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Although the POD has undergone a serious evolution over its ten years, the very first version began a long-overdue liberation. No longer were guitarists forced to spend large sums of money on amplifiers, just to have options in the studio and on tour (we still do as a matter of principal, of course, but the point is that we aren’t forced to); no longer did we need to charter storage space to house our precious investments or risk blowing up 50-year-old capacitors in vintage amps, just to get a few bars to tape. We could ditch the practice amp and still have a fully-featured pedalboard without the cables and power supplies. We could suddenly have our cake and eat it, too—and oh, how sweet freedom tasted.
And while, yes, if you found yourself in an acoustically brilliant recording space with Bob Rock at your side and a locker of top-shelf mics at your disposal, you might be able to get a better amp sound to tape, but how many of us have found ourselves in that position? More likely, you’ve found yourself stuck in your basement studio late at night, trying to pull together a track without firing up that Marshall JCM 800 and waking the kids. Or you’ve somehow managed to get yourself in a situation where there’s not even a JCM 800 to be found. For those of us with real lives and responsibilities, with budgets and one spare closet, the POD has become an indispensable tool.
The Birth of the POD
An Interview with Marcus Ryle, Line 6 Co-Founder and Senior V.P., R&D
Where did the original concept for the POD come from? Did you forsee digital modeling becoming as big as it has?
Line 6 delivered the first digital modeling guitar amplifiers in late 1996. Since the source of the tone was software algorithms, we wanted to make modeling available in more than just amplifiers. In early 1998, we introduced Amp Farm, which gave TDM Pro Tools users the ability to have guitar amplifier and cabinet models available directly in their recording environment. Amp Farm quickly became very popular with professional artists and producers, but could not be used by anyone who didn’t have a Pro Tools TDM system, which is a very large investment. POD was our idea of giving everyone great amp, cab and effect tones in a product that would work with any recording system or on any stage, and at a very affordable price.
Although we felt we had designed an excellent sounding product that broke new ground, we didn’t anticipate it would be embraced so quickly. We have always felt that the potential of digital modeling was huge, because having easy access to a wide range of great tones is a great source of musical inspiration. POD just made modeling’s acceptance occur much faster than we expected. Walk us through the development of the original POD. What were the biggest milestones along the way?
Like many products, the core elements of POD were evolutionary rather than revolutionary. We had the experience of our early modeling amplifiers (AxSys, AX2 and Flextone), and having made a software modeling product (Amp Farm). Some elements of POD’s goals were evident from the start: great tone, simple and fast to use, and affordable. The discovery areas were in advancing our modeling capabilities and in deciding that we wanted a new “look” to make sure this new technology wouldn’t get lost in the crowd. For the tone, we knew we wanted to capture the studio element of the guitar recording chain, which included the selection of a great mike, knowing where to place it, and being in a great room with a great engineer. Research and analysis led us to what we termed as “A.I.R.”, which stood for Acoustically Integrated Recording. Capturing this element of the recording process was a breakthrough for us that completed the signal chain.
| 1998 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003 |
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| The original POD hits store shelves with 16 amp models, several knobs and a big dose of moxy. | The POD gets a makeover with the debut of POD 2.0, adding 32 models and cabinet modeling. The rackmounted POD Pro also debuts. Both add A.I.R., which simulates a great mic in a great room. | The POD XT packs in 42 models and 60 effects. It is also the first model that can be upgraded with different model packs. The Bass POD XT brings POD to bassists as well. | The POD XT Pro rackmount unit brings the POD line into the new millennium with the addition of digital inputs and outputs. |
| 2004 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 |
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| The POD finally hits the floor with the release of the POD XT Live. Packing in more effects than ever before (95) and a ton of presets, live users rejoice heartily. | Line 6 releases the Floor POD and goes back to basics, featuring only 12 amp and cab models and a built-in expression pedal. Heads are scratched around the world. | The POD X3 includes 78 models, 378 presets. Dual Tone allows playing through two signal chains, and a new preamp is ideal for vocals, bass. Also: Pocket POD, a tiny, upgraded POD 2.0. | The newest and baddest addition to the line, the POD X3 Pro, shows up with all the capabilities of the X3, plus software plug-in functionality for use with DAW recording applications. |
You touched on developing a unique “look” to make the POD stand out; that kidney bean shape has become rather ubiquitous these days. Where did it originate and how was it decided upon?
Early in POD’s development, it was imagined as a simple rackmount product. But several folks here rightly pointed out that rackmount rigs were less in fashion, plus the unique tonal benefits of POD might get lost in a sea of rack gear and not be given the chance to be heard. The tone of POD had a life of its own and was being described internally as “organic,” and it was proposed that its look should be representative of that. After plenty of discussion and debate, POD’s red kidney bean design emerged as the best representation of its capabilities.
How have advancements in computing and digital technology contributed to the maturation process of the POD line over the last ten years?
Digital modeling technology has the benefit of being able to take advantage of the ongoing advances in memory, processing power and speed that occur in our digital society for computers, cell phones, gaming systems, and so on. Our current flagship of the POD family, the POD X3 line, has many times the processing power of our original POD without needing to cost many times the price. These processing advances have enabled us to continue to add more detail and sonic nuance to our models, as well as add more capabilities.
With complexity of the POD increasing with each release, how do you ensure that operations remain user-friendly? Will there come a point where a computer will be necessary equipment to use a POD? One of the best ways to keep complex products simple is to provide a wide range of presets that are easily accessible. We include hundreds of presets, and also provide access to thousands more on our customtone. com website. We also know that different people want to work in different ways, so we provide direct editing capabilities for all settings within the product, as well as offer computer-based editing for those that want to see a more visual representation of the settings. Computers shouldn’t ever be required equipment for our hardware-based PODs, but they are great tools for deep editing and managing large quantities of tones.
What are the latest developments in the POD line? What developments are in the future?
Our latest development in the POD line is POD Farm, which brings us back full circle in providing all of the modeling capabilities of our hardware POD family into a PC or Mac for use with any recording software platform. This can be used in conjunction with our hardware for a “best of both worlds” setup or used with any other interface hardware via iLok authorization. At the other end of the spectrum, we’ve just launched the Pocket POD Express, which is our most portable and affordable POD. With these introductions, now great POD tone can be accessible to anyone, regardless of their music creation environment.
| The Next Step in Tone: While the POD opened up the world of digital modeling in 1998, things were good—users could choose from 16 different amp models. While those original 16 could be said to represent the basic tones that guitarists always seem to be searching for, the engineers at Line 6 have continued to track down more and more amps to model, from the specialized to the esoteric. And while the quantity increased, so did the quality; advances in digital technology, and improved analysis of tube amps combined to create more authentic, nuanced sounds. But it’s a long-held dictum that guitarists are never satisfied. While the latest model in the POD line, the X3, comes equipped with 78 amp models and well over 350 presets to permit endless tweaking, the problem remains that tones still need to be dialed in, a process that requires time and patience. If you wanted to recreate the massive chunk of a James Hetfield rhythm or the crisp twang of Mark Knopfler’s cleanest moments, you had to dig in and do it yourself—a reality that kept many users from fully exploring the POD’s capabilities. The rollout of Line 6’s customtone.com website is the company’s latest salvo in the battle for digitally- savvy guitarists’ hearts and minds. Line 6 has worked to populate this beta website with “signature sounds of some of the greatest guitarists, bands, songs and gear of all time.” And that’s really not hyperbole; customtone.com provides POD users with a central hub of operation, well stocked with free, downloadable patches for almost every POD model. Customtone.com looks to be a promising development in the evolution of the POD, and should offer every level of PODite something useful. Power users can share their highly-refined library of sounds with the world; players looking for specific artist sounds can find detailed, ready-to-play patches; and non-tweakers can stock up on cool presets for their next jam session. Downloading patches is fairly straightforward, and you can even download the original presets that came with your POD if you get too crazy. Did we mention it’s free? customtone.com |
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For the first time in the band’s history, the Dawes lineup for Oh Brother consisted of just Griffin and Taylor Goldsmith (left and right).
Goldsmith’s lyrics spoke to me the loudest, with lines like “Well, you can judge the whole world on the sparkle that you think it lacks / Yes, you can stare into the abyss, but it’s starin’ right back” (a casual Nietzsche paraphrase); and “Oh, the snowfall this time of year / It’s not what Birmingham is used to / I get the feeling that I brought it here / And now I’m taking it away.” The way his words painted a portrait of the sincere, sentimental man behind them, along with his cozy, unassuming guitar work and the band’s four-part harmonies, had me hooked.
Nothing Is Wrong and Stories Don’t End came next, and I happily gobbled up more folksy fodder in tracks like “If I Wanted,” “Most People,” and “From a Window Seat.” But 2015’s All Your Favorite Bands, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Folk Albumschart, didn’t land with me, and by the time 2016’s We’re All Gonna Die was released, it was clear that Goldsmith had shifted thematically in his writing. A friend drew a thoughtful Warren Zevon comparison to the single, “When the Tequila Runs Out”—a commentary on vapid, conceited, American-socialite party culture—but it still didn’t really do it for me. I fell off the Dawes train a bit, and became somewhat oblivious to their three full-lengths that followed.
Oh Brotheris Goldsmith’s latest addition to the Dawes songbook, and I’m grateful to say that it’s brought me back. After having done some catching up, I’d posit that it’s the second work in the third act, or fall season, of his songwriting—where 2022’s Misadventures of Doomscrollercracked open the door, Oh Brother swings it wide. And it doesn’t have much more than Dawes’ meat and potatoes, per se, in common with acts one or two. Some moodiness has stayed—as well as societal disgruntlement and the arrangement elements that first had me intoxicated. But then there’s the 7/4 section in the middle of “Front Row Seat”; the gently unwinding, quiet, intimate jazz-club feel of “Surprise!”; the experimentally percussive, soft-spoken “Enough Already”; and the unexpected, dare I say, Danny Elfman-esque harmonic twists and turns in the closing track, “Hilarity Ensues.”
The main engine behind Dawes, the Goldsmith brothers are both native “Angelinos,” having been born and raised in the L.A. area. Taylor is still proud to call the city his home.
Photo by Jon Chu
“I have this working hypothesis that who you are as a songwriter through the years is pretty close to who you are in a dinner conversation,” Goldsmith tells me in an interview, as I ask him about that thematic shift. “When I was 23, if I was invited to dinner with grownups [laughs], or just friends or whatever, and they say, ‘How you doin’, Taylor?’ I probably wouldn’t think twice to be like, ‘I’m not that good. There’s this girl, and … I don’t know where things are at—can I share this with you? Is that okay?’ I would just go in in a way that’s fairly indiscreet! And I’m grateful to that version of me, especially as a writer, because that’s what I wanted to hear, so that’s what I was making at the time.
“But then as I got older, it became, ‘Oh, maybe that’s not an appropriate way to answer the question of how I’m doing.’ Or, ‘Maybe I’ve spent enough years thinking about me! What does it feel like to turn the lens around?’” he continues, naming Elvis Costello and Paul Simon as inspirations along the way through that self-evolution. “Also, trying to be mindful of—I had strengths then that I don’t have now, but I have strengths now that I didn’t have then. And now it’s time to celebrate those. Even in just a physical way, like hearing Frank Zappa talking about how his agility as a guitar player was waning as he got older. It’s like, that just means that you showcase different aspects of your skills.
“I am a changing person. It would be weird if I was still writing the same way I was when I was 23. There would probably be some weird implications there as to who I’d be becoming as a human [laughs].”
Taylor Goldsmith considers Oh Brother, the ninth full-length in Dawes’ catalog, to be the beginning of a new phase of Dawes, containing some of his most unfiltered, unedited songwriting.
Since its inception, the engine behind Dawes has been the brothers Goldsmith, with Taylor on guitar and vocals and Griffin on drums and sometimes vocal harmonies. But they’ve always had consistent backup. For the first several years, that was Wylie Gelber on bass and Tay Strathairn on keyboards. On We’re All Gonna Die, Lee Pardini replaced Strathairn and has been with the band since. Oh Brother, however, marks the departure of Gelber and Pardini.
“We were like, ‘Wow, this is an intense time; this is a vulnerable time,’” remarks Goldsmith, who says that their parting was supportive and loving, but still rocked him and Griffin. “You get a glimpse of your vulnerability in a way that you haven’t felt in a long time when things are just up and running. For a second there, we’re like, ‘We’re getting a little rattled—how do we survive this?’”
They decided to pair up with producer Mike Viola, a close family friend, who has also worked with Mandy Moore—Taylor’s spouse—along with Panic! At the Disco, Andrew Bird, and Jenny Lewis. “[We knew that] he understands all of the parameters of that raw state. And, you know, I always show Mike my songs, so he was aware of what we had cookin’,” says Goldsmith.
Griffin stayed behind the kit, but Taylor took over on bass and keys, the latter of which he has more experience with than he’s displayed on past releases. “We’ve made records where it’s very tempting to appeal to your strengths, where it’s like, ‘Oh, I know how to do this, I’m just gonna nail it,’” he says. “Then there’s records that we make where we really push ourselves into territories where we aren’t comfortable. That contributed to [Misadventures of Doomscroller] feeling like a living, breathing thing—very reactive, very urgent, very aware. We were paying very close attention. And I would say the same goes for this.”
That new terrain, says Goldsmith, “forced us to react to each other and react to the music in new ways, and all of a sudden, we’re exploring new corners of what we do. I’m really excited in that sense, because it’s like this is the first album of a new phase.”
“That forced us to react to each other and react to the music in new ways, and all of a sudden, we’re exploring new corners of what we do.”
In proper folk (or even folk-rock) tradition, the music of Dawes isn’t exactly riddled with guitar solos, but that’s not to say that Goldsmith doesn’t show off his chops when the timing is right. Just listen to the languid, fluent lick on “Surprise!”, the shamelessly prog-inspired riff in the bridge of “Front Row Seat,” and the tactful, articulate line that threads through “Enough Already.” Goldsmith has a strong, individual sense of phrasing, where his improvised melodies can be just as biting as his catalog’s occasional lyrical jabs at presumably toxic ex-girlfriends, and just as melancholy as his self-reflective metaphors, all the while without drawing too much attention to himself over the song.
Of course, most of our conversation revolves around songwriting, as that’s the craft that’s the truest and closest to his identity. “There’s an openness, a goofiness—I even struggle to say it now, but—an earnestness that goes along with who I am, not only as a writer but as a person,” Goldsmith elaborates. “And I think it’s important that those two things reflect one another. ’Cause when you meet someone and they don’t, I get a little bit weirded out, like, ‘What have I been listening to? Are you lying to me?’” he says with a smile.
Taylor Goldsmith's Gear
Pictured here performing live in 2014, Taylor Goldsmith has been the primary songwriter for all of Dawes' records, beginning with 2009’s North Hills.
Photo by Tim Bugbee/Tinnitus Photography
Guitars
- Fender Telecaster
- Gibson ES-345
- Radocaster (made by Wylie Gelber)
Amps
- ’64 Fender Deluxe
- Matchless Laurel Canyon
Effects
- 29 Pedals EUNA
- Jackson Audio Bloom
- Ibanez Tube Screamer with Keeley mod
- Vintage Boss Chorus
- Vintage Boss VB-2 Vibrato
- Strymon Flint
- Strymon El Capistan
Strings
- Ernie Ball .010s
In Goldsmith’s songwriting process, he explains that he’s learned to lean away from the inclination towards perfectionism. Paraphrasing something he heard Father John Misty share about Leonard Cohen, he says, “People think you’re cultivating these songs, or, ‘I wouldn’t deign to write something that’s beneath me,’ but the reality is, ‘I’m a rat, and I’ll take whatever I can possibly get, and then I’ll just try to get the best of it.’
“Ever since Misadventures of Doomscroller,” he adds, “I’ve enjoyed this quality of, rather than try to be a minimalist, I want to be a maximalist. I want to see how much a song can handle.” For the songs on Oh Brother, that meant that he decided to continue adding “more observations within the universe” of “Surprise!”, ultimately writing six verses. A similar approach to “King of the Never-Wills,” a ballad about a character suffering from alcoholism, resulted in four verses.
“The economy of songwriting that we’re all taught would buck that,” says Goldsmith. “It would insist that I only keep the very best and shed something that isn’t as good. But I’m not going to think economically. I’m not going to think, ‘Is this self-indulgent?’
Goldsmith’s songwriting has shifted thematically over the years, from more personal, introspective expression to more social commentary and, at times, even satire, in songs like We’re All Gonna Die’s “When the Tequila Runs Out.”
Photo by Mike White
“I don’t abide that term being applied to music. Because if there’s a concern about self-indulgence, then you’d have to dismiss all of jazz. All of it. You’d have to dismiss so many of my most favorite songs. Because in a weird way, I feel like that’s the whole point—self-indulgence. And then obviously relating to someone else, to another human being.” (He elaborates that, if Bob Dylan had trimmed back any of the verses on “Desolation Row,” it would have deprived him of the unique experience it creates for him when he listens to it.)
One of the joys of speaking with Goldsmith is just listening to his thought processes. When I ask him a question, he seems compelled to share every backstory to every detail that’s going through his head, in an effort to both do his insights justice and to generously provide me with the most complete answer. That makes him a bit verbose, but not in a bad way, because he never rambles. There is an endpoint to his thoughts. When he’s done, however, it takes me a second to realize that it’s then my turn to speak.
To his point on artistic self-indulgence, I offer that there’s no need for artists to feel “icky” about self-promotion—that to promote your art is to celebrate it, and to create a shared experience with your audience.
“I hear what you’re saying loud and clear; I couldn’t agree more,” Goldsmith replies. “But I also try to be mindful of this when I’m writing, like if I’m going to drag you through the mud of, ‘She left today, she’s not coming back, I’m a piece of shit, what’s wrong with me, the end’.... That might be relatable, that might evoke a response, but I don’t know if that’s necessarily helpful … other than dragging someone else through the shit with me.
“In a weird way, I feel like that’s the whole point—self-indulgence. And then obviously relating to someone else, to another human being.”
“So, if I’m going to share, I want there to be something to offer, something that feels like: ‘Here’s a path that’s helped me through this, or here’s an observation that has changed how I see this particular experience.’ It’s so hard to delineate between the two, but I feel like there is a difference.”
Naming the opening track “Mister Los Angeles,” “King of the Never-Wills,” and even the title track to his 2015 chart-topper, “All Your Favorite Bands,” he remarks, “I wouldn’t call these songs ‘cool.’ Like, when I hear what cool music is, I wouldn’t put those songs next to them [laughs]. But maybe this record was my strongest dose of just letting me be me, and recognizing what that essence is rather than trying to force out certain aspects of who I am, and force in certain aspects of what I’m not. I think a big part of writing these songs was just self-acceptance,” he concludes, laughing, “and just a whole lot of fishing.”
YouTube It
Led by Goldsmith, Dawes infuses more rock power into their folk sound live at the Los Angeles Ace Hotel in 2023.
