A
visit to Brian MayJune 2003
Earlier this month our UK Director, Paul Kaufman, was privileged to be invited by Justin Shirley-Smith to visit Brian May's studios down in Surrey.
Justin is Brian's in-house producer, engineer and studio manager (pictured below on the left with Kris Fredriksson, Pro-Tools supremo, in front of their 60 channel Neve VRQ desk).
Both Brian and Roger Taylor have been using AmpliTube™ on their identical Pro-Tools HD systems "in fact several tracks of the recently released 'We Will Rock You' soundtrack album have made use of AmpliTube™" Justin told us.
'I came down to spent some time with Justin and Kris', says Paul, 'to show them some of the more esoteric features of AmpliTube™ and also help them get Sampletank set up properly on their system' 'Some months ago we had prepared a number of short guitar tracks, recorded clean, which can then be played through the various AmpliTube™ VIP presets to give a useful indication of how AmpliTube™ sounds in a real recording situation. So I thought it would be interesting to play some of these to Justin and Kris'. 'However partway through the session Brian himself arrived at the studio so Justin invited him to sit with us to have a listen' 'I think you'll like the sound of this' Justin told Brian.
'I
first gave Brian a quick run through the 3 main screens of AmpliTube™ - Amp section, Stomp Boxes, FX' continued Paul 'and then began to play
him the various guitar audio clips using the VIP presets - Jimi and the Wind, Carlos, Pink Wall. There was a smile of recognition when he heard One
Vision of Brian and a bigger grin when he heard Brian-1 which was played using part of the solo from Bohemian Rhapsody (recorded by our in-house guitar
guru Fabriccio).''I thought he would be keenest on the heavier patches but in fact the one that impressed him most was the Heaven-DI preset from the Amp section. This is a beautiful reverb chorus effect that seems to roll across the soundfield - it sounded great on the studio monitors. Brian had to dash off after that but his parting comment to me was "This is really useful software..! it sounds good..! I like it!"
Later
that morning I was invited to join Justin, Kris and Pete Malandrone(Brian's full time guitar tech) in their kitchen area adjacent to the studio for
a bite of lunch (pizza, garlic bread and Cadbury heroes!). We were also joined by Hannah who is perhaps the luckiest schoolgirl in the world as she
was helping out in Brian's office on two weeks work experience(what a great placement!!). Brian also joined us and we had a fascinating discussion
about vintage photography and he was also interested in how we actually modelled the guitar amps in our software. He then rushed off with Justin and
Kris, muttering about how they need to get on with re-mastering 'One Vision' in surround at 192Khz sample rate.'So all in all it was a fascinating and rewarding morning - many thanks to Brian for his hospitality and of course to Justin and Kris for inviting me.'
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