While many companies have chased a dream of making everything bigger, faster and stronger, a select few have made the decision to chase a less visible dream. Baden Guitars
Before Baden cut his teeth in sales and marketing over twenty years ago or made the move to create his own line, he was just another dreamer with a guitar. As a young man, Baden realized the instrument was a ticket to happiness, and he spent his initial years teaching other students at his boarding school how to play. During his tenure with Taylor Guitars he was able to combine his passion with a natural aptitude for sales. As Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing, he received an education about the business of marketing and retailing musical instruments. Sensing an opportune moment, he founded Baden Guitars.
Musical instruments can take many shapes and forms in the boutique arena, but Badenās take on design is refreshingly simple: two minimalist models ā the a-style and d-style ā comprise the companyās entire catalog. Lacking ornamentation, these guitars have the effect of boiling down the essence of the instrument, and the music it creates, to its purest form. Players like John Cephas, Bo Bice, George Benson, Bob Minner (Tim McGraw Band) and Jim Gairrett (Kenny Chesney Band) have all started slinging the acoustics, providing a real validation of Badenās vision.
We had the chance to talk with TJ Baden about the boutique side of the acoustic world, what heās learned during his time in the industry and what āhandmadeā really means.
How did you first begin working with guitars?
There was a period in my life when I was sent to a boarding school and thatās really when I found my calling with the guitar. I was more of a dreamer and a player then, and did not get into the design and marketing end of it until later on.
When you picked up the guitar for the first time, did you know what you were going to do with your life?
Yeah, and it was totally against my parents wishes, thatās for sure. My father wanted me to have a real job and it wasnāt until well into my career when he finally acknowledged that I had one. The guitar was really the only thing that made me happy no matter what, so I just decided that money wasnāt in the calling and that Iād just do what I loved.
I absolutely fell in love with acoustic guitars. Being able to take someone and educate them on what makes a quality instrument, and watch them develop their own skills and passion for the instrument is great stuff.
As a long-time Taylor employee, what prompted you to create your own guitar company?
Thatās a really good question. I had a beautiful career at Taylor ā I was passionate about marketing and I pretty much learned everything else on the fly. When I first started there we were making about four guitars a day; over a 17 year period we took it up beyond 300 a day and sales well into eight figures. I was in love with what we were doing and it was pure passion.
I also felt that in the later years guitar designs became more and more influenced by technology. In order to compete as a manufacturer in the U.S. market, we had to go that route. All of the (technological) advances were phenomenal, but I felt they also steered the designs of the guitar away from the original art form.
After I left, I found the second thing I was passionate about in my life: boutique guitars. I had a new desire to get into that art form and to produce a guitar at a price point that could service a larger market. So we assembled a small group of people and started researching the common threads between the most sought-after vintage instruments ā the early Gibsons, D-18s, D-28s and the like. Our goal was to find the common thread that was producing the magic we heard and felt in these guitars.
We went back in time as much as we could and got samples to study, but we also referenced newer high-end builders as well. The boutique builders we looked at produced around 400 guitars a year, and we decided to deliver a similar handmade experience at the price of U.S. manufacturers like Martin and Taylor. I was looking at their price points, and I thought if I could produce a handmade, high-end boutique guitar that meets all of the specs of $6000-$7000 guitars and bring it to a larger audience, that would be an incredible mission. And thatās what started the journey.
We spent several years early on identifying what the specs should be. We definitely knew it would have a one-piece neck, a dovetail neck joint, forward shifted bracing, fresh designs, and of course, it had to be handmade. That prompted me to hire an Austrian designer, Andreas Pichler. I was really fond of his previous work. We connected deeply right off the bat. I simply gave him my design intent and he took it from there.
What I was looking for was our own sound, and I found it first through design and secondly through a facility that could produce our designs to our specs. We found a voice in there that was fat on the treble and fat on the bass, and really well balanced. Having our own voice enabled us to drive the process and demand that everything have an original identity. Our target was to go right up the middle, between both of the heritages of Martin and Taylor, not outside or around them. I wanted to be original and fresh, I wanted to start challenging these traditional designs and I needed a platform, so I stayed as conservative as I could while introducing new design concepts.
That sounds like a tight line to walk.
Yeah, so we did our a-style with what we call a ānon-cutaway.ā We didnāt want to build a guitar and then cut something away, so we designed it to be built in two halves. It gives the relief needed to play a good lead high on the neck without actually having to cut away. I felt that the a-style was our platform to be conservative and safe ā even though we introduced some new concepts, it was friendly enough that everybody could grab it and play.
We chose the d-style as the model to really challenge things. I knew that the world didnāt need another dreadnought, yet most of the sales are going to come from dreadnoughts and auditorium size guitars, so I wanted to really focus the first couple of years on those two areas. I chose to name them āstylesā because they arenāt the typical dreadnought or auditorium. I wanted to give them their own identity within the market.
On the d-style, I think you can find some similarities with guitars from the early 1900s, but it was designed to push the envelope and be a little controversial. I just chose a pure, simple approach. To me, even inlays could drown out all the factors that go into details such as the miter joints, and the carefully chosen materials. Our target consumers already own a lot of guitars and we are looking to give them something more. That was the driving force in our design intent, which was a tall order.
What we did was take a reasonably priced, boutique, handmade guitar to the market. There is a lot of controversy over what a true handmade instrument is, but these are completely built by hand. We use a mallet and a blade for hand-carving necks and bodies. The specs are set up to my own tastes and on what the boutique guys are doing. We arenāt looking to copy anything, but we are looking at what the consumer wants from these types of guitars. For example, the d-style uses medium strings and a little higher action to give it that bark and growl; we made a monster out of it. The a-style has light strings and is set up for guys who play fingerstyle.
Larry (Fishman) and I have a history. When I got into the guitar business, everybody looked at the acoustic/electric as a nonacoustic, because if you put a Thinline into it you were a sinner or didnāt know real music. I got into selling acoustic/electrics because I personally prefer to play plugged in. When I started early on, companies didnāt want to go acoustic/electric with high-end guitars, but I was always driving for it. I represented the artists and was voicing the artistsā demands, so Larry and I started working together with sort of the same vision, that all guitars should be able to be plugged in. He would call me up on a regular basis about a new prototype and we would get excited over everything. He would then design the technology and we would find the right guitar to showcase his innovations.
Later on, when I started my own company, I thought it was important to make all of my guitars acoustic/electric, so I turned to Larry to help me out. We always saw eye-to-eye on this point and felt it was our responsibility to provide high-quality instruments that both professional artists and consumers could play onstage. To overcome the obstacle of artists and consumers wanting to play a lesser quality instrument on the road because they felt their high-end instruments were for home, we worked really hard to get the Ellipse Aura technology on all the guitars and to move the control surface inside the soundhole so we wouldnāt disrupt the beautiful curvature of our lines. We absolutely did not want to put a hole in the side of the guitar.
With the voice and imaging technology, we were able to create something better than anything that I had heard before. I challenge everybody to sit down with the system in a high-fidelity situation, take the volume down to 0 and just roll it up slowly. Youāll realize that all weāre doing is allowing you to play that voice louder. Weāre not coloring or altering the original tone at all.
Modeling is the ability to make something sound similar to something else. We use this technology in imaging to make it sound like the instrument in its purest way. The piezo triggers the image, and you can also blend it with the sound of the images. We went in the studio and used large and small diaphragms mics with various placements to create .wav files. Larry has a special sauce for creating these things. I donāt understand what he does, nor do I really want to, but I know it works.
After creating a lot of images, we find the best situations and choose the best sets for our guitars. You are getting our best work for what a guitar should sound like in the studio. People often talk about the negatives of piezo pickups, but they are workhorses, one of the most functional pickups ever made. In a band situation, itās a frequency that cuts through everything else.
Another key is the Phase In/Out button, which allows players to get rid of the woof by simply hitting a button and changing the phase. These guitars work so well in big band situations that they are being played without soundhole mutes, which tend to kill the true acoustic tone. I suggest that anyone who has a dusty Gibson or Martin with a piezo pickup under their bed get this technology and start playing those great guitars.
Your website really emphasizes both that your guitars are handmade and that youāve eschewed a lot of the ornamentation that exists in the high-end segment of the acoustic market. How did you come to that design philosophy and how exactly are your guitars made?
Our Vietnam factory has six master luthiers, all of whom have an incredible work ethic. This place isnāt just a company or factory ā itās a family. When you find a place like this ā they can produce what I call a unique blueprint or fingerprint ā the tone and sound of that instrument is unique to that facility. The motivation behind our design was based on the need for market acceptance of the concept of quality from Asia. I think youāll see more of it in the future because the prices in China have gone up two or three-fold and companies are pulling out, looking for the next low-cost provider. So it seems natural that those companies will turn more towards producing quality over quantity from that region.
No matter where you manufacture, you have a choice to go with either quality or price. If you choose quality, it has a cost, and the way we build is the most labor and material intensive way possible. While we are pioneering this concept, we want to make sure that people know weāre an American brand and an Americandesigned company. We need to realize that itās 2008 and it doesnāt matter where you make it, but how you make it. There is still a prejudice resonating from the eighties and nineties, which I take blame for, too. Thatās what we are pioneering against.
To help answer your question, Iāll ask another question, which is how do you take out the Asian part of design? Asian builders are known for their detailed inlay on the fretboard and peghead areas, but I wanted to differentiate us from the typical Asian product. The extra detail and glitter adds value but is more expensive for the consumer. We are keeping the price reasonable because we are focusing only on the highest grade of materials for each instrument. If I produced the same product in the U.S., Iād be producing a $6000-$8000 instrument. That said, if and when we decide to come back to that inlay style, we know we have some of the best and most dedicated artists weāve ever seen and will have that capability as well.
Because of your dedication to handbuilding each instrument, is it tough to stay competitive in the modern guitar market?
I think we are extremely competitive, and that starts with the work done inside our own four walls. The market is saturated right now, but the market goes up and down in waves. At the end of the day the thing that enables us to complete the cycle is the brand. Branding is important for consumers to know exactly what the company is all about. We arenāt trying to be a massive company; we are just trying to be a large boutique company offering quality, handmade guitars.
There is a lot of change in our industry. For example, I was recently with a distributor, and they met me in Vietnam to tour my facility. It was actually the same executive I gave a tour during my days at Taylor, but this time we were at a facility where everything was handmade. We had a few laughs about our past encounters ā just ten years ago I was showing them CNC machines and explaining how we could produce kits and accurate parts for guitars, and this time I was showing him a handmade line where each guitar is unique. It was a surreal situation that had come full circle. You are really going to see a flash in the next 12-18 months. Itās just not us ā the entire landscape of the industry is changing.
How do you feel about the current state of the guitar industry?
Iāve touched on it, but itās rather saturated and overall it lacks creativity and originality. Everything we are doing is because of the current market condition, which I think is caused by manufacturers and dealers hanging onto old ways. They make money selling a Strat and if they get a similar version of one that can make more money, theyāll do that. Itās much more difficult and time-consuming for dealers to break a brand like Baden, because we are fresh and unknown. But the essence of everything weāre doing is to create our own pocket in the industry and give us the platform for our visions to be realized.
It sounds like youāve got a solid grounding in the business side of the industry ā did you pick up a lot of that from your time at Taylor?
I basically took away a college degree in distribution. I was fortunate to have access to good mentors and consultants, so I really learned a tremendous amount about business. But the main thing I pulled was a firm grasp of what I want to do with my own company. The most passionate time of my career was when I was connected with artists and dealers. I did artist relations for over 17 years, so I was able to cement good relationships with artists all over the place, but there came a point where I couldnāt do those jobs anymore. We grew and were managing a large company ā the companyās own needs changed. My passion was to get back and connected to the industry. I also took away a good perspective on how to bring a new brand to market, to build proper distribution and most importantly, the importance of quality customer service.
Consumers often misunderstand the value the dealer has to offer when compared with the big box stores. The top influences in the purchase of a high-end acoustic guitar are salespeople and customer service centers. Those one-on-one recommendations are the most valuable part of the consumerās purchase decision, so with that understanding, we designed an entire line of guitars that were very simple for the dealers to represent. Thatās why our offerings are very thin, with two body sizes and three material choices. The majority of all guitar sales, percentagewise, are covered by those simple offerings. Print drives the web, the web takes it to the stores and the stores demonstrate the product. Thatās how the process works. With that understanding, we were able to build a company that could deliver and get into the market rapidly.
Who have you been targeting as the typical player of Baden guitars?
First and foremost, we design guitars that we personally want to play. I have been fortunate enough to service all the different areas where our products are used and I have a thorough understanding of what gets guitar players excited. As guitar players, we can tend to sound alike when it comes down to it. Itās how we write, our diligence and our relationship to our audience onstage where the magic and the true artist comes out, but as strictly guitar players, we are all kind of the same. It is in our choice of guitars where we have the ability to further identify ourselves as individuals.
Whatās been the most rewarding part in making your own guitar company?
I was very shy about putting my own name on the guitars. I actually spent the first year trying to acquire well-established brands with a business partner to brand our guitars. But I realized that there were all these issues that came with these companies, so I thought, why donāt I start my own company and have my own issues?
I started this company not because I wanted to be CEO or the president, but because I wanted to be able to do what I do really well, which is working with the dealers, artists and consumers. Iām absolutely passionate about teaching, sharing and solving problems through music, and helping consumers and artists find products with which they can write new, inspiring music. It wasnāt about me trying to climb the ladder again, but instead going back down. I wanted to be in a position where I could operate a company that enabled me to do what I enjoy in life and I now have a lifetimeās worth of friends to share this common bond with. Iāve also enjoyed pioneering new concepts and being validated by our customer response, and by renowned artists using our products. And you know what really turns me on? Itās when art is produced with our instruments. Seeing Bo Bice or John Cephas use our product on stage is a real connection for me.
We have so many ideas, like the next 10- 20 years of our lives mapped out. One of the immediate things I can talk about is something called Baden Tours. Iād like to say that itās wildly different than the clinic program we built last time, but really the main difference is that we are going to primarily push performance, as it is about the artist which makes it so fun ā and weāre going to try and make sure they are fun for all ages. We plan on bringing in some of the areaās finest artists, for example John Cephas. Theyāll be performing small concerts and various promotions at local venues as well as instore shows. These will start during the fourth quarter of this year.
John and I have been friends for a long time. After he got his first Baden guitar, I didnāt hear from him for about a week; it turned out he put it in his car and drove around to music stores to show it off. As he put it, this guitar really spoke to him and he had to share it with everyone.
Weāve been working together for years and we got to a point where I said, āJohn, what more do you want out of life?ā He replied that he wanted a platform to give back to the community and teach kids about the Piedmont blues, Delta blues and other classical musical styles. So another thing we started is called Blues in the School, and this non-profit organization will be bringing artists and the blues to schools. We want to get to teach kids different styles of music, especially the Piedmont blues, which is becoming extinct in todayās musical world. I donāt care what type of music you prefer to play or hear ā the ability for John and others to talk about these styles of music just moves people.
We will also be heading to the Summer NAMM show to demo our first handmade U.S. guitar, depending on how far along we are in the process. Of course, I also have plenty more tricks up my sleeve that I donāt want to release quite yet.
Baden Guitars
badenguitars.com
This Japan-made Guyatone brings back memories of hitchinā rides around the U.S.
This oddball vintage Guyatone has a streak of Jack Kerouacās adventurous, thumbing spirit.
The other day, I saw something I hadnāt noticed in quite some time. Driving home from work, I saw an interesting-looking fellow hitchhiking. When I was a kid, āhitchersā seemed much more common, but, then again, the world didnāt seem as dangerous as today. Heck, I can remember hitching to my uncleās cabin in Bradford, Pennsylvaniaāhome of Zippo lightersāand riding almost 200 miles while I sat in a spare tire in the open bed of a pickup truck! Yes, safety wasnāt a big concern for kids back in the day.
So, as Iām prone to do, I started digging around hitchhiking culture and stories. Surprisingly, there are organized groups that embrace the hitching life, but the practice remains on the fringe in the U.S. Back in the 1950s, writer Jack Kerouac wrote the novel On the Road, which celebrated hitchhiking and exposed readers to the thrill of maverick travel. Heck, even Mike Dugan (the guitarist in all my videos) hitched his way to California in the 1960s. But seeing that fellow on the side of the road also sparked another image in my brain: Yep, it always comes back to guitars.
Let me present to you a guitar thatās ready to go hitching: the Guyatone LG-180T, hailing from 1966. The āthumbs-upā headstock and the big āthumbā on the upper bout always made me think of thumbing a ride, and I bought and sold this guitar so long ago that I had forgotten about it, until I saw that hitchhiking dude. Guyatone was an interesting Japanese company because they were primarily an electronics company, and most of their guitars had their wooden parts produced by other factories. In the case of the LG-180T, the bodies were made by Yamaha in Hamamatsu, Japan. At that time, Yamaha was arguably making the finest Japanese guitars, and the wood on this Guyatone model is outstanding. We donāt often see Guyatone-branded guitars here in the U.S., but a lot of players recognize the early ā60s label Kentāa brand name used by an American importer for Guyatone guitars.
With a bit of imagination, the LG-180Tās āthumbs upā headstock seems to be looking for a roadside ride.
Kent guitars were extremely popular from the early ā60s until around 1966. The U.S. importer B&J fed the American need for electric guitars with several nice Kent models, but when the Guyatone contract ended, so did most of the Kent guitars. After that, Guyatone primarily sold guitars in Japan, so this example is a rare model in the U.S.
āUnless you are a master at guitar setups, this would be a difficult player.ā
This headstock is either the ugliest or the coolest of the Guyatone designs. I canāt decide which. I will say, no other Japanese guitar company ever put out anything like this. You have to give the Guyatone designers a thumbs up for trying to stand out in the crowd! Guyatone decided to forgo an adjustable truss rod in this model, opting instead for a light alloy non-adjustable core to reinforce the neck. Speaking of the neck, this instrument features the most odd-feeling neck. Itās very thin but has a deep shoulder (if that makes any sense). Totally strange!
Another strange feature is the bridge, which offers very little adjustment because of the three large saddles, which sort of rock back and forth with the tremolo. Itās a shame because these pickups sound great! Theyāre very crisp and have plenty of zing, but unless you are a master at guitar set-ups, this would be a difficult player.
This could be why the LG-180T only appeared in the 1966 and 1967 catalogs. After that, it disappeared along with all the other Yamaha-made Guyatone electrics. By 1969, Guyatone had gone bankrupt for the first time, and thus ended guitar production for a few decades. At least we were blessed with some wacky guitar designs we can marvel at while remembering the days when you could play in the back end of an explosive 1973 AMC Gremlin while your mom raced around town. Two thumbs up for surviving our childhoods! PG
Fifteen watts that sits in a unique tone space and offers modern signal routing options.
A distinct alternative to the most popular 1x10 combos. Muscular and thick for a 1x10 at many settings. Pairs easily with single-coils and humbuckers. Cool looks.
Tone stack could be more rangeful.
$999
Supro Montauk
supro.com
When you imagine an ideal creative space, what do you see? A loft? A barn? A cabin far from distraction? Reveling in such visions is inspiration and a beautiful escape. Reality for most of us, though, is different. Weāre lucky to have a corner in the kitchen or a converted closet to make music in. Still, thereās a romance and sense of possibility in these modest spaces, and the 15-watt, 1x10, all-tubeSupro Montauk is an amplifier well suited to this kind of place. It enlivens cramped corners with its classy, colorful appearance. Itās compact. Itās also potent enough to sound and respond like a bigger amp in a small room.
The Montauk works in tight quarters for reasons other than size, thoughāwith three pre-power-section outputs that can route dry signal, all-wet signal from the ampās spring reverb, or a mixture of both to a DAW or power amplifier.
Different Stripes and Spacious Places
Vintage Supro amps are modestly lovely things. The China-made Montauk doesnāt adhere toold Supro style motifs in the strictest sense. Its white skunk stripe is more commonly seen on black Supro combos from the late 1950s, while the blue ārhino hideā vinyl evokes Supros from the following decade. But the Montaukās handsome looks make a cramped corner look a lot less dour. It looks pretty cool on a stage, too, but the Montauk attribute most likely to please performing guitarists is the small size (17.75" x 16.5" x 7.5") and light weight (29 pounds), which, if you tote your guitar in a gig bag and keep your other stuff to a minimum, facilitates magical one-trip load ins.
Keen-eyed Supro-spotters noting the Montaukās weight and dimensions might spy the similarities to another 1x10 Supro combo,the Amulet. A casual comparison of the two amps might suggest that the Montauk is, more-or-less, an Amulet without tremolo and power scaling. They share the same tube complement, including a relatively uncommon 1x6L6 power section. But while the Montauk lacks the Amuletās tremolo, the Montaukās spring reverb features level and dwell controls rather than the Amuletās single reverb-level knob.
āHigh reverb levels and low dwell settings evoke a small, reflective room with metallic overtones from the spring sprinkled on topāleaving ghostly ambience in the wake of strong, defined transient tones.ā
If you use reverb a lot and in varying levels of intensity, youāll appreciate the extra flexibility. High reverb levels and low dwell settings evoke a small, reflective room with metallic overtones from the spring sprinkled on topāleaving ghostly ambience in the wake of strong, defined transient tones. There are many shades of this subtle texture to explore, and itās a great sound and solution for those who find the spring reverbs in Fender amps (which feature no dwell control) an all-or-nothing proposition. For those who like to get deep in the pipeline, though, the dwell offers room to roam. Mixing high level and dwell settings blunts the ampās touch sensitivity a bit, and at 15 watts you trade headroom for natural compression, compounding the fogginess of these aggressive settings. A Twin Reverb it aināt. But there is texture aplenty to play with.
A Long, Wide Strand
Admirably, the Montauk speaks in many voices when paired with a guitar alone. The EQ sits most naturally and alive with treble and bass in the noon-to-2-oāclock region, and a slight midrange lean adds welcome punch. Even the ampās trebliest realms afford you a lot of expressive headroom if you have enough range and sensitivity in your guitar volume and tone pots. Interactions between the gain and master output controls yield scads of different tone color, too. Generally, I preferred high gain settings, which add a firecracker edge to maximum guitar volume settings and preserve touch and pick response at attenuated guitar volume and tone levels.
If working with the Montauk in this fashion feels natural, youāll need very few pedals. But itās a good fit for many effects. A Fuzz Face sounded nasty without collapsing into spitty junk, and the Klon-ish Electro-Harmonix Soul Food added muscle and character in its clean-boost guise and at grittier gain levels. Thereās plenty of headroom for exploring nuance and complexity in delays and modulations. It also pairs happily with a wide range of guitars and pickups: Every time I thought a Telecaster was a perfect fit, Iād plug in an SG with PAFs and drift away in Mick Taylor/Stones bliss.
The Verdict
Because the gain, master, tone, and reverb controls are fairly interactive, it took me a minute to suss out the Montaukās best and sweetest tones. But by the time I was through with this review, I found many sweet spots that fill the spaces between Vox and Fender templates. Thereās also raunch in abundance when you turn it up. Itās tempting to view the Montauk as a competitor to the Fender Princeton and Vox AC15. At a thousand bucks, itās $400 dollars less than the Mexico-made Princeton ā68 Custom and $170 more than the AC15, also made in China. In purely tone terms, though, it represents a real alternative to those stalwarts. Iād be more than happy to see one in a backline, provided I wasnāt trying to rise above a Geezer Butler/Bill Ward rhythm section. And with its capacity for routing to other amps and recording consoles in many intriguing configurations, it succeeds in being a genuinely interesting combination of vintage style and sound and home-studio utilityāall without adding a single digital or solid-state component to the mix.
Watch the official video documenting the sold-out event at House of Blues in Anaheim. Join Paul Reed Smith and special guests as they toast to quality and excellence in guitar craftsmanship.
PRS Guitars today released the official video documenting the full night of performances at their 40th Anniversary celebration, held January 24th in conjunction with the 2025 NAMM (The National Association of Music Merchants) Show. The sold-out, private event took place at House of Blues in Anaheim, California and featured performances by PRS artists Randy Bowland, Curt Chambers, David Grissom, Jon Jourdan, Howard Leese, Mark Lettieri Group, Herman Li, John Mayer, Orianthi, Tim Pierce, Noah Robertson, Shantaia, Philip Sayce, and Dany Villarreal, along with Paul Reed Smith and his Eightlock band.
āWhat a night! Big thanks to everyone who came out to support us: retailers, distributors, vendors, content creators, industry friends, and especially the artists. I loved every second. We are so pleased to share the whole night now on this video,ā said Paul Reed Smith, Founder & Managing General Partner of PRS Guitars. āI couldnāt be more proud to still be here 40 years later.ā
With nearly 1,400 of the whoās who in the musical instrument industry in attendance, the night ended with a thoughtful toast from PRS Signature Artist John Mayer, who reflected on 40 years of PRS Guitars and the quality that sets the brand apart. āThe guitars are great. You canāt last 40 years if the guitars arenāt great,ā said Mayer. āMany of you started hearing about PRS the same way I did, which is you would talk about PRS and someone would say āTheyāre too nice.ā Whatās too nice for a guitar? What, you want that special vibe that only tuning every song can give you on stage? You want that grit just like your heroes ā¦ bad intonation? The product is incredible.ā
Be sure to locate your sample library where it can be quickly referenced on your DAW.
Improve your recordings using your own samples. Bryan Clark, house producer at Nashvilleās Blackbird Studio, tells you how to take the final steps in building your own sample library.
Mastering the sample import process in your chosen DAW can significantly enhance your creativity and streamline your workflow. With a clear understanding of the tools and techniques available, you will be better equipped to bring your musical ideas to life and make your productions stand out.
This month, we finish up a three-part series on creating your own sample libraries. In this final installment, Iām going to give you the basic ways to import your samples into various popular DAWs. Each one has its unique workflow and user interface, but the fundamental process remains very similar. This Dojo guide will cover how to import samples into Ableton Live, LUNA, Logic Pro, Pro Tools, and Studio One.
Ableton Live
Steps to Import Samples
Drag and Drop: Simply locate the sample file in your computerās file explorer, then drag and drop it directly into an audio track in the session or arrangement view.
Browser Window: Use Abletonās built-in browser (on the left-hand side). Navigate to the sampleās location on your hard drive, then drag it into the workspace.
Create a Simpler or Sampler Instrument: Drag the sample into a MIDI track with Simpler or Sampler loaded. This allows you to trigger the sample using MIDI notes.
Tips: Use the warp feature for time-stretching and syncing samples to your projectās tempo.
Organize your samples into collections using the āAdd Folderā option in the browser.
LUNA
Steps to Import Samples
Drag and Drop: Drag the sample from your file explorer directly into the timeline. Then hold the CTRL key down, click on the end of the loop, and drag it to the length it needs to be.
Browser/Workspace: Use the media browser to navigate to your sampleās location on your hard drive. Drag it into an audio track in your session.
Audio Track Import: Right-click on an empty area in the timeline or a track and select āImport Audioā to locate and add your sample.
Tips: Use LUNAās built-in varispeed capabilities to match your sample to the sessionās tempo.Logic Pro
Steps to Import Samples
Drag and Drop: Drag the sample from the Finder directly into an audio track in the workspace.
File Browser: Use the file browser (accessible via the media sidebar or āFā key) to locate and drag samples into the timeline.
Quick Sampler: Drag your sample onto a MIDI track with the Quick Sampler plugin loaded. This lets you play the sample chromatically.
Tips: Use Logicās flex time feature to sync samples to your projectās tempo. Organize samples into Logicās library for quick access.Pro Tools
Steps to Import Samples
Import Audio Dialog: Go to File > Import > Audio; then locate your sample and click āConvertā or āAddā to bring it into the session.
Drag and Drop: Drag the sample directly from your file explorer into an audio track.
Workspace Browser: Use the workspace (accessible via Window > New Workspace) to locate your sample. Drag it into your session.
Tips: Use the elastic audio feature for tempo matching and pitch adjustments.
Place your samples into playlists for efficient access during editing.
Studio One
Steps to Import Samples
Drag and Drop: Drag your sample directly from your file explorer into the timeline or browser.
Browser: Open Studio Oneās browser (on the right-hand side), navigate to the folder containing your sample, and drag it into your project.
Sampler Track: Drag the sample onto a MIDI track, and use the Sample One sampler for additional manipulation.
Tips: Enable the āStretch Audio Files to Song Tempoā option in the browser for automatic tempo synchronization. Create sample folders within Studio Oneās browser for quick access.General Best Practices
Regardless of the DAW you use, it is important to maintain a smooth and efficient workflow. Organize your sample library with clear folder names and categories to make locating files easy (see last monthās installment for detailed strategies). Where possible, learn DAW-specific shortcuts for importing and editing samples to save time. Always check if your DAW offers a feature to sync the sampleās tempo to your project to ensure seamless integration. Finally, regularly back up your sample collection to avoid losing important audio files and preserve your creative assets! Seriously. Do it now.
Next month, weāre off to āconsoleā land and Iāll be investigating console emulations (hype or not?), summing bus processors, and more to give you a more āstudioā sound. Until then, blessings and namaste.