Tommy Detamore
 Production
and Studio Gear |
 On-Line
Guitar Sessions |
| Guitar
Gear and Technique |
| Audio
Clips |
On-Line Guitar Sessions
RS: You are an early adopter of providing on-line tracks. How'd that get going?
TD: I guess it’s true when they say “necessity is the mother of invention.” I was getting a fair amount of emails and calls to do tracks for folks, a lot of whom had seen my name on a record somewhere, liked what I did, and tracked me down. But there was usually a lot of back and forth time-consuming e-mailing and telephoning, with me and the client just trying to get on the same page with things before I recorded any tracks. So I came up with the website in an attempt to try to clarify and streamline the process a little, and cut down on the chances of communication errors creeping in.
RS: How is it going so far?
TD: I have to say that response has been very positive. I have gotten some new work, totally out of the blue, which is gratifying and exciting. And even my regular clients who I have done tracks for in the past, like the new method of using the order form on the website, as opposed to the barrage of back and forth e-mails and phone calls like we used to deal with. So it saves the folks on the other end time and frustration too, and that’s always a good thing.
RS: Can you describe the process for a typical track request?
TD: If a visitor arrives at my website, Steel Guitar Tracks Online, looking for a steel guitar track to integrate into their project, they will be able to sample a variety of styles of music I have recorded that contain pedal steel, dobro, or lap steel. If the visitor decides to order a track, he or she can go to the order page and fill out the form that I have created. Here they provide all of the details about the song, and they can upload an MP3, charts, and lyrics when they hit the “submit” button.
After a successful upload, they will be asked to pay a deposit to get the ball rolling. Once I receive the deposit, I start work on their track. When it is finished, I send them an MP3 with the newly-recorded steel mixed in, so they can hear what I have done. If they are satisfied, they are asked to pay the balance due, and once that is received, I send them a link to the actual steel track on my server. The file will be in the format that they requested on the order form. They can then download the file and import it into their system.
RS: What is the most common format you send back out?
TD: I would say the most common requested is the 24-bit .wav format.
RS: What difficulties have you encountered working in this on-line environment?
TD: The most difficult part of it I suppose is trying to get inside the head of someone, trying to get a feel for what they might like. I am generally pretty intuitive I guess, but I have to expect that sometimes I am going to miss the mark. That’s why I ask for as many details as possible with regard to stylistic suggestions. And examples help a lot. If someone says something like “I want it to sound kind of like George Jones” or “Can you make it sort of Allman-esque,” then that is almost analogous to showing a carpenter a house and saying, "Build it kinda like that.”
RS: Do clients typically know exactly what they want, for example tone and style, when it comes to steel guitar?
TD: Sometimes, but not always. Occasionally they will hear a record I have done and want it to be in a similar vein. So, that’s pretty straightforward. But a lot of what I am asked to do on steel is what I would call left-of-center for a steel player. Not particularly your straight-ahead stereotyped country steel, but more pads and swells and atmospheric “mood” stuff. I use an eBow on steel fairly often too. I love doing those kinds of things. It’s always a challenge, though. Kind of like painting a portrait. A little too much paint and it runs all over the place and ruins the picture!
RS: An eBow? What do the Nashville guys think of that?
TD: I never asked them! Seriously, Buddy Emmons used one years ago on some things and in the wake of that a lot of steel players started experimenting with them. There was even a special steel guitar eBow model manufactured for a while that would excite two strings at once, so you could play harmony lines with it. They are quite rare nowadays and can fetch a pretty price. I have a guitar player friend that has one but he won’t sell it to me. I’ve been pestering him for years!
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RS: On your order form, it says to send along a chart using the "Nashville number system." Can you describe what that is?
TD: Instead of a chord chart with letter names for the changes, like C, F, and G, it is a chart that replaces the letter names with the degrees of the scale that the chord is based on. For example, if a song is in the key of C, then the chords C, F, and G become 1, 4, and 5. You designate minor chords by following the number with a little “–“ symbol. Augmented chords have the standard “+” symbol. Major 7th uses a little triangle, diminished uses a little circle, etc. There are also ways to designate how many beats each chord gets. The real advantage to this system is that for an ear player, you can easily change the key of the song and not have to totally write another chart.
RS: Sounds so easy! Why is it not more common?
TD: Well. In my world it is standard procedure. But I guess it would only be popular with ear players, and maybe not so much with formally trained musicians. As a case in point, we occasionally hire symphony string and horn players, and they require that we have actual notes on the staff for them. One of my first-call session players, Bobby Flores, is also a Grammy-winning arranger, so he gets the call to write these kinds of arrangements.
RS: What about the quality of tunes you've received so far?
TD: Some good, some average, some great. And sometimes, it is fairly big-time stuff. I see today where one track I did recently for Texas artist Kevin Fowler is #4 on the Texas Music Chart. Yes, we have our own chart with reporting radio stations, just like the big boys!
RS: Do you play other instruments besides steel guitar?
TD: Yes, I play electric and acoustic guitar. I do a fair amount of the guitar work on the records I do in the studio. I also play dobro, lap steel, and just enough banjo to make people hate me. JUST KIDDING!!!
RS: Can you provide other players and instruments?
TD: Yes, I can. I have a small pool of very talented players that I use for my studio sessions that I produce, and there have been times when I have been asked to record them and send the files over the Internet.
RS: Like what?
TD: Mostly fiddle and accordian. I have the best of the best available on these two instruments (Bobby Flores and Joel Guzman, respectively). And since both of these instruments are extraordinarily difficult to play well, it is no surprise to me that there may be a shortage of quality players in a client’s locale. So this is where Internet file exchange really can make a big difference.
