Planning Electric Guitar Recording

 Hi!! 

In this post, I'm going to be planning the electric guitar recording for my track.

As the guitar for "Eliza" is quite complex and seemingly random at times, to make it more similar to the likes of Portishead and Massive Attack, I have decided to loop the first section of the guitar riff (this will also make it much easier to learn and record!).

I did some research into how Portishead recorded some of their guitars, and here's what I found!

Portishead recorded an "absolute piece of shit" guitar they found lying around on a dictaphone to produce a gnarly distortion effect on the guitar. Although I don't have a dictaphone, I plan to replicate this on the amp I use/after effects, which I will go into more detail soon. On "Glory Box", a Gretsch G6129 Silver Jet guitar was used and, whilst Utley played it, Barrow manipulated the guitar's vibrato, creating squealing pitch bends (Fumo, 2019).  Utley often played with Jeff Beck, who let him borrow his '56 Telecaster. Many people speculate that Utley played a cheap Squier Tele on "Dummy" and has been spotted performing the album live with a '52 reissue. The Dunlop Crybaby was also used on "Dummy" - a wah-wah guitar effects pedal which was combined with tremolo to make each note shimmer. As for the amp, Utley used a Fender Vibroverb, which is a vintage-style tube amp known for its smooth breakup, rich midrange and built-in tremolo, according to Leggitt (2022). In "Sound on Sound" (2025), Utley talks about using a '70s Fender Twin Reverb as well as various other Fender amplifiers - all with warm sounds. 

Keeping this in mind when planning, I have decided to record with my Vintage V20 Coaster Series, a pair of Behringer C2's, a Behringer XM8500, a Fender Blues Junior amp and a G1X ZOOM guitar pedal. And here's why:

Vintage V20 Coaster Series:

• Low-output pickups and vintage-style electronics mean a warmer tone and smoother transients
• Less aggressive attack, which is good for a more 'moody' lead

Fender Blues Junior Amp:

• Tube amp with rich mid-range and soft saturation
• Similar in feel to Fender Vibroverb tones, which Utley used
• Not too distorted but not too clean either
• Volume 3-5 gives a natural overdrive which mimics old recordings or vinyl samplers

G1X Zoom Pedal (with the GlitterCln preset):

• Provides a lot of reverb, delay, and modulation
• Provides a lot of space and a more lo-fi feel to the guitar, which Portishead used a lot of with their guitars too
• Used somewhat dry as Portishead's guitars aren't too wet either

XM8500 Dynamic (placed on the edge of the cone):

• Captures mids and warmth, avoids harsher top end
• More vintage, vinyl-like tone and reduces brightness

C2 Condensers:

• Captures natural ambience
• Blending close mic with room mics mimics a lo-fi sound, which Portishead got from resampling from vinyl/tape)

Below is a diagram on how I plan to set up the microphones and amp. The dotted arrows represent the two condensers being equally spaced from the centre of the cone.

Okayy.. that was a long one. I'm going to go eat now...

In the next one!

-D.