“A producer has other agendas”: Why Lamb Of God’s Mark Morton doesn’t always like how his guitars sound on record
Lamb Of God’s Mark Morton hasn’t always been happy with how his guitar tone is captured on records.
We’ve heard a plethora of debates on tone over the years, with the topics such as tonewood and digital gear all coming into play – but one tone topic we don’t discuss all that much is just how we capture it in a studio setting. Morton argues that strict schedules and short timeframes when working with producers can have a big impact on results.
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In an interview for the September print issue of Guitar World, Morton joins Bill Kelliher of Mastodon in sharing his concerns on how tone is recorded. Both bands are currently on the road alongside Kerry King and Malevolence for the special 20th anniversary Ashes Of Leviathan tour.
Kelliher begins, “A lot of times when I go into the studio where someone else is in control, I’m never happy with how the guitars sound when they come out of the speakers. Like, ‘That’s not my tone. Go put your ear up to the fucking amp.’ I record bands all the time, and I don’t run it through anything except a microphone; that’s when it sounds the best.”
Morton adds, “The thing to consider is that any competent producer can come in and capture my tone just like I like it, but a producer [has] other agendas to consider. They have to carve out space for the other guitar player or the bass player. There is a science toward making space with frequencies in the mix… Sometimes that can stomp on what I might think is the perfect guitar sound.
“Machine [producer, Lamb Of God’s Ashes Of The Wake] wasn’t super familiar with the band, so I think there’s an aspect of trying to get the best overall result in the most efficient timeframe. What inevitably happens is a lot of producers already know how they’re going to wrap the signal paths, because they have a tried-and-true system. That winds up changing the personality and the sound [of the band].”
Morton concludes, “I’m not attacking Machine – we went on to work with him again [on 2006’s Sacrament] and rectified a lot of those issues – but I think a lot of times you’re on a strict schedule, and you’ve got to get this record done. Sometimes that winds up with guitar players like Bill and myself not being thrilled with the tone that wound up printing on the record.”
View all remaining live dates for the Ashes Of Leviathan tour.
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