DVS
A ghost from your dreams
- Joined
- Apr 17, 2002
- Posts
- 11,416
I know those on a BDSM forum aren't that interested in non-sexual things, but I just had to mention one of my idols at his passing.
Les Paul died yesterday. Les Paul was very much an innovator in music. He was a great guitarist, but that was just one of his talents. He was the first to use a recording technique known as overdubbing. He and Marry Ford were the first to record multiples of themselves to create a special and unique sound all their own. Les was the brains behind it all, and Mary was the pretty face and the lovely voice.
One Sunday afternoon in the early 1970s I was privileged to be introduced to a collection of "78s" owned by my girlfriend's father. I was just 20 years old and hadn't even heard of Les Paul. He took me under his wing and we bonded while listening to those heavy vinyl disks. I was hooked by Les Paul's sound, as well as his creative use of recording.
By that time I was already deeply in love with music and recording, but hearing Les Paul was like lighting my fuse. That day I learned a lot about what an inventor goes through and how an inventive mind is driven to create.
Music and the recording world was blessed to have Les Paul around. He experimented with various techniques such as half speed recording, giving yet another sound to his recordings, but he was known for being the first with overdubbing himself and Mary on their recordings of the 1940s.
And, he was the brains behind the first multitrack recorder. Familiar with Paul's overdubbing sound of the 1940s, singer Bing Crosby gave him one of the first commercial reel to reel recorders made by a company he invested in called Ampex.
It's said that within hours, Paul was thinking of ways to alter that recorder by adding more tape heads so he could put tracks side by side, recording one track, while listening to the one he had previously recorded. He took his idea to Ampex, who then developed the first multitrack recorder.
Les Paul was first to use the reel to reel recorder to create what is called "tape echo". It's a process where a playback head is placed directly behind a record head, and the output of that head is fed back into the record head so a mild form of feedback is created.
Controlling the feedback, an echo is achieved, and by moving the playback head closer to the record head, it creates, or should I say simulates what is known today as room reverb. Of course there are electronic gadgets today that do all of this and more, but back then, he was the first to even think of it.
But, rock and roll guitarists are indebted to Paul for his solid body guitar design. He had experimented as early as the later 30s with it and took his designs to Gibson. But, they didn't see a need for a solid body guitar. Only until Fender, their main competition came out with one, they reconsidered and the Les Paul guitar was born.
Today, the Les Paul Standard guitar is one of the most used guitars in rock. It's a heavy guitar, and not cheap by any means with a bare bones price of about $1,000, with more advance models priced up to several thousand dollars. But, it's still considered one of the best.
OK, I know I've rambled a lot, here, but I did say Les Paul was an idol of mine. He was 94 years old, and his fingers were still as nimble as they were in the old days of his prime.
If you want to see and hear Les Paul, I've chosen a few youtube links for you to enjoy. At the ripe age of 90, he still had it. The music world is much richer because of Les Paul.
Early Les, with Mary Ford.
At the 92 EXPO, he still had it.
And a short little movie tribute at 90.
Had to add this one...I had no idea Mary could play, too!
Les Paul died yesterday. Les Paul was very much an innovator in music. He was a great guitarist, but that was just one of his talents. He was the first to use a recording technique known as overdubbing. He and Marry Ford were the first to record multiples of themselves to create a special and unique sound all their own. Les was the brains behind it all, and Mary was the pretty face and the lovely voice.
One Sunday afternoon in the early 1970s I was privileged to be introduced to a collection of "78s" owned by my girlfriend's father. I was just 20 years old and hadn't even heard of Les Paul. He took me under his wing and we bonded while listening to those heavy vinyl disks. I was hooked by Les Paul's sound, as well as his creative use of recording.
By that time I was already deeply in love with music and recording, but hearing Les Paul was like lighting my fuse. That day I learned a lot about what an inventor goes through and how an inventive mind is driven to create.
Music and the recording world was blessed to have Les Paul around. He experimented with various techniques such as half speed recording, giving yet another sound to his recordings, but he was known for being the first with overdubbing himself and Mary on their recordings of the 1940s.
And, he was the brains behind the first multitrack recorder. Familiar with Paul's overdubbing sound of the 1940s, singer Bing Crosby gave him one of the first commercial reel to reel recorders made by a company he invested in called Ampex.
It's said that within hours, Paul was thinking of ways to alter that recorder by adding more tape heads so he could put tracks side by side, recording one track, while listening to the one he had previously recorded. He took his idea to Ampex, who then developed the first multitrack recorder.
Les Paul was first to use the reel to reel recorder to create what is called "tape echo". It's a process where a playback head is placed directly behind a record head, and the output of that head is fed back into the record head so a mild form of feedback is created.
Controlling the feedback, an echo is achieved, and by moving the playback head closer to the record head, it creates, or should I say simulates what is known today as room reverb. Of course there are electronic gadgets today that do all of this and more, but back then, he was the first to even think of it.
But, rock and roll guitarists are indebted to Paul for his solid body guitar design. He had experimented as early as the later 30s with it and took his designs to Gibson. But, they didn't see a need for a solid body guitar. Only until Fender, their main competition came out with one, they reconsidered and the Les Paul guitar was born.
Today, the Les Paul Standard guitar is one of the most used guitars in rock. It's a heavy guitar, and not cheap by any means with a bare bones price of about $1,000, with more advance models priced up to several thousand dollars. But, it's still considered one of the best.
OK, I know I've rambled a lot, here, but I did say Les Paul was an idol of mine. He was 94 years old, and his fingers were still as nimble as they were in the old days of his prime.
If you want to see and hear Les Paul, I've chosen a few youtube links for you to enjoy. At the ripe age of 90, he still had it. The music world is much richer because of Les Paul.
Early Les, with Mary Ford.
At the 92 EXPO, he still had it.
And a short little movie tribute at 90.
Had to add this one...I had no idea Mary could play, too!
Last edited:
