Holdsworth Radio Interview (1990)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7W1Vvq_Pd0
Interviewer: Stan Tierney?
The following is the raw output from Youtube's auto-transcription function:
[Music]
for internal records in Steinberger
guitars
this is feign tyranny with allan
holdsworth in his home studio and
beautiful Tustin California on a
sweltering hot day in the middle of July
we're going to talk with him a little
bit about his new internet album secrets
which will be coming out here shortly
and talked about his playing and some of
his techniques and recording methods and
I guess you mix the album right in here
yeah I him right over there at that
console that no one can see yeah earlier
when we were talking he said that this
time you were able to do some things in
terms of mixing that you hadn't been
able to do on your earlier albums just
exactly what did you do well usually
it's a money problem if you're going to
the studio and you're mixing an album
you know you have a set amount of time
to do it and you usually try and do it
as quickly as you can and quite often
I've made a lot of mistakes so then we
finished up having to remix a song or
then you run out many or every week out
okay so you try often don't get exactly
what you want but nobody ever does but
this time doing it at home or well I
don't have the same equipment is a lot
of the you know like a really awesome
studio the thing is that I can make up
for it by the amount of time that I can
take on the mixing for example if I
started mixing one song instead of just
getting it ready to look so then putting
it down onto the to track I'd spend more
time listening to it I get a rough mix
up or a pretty good mix and make adapter
for it make cassettes play in the car
playing with my friends house play it
with a lot of different systems
therefore you know being able to go back
to the board in and make the necessary
changes
is that they give was a big thing for me
on this working as a result you probably
must feel pretty good about it having
heard it both on the studio monitors and
as you said in a variety of environments
I think it turned out good with regard
to that that you can listen to it all a
lot of different you know in a lot of
different environments in it sounds
pretty good I was quite pleased as
pleased as you can be with anything that
you can feel speaking of that I mean
with each successive album it seems that
critics and fans alike are always racing
to the dictionary for new adjectives try
and find one more superlative that they
can say about your playing how do you
feel about the way you play well I'll
ever I'll ever a hundred percent happy
with anything that I do but I think
that's normal
and I just try and do the best I can at
any point in time you know what the
thing that keeps me going is that if I
look back to an older album that I can
hear some progress which up till now
thankfully I can and that's enough
inspiration for me and keep going if I
listen to an album to always be going
for all boy and that's about how much
other improvement from them that I'd
maybe take up engineering full-time and
put the guitar away but let's take a
listen to the first track from your new
album secrets
it's called Joshua
I just heard a little bit of Joshua from
Allan Holdsworth new album on intimate
records called secrets let's talk a
little bit about the actual guitars
the stuff that you're playing on that
and as a musician I'm kind of interested
in how you go about getting the sound
that you do and what kind of equipment
and and just your mental approach in
order to get the kind of the kind of
sounds and what you do both on leads and
during the rest of the time I think most
people have a kind of like a sound in
their head you know like that's what I
like to think of is that as and for me
like with the guitar or anything else
it's just like a quest to try and get
closer to that and for this particular
track it was pretty straight forward in
terms of equipment I used a steinberger
guitar which I pretty well in fact I use
it exclusively now it's like you can
have a wood guitar anymore and I use the
50 caliber boogie and that was it that's
it it's pretty pretty simple setup for
this particular track I usually record
guitar like that that way sometimes I
record the processing if it was
important to the sounds like it has been
on some of the last recordings
but with the lead guitar thing or solo
sound usually that I like to try and get
as good as good as sad as I can and then
move on the mental approach to going
into a studio and recording as opposed
to playing live how do you select
yourself up to get that that one perfect
solo or get as close to that it's
because you can't feed off the energy of
the audience that you can when you're
when you're on a stage and that's true
always really hard I mean the recording
poses totally different problems for me
that like I especially if it was done in
inovative situation if you play a things
like live like some of the tracks that
we did and in the past between live and
somehow they're always easier than when
you start to go in and over them
something because it's really difficult
to make to make it sound like it was
part of the the thing you know the whole
event but I've really so I really listen
to the if it's an overdub situation I
really usually listen to them basic
track a lot until I actually know
exactly what everybody else is doing
that way I find it easier to place all
over the same line understand where all
the look where all the little things are
going to be and I try and make it sound
as natural as possible
[Music]
we just heard a little bit of spokes
from Allan Holdsworth no intima album
secrets this time you wrote about half
of the compositions on the album before
you were the primary composer that mean
you're getting out of the composing
business and more into the playing or
this is really calling sort of two
different sets of skills that are
complementary well one for the first
question I think I just liked a few some
of the tunes that some of the guys had
written and I always like to experiment
and with those things in the particular
pieces of music that I did like and felt
that they would be they would sound a
lot incorrect from the album just
because of the personnel you know I
figured out these come out with you know
like a uniformity which it had
[Music]
is basically because I I like the pieces
that the other guys had written in and I
wanted to give the guys an opportunity
to write things so it it didn't style as
a deliberate thing like saying well this
time I'm not going to write everything
it was just that Gary played me a tune
and I really liked that which was
sitting nice and then Steve had two
tunes one of which made Mary and we'd
done live in Joshua we actually didn't
do that tune in life and I liked both of
those tunes and then Chad would written
the piece which I really like that piece
too so it was just more or less that I
liked them rather than saying well I
couldn't be bothered to write any
musical I felt that I didn't have enough
music and when it comes to playing a
little bit about playing with synthetics
I mean how is it different than playing
other guitars for what what how it was a
hard to learn
well it's completely different and
that's one of the things I really like
about it because I guess I mentioned it
a few times in magazines and things I've
done before that I never really I never
really wanted to play guitar in the
first place it just kind of happened and
when I first started playing the syntax
it was a real big emotional experience
it felt better to me than the new
account it felt like that I could
develop a
a relationship with the instrument has
allowed me to express myself more than I
could with the guitar just because I'd
always wanted to play a wind instrument
and using the breath controller on the
syntax give me that kind of ability to
do that so I really love the thing but
as far as it being like a guitar it's
very much unlike a guitar and I guess
that's why a lot of guitar players don't
like it so I guess now in a sense then
you're you're more of a
multi-instrumentalist and you were a few
years ago well only in only in the only
through Sonics program I'm not I'm
definitely not a multi-instrumentalist
it's just that obviously anything that
you've learned on the guitar being is
that it's a stringed instrument in the
notes on particular frets or whatever
and I can you know I still understand
that on the syntax that part if it
doesn't change which is great but the
way the instrument feels is completely
different let's go back and listen to a
little bit more of the record
this track is called City nights we're
back in the Tustin studio of allan
holdsworth with Helen Howe who's into
muharram secrets is going to be coming
out this August we just heard a little
bit of City nights and you've been at
this for quite some time now haven't you
what sixth album yeah yes six and a
little bit cio you've came first in
nineteen I was recruited I owe you Alvin
was recorded I think in 1980 and I think
it came out in mistakes around 81 or
somewhere around there and then we did
the road games album for another label
that we won't mention hideous record and
then there did the metal fatigue
Saavik roll sound and then see Druz what
do you see
other than of course the band and
yourself as being the sort of common
thread or what is it that ties us all
together if you were to to take say a
day of your life and listen to it all
chronologically what would you say about
the progression that you've made as a
musician and as a composer I don't know
other than the fact that I think I made
some progress but other than that I
wouldn't know exactly specifically what
it was you know because I think each
each individual is an individual and
sometimes that they're not aware of what
makes them self so I think all all that
I try to do is just kind of follow my
heart through the whole thing you know
if I feel like I should do this that's
what I do and if I feel like I should do
that that's what I feel I guess I've
always felt that way about music I just
try to the best of my ability to keep
moving you know keep this changing
moving from the concept of the
individual to the group this last track
that we're about to hear 50 for Duncan
Terrace
doesn't feature you as prominently as
many of the other tunes on on secrets
yeah how come
well it's died out unintentional because
there was basically only one solo
section in the piece and I wrote the
piece for a friend of mine who died a
few years ago he was a really great gala
player his name was Pat's life and all
the pieces that he used to compose were
always very they were always very pretty
or very melodic soft kind of them
pieces so on I wrote this kind of in
memory of him and he was like I said a
piano player and after I started
listening to the basic track when we did
it the studio as I thought then Alan
pasqua was tossing piano Flair and I
just asked him if he'd like to and play
on the track and he did and I just loved
what he did so and he played the bulk of
the soul and then I played this very
short solo section at the end from Allan
Holdsworth album secrets 54 Duncan
terrorists
[Music]
we're back in the Tustin Studio Vallon
holdsworth where we've just heard 50 for
Duncan Terrace from his new album
secrets which is going to be out this
August on intimate tapes and records and
compact discs and gosh probably at some
point we'll have a little computer disk
that we can play play it as well through
your Mac a little ways off we were
talking during the break about guitars
and he said something real interesting
about steinberger so they they had
something very special about them and
I'd like to elaborate on that just a
little bit all right I was a very first
time I played when it was I just got an
incredible feeling from it I just loved
the thing and it made me feel like I
felt when I very first picked up the
very first guitar you know you there's a
kind of like I had a resurgence of
energy that I felt really oh I wanted to
play the guitar again you know after I
got this time barrier which is which was
an interesting thing to happen and also
I loved it because of the creative
aspect of it too because most everybody
else for the last 20 years it's just
being a copy of some form of offender or
a Gibson and I think that the
Steinberger is the only true only truly
significant development electric guitar
for the last 20 years and I think that
they're not only that but the thing just
sounds great to me I mean I love it and
it's the only food I play if you were
going to I I realized this putting you
on the spot a little bit but if you're
going to give some advice to someone who
is currently practicing and playing and
perhaps aspiring someday to gain
professional musician what is it the you
talent
well actually I was talking to Gary
husband about this a few weeks ago and
he made a very keen observation which
was that everybody starts out when they
first start playing with something very
special of their own and what happens is
they're losing and the key is to keep it
and rather than being totally engrossed
in what other people are doing to try
and figure out what it is is it unique
about themselves and nurture that you
know I think it's really great to be
inspired by people and obviously I'm
still inspired by lots of musicians and
what I hear but I try not to like din
from his kind of infiltrate what I
really want to do myself so I try to
absorb the quality aspect of it but not
actually what it is in terms of likely
mimicry and I think that's the best
possible advice I could give to anyone
well thank you very much for your time
on behalf of steinberger guitars and
intima records I'm sayin tyranny we've
been speaking with Allan Holdsworth
his new album secrets will be out of the
stores this August so in addition to
those you're carrying right now if you'd
like to do the entire thing we encourage
you highly to find your way down there
and get a copy for your own self
[Music]
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