Neil and Mark at AIR Studio Montserrat. Photo: www.neildorfsman.com
[spacer height=”30″] Mark was set up in the control room with a line-through to his new Laney Combo (2 x 12, I think) out in the studio. We had been auditioning a few different guitars, but settled on a Les Paul Jr, with the amp mic’d by a single SM57. One key element was that Mark was playing through a Morely Wah Pedal which was partly open. We spent a good deal of time adjusting amount of wah filtering by “opening” the pedal in minute increments until it sounded great (I remember trying to unsuccessfully tape it in position so we couldn’t accidentally lose the setting!). When we thought we were sonically in the ballpark, we decided to stop and continue the next day. At the start of the next session, Mark plugged in as I headed out to the main studio room to check everything, as I always do. What I saw was that the SM57 we were using had loosened from its stand, and was literally pointing straight down at the floor…maybe four inches away from the speaker. As I went to “fix” it, the control room talk-back basically yelled “don’t touch anything and come in and hear this!!!”. Well….that became the signature sound of the main guitar in “Money for Nothing”. The funny thing is, I meticulously documented everything with notes, settings, measurements etc, but when we tried four or five weeks later to recapture that sound while trying to add a rhythmic solo in New York, we could not get it. A totally different sound and character. I wish I could claim some credit, but thank you, Chet and Mark, for teaching me why it’s called a “happy accident”.
Neil and Dire Straits. Photo: www.neildorfsman.com
LISTEN TO NEIL’S “HAPPY ACCIDENT” HERE:
