JGT: When we talked you equated your albums as “movies not theater”. Meaning movies are scripted, edited, several takes, etc. and theater is live, warts and all… which do you prefer?
SH: Wow, that’s a loaded question which might require a long answer. We all want our recordings to have the interplay and live feeling of a gig. That’s easier to accomplish with a small amp. A hollow-body player can isolate the amp from the drums, or not, if he doesn’t care about mistakes. Some of those guys are so amazing, they probably don’t make any in the first place. I’m pretty weird because I have the mentality of a jazz musician when it comes to phrasing and interplay, but I’m more like a rock musician when it comes to tone. My favorite tone is too loud for live sessions, and though I’ve tried to use small amps, IR’s and amp simulators in the studio, it’s never as good as the tone I can get at home with my own gear.
If I play a solo in the studio and the guys react to it, I can’t totally change it. I have the option to play some different notes, but the rhythmic phrases have to stay. If I know the tone from the live session can be greatly improved, I’ll learn what I played and play it again with better tone. I’m not going for perfection, because mistakes are sometimes really cool sounding, but I do try to get the best tone I can for solos and important melodies. If I played something well and the tone isn’t as important, I’ll keep it. On People Mover, I kept stuff from the live session, and even a few solos from my original composition sequences. Those were played with a Korg Pandora PX5D, which is a small pocket size amp simulator I use for writing. They’re first take solos and I liked them, but I thought I could make them sound better by recording them again using real amps. Turns out that I couldn’t, because I couldn’t capture the vibe or subtle inflections of the phrases, so I used the original Pandora solos. Sometimes what you play is inspired by the tone you’re getting and it can’t be changed, but sometimes it can. Every situation is different – whatever works for that particular solo.
About the movie reference, I don’t believe making a record has to be exactly like a live gig. I’m also a producer, an arranger, and an engineer – making a record is a different art form which allows me to wear all those hats and have a great time doing it. If people want to hear me make terrible mistakes, they can listen to my live record and YouTube channel.
Sometimes I hear jazz musicians saying that they hate their records. If a record is just another slice of life, I get why they would say that. It’s how I feel about my live record – not my worst playing, but certainly not my best. I want to walk away from a record liking it, for at least six months.