Fiction Tree has two guitarists – brothers Andy and Rich – and we utilise both acoustic and electric guitars across our music.
Acoustic Guitars
For recording, the acoustic guitar parts are a mixture of direct into the desk and mic’d. For most, we initially laid down guide tracks with just acoustic guitar and vocals and then built on them from there with the other parts. This guitar was recorded straight in to the desk. Some of this was actually kept in the finished recordings but much was replaced, especially as there were some strange digital-sounding effects from the acoustic guitar pre-amp when working this way.
To mic the acoustic, we used two condenser mics, one close to where the guitar body joins the neck and one a bit higher and nearer the headstock. We then used EQ and blended them together. (Check out Moonshine for how this came out!)
Andy played his Taylor acoustic for much of the recording but also doubled a few bits with his Yamaha 12 string to add some extra depth to the rhythm sections.
Electric Guitars
Most of the electric guitar parts were recorded by Rich on his Epiphone Les Paul, including nearly all the electric lead and most rhythm parts, but you can also hear Andy’s Fender Stratocaster adding additional rhythm parts alongside to provide additional width to the sound. Guitar fans should check out the guitar solos by Rich on Cut You Loose and Moonshine.
The electric guitars were recorded direct using a Focusrite interface and guitar sounds from Logic Pro. At mix, we also played with duplicating and hard-panning some of the rhythm parts to add extra width to the overall sound.
Keys
Keyboard and piano parts were only really used on Ride Away, but it is a song Andy wrote on the piano so makes sense!
The strings fade in through the sound of Shaun’s ocean drum to be met by the strong piano chord which sets the scene for this song. We also used strings throughout this track to add extra emphasis and build the mood. Check it out and see what you think!
Bass
Damian’s bass parts were recorded early on in the project. As with the electric guitars, this was recorded direct into Logic and we only really added a bit of compression and EQ to the natural bass guitar sound.
The bass is a very important part of the arrangement and we use it prominently through all the tracks, with the riff on Cut You Loose being the most obvious. But listen for it through the other tracks too as it adds movement and groove to all of them.