The Focusrite iTrack interface acts as an iPad dock and provides inputs, outputs, sophisticated monitoring capabilities, and built-in DSP.
In the early 1970s, mobile recording studios were the size of trucks. Actually, they were trucks. The first famous example—the legendary Rolling Stones' Mobile Studio—sat atop the chassis of a British Motor Corporation Laird lorry.
Today, a mobile studio can be as small as a laptop, tablet, or smartphone. Throw in the growing power of compact stand-alone recorders, and you have an overwhelming number of potential tools for recording that can fit in a backpack—or back pocket. The combination of power and portability is redefining our very understanding of the concept of mobile recording.
“[A mobile device] is capable of recording everything from a songwriter's demo to a fully finished track, but in its own way and time," says Vincent Leonard, co-author with Thomas Rudolph of The iPad in the Music Studio: Connecting Your iPad to Mics, Mixers, Instruments, Computers, and More! and Musical iPad: Creating, Performing & Learning Music on Your iPad. “It can [also] function as an extension of a desktop system"—allowing you to work on projects remotely and finish them in your home studio.
“I would define [mobile recording] as recording music anywhere in the world outside of a commercial studio or your own home setup," says Rich Tozzoli, whose credits include production and engineering for artists like Al Di Meola, Ace Frehley, and David Bowie, as well as composing original music for Fox, the NFL, Pawn Stars, Duck Dynasty, and others. “For mobile situations, less complicated recording systems are better."
Choosing a mobile recording device is about balancing factors like portability, simplicity, fidelity, and flexibility. The sweet spot is often less about the equipment than it is about your working method and the task at hand. Rather than make some blanket recommendations, let's look at things to consider for a number of common situations.
Capturing Ideas: Keep It Simple—and Light
The Muse can be a cruel mistress. She shows up unannounced—and she doesn't like to stick around. So while she's there, you'd better be ready to grab everything she's giving you. For mobile Muse patrol, you need a recorder that's easy to keep close at hand and that gets ready to track as quickly as possible.
A standalone recorder or a smartphone with a basic recording app can each work well here. Even a compact camera, like a GoPro, can serve you well. But no matter what hardware you're using, readiness is more important than any other feature. Your device needs to be charged and it needs to have enough available storage memory to capture the idea. Most important, you have to have the device with you. A small stand-alone recorder is great—if it's handy. But that's a big if. A smartphone, on the other hand, is likely to be within arm's reach most of the time. How else would you play Candy Crush Saga while you're on a conference call? So even if you do have a stand-alone recorder, it pays to set up your phone for recording as well.
How elaborate does that setup need to be? Again, readiness is your goal. You can plug in an external high-end mic for better sound. There are a growing number of options from leading manufacturers like Shure, Sennheiser, Audio-Technica, and others. But if it means shifting focus from the creative flow, don't bother. You don't need great sound to capture an idea.
That said, recording quality isn't completely unimportant. You don't want things to be so distorted or lo-fi that you can't hear that brilliant, complex chord you just played by accident. With a stand-alone recorder, this isn't much of an issue as long as you position the mic close enough to the source and adjust the input levels accordingly. If it has direct inputs and your guitar has a pickup, all the better.
Using a Shure MOTIV MV88 stereo condenser mic and free MOTIV iOS app, you can add quality audio to iPhone videos of rehearsals and impromptu performances.
If you're using a phone, tablet, or computer, the device's internal mic may even be okay. Remember, you're looking for clean, not studio quality. The app you're using can make a difference, however. The audio apps that come with most phones are usually designed for voice. They tend to offer limited frequency response and store recordings in space-saving (but bad-sounding) low-resolution audio files.
You're actually better off using your phone's video camera to capture sound. The sound quality can be quite good, but because video is data intensive, the file will be huge. Use the camera for quick captures, not long sessions. I've run out of storage space in the middle of recording, didn't realize it, and lost some ideas as a result.
So it pays to invest in a basic audio-capture app designed for music. One of my favorites happens to be free. We wrote about Spire in “Recording Roundup 2016." What makes it especially good for mobile use is that itboots fast, records up to 4 tracks of high-resolution audio, and provides a number of file-sharing tools. Its DSP enhances the sound of the phone's built-in mic, and while it won't make the mic sound better than a quality external interface or microphone, it's quite an improvement over the unprocessed input.
If you're using a portable device, make it a point to copy the files from your device regularly and keep them organized. Not only will this make it easier to back things up, it frees memory on your recorder, which can become an issue more quickly than you might think—especially with tablets and smartphones that also store games, movies, books, and other apps.
A number of mobile recording devices, including IK Multimedia's iRig series, are designed specifically for guitar.
Doing Homework: Stand-alone Devices Rule
If you're serious about performing, few things are as valuable as the “homework tape"—a simple but clear recording of your band's practices and performances. I always think of these as “capture" sessions more than recording sessions. You want an accurate representation of the music, not a self-conscious recording.
As a result, the ideal tool will be something that can run happily in the background, without forcing you to stop. Recording time and ease of use are primary considerations, but flexible inputs and other extras are welcome additions.
Stand-alone recorders—especially those with built-in mics and removable storage—can be ideal for this. You can set the machine up some distance away, point its mics at the music, hit record, and forget about it for the rest of the night.
A mobile phone or tablet may be able to get you through an entire session, but for piece of mind, a stand-alone recorder is probably a better choice thanks to its larger storage space and the fact that it won't be interrupted by phone calls, texts, and other intrusions that can plague phones and tablets.
And avoiding interruptions is the key: Most stand-alones—even those at budget prices—can record in both compressed (like MP3) and uncompressed (AIFF or WAV) audio formats. And although the uncompressed audio offers higher fidelity, you'll save space—and therefore increase potential recording time—by using a compressed format. When you're tracking with mics from across the room, you'll hardly notice the trade-off in sound quality.
In addition to storage, you also want to make sure that your device isn't going to run out of juice midway through the session. If it's an option, run it on a plug-in power supply. If you are using batteries, make sure they're fresh or freshly charged.
When it comes to placing the unit and setting your recording levels, that's a matter of trial and error. If you're recording in the same space regularly (such as a rehearsal studio), pick a spot and use it as consistently as possible.
Take the time to do a quick level check by recording a song at the start of rehearsal or during soundcheck. Listen back, and adjust your input levels and placement as needed. I always keep the levels just a little lower than optimal because bands tend to get louder as the night progresses.
Here's an idea to consider when you're capturing a live show: If your recorder can use its internal mics and external line inputs simultaneously, combine the mics with the feed coming from the PA's front-of-house mix. This can be especially good if each input is saved to its own audio file, because you can then upload the files to a digital audio workstation (DAW) and mix the room sound from the mics with the board mix from the direct feed.
Multitracking: Apps and Interfaces To Go
Sometimes I think multitrack recording should be called “multi-personality" recording, because so many different approaches fall under the multitrack umbrella. Are you working alone and building tracks one at a time? Recording a band? Are you only recording acoustic and amplified instruments like voice guitar, drums, and tuba? Or are you using electronic and software instruments along with your guitar?
As you're putting your system together, consider what you hope to do with the tracks after you record them. Do you plan to produce and mix complete tracks with your mobile rig? Or are you going to hand your tracks off for later overdubs and mixing?
Although some stand-alone recorders can handle multitrack recording, we'll focus on more “production" oriented setups—DAW software running on a computer or mobile device that's mated to an audio interface. For guitarists, the software might include the recording app itself along with amp-modeling plug-ins, other effects, software instruments, and more.
If you're looking for a small footprint, you'll find a number of options for iPhone or iPad. Apple's own GarageBand ($4.99) is built for these devices, and offers easy compatibility between mobile and computer versions of the software, as well as Apple's professional DAW, Logic. PreSonus Capture ($9.99/free demo) offers basic multitrack recording in an elegant interface. If you're willing to spend more, $24.99 will get you Steinberg's Cubasis for iPad (a streamlined yet powerful version of the company's Cubase Pro PC/Mac sequencer), or Auria by WaveMachine Labs, an audio-focused app that seems to be modeled on Avid Pro Tools.
Although these tools can be used to produce complete mixes, they are limited to some degree by the platform. “Tech always has a tradeoff," Leonard says. “An iPad, for example, offers a lot of production power in a small package, but that comes with restricted storage and a limited use time unless you're able to charge the unit while you work. When you finish a session, you will need to transfer your tracks so the device doesn't fill up. That process is a little slower than copying files over a computer network. Get into the habit of transferring files in any free time. Because once you've filled up your device, you can't work until you free up more space."
For production work, an external interface and a quality external mic is definitely recommended. On the lower end of the price scale, you'll find options that use the mobile device's headset input. This category includes a number of devices designed for guitar, including IK Multimedia's iRig series, the RapcoHorizon iBLOX, and others, which have 1/4" connections for an electric guitar or bass, as well as a jack for stereo headphone monitoring. But the headset input still uses your phone's analog-to-digital converters, so the sound isn't great.
For serious recording, an external interface that connects to the phone's USB input (currently Lightning for iOS devices) will offer much better sound. The options continue to grow, including several that boast instrument inputs for direct recording of your guitar or bass. Many of these compact interfaces can also be used with a computer, making them both economical and flexible. Guitar-friendly models include IK Multimedia's iRig PRO, Fender Slide Interface, Line 6 Sonic Port VX, and Apogee Jam (among others). You'll also find all-purpose interfaces that let you plug in a 1/4" cable, standard microphone, or use an internal mic. The compact Apogee One, for instance, has a built-in mic as well as a removable harness with 1/4" and phantom-powered XLR inputs. The Focusrite iTrack Pocket iOS interface acts as a dock and has built-in DSP. PreSonus AudioBox has a more traditional USB audio interface form factor and connects to both computers and mobile devices.
If the USB interface has its own power supply, it can even be used to charge your mobile device—something that seems like an “extra" when you read the features list, but turns out to be a big deal when you're in the field.
A stand-alone recorder, like the Tascam DR-40, is ideal for making a “homework tape"—a clear recording of your band's practices and performances. The advantage? Larger storage space and the fact that a dedicated recorder won't be interrupted by calls, texts, and other intrusions that can plague phones and tablets.
For a mobile setup that can come close or even match a home or project studio, a laptop and interface seems like the way to go. It can still be portable, and it's easy to add or subtract peripherals as needed. If you want something truly portable and don't need to record more than two independent sources at a time, a small bus-powered USB interface should have you covered.
“Make sure that all components are of good quality and work well together," adds Steve Oppenheimer, VP of marketing at PreSonus, which makes audio interfaces for computers and mobile devices, digital mixers, and software. “In addition to selecting a quality, bus-powered interface—you want bus power because an interface that requires AC power is not entirely mobile—you'll need a good microphone, headphones, and cables, as well as recording and production software and a reliable laptop or tablet computer, such as an iPad."
If you need more inputs, there are plenty of mid- to high-end interfaces to choose from. A good unit capable of recording eight or more individual tracks will fit in a single rack space and can be shoved into a laptop bag in a pinch. If the interface has built-in mic preamps and instrument inputs, it can serve as the sole peripheral (minus mics, headphones, and cables). With eight inputs, you can record a whole band, capture an electric-acoustic guitar on two independent tracks using its internal pickup and an external mic, and much more.
Packing for Tracking: Be Prepared
According to Tozzoli—who regularly does pro-level sessions away from his main studio—the specific equipment you choose for your mobile rig is less important than the way you organize your gear. One missing piece—no matter how small—can sabotage a session.
“For me, the essentials include a computer—usually a laptop—interface, speakers, headphones, and all the necessary cables," he explains. “I have several setups that vary in scope. The simplest is a MacBook Pro with a Universal Audio Apollo Twin interface running Pro Tools 12 and Propellerhead Reason. The next level up is a Universal Audio Apollo 16, with a variety of FireWire outboard eight-channel preamps from Focusrite and Audient, again running Pro Tools 12.
“With either rig, whenever I go remote, I like to bring the same gear, packed in exactly the same way—every time. For example, in my laptop bag, I have the charger, the external hard drive, all cables and adapters, and even the iLoks in the same place. That way, if something is missing, it has a better chance of registering with just a quick glance.
“I also create a written checklist in my iPhone to make sure I have everything. It gets easier the more you do it, and now its second nature."
A few years ago, a studio like the one Tozzoli just described would take a desktop computer and card-based audio interfaces, not to mention a rack of gear. Now you can do it all with a laptop. Will tablets and smartphones go the same way?
“When I started working with music on the iPad four years ago I thought it might become the new Portastudio," Leonard says. “When we started writing The Musical iPad, the industry was exploding with products. In some ways, it's like watching a repeat of 30 years ago when MIDI and the computer were starting to come together—dealing with the limitations of the hardware and watching the software developers ask for more power and flexibility."
Making albums on iPads
In late 2011, the music industry went abuzz after learning that Gorillaz's album The Fall had been recorded on co-founder Damon Albarn's iPad during a U.S. tour. “I literally made it on the road," Albarn told the Guardian. “I didn't write it before, I didn't prepare it. I just did it day by day as a kind of diary of my experience in America."
Albarn used a wide range of apps to make the album (which was mixed when he got back to England), but indie punk duo the Ultramods described how they only needed GarageBand for iPad to make Underwear Party. “I see [the GarageBand app] as an everything-combined-into-one package," lead singer Max “Bunny" Sparber told Wired magazine. “Both new musicians and professional musicians are going to be very surprised with what they can do with it."
YouTube It
Blur frontman Damon Albarn recorded his side project Gorillaz's 2011 album, The Fall, entirely on his iPad while on a U.S. tour, using a wide variety of apps including AmpliTube, SoundyThingie, StudioMini XL Recording Studio, and Bassline.
These days, there's a lot less gee-whiz factor around mobile devices, so it's unlikely that recording on a tablet is going to be any more central to an album's publicity campaign as recording with a laptop. But whether mobile devices are used as a complete “studio" or as a part of the production process, it's clear that pros are finding a place for such gear in their work.
In a detailed 2014 MacWorld article, Andrea Pejrolo, Assistant Chair of the Contemporary Writing and Production Department at Berklee College of Music, explains how he used the iPad as a complete production system to record sessions for indie artist and composer Ella Joy Meir. While admitting that the iPad had some limitations compared to laptops in terms of storage, he notes that there are also advantages that go beyond its small form factor. “If you are planning to record in a space where your sound engineer and performer are in the same room, the iPad has the advantage of being dead quiet," he says. “And then there's the cost: iOS offers the convenience of a touch display and the portability of a laptop, but with a much smaller price tag."
With an iPad, recording software, and a battery-operated interface like the Apogee One, you can record wherever and whenever inspiration strikes.
The Ins and Outs of Mobile Inputs
The idea of recording an album on a phone or tablet seems like more fun than hauling around a laptop or stand-alone recorder. Computers are for work; smartphones and tablets are for play.
Then again, there's nothing fun about recording music and having it sound like, well, you recorded it on a cell phone. Fortunately, a growing number of manufacturers are bringing better—and, in some cases, pro-level—audio quality to mobile devices. As with computer interfaces, these connect to a data port—currently, the majority work with Apple's Lightning—and offer analog-to-digital-to-analog conversion. Among them are a number of options offering 24-bit resolution at sample rates as high as 192 kHz. (All prices listed are street.)
Apogee—known for making high-end A/D converters and interfaces—was one of the first computer audio companies to get serious about mobile. The development shows in their latest array of mobile accessories ranging from the $129 Jam 96K to the $1,395 Quartet. The latter boasts four mic preamps, an 8-channel Lightpipe I/O, and the ability to work with both Mac and iOS devices.
PreSonus has affordable and compact interfaces that can connect directly to both computers and iOS devices, including the 2x2 AudioBox iTwo ($99), which offers both audio and MIDI I/O and comes with the company's free multitrack mobile app, Capture Duo.
Shure made a splash last fall by introducing MOTIV series microphones and interfaces designed specifically for the latest generation of iOS devices. Priced between $69 and $199, the series includes mono and stereo mics, as well as the MVi, a guitar-friendly interface that can also work with a computer. Other pro audio mic makers have been going mobile as well. Sennheiser offers a pair of clip-on mics that seem targeted more to video work than music, but with Apogee converters, the $199 ClipMic Digital does the trick.
Rode's lineup of iOS mics includes two stereo condensers: the iXY-L ($199) has a Lightning connector, while the iXY ($149) is both less expensive and sports the increasingly hard to find 30-pin connector of old. And Blue Microphones' Mikey Digital ($99) can mount directly to an iOS device and has an auto-sensing level and multiple gain settings.
In addition to making a number of popular handheld stand-alone recorders, Zoom recently released the iQ series of versatile Lightning-compatible mics, ranging from $69 to $99. Focusrite's stable of iOS interfaces includes the two-channel, 24-bit/96 kHz iTrack Dock ($199), which lets you dock and charge your iPad while feeding it mic, line-level, or MIDI signals.
While IK Multimedia's original iRig series connected via the headphones jack, the company's new iRig Pro series, topped by the two-channel PRO DUO ($199), uses Lightning for better audio quality. The Line 6 Sonic Port ($99) offers both Lightning and 30-pin connections and comes with a mobile version of the company's POD amp/effects modeling app.
You'll also find an array of compact USB interfaces and microphones that can be made iOS compatible with an Apple Camera Kit or Lightning-to-USB Camera Adapter, such as Apple's $31 MD821AM.
Among the latest is Steinberg's new UR22mk2 ($149), which can record at sample rates as high as 192 kHz and comes with Cubasis LE, an iOS version of the company's popular pro-level DAW, Cubase. Roland's $179 Duo-Capture EX offers 48 kHz A/D recording, MIDI, and more. The Audio-Technica AT2020USBi ($199) mates a large-diaphragm side-address condenser with a USB interface that can work with Windows, Mac, and iOS devices.
Finally, if you're looking to make your iOS recording rig part of your performing setup, you'll find a few mobile interfaces in the pedal format. Sonoma Wire Works $299 GuitarJack Stage has four footswitches, high-Z inputs specifically designed for guitar and bass, and knobs that can be used to control iOS or computer amp modelers.
Stevie Van Zandt with “Number One,” the ’80s reissue Stratocaster—with custom paisley pickguard from luthier Dave Petillo—that he’s been playing for the last quarter century or so.
There’s a life-size cameo of a go-go dancer in banana yellow; she’s frozen in mid hip shimmy. One wall displays rock posters and B-movie key art, anchored by a 3D rendering of Cream’s Disraeli Gears album cover that swishes and undulates as you walk past it. Van Zandt’s shelves are stuffed with countless DVDs, from Louis Prima to the J. Geils Band performing on the German TV concert series Rockpalast. There are three copies of Iggy and the Stooges: Live in Detroit. Videos of the great ’60s-music TV showcases, from Hullabaloo to Dean Martin’s The Hollywood Palace, sit here. Hundreds of books about rock ’n’ roll, from Greil Marcus’s entire output to Nicholas Schaffner’s seminal tome, The Beatles Forever, form a library in the next room.
But I haven’t seen this yet because the elevator is dead, and I am in it. Our trap is tiny, about 5' by 5'. A dolly filled with television production equipment is beside me. There’s a production assistant whom I’ve never met until this morning and another person who’s brand new to me, too, Geoff Sanoff. It turns out that he’s Van Zandt’s engineer—the guy who runs this studio. And as I’ll discover shortly, he’s also one of the several sentinels who watch over Stevie Van Zandt’s guitars.
There’s nothing to do now but wait for the NYFD, so Sanoff and I get acquainted. We discover we’re both from D.C. and know some of the same people in Washington’s music scene. We talk about gear. We talk about this television project. I’m here today assisting an old pal, director Erik Nelson, best known for producing Werner Herzog’s most popular documentaries, like Grizzly Man and Cave of Forgotten Dreams. Van Zandt has agreed to participate in a television pilot about the British Invasion. After about half an hour, the elevator doors suddenly slide open, and we’re rescued, standing face-to-face with three New York City firefighters.
As our camera team sets up the gear, Sanoff beckons me to a closet off the studio’s control room. I get the sense I am about to get a consolation prize for standing trapped in an elevator for the last 30 minutes. He pulls a guitar case off the shelf—it’s stenciled in paint with the words “Little Steven” on its top—snaps open the latches, and instantly I am face to face with Van Zandt’s well-worn 1957 Stratocaster. Sanoff hands it to me, and I’m suddenly holding what may as well be the thunderbolt of Zeus for an E Street Band fan. My jaw drops when he lets me plug it in so he can get some levels on his board, and the clean, snappy quack of the nearly 70-year-old pickups fills the studio. For decades, Springsteen nuts have enjoyed a legendary 1978 filmed performance of “Rosalita” from Phoenix, Arizona, that now lives on YouTube. This is the Stratocaster Van Zandt had slung over his shoulder that night. It’s the same guitar he wields in the famous No Nukes concert film shot at Madison Square Garden a year later, in 1979. My mind races. The British Invasion is all well and essential. But now I’m thinking about Van Zandt’s relationship with his guitars.
Stevie Van Zandt's Gear
Van Zandt’s guitar concierge Andy Babiuk helped him plunge deeper down the Rickenbacker rabbit hole. Currently, Van Zandt has six Rickenbackers backstage: two 6-strings and four 12-strings.
Guitars
- 1957 Fender Stratocaster (studio only)
- ’80s Fender ’57 Stratocaster reissue “Number One”
- Gretsch Tennessean
- 1955 Gibson Les Paul Custom “Black Beauty” (studio only)
- Rickenbacker Fab Gear 2024 Limited Edition ’60s Style 360 Model (candy apple green)
- Rickenbacker Fab Gear 2023 Limited Edition ’60s Style 360 Model (snowglo)
- Rickenbacker 2018 Limited Edition ’60s Style 360 Fab Gear (jetglo)
- Two Rickenbacker 1993Plus 12-strings (candy apple purple and SVZ blue)
- Rickenbacker 360/12C63 12-string (fireglo)
- Vox Teardrop (owned by Andy Babiuk)
Amps
- Two Vox AC30s
- Two Vox 2x12 cabinets
Effects
- Boss Space Echo
- Boss Tremolo
- Boss Rotary Ensemble
- Durham Electronics Sex Drive
- Durham Electronics Mucho Busto
- Durham Electronics Zia Drive
- Electro-Harmonix Satisfaction
- Ibanez Tube Screamer
- Voodoo Labs Ground Control Pro switcher
Strings and Picks
- D’Addario (.095–.44)
- D’Andrea Heavy
Van Zandt has reached a stage of reflection in his career. Besides the Grammy-nominated HBO film, Stevie Van Zandt: Disciple, which came out in 2024, he recently wrote and published his autobiography, Unrequited Infatuations (2021), a rollicking read in which he pulls no punches and makes clear he still strives to do meaningful things in music and life.
His laurels would weigh him down if they were actually wrapped around his neck. In the E Street Band, Van Zandt has participated in arguably the most incredible live group in rock ’n’ roll history. And don’t forget Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes or Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul. He created both the Underground Garage and Outlaw Country radio channels on Sirius/XM. He started a music curriculum program called TeachRock that provides no-cost resources and other programs to schools across the country. Then there’s the politics. Via his 1985 record, Sun City, Van Zandt is credited with blasting many of the load-bearing bricks that brought the walls of South African apartheid tumbling into dust. He also acted in arguably the greatest television drama in American history, with his turn as Silvio Dante in The Sopranos.
Puzzlingly, Van Zandt’s autobiography lacks any detail on his relationship with the electric guitar. And Sanoff warns me that Van Zandt is “not a gearhead.” Instead he has an organization in place to keep his guitar life spinning like plates on the end of pointed sticks. Besides Sanoff, there are three others: Ben Newberry has been Van Zandt’s guitar tech since the beginning of 1982. Andy Babiuk, owner of Rochester, New York, guitar shop Fab Gear and author of essential collector reference books Beatles Gear and Rolling Stones Gear (the latter co-authored by Greg Prevost) functions as Van Zandt’s guitar concierge. Lastly, luthier Dave Petillo, based in Asbury Park, New Jersey, oversees all the maintenance and customization on Van Zandt’s axes.
“I took one lesson, and they start to teach you the notes. I don’t care about the notes.” —Stevie Van Zandt
I crawl onto Zoom with Van Zandt for a marathon session and come away from our 90 minutes with the sense that he is a man of dichotomies. Sure, he’s a guitar slinger, but he considers his biggest strengths to be as an arranger, producer, and songwriter. “I don’t feel that being a guitar player is my identity,” he tells me. “For 40 years, ever since I made my first solo record, I just have not felt that I express myself as a guitar player. I still enjoy it when I do it; I’m not ambivalent. When I play a solo, I am in all the way, and I play a solo like I would like to hear if I were in the audience. But the guitar part is really part of the song’s arrangement. And a great solo is a composed solo. Great solos are ones you can sing, like Jimi Hendrix’s solo in ‘All Along the Watchtower.’”
In his autobiography, Van Zandt mentions that his first guitar was an acoustic belonging to his grandfather. “I took one lesson, and they start to teach you the notes. I don’t care about the notes,” Van Zandt tells me. “The teacher said I had natural ability. I’m thinking, if I got natural ability, then what the fuck do I need you for? So I never went back. After that, I got my first electric, an Epiphone. It was about slowing down the records to figure out with my ear what they were doing. It was seeing live bands and standing in front of that guitar player and watching what they were doing. It was praying when a band went on TV that the cameraman would occasionally go to the right place and show what the guitar player was doing instead of putting the camera on the lead singer all the time. And I’m sure it was the same for everybody. There was no concept of rock ’n’ roll lessons. School of Rock wouldn’t exist for another 30 years. So, you had to go to school yourself.”
By the end of the 1960s, Van Zandt tells me he had made a conscious decision about what kind of player he wanted to be. “I realized that I really wasn’t that interested in becoming a virtuoso guitar player, per se. I was more interested in making sure I could play the guitar solo that would complement the song. I got more into the songs than the nature of musicianship.”
After the Beatles and the Stones broke the British Invasion wide open, bands like Cream and the Yardbirds most influenced him. “George Harrison would have that perfect 22-second guitar solo,” Van Zandt remembers. “Keith Richards. Dave Davies. Then, the harder stuff started coming. Jeff Beck in the Yardbirds. Eric Clapton with things like ‘White Room.’ But the songs stayed in a pop configuration, three minutes each or so. You’d have this cool guitar-based song with a 15-second, really amazing Jeff Beck solo in it. That’s what I liked. Later, the jam bands came, but I was not into that. My attention deficit disorder was not working for the longer solos,” he jokes. Watch a YouTube video of any recent E Street Band performance where Van Zandt solos, and the punch and impact of his approach and attack are apparent. At Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., last year, his solo on “Rosalita” was 13 powerful seconds.
Van Zandt and Bruce Springsteen’s relationship goes back to their earliest days on the Jersey shore. “Everybody had a different guitar; your guitar was your identity,” recalls Van Zandt. “At some point, a couple of years later, I remember Bruce calling me and asking me for my permission to switch to Telecaster. At that point, I was ready to switch to Stratocaster.”
Photo by Pamela Springsteen
Van Zandt left his Epiphone behind for his first Fender. “I started to notice that the guitar superstars at the time were playing Telecasters. Mike Bloomfield. Jeff Beck. Even Eric Clapton played one for a while,” he tells me. “I went down to Jack’s Music Shop in Red Bank, New Jersey, because he had the first Telecaster in our area and couldn’t sell it; it was just sitting there. I bought it for 90 bucks.”
In those days, and around those parts, players only had one guitar. Van Zandt recalls, “Everybody had a different guitar; your guitar was your identity. At some point, a couple of years later, I remember Bruce calling me and asking me for my permission to switch to Telecaster. At that point, I was ready to switch to Stratocaster, because Jimi Hendrix had come in and Jeff Beck had switched to a Strat. They all kind of went from Telecaster to Les Pauls. And then some of them went on to the Stratocaster. For me, the Les Paul was just too out of reach. It was too expensive, and it was just too heavy. So I said, I’m going to switch to a Stratocaster. It felt a little bit more versatile.”
Van Zandt still employs Stratocasters, and besides the 1957 I strummed, he was seen with several throughout the ’80s and ’90s. But for the last 20 or 25 years, Van Zandt has mainly wielded a black Fender ’57 Strat reissue from the ’80s with a maple fretboard and a gray pearloid pickguard. He still uses that Strat—dubbed “Number One”—but the pickguard has been switched to one sporting a purple paisley pattern that was custom-made by Dave Petillo.
Petillo comes from New Jersey luthier royalty and followed in the footsteps of his late father, Phil Petillo. At a young age, the elder Petillo became an apprentice to legendary New York builder John D’Angelico. Later, he sold Bruce Springsteen the iconic Fender Esquire that’s seen on the Born to Run album cover and maintained and modified that guitar and all of Bruce’s other axes until he passed away in 2010. Phil worked out of a studio in the basement of their home, not far from Asbury Park. Artists dropped in, and Petillo has childhood memories of playing pick-up basketball games in his backyard with members of the E Street Band. (He also recalls showing his Lincoln Logs to Johnny Cash and once mistaking Jerry Garcia for Santa Claus.)
“I was more interested in making sure I could play the guitar solo that would complement the song. I got more into the songs than the nature of musicianship.” —Stevie Van Zandt
“I’ve known Stevie Van Zandt my whole life,” says Petillo. “My dad used to work on his 1957 Strat. That guitar today has updated tuners, a bone nut, new string trees, and a refret that was done by Dad long ago. I think one volume pot may have been changed. But it still has the original pickups.” Petillo is responsible for a lot of the aesthetic flair seen on Van Zandt’s instruments. He continues, “Stevie is so much fun to work with. I love incorporating colors into things, and Stevie gets that. When you talk to a traditional Telecaster or Strat player, and you say, ‘I want to do a tulip paisley pickguard in neon blue-green,’ they’re like, ‘Holy cow, that’s too much!’ But for Stevie, it’s just natural. So I always text him with pickguard designs, asking him, ‘Which one do you like?’ And he calls me a wild man; he says, ‘I don’t have that many Strats to put them on!’ But I’ll go to Ben Newberry and say, ‘Ben, I made these pickguards; let’s get them on the guitar. And I’ll go backstage, and we’ll put them on. I just love that relationship; Stevie is down for it.”
Petillo takes care of the electronics on Van Zandt’s guitars. Almost all of the Strats are modified with an internal Alembic Stratoblaster preamp circuit, which Van Zandt can physically toggle on and off using a switch housed just above the input jack. Van Zandt tells me, “That came because I got annoyed with the whole pedal thing. I’m a performer onstage, and I’m integrated with the audience and I like the freedom to move. And if I’m across the stage and all of a sudden Bruce nods to me to take a solo, or there’s a bit in the song that requires a little bit of distortion, it’s just easier to have that; sometimes, I’ll need that extra little boost for a part I’m throwing in, and it’s convenient.”
In recent times, Van Zandt has branched out from the Stratocaster, which has a lot to do with Andy Babiuk's influence. The two met 20 years ago, and Babiuk’s band, the Chesterfield Kings, is on Van Zandt’s Wicked Cool Records. “He’d call me up and ask me things like, ‘What’s Brian Jones using on this song?’” explains Babiuk. “When I’d ask him why, he’d tell me, ‘Because I want to have that guitar.’ It’s a common thing for me to get calls and texts from him like that. And there’s something many people overlook that Stevie doesn’t advertise: He’s a ripping guitar player. People think of him as playing chords and singing backup for Bruce, but the guy rips. And not just on guitar, on multiple instruments.”
Van Zandt tells me he wanted to bring more 12-string to the E Street Band this tour, “just to kind of differentiate the tone.” He explains, “Nils is doing his thing, and Bruce is doing his thing, and I wanted to do more 12-string.” He laughs, “I went full Paul Kantner!” Babiuk helped Van Zandt plunge deeper down the Rickenbacker rabbit hole. Currently, Van Zandt has six Rickenbackers backstage: two 6-strings and four 12-strings. Each 12-string has a modified nut made by Petillo from ancient woolly mammoth tusk, and the D, A, and low E strings are inverted with their octave.
Van Zandt explains this to me: “I find that the strings ring better when the high ones are on top. I’m not sure if that’s how Roger McGuinn did it, but it works for me. I’m also playing a wider neck.”
Babiuk tells me about a unique Rick in Van Zandt’s rack of axes: “I know the guys at Rickenbacker well, and they did a run of 30 basses in candy apple purple for my shop. I showed one to Stevie, and purple is his color; he loves it. He asked me to get him a 12-string in the same color, and I told him, ‘They don’t do one-offs; they don’t have a custom shop,’ but it’s hard to say no to the guy! So I called Rickenbacker and talked them into it. I explained, ‘He’ll play it a lot on this upcoming tour.’ They made him a beautiful one with his OM logo.”
The purple one-off is a 1993Plus model and sports a 1 3/4" wide neck—1/8" wider than a normal Rickenbacker. Van Zandt loved it so much that he had Babiuk wrestle with Rickenbacker again to build another one in baby blue. Petillo has since outfitted them with paisley-festooned custom pickguards. When guitar tech Newberry shows me these unique axes backstage, I can see the input jack on the purple guitar is labeled with serial number 01001.
“Some of my drive is based on gratitude,” says Van Zandt, “feeling like we are the luckiest guys in the luckiest generation ever.”
Photo by Rob DeMartin
Van Zandt also currently plays a white Vox Teardrop. That guitar is a prototype owned by Babiuk. “Stevie wanted a Teardrop,” Babiuk tells me, “but I explained that the vintage ones are hit and miss—the ones made in the U.K. were often better than the ones manufactured in Italy. Korg now owns Vox, and I have a new Teardrop prototype from them in my personal collection. When I showed it to him, he loved it and asked me to get him one. I had to tell him, ‘I can’t; it’s a prototype, there’s only one,’ and he asked me to sell him mine,” he chuckles. “I told him, ‘It’s my fucking personal guitar, it’s not for sale!’ So I ended up lending it to him for this tour, and I told him, ‘Remember, this is my guitar; don’t get too happy with it, okay?’
“He asked me why that particular guitar sounds and feels so good. Besides being a prototype built by only one guy, the single-coil pickups’ output is abnormally hot, and the neck feels like a nice ’60s Fender neck. Stevie’s obviously a dear friend of mine, and he can hold onto it for as long as he wants. I’m glad it’s getting played. It was just hanging in my office.”
Van Zandt tells me how Babiuk’s Vox Teardrop sums up everything he wants from his tone, and says, “It’s got a wonderfully clean, powerful sound. Like Brian Jones got on ‘The Last Time.’ That’s my whole thing; that’s the trick—trying to get the power without too much distortion. Bruce and Nils get plenty of distortion; I am trying to be the clean rhythm guitar all the time.”
If Van Zandt has a consigliere like Tony Soprano had Silvio Dante, that’s Newberry. Newberry has tech’d nearly every gig with Van Zandt since 1982. “Bruce shows move fast,” he tells me. “So when there’s a guitar change for Stevie, and there are many of them, I’m at the top of the stairs, and we switch quickly. There’s maybe one or two seconds, and if he needs to tell me something, I hear it. He’s Bruce’s musical director, so he may say something like, ‘Remind me tomorrow to go over the background vocals on “Ghosts,”’ or something like that. And I take notes during the show.”
“Everybody had a different guitar; your guitar was your identity. At some point, a couple of years later, I remember Bruce calling me and asking me for my permission to switch to a Telecaster.” —Stevie Van Zandt
When I ask Newberry how he defines Van Zandt’s relationship to the guitar, he doesn’t hesitate, snapping back, “It’s all in his head. His playing is encyclopedic, whether it’s Bruce or anything else. He may show up at soundcheck and start playing the Byrds, but it’s not ‘Tambourine Man,’ it’s something obscure like ‘Bells of Rhymney.’ People may not get it, but I’ve known him long enough to know what’s happening. He’s got everything already under his fingers. Everything.”
As such, Van Zandt says he never practices. “The only time I touch a guitar between tours is if I’m writing something or maybe arranging backing vocal harmonies on a production,” he tells me.
Before we say goodbye, I tell Van Zandt about my time stuck in his elevator, and his broad grin signals that I may not be the only one to have suffered that particular purgatory. When I ask him about the 1957 Stratocaster I got to play upon my release, he recalls: “Bruce Springsteen gave me that guitar. I’ve only ever had one guitar stolen in my life, and it was in the very early days of my joining the E Street Band. I only joined temporarily for what I thought would be about seven gigs, and in those two weeks or so, my Stratocaster was stolen. It was a 1957 or 1958. Bruce felt bad about that and replaced that lost guitar with this one. So I’ve had it a long, long time. Once that first one was stolen, I decided I would resist having a personal relationship with any one guitar. But that one being a gift from Bruce makes it special. I will never take it back on the road.”
After 50 years of rock ’n’ roll, if there is one word to sum up Stevie Van Zandt, it may be “restless”—an adjective you sense from reading his autobiography. He gets serious and tells me, “I’m always trying to catch up. The beginning of accomplishing something came quite late to me. I feel like I haven’t done nearly enough. What are we on this planet trying to do?” he asks rhetorically. “We’re trying to realize our potential and maybe leave this place one percent better for the next guy. And some of my drive is based on gratitude, feeling like we are the luckiest guys in the luckiest generation ever. That’s what I’m doing: I want to give something back. I feel an obligation.”
YouTube It
“Rosalita” is a perennial E Street Band showstopper. Here’s a close-up video from Philadelphia’s Citizens Bank Park last summer. Van Zandt’s brief but commanding guitar spotlight shines just past the 4:30 mark.
"The next step in its relentless pursuit of tonal perfection for studio and stage. Born from the same innovative drive that introduced the world's most advanced AI-based amp modeling, TONEX Cab ensures that every nuance of modern rigs shines onstage. It sets the new standard for FRFR powered cabinets for authentic amp tones, delivering unmatched realism to TONEX Tone Models or any other professional amp modeler or capture system."
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Finally, Amp-in-the-room Tone and Feel
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On Stage to FOH
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TONEX Cab is now available for pre-order from the IK online store and IK dealers worldwide at a special pre-order price of $/€699.99 (reg. MSRP $/€799.99*) with a black grill as the default. The optional gold and silver grill cloths are available at a special pre-order price of $/€39.99 (reg. MSRP $/€49.99*). Introductory pricing will end on March 18, with TONEX Cab shipping in April.
*Pricing excluding tax.
For more information, please visit ikmultimedia.com
IK Multimedia TONEX Cab 700-watt 1 x 12-inch Power Guitar Cabinet
