Mike Landau's Session Work On YouTube

Here are a couple of clips of session maestro Mike Landau in the studio. That tone, that vibrato, those Tylers!



In the first clip he plays a beautiful wah-inflected solo. I love the way he just nails those changes starting at 0:16!



In the second clip we see Landau using some of his 'mystery' voicings -- he seems to favor rootless chords, sus4's, add9's and the occasional superimposed triad -- processed through a rackmounted Dyno-My-Piano Tri-Stereo Chorus. Or a cheap Arion SCH-1 Chorus pedal, depending on the era in question. Based on Mike's hair my bet is on the Tri-Stereo here. Check out the spicy volume swells.



In the third clip Mike places an Ibanez TS808 Tubescreamer at the front of his signal chain for a touch of extra gain, but decides to turn it off before he starts tracking. His sound through the Bogner amp (?) is positively huge, with a tad of harmonizer to fatten up the sound. He fluffs the descending line at 2:47 -- twice -- but what the hey, they'll fix it in ProTools.

James Taylor's live-in-the-studio Squibnocket DVD features Mike's playing extensively.


Check Out Mike Landau CDs Here!

Determining Proper Placement for Effects Pedals In A Signal Chain

We're in the Golden Age of effects pedals. The humble stompbox has enjoyed a tremendous resurgence and no self-respecting guitar player will be seen without at least a couple of them at his feet.

And in response to prevailing market demand, a plethora of backyard workshop-type companies have emerged, churning out an endless parade of 'boutique' stompboxes -- old schematics, slightly modified, upgraded with audiophile-grade components, given nifty names and sold for stupefying prices.

Pedalboard sizes too have reverted to the gargantuan, stage-hogging proportions of the ones used by rockstar guitarists of the 70's -- think David Gilmour's sprawling Pete Cornish pedal rig on many a Pink Floyd tour.

After the smoke has cleared, determining the correct order of effects on a pedalboard is key to getting the best tone with the cleanest possible signal out of it.

As a general rule, here's how pedals can best be arranged on a pedalboard when using them in series ie. a pedal's signal feeding the next pedal in the chain.

From the guitar's output, the order of effects will be:

1. Wah pedal
2. Compressor/limiter
3. Booster, overdrive, fuzz and distortion pedals
4. Equalizer
5. Pitch-altering pedals such as octavers and pitch-shifters
6. Envelope filters and ring modulators
7. Short time-based effects such as phasers, flangers, chorus pedals and Leslie-speaker simulators
8. Signal attenuators such as volume pedals and noise gates
9. Long time-based effects such as reverbs and delays

As always, take this as a basic guideline and experiment..