OK... so I just received some CDs I ordered from Amazon. Three of these are by artists operating in the British folk/acoustic scene.
- Trespasser by Chris Wood
- Hand Built by Robots by Newton Faulkner
- Prodigal Sonby Martin Simpson
I played them in that order.
So I'm listening to Chris Wood and I'm thinking he's got a lovely relaxed touch on the guitar, but doesn't that sound a bit "pick-uppy"? You can hear that sound especially on the bottom end.
Then I give Newton Faulkner a spin, and there's no asking questions this time - that's a pickup and almost certainly a UST type.
Now I'm intrigued so I cut Newton short after 3 or 4 tracks and I reach for the Martin Simpson CD. Well.... Simpson even tells you on the CD sleeve that "the acoustic pickups were Highlanders". And no surprise now - there's a bit of that slightly compressed, pick-uppy quality in the guitar sound. Again particularly noticable in the bottom end (and perhaps also in that crystalline top end).
So here we have 3 "acoustic" artists. OK... so we forgive them for using PUPs when they're out on the road, but what's going on in the studio?
This interests me no end. I think these guys WANTED that sound on their records. Maybe because it reduces the gap between what is heard live and what is on the album.
Or maybe because the pick up sound is the sound that they want. So the guitar+pickup is the thing - not just the guitar.
Newton Faulkner plays guitars made by Nick Benjamin. I check Benjamin's web site. He says that Faulkner has Baggs Dual Source (UTS + internal microphone) systems fitted to all his guitars. Which is interesting because of the three discs his has the most "electronic", least natural guitar sound.
