INSTRUMENTS PLAYED





EZPowell: My vocals are probably my best instrument. Vocal training at Berkelee School of music helps a lot as well.

 

 

 



EZPowell: I found this fretless bass in a music store in California about eight years ago. It can be made to sound very good when recording. There is sometimes nothing like the sound of a sliding fretless bass and I fell in love with fretless electric bass long before ever I bought one. Check out this fretless sample.

 

 




EZPowell: This is a 5-string fretless bass. I call it The Monster. The active pickups give it a better sound for raw recording than the 4 string Ibanez above, but it's tough to play. Check out this low end sample.

 

 

 



EZPowell: And then there's Schecter, which is a great neck-thru bass for recording and so much better sounding than the other two bass guitars that I sold both the fretless basses and kept only the Schecter. Perhaps someday I will buy another fretless bass but not yet.

 

 

 





EZPowell: This electric guitar is an Epiphone Les Paul Standard and is good for recording rhythm.

 

 

 





EZPowell: And then there's the Fender Strat and it's matching Hotrod amp, which is all a little bit out of date in some genres but the sound is easily recogizable.

 

 

 



EZPowell: This is a Jean Baptiste alto sax with a very expensive mouth piece. The result is a difficult to play saxophone that better than it would normally. Check out this alto sax sample.

 

 

 

 




EZPowell: I have a number of acoustic guitars but nothing of any note. I have a professional guitarist do most of my guitar recordings these days, because he's a specialist and is just so incredibly good at it.

 

 

 




EZPowell: A Kawai electric piano sounds good but I still dream of getting a real grand piano, which it sounds soooo good when recorded.

 

 

 

 




EZPowell: There is nothing like the sound of nylon strings when it comes to guitar. Unlike steel stringed guitars thast produce a lot of high frequency noise, a Spanish or nylon stringed guitar can give guitar lead and rhythm pieces a very distinctive character and much warmer sound.

Check out this nylon string guitar sample.

 




EZPowell: So far I have used mandolin sparingly in recordings. Mandolin is often used in country music and it is an excellent high register rhythm instrument. I do like some country rock music.

 

 

 

 

EZPowell also has various other bits and pieces including both ribbon and condenser microphones, speaker cabs for both guitars and bass, a small PA, a modest Ampeg bass amp, Focusrite preamp and compressor. I sold all the cheap stuff because it just didn't sound very good. Anything else I buy in the future will be top of the line because anything else is just a complete and total waste of time. I do use ProTools and have every plugin under the sun (courtesy of a good friend). I have some other silly stuff including lots of percussion, a clarinet, a recorder, a tin whistle, a pan flute, bamboo flutes, and so on.

 

You name it and I might very have tried some recording with it somewhere along the way :)

 

I hire drummers and buy the best and most expensive professional drum loops I can find. I also frequently hire a professional guitarist called Steve Rieck. I am still looking for a piano player to help.