using a digital deck, but we did transfer a couple of tracks from the 8-track cassette recorder sessions to the digital deck, so two tracks (that's individual tracks, not songs) are analogue/digital. If you can guess which ones, you may win a very insignificant prize...on second thought, nah.
Tascam 488 and 488
MkII 8 Track Cassette Recorders
Roland
VS880 Expanded Digital Studio Workstation
Equitek
CAD E-100 Condensor Microphone
Alesis
3630 Compressor/Limiter/Gate
Behringer
Ultrafex Aural Exciter/Surround Processor/Noise Reducer
Behringer
Eurorack Mixer
Similar to the one found at this link, we used it as a
convenient phantom power source for the condensor mic, and also
to give more gain flexibility before the signal hit the preamp on
the VS880.
Spirit
Absolute Zero Studio Monitors
Tascam
CD-RW 5000 CD Recorder
Mastering deck, incredibly easy to use, and very, very
reliable.
Tascam
PA-150 Stereo Power Amp
Instruments -
As with the recording gear, our instrument collections grew and changed over the nearly five years of the recording process. Lane upgraded her harp shortly before we started the digital recording sessions, and I ugraded my acoustic and electric guitars. Lane also went from a GM keyboard to a much more versatile synth, and I added a guitar synth and the vintage Korg analogue synth heard on Track One to my personal collection. The more instruments we got, the more varied and interesting the material became.
Lane's Instruments -
Custom-Made Heartland
Strings Celtic Harp
Constructed of rare Hawaiian Koa wood, now virtually
unavailable due to trade restrictions on exotic woods.
Pennywhistles
Traditional open-hole whistles in varying keys, similar to
those shown at this link.
Yamaha GM Keyboard
Roland
XP-60 Digital Workstation Synthesizer
Handmade Traditonal Hide Drum
Rhythm
Tech Eggz Rhythm Shakers
Patrick's Instruments/Processors -
Martin
DM-1 Acoustic Guitar
The first of CF Martin's new line of amazingly affordable
laminate construction guitars. Solid spruce top, mahogany
laminate sides and back, made by Martin in their Nazareth, Pa.
factory - a joy to play.
Epiphone
Les Paul Special Electric Guitar
(Sunburst) Fitted with Roland GK-1 hex pickup/synth driver.
Dean
Edge Four Electric Bass Guitar
A ripping, gorgeous, inexpensive bass guitar...go get
one...really.
Korg
Poly 61
Analogue/digital hybrid synthesizer, made circa 1983 and
rescued from a pawn shop.
Roland XP-50 Digital Workstation Synthesizer
Superceded by XP-60, this was graciously loaned by Patrick's
lovely wife Donna.
Roland
GR-30 Guitar Synthesizer
Used for synth bass, some choral voices...such a cool thing.
Boss
ME-30 Guitar Multieffects Processor
Dean
Markley SC-1 ProMag Sound-Hole Pickup
Although most of the accoustic guitar tracks were recorded
with a mic, some called for a bit more punch, so using this
removable pickup got a hotter signal to the mix.
Custom Made Ceramic Dhoumbek
Small middle-eastern style drum which recently met its demise
in a loading accident.
Other Performers' Instruments -
Kathy Hall's Dulcimer was constructed by Bill Webster, a luthier from Detroit who also builds Celtic harps. She tells us that it is chromatic and has in the neighborhood of 76 strings.
We would like to thank the great people and businesses where we bought our equipment for all the invaluable advice and service they provided.
Steve's Music, Grandview, Missouri - 816-765-5535
A life-long friend of Patrick's, Steve Russian
makes great deals on great stuff!
World Wide Music, Raytown, Missouri - 816-353-3636
Great people, great gear - most of our cool stuff came from
here.
