I
feel privileged to have had the opportunity to record eleven of the
most amazing acoustic steel-string guitars ever made. It took
some time since I had to wait for each “Dream Series” guitar to be
completed and then record it quickly before it was sold. These
guitars are sometimes only in the shop for a day or two, so I had to
work fast and then wait for the next one to arrive.
The
idea was to record longer versions of the little 55-second tunes I use
to demo the guitars on the Dream Guitars web site. There has been
much interest in these pieces and I was more than happy to expand them
into completed tunes. I also wrote some new pieces, just for the
CD.
I
recorded these wonderful guitars with as little processing as possible
so that the listener could really hear them. I also went for the
“organic” approach, leaving in all of the noises, buzzes and squeaks
that usually get edited out of solo guitar recordings. The result is a
recording that reproduces exactly what you would hear if you were to
place your head in front of the guitar while I play. All of the
guitars were recorded using a matched pair of Sennheiser MKH-40
condenser microphones running through an API 3124+ preamp with no EQ or
compression.
After listening to this CD, I think you’ll agree that we are indeed in the “Golden Age of Lutherie” - Al Petteway
