1 .Favourite knob or fader or switch on a piece of gear and why?
The on switch on my Manley Variable-Mu. I never tire of hearing the beautiful sound of gentle tube compression. Before selling my MCI JH-24 tape machine, the record button on that machine was my favorite.
2. Do you have an ‘almost’ perfect bit of kit? What would you change?
Probably my 1982 Gibson 335. It is my most used instrument or piece of gear. But I still feel like I’m searching for my perfect guitar. Although very good, the tone and playability on that guitar both feel like they could be beat.
I also love the Princeton Reverb for recording, but I wish it were louder for performance. Although I don’t use them as much, I can’t complain about my Juno-106 and Fender Rhodes. They seem about perfect.
3 .What setup do you bring on holiday or tour or commute etc.?
For my solo guitar tours, I have been running two amps- a Fender Deluxe Reverb and a Quilter Pro Block 200 with a 12” speaker. I typically play my 1982 Gibson 335, but occasionally play my 1955 Gibson L4C. The pedals that I use the most are the Strymon Flint, Electro-Harmonix Freeze, Strymon El Capistan and Jam Tubedreamer. I create loops using the MXR Clone Looper and use the Eventide Pitchfactor for low end pitch shifting. I recently added a Chase Bliss Mood.
4. What software do you wish was hardware and vice versa?
I would enjoy the Chase Bliss pedals as software.
5. Is there anything you regret selling… or regret buying?
I had a Manley Massive Passive that I had gotten at a very good price. I used it in my studio for many years, but decided to sell in order to buy some preamps and microphones. It is the one piece of gear that I miss the most. I also miss the JH24 tape machine, but I don’t miss the constant troubleshooting and repair involved.
6. What gear has inspired you to produce the most music?
Gear isn’t typically a starting point for me in music, but occasionally a piece of gear will inspire my compositional process, most notably the Electro-Harmonix Freeze and Eventide Pitchfactor. Of course the primary inspiration has simply been the guitar as an instrument, not specific to a particular guitar.
7. If you had to start over, what would you get first?
If I were to lose all of my musical gear, I would probably just buy a nice classical guitar and compose solo guitar music for a while. From there I might look at a simple, high quality recording device like a Nagra and a few nice microphones. Recently I’ve been interested in experimenting with a recording setup apart from the computer. It sounds fun, and the shock of whatever led to me losing all of my musical gear (likely a tornado, given my location), might inspire trying something new.
8. What’s the most annoying piece of gear you have, that you just can’t live without?
I don’t like using a looper, but for my solo guitar set, it is helpful.
9. Most surprising tip or trick or technique that you’ve discovered about a bit of kit?
Everything on my new Chase Bliss pedals surprises me currently, because I’m still figuring them out. In addition to learning how they actually function, it’s also fun to pull up a mix I’m working on, run something like a guitar solo through them and just start randomly twiddling the knobs. I’ll print the results as an FX track and have generated some surprising sounds that have been shaping the mixes. On guitar, introducing hi-strung guitars is constantly surprising and exciting, given the octave displacements and close voicings inherent in the tuning.
Artist or Band name?
David Lord
Genre?
Experimental Jazz
Selfie?
Attached
Where are you from?
Wichita, KS
How did you get into music?
Playing guitar in middle school, playing in rock bands through high school, studying jazz in college, pursuing my own concepts, theory systems and compositional concepts.
What still drives you to make music?
It’s my favorite thing to do.
How do you most often start a new track?
I have developed a musical system called Extended Lydian Polychordal System. There is a process involved that typically starts with either warping a standard chord progression or drawing extended lydian chord voicings from my chord bag. Before starting the musical process, I name the song, typically inspired by nature themes such as fungi, trees, butterflies or moss. I then begin running the theme through my compositional process.
How do you know when a track is finished?
When I have removed enough unnecessary overdubs for it to feel “right” and I give up on trying to keep tweaking the mix.
Show us your current studio
Best creative advice that you’ve ever heard?
Create your own world. Develop your own concepts and systems.
Promote your latest thing… Go ahead, throw us a link
My most recent album is Way Over the Rainbow, featuring Jeff Parker, Charles Rumback and Dale Black. It can be found on streaming services or Bandcamp: davidlord.bandcamp.com/album/
