Holdsworth Radio Interview (1990)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7W1Vvq_Pd0

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          [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]   you    you