Onstage, Tommy Emmanuel executes a move that is not from the playbook of his hero, Chet Atkins.
āMy biggest decision every day on tour is, āWhat do I want to start with? How do I want to come out of the gate?āā Emmanuel explains to me over a video call. āA good opener has to have everything. It has to be full of surprise, it has to have lots of good ideas, lots of light and shade, and then, hit it again,ā he says, illustrating each phrase with his hands and ending with a punch.āYou lift off straightaway with the first song, you get airborne, you start reaching, and then itās time to level out and take people on a journey.ā
In May 2023, Emmanuel played two shows at the Sydney Opera House, the best performances from which have been combined on his new release, Live at the Sydney Opera House. The venueās Concert Hall, which has a capacity of 2,679, is a familiar room for Emmanuel, but I think at this point in his career he wouldnāt bring a setlist if he was playing Wembley Stadium. On the recording, Emmanuelās mind-blowingly dexterous chops, distinctive attack and flair, and knack for culturally resonant compositions are on full display. His opening song for the shows? An original, āCountrywide,ā with a segue into Chet Atkinsā āEl Vaquero.ā
āWhen I was going to high school in the ā60s, I heard āEl Vaqueroā on Chet Atkinsā record, [1964ās My Favorite Guitars],ā Emmanuel shares. āAnd when I wrote āCountrywideā in around ā76 or ā77, I suddenly realized, āAh! Itās a bit like āEl Vaquero!āā So I then worked out āEl Vaqueroā as a solo piece, because it wasnāt recorded like that [by Atkins originally].
āThe co-writer of āEl Vaqueroā is Wayne Moss, whoās a famous Nashville session guy who played āda da daā [sings the guitar riff from Roy Orbisonās āPretty Womanā]. And he played on a lot of Chetās records as a rhythm guy. So once when I played āEl Vaqueroā live, Wayne Moss came up to me and said, āYou know, you did my part and Chetās at the same time. Thatās not fair!āā Emmanuel says, laughing.
Atkins is the reason Emmanuel got into performing. His mother had been teaching him rhythm guitar for a couple years when he heard Atkins on the radio and, at 6, was able to immediately mimic his fingerpicking technique. His father recognized Emmanuelās prodigious talent and got him on the road that year, which kicked off his professional career. He says, āBy the time I was 6, I was already sleep-deprived, working too hard, and being forced to be educated. Because all I was interested in was playing music.ā
Emmanuel talks about Atkins as if the way he viewed him as a boy hasnāt changed. The title Atkins bestowed upon him, C.G.P. (Certified Guitar Player), appears on Emmanuelās album covers, in his record label (C.G.P. Sounds), and is inlaid at the 12th fret on his Maton Custom Shop TE Personal signature acoustic. (Atkins named only five guitarists C.G.P.s. The others are John Knowles, Steve Wariner, Jerry Reed, and Atkins himself.) For Emmanuel, even today most roads lead to Atkins.
When I ask Emmanuel about his approach to arranging for solo acoustic guitar, he says, āIt was really hit home for me by my hero, Chet Atkins, when I read an interview with him a long time ago and he said, āMake your arrangement interesting.ā And I thought, āWow!ā Because I was so keen to be true to the composer and play the song as everyone knows it. But then again, Iām recreating it like everyone else has, and I might as well get in line with the rest of them and jump off the cliff into nowhere. So it struck me: āHow can I make my arrangements interesting?ā Well, make them full of surprises.ā
When Emmanuel was invited to contribute to 2015ās Burt Bacharach: This Guitarās in Love with You, featuring acoustic-guitar tributes to Bacharachās classic compositions by various artists, Emmanuel expresses that nobody wanted to take ā(They Long to Be) Close to You,ā due to its āsyrupyā nature. But for Emmanuel, this presented an entertaining challenge.
He explains, āI thought, āOkay, how can I reboot āClose to You?ā So even the most jaded listener will say, āHoly fuckāI didnāt expect that! Wow, I really like that; that is a good melody!ā So I found a good key to play the song in, which allowed me to get some open notes that sustain while I move the chords. Then what I did is, in every phrase, I made the chord unresolve, then resolve.
Tommy Emmanuel's Gear
āIām writing music for the film thatās in my head,ā Emmanuel says. āSo, I donāt think, āIām just the guitar,ā ever.ā
Photo by Simone Cecchetti
Guitars
- Three Maton Custom Shop TE Personals, each with an AP5 PRO pickup system
Amps
- Udo Roesner Da Capo 75
Effects
- AER Pocket Tools preamp
Strings & Picks
- Martin TE Signature Phosphor Bronze (.012ā.054)
- Martin SP strings
- Ernie Ball Paradigm strings
- DāAndrea Pro Plec 1.5 mm
- Dunlop medium thumbpicks
āAnd then to really put the nail in the coffin, at the end, āClose to youā [sings melody]. I finished on a major 9 chord which had that note in it, but it wasnāt the key the song was in, which is a typical Stevie Wonder trick. All the tricks I know, the wonderful ideas that Iāve stolen, are from Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Lionel Richie, James Taylor, Carole King, Neil Diamond. All of the people who wrote really incredibly great pop songs and R&B musicāI stole every idea I could, and I tried to make my little two-and-a -half minutes as interesting and entertaining as possible. Because entertainment equals: Surprise me.ā
I share with Emmanuel that the performances on Live at the Sydney Opera House, which include his popular āBeatles Medley,ā reminded me of another possible arrangement trick. In Harpo Marxās autobiography, Harpo Speaks, I preface, Marx writes of a lesson he learned as a performerāto āanswer the audienceās questions.ā (Emmanuel says heās a big fan of the book and read it in the early ā70s.) That happened for me while listening to the medley, when, after sampling melodies from āSheās a Womanā and āPlease Please Me,ā Emmanuel suddenly lands on āWhile My Guitar Gently Weeps.ā
I say, āIām waiting for something that hits more recognizably to me, and when āWhile My Guitarā comes in, thatās like answering my question.ā
āItās also Paul and John, Paul and John, George,ā Emmanuel replies. āYou think, āThatās great, thatās great pop music,ā then, āWow! Look at the depth of this.āā
Often Emmanuelās flights on his acoustic guitar are seemingly superhumanāas well as supremely entertaining.
Photo by Ekaterina Gorbacheva
A trick I like to employ as a writer, I say to Emmanuel, is that when Iām describing something, Iāll provide the reader with just enough context so that they can complete the thought on their own.
āYou can do that musically as well,ā says Emmanuel. He explains how, in his arrangement of āWhat a Wonderful World,ā heāll play only the vocal melody. āWhen people are asking me at a workshop, āHow come you donāt put chords behind that part?ā I say, āIām drawing the melody and youāre putting in all the background in your head. I donāt need to tell you what the chords are. You already know what the chords are.āā
āWayne Moss came up to me and said, āYou know, you did my part and Chetās at the same time. Thatās not fair!āā
Another track featured on Live at the Sydney Opera House is a cover of Paul Simonās āAmerican Tuneā (which Emmanuel then jumps into an adaptation of the Australian bush ballad, āWaltzing Matildaā). Itās been a while since I really spent time with There GoesRhyminā Simon (on which āAmerican Tuneā was first released), and yet it sounded so familiar to me. A little digging revealed that its melody is based on the 17th-century Christian hymn, āO Sacred Head, Now Wounded,ā which was arranged and repurposed by Bach in a few of the composerās works. The cross-chronological and genre-lackadaisical intersections that come up in popular music sometimes is fascinating.
āI think the principle right there,ā Emmanuel muses, āis people like Bach and Beethoven and Mozart found the right language to touch the heart of a human being through their ears and through their senses ... that really did something to them deep in their soul. They found a way with the right chords and the right notes, somehow. It could be as primitive as that.
Tommy Emmanuel has been on the road as a performing guitarist for 64 years. Eat your heart out, Bob Dylan.
Photo by Jan Anderson
āItās like when youāre a young composer and someone tells you, āHave a listen to Elton Johnās āCandle in the Wind,āā he continues. āāListen to how those notes work with those chords.ā And every time you hear it, you go, āWhy does it touch me like that? Why do I feel this way when I hear those chordsāthose notes against those chords?ā I say, itās just human nature. Then you wanna go, āHow can I do that!āā he concludes with a grin.
āYou draw from such a variety of genres in your arrangements,ā I posit. āDo you try to lean into the side of converting those songs to solo acoustic guitar, or the side of bridging the genreās culture to that of your audience?ā
āI stole every idea I could, and I tried to make my little two-and-a-half minutes as interesting and entertaining as possible. Because entertainment equals: Surprise me.ā
āIf I was a method actor,ā Emmanuel explains, āwhat Iām doing isāIām writing music for the film thatās in my head. So, I donāt think, āIām just the guitar,ā ever. I always think it has to have that kind of orchestral, not grandeur, but ā¦ palette to it. Because of the influence of Stevie Wonder, Billy Joel, and Elton John, especiallyāthe piano guysāI try to use piano ideas, like putting the third in the low bass a lot, because guitar players donāt necessarily do that. And I try to always do something that makes what I do different.
āI want to be different and recognizable,ā he continues. āI remember when people talked about how some playersāyou just hear one note and you go, āOh, thatās Chet Atkins.ā And it hit me like a train, the reason why a guy like Hank Marvin, the lead guitar player from the Shadows.... I can tell you: He had a tone that I hear in other players now. Everyone copied himāthey just donāt know itāincluding Mark Knopfler, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, all those people. I got him up to play with me a few times when he moved to Australia, and even playing acoustic, he still had that sound. I donāt know how he did it, but it was him. He invented himself.ā
YouTube It
Emmanuel performs his arrangement of āWhat a Wonderful World,ā illustrating how omitting a harmonic backdrop can have a more powerful effect, especially when playing such a well-known melody.
While digital audio workstations (DAWs) have revolutionized music production, offering unparalleled editing and flexibility, many producers, including me, still mix back into an analog console for the sonic character and three-dimensionality that it imparts. But buying a professional console isnāt cheap! This is where console summing boxes come into play, offering a unique way to enhance your mixes and elevate them to a professional level.
How Does It Work?
Very simply put, recording consoles have two basic sections: an input section (all the channels of mic pres, and EQ) and a center section (that sums all of the channels together and routes those signals to various configurable outputs such as inserts and aux buses). A console summing mixer is essentially the center section of a console and is designed to sum the individual audio channels, aux buses, stems, and submixes from your DAW in an analog domain.
In a DAW, digital summingāthe process of combining multiple tracks and buses into a stereo mixāis handled through complex binary algorithms that, while precise, can sometimes lead to a mix that feels lifeless and one-dimensional, lacking the warmth, depth, and cohesion that analog consoles impart.
One of the most significant advantages of using a summing box is the introduction of harmonic distortion, a natural byproduct of analog circuitry. This isnāt like amp or pedal distortion, but rather a subtle harmonic saturation that adds richness and character to the sound. Low-end frequencies gain girth and definition, while high frequencies have a smooth, silky quality. You can achieve natural compression through subtle variations in phase and amplitude, but that depends on how hard you push the summing mixer box.
But the best benefit, in my opinion, is its ability to produce an undeniably open stereo image. Digital summing, while accurate, often lacks dimension or a sense of space. Analog summing introduces subtle variations in phase and amplitude, creating a sense of width and depth that makes each instrument feel like it occupies its own space in a more 3-D stereo field, which results in a more engaging and polished mix. Iāve also found summing boxes encourage a more deliberate and thoughtful approach to mixing, as it requires submixing certain elements.
APIās ASM164 ($3,195 street) is wildly flexible, offering VU meters, multiple inserts, two separate stereo mix options, and more.
For those who work āin-the-boxā and arenāt in the market for a summing box, let alone a console, incorporating a summing box can also serve as a valuable learning tool. By running stems through a summing box and comparing the results to an entirely digital mix, you can train your ear to recognize the subtle qualities that make a mix feel warm, cohesive, spatial, and dynamic. This heightened awareness can then inform your in-the-box mixing decisions, even when youāre not using a summing box.
āWhether you want to add depth and dimension to your tracks, enhance your stereo image, or bring a touch of analog magic to your mixes, a summing box can be a gamechanger."
Itās important to choose the right summing box for your needs and budget, as different models offer varying sonic characteristics. Good summing mixers typically start around $2,000, such as Rupert Neve Designās 5057 Orbit Summing Mixer. While more expensive, APIās ASM164 ($3,195 street) is wildly flexible, offering VU meters, multiple inserts, two separate stereo mix options, and more. The key here is to understand your needs.
Pairing a summing box with high-quality outboard processors, such as compressors or EQs, will allow you to shape your mix in ways that are impossible within a purely digital setup.
Whether you want to add depth and dimension to your tracks, enhance your stereo image, or bring a touch of analog magic to your mixes, a summing box can be a gamechanger. For anyone serious about mixing, itās a tool worth consideringāone that can make the difference between a mix thatās good and one thatās truly exceptional. Until next month, namaste
