Adam Banton
DIY Home Recording

Joel202

• March 03 2006
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Adam Banton was kind enough to divulge how he records music at home this month in Ride 120. Since he had so much to say, we kind of ran out of space, so here’s the text you didn’t get to read in the mag.

When did start playing music?
Around 1993, I think, my Dad brought home a guitar from work that somebody was going to throw away and wanted to know if I’d be interested in playing it. I think he knew I was pretty heavy into music at an early age. It seemed pretty cool to have an electric guitar for free, so I’d pick it up from time to time. Then about two years after that, I got my first real guitar-a Fender acoustic. That set things into motion really strong, and then in 1995 a milestone happened when I shattered my leg riding. I had to drop out of college and move back home from Richmond to Manassas, Virginia. Doctors said I’d be off my bike for ten months (if it healed properly). My parents bought me a used Fender Stratocaster two months later in hopes that I’d sell my bike. From that point on, playing guitar was such an outlet for my pain, frustration, heartache, and confusion or what ever was going on in my life. I never really stopped playing. I have only set it down for a few months at a time at most. But from that incident, I know I’ll play music the rest of my life.

What’s your background? Did you go to school for it or take any lessons?
I just experimented with noise, sounds, and chords. I learned a lot by ear, which equals out to a lot of practice. The only real lessons were a half-year class at my high school that I didn’t take too seriously.

Explain the recording process.
I use two devices to record; a Tascam DP-01FX/CD, which is basically a digital eight-track 40-gig hard drive recorder with EQs and mastering capability. It has about 30 onboard guitar effects. The second smaller piece is a Boss RC-20 phrase recorder loop station pedal. It has a five-minute window of recording time total with 11 channels. This is a perfect audio notepad when trying to piece together a new song. I also use this little Casio Sk-1 sampling keyboard. My sister got it for Christmas around 1986. I rediscovered it about three years ago and actually used it on the song Clean Air on my second album (intro song for the first Odyssey video). I have a Fender Cyber-Twin amp that is fully loaded with parameters, 85 amps, and effect combinations, and 35 of Fender’s greatest amp circuits (the amp changes circuitry to configure a certain amp sound). That’s my only amp, and what I use to record through. My guitars are as follows: Fender Stratocaster, Fender Jaguar (custom Seymour Duncan pickups), and a Fender GA-45SCE electric/acoustic. Lastly is a book written by Mark Hanson, The Complete Book of Alternate Tunings. I consider this a solid tool in my arsenal. It has hundreds of tunings from folk to Celtic to rock.

You’ve also done some collaborative work with TJ Lavin; did you guys do that with a home recording style, as well?
Yeah, he’s got a room dedicated to music in his house. But it’s closer to a professional studio than a regular room with everything I needed (recording wise), and I had some stuff in mind for him. We’d just bounce ideas off each other and go with it. It was fun.

How does his process differ from yours? The stuff I had in mind for him was more of short little phrases on guitar. Things that could be looped over with beats, blips, and anything else we thought would sound good. Nothing like a full song, or anything structured. I think it was more fun for me that way. The style of music we came out with was different than what I would’ve done on my own.