Spiritinthesky
9 June 2010
Happy Birthday Les Paul
June 9th 1915, Born on this day, guitarist Les Paul, inventor of the Gibson Les Paul guitar who also had a 1953 UK No.7 single with ‘Vaya Con Dios’ and the US No.7 single ‘Hummingbird’ with Mary Ford featuring his multi-layered recording techniques. He also pioneered “close miking” and echo delay recording.
He broke his right arm in a car accident and had it set at an angle so he could still play guitar. Paul died in hospital in White Plains, New York at the age of 94 suffering from severe pneumonia on 12th Aug 2009.
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There isn't a single person who visits this site who doesn't owe
There isn't a single person who visits this site who doesn't owe Les Paul a great deal of gratitude for his vision and perseverance. He singlehandedly started the multi-tracking movement in music recording, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Every time I look around the studio, I see his inventions. The 24-track recorder (OK, so now it's a digital one), the tape echo (and the plethora of digital versions of that), the myriad of mics that I now use as "paint brushes" for multi-tracking, not to
mention the shoulder-killing Les Paul Standard plugged into Les's fave amp, a Trademark 60. Come to think of it, Les has cost me a lot of f%#%@g money!!! (And I wouldn't have it any other way! )