Les Paul wows Alistair Cooke with tape recorder

Great 1953 video of Les Paul showing off his newfangled recording system to Alistair Cooke. (Via PCL LinkDump)

[#1 posted by Fooksie, August 14, 2009 10:42 AM]

Amazing. Les Paul did it all...in a suit and tie!

[#2 posted by Omir the Storyteller, August 14, 2009 10:55 AM]

Interesting to see Alastair Cooke as a young man. I'm more familiar with the older Alastair from Masterpiece Theater and his BBC radio series Letter From America. It's also cool to see Les and Mary at work.

[#3 posted by Anonymous, August 14, 2009 10:59 AM]

We got to hang with Les a bit at an Empire Music Conference in Rochester (New York) about 15 years ago. Amazing man, amazing talent. His autograph hangs proudly on my office wall and his influence enjoys immortality.

[#4 posted by nosehat, August 14, 2009 11:01 AM]

So this is your obit for Les Paul?

It might be fitting to mention that he died yesterday.

[#5 posted by Kobie, August 14, 2009 11:09 AM]

@nosehat

And they posted his obit yesterday.

[#6 posted by AlanJCastonguay, August 14, 2009 11:11 AM]

Most striking was the lack of a clap-track 59 seconds in.

[#7 posted by nosehat, August 14, 2009 11:17 AM]

@ Kobie:

I don't think they did. Can you link the thread?

[#8 posted by xzzy, August 14, 2009 11:30 AM]

The documentary 'Tom Dowd and the Language of Music' spends a bit of time talking about LP's involvement in the creation of multitrack recording.

Tom Dowd, who was himself a legend in the music industry, was pretty impressed with LP's setup.

The documentary mentions the specifics of the rig with a little more detail.. available on netflix instant watch if you care.

[#9 posted by Anonymous, August 14, 2009 11:44 AM]

... That made me cry.

To think that it is the birth of modern music in a post-industrial society; It is mindful that his get-up greatly resemble GarageBasnd.

The true KING is dead. Long live Les Paul!!

[#10 posted by tomboing, August 14, 2009 11:45 AM]

Les had amazing guitar chops and was a cool cat, even in a suit.

Anyone have insight into how he got those chimey, watery, lushly percussive sounds with a guitar? Know of any guitarist who has had a similar sound?

Mary Ford's singing is gorgeous.

[#11 posted by Ugly Canuck, August 14, 2009 12:00 PM]

yeah strange that BB didn't note the passing of the inventor of the solid-body electric guitar....

[#12 posted by dross1260, August 14, 2009 12:16 PM]

Well, Alastair, these go to five.

[#13 posted by Anonymous, August 14, 2009 12:26 PM]

@ DROSS1260

... NO, it goes to 11 (ELEVEN).

Me swears!

- Nigel.

[#14 posted by truballer2, August 14, 2009 12:58 PM]

wow..Les Paul was amazing in this video

[#15 posted by Raj77, August 14, 2009 1:04 PM]

Ugly Canuck; there's rather a lot of controversy over whether Les Paul, Adolph Rickenbacker or George Beauchamp really 'invented' the solid-body as such. They were all producing non-hollow electric guitars by '39, Rickenbacker and Beauchamp professionally. Certainly though, Paul's 'Log" was an extremely early wooden solid-body, until he attached the sides of a hollow-body archtop to it.

For me, his great achievement was as the pioneer of multi-track recording.

[#16 posted by Anonymous, August 14, 2009 1:36 PM]

@#9
"Anyone have insight into how he got those chimey, watery, lushly percussive sounds with a guitar?"
His signature recording sound came from layering up several guitar tracks, often recorded at different speeds relative to one another. The slight imperfections of the overdubbing process give the sound a thick lush chorus-y sound with lots of tonal variety. That and lots of sweet compression and reverb. And lots of genius.
Thanks BB for posting this great video.

[#17 posted by Enormo, August 14, 2009 1:50 PM]

Riki Gervais' mom!!!

[#18 posted by brad77, August 14, 2009 3:13 PM]

@Tomboing:

To add to #16, Les Paul was heavily influenced by Django Reinhardt as well. You can hear echoes of it all over his playing style. Later in life, he had debilitating arthritis, and had to adapt to playing using the couple of fingers he could still use. Like Django, he found a way to play exceedingly well despite his handicap.

[#19 posted by Teller, August 14, 2009 6:28 PM]

We are midgets.

[#20 posted by BikerRay, August 15, 2009 4:20 AM]

Compare that to *this* for talent...
http://www.wimp.com/britneysounds/
Ugh.

[#21 posted by Anonymous, August 16, 2009 6:30 AM]

I love the metal folding chairs in the studio. Guess the Beeb was on a pretty tight budget then, likely as now.

[#22 posted by Anonymous, August 16, 2009 6:39 AM]

oop, not the Beeb. It says CBS right there in big letters.

-- moioci

[#23 posted by pAULbOWEN, August 16, 2009 4:55 PM]

'How High The Moon' has long been a favourite of mine and I am slightly disappointed to discover that it was created with the help of a lot of electro-trickery I must say.

[#24 posted by Anonymous, August 17, 2009 6:20 AM]

Tomboing: The P90 pickups and classic tube amp with spring reverb have a lot to do with it. His process also added chorus and delay, which today you can do with some pedals. A lot of that sound is/was in his hands, though.

[#25 posted by mdh, August 18, 2009 1:14 AM]

Paulbowen, i am sad to report that the internet is also created with a lot of electro-trickery.

And that really is one great song.

[#26 posted by Anonymous, August 21, 2009 1:01 PM]

You should track down The BBC documentary presented by Steven Fry called "Third Reich & Roll". It follows the 'appropriation' by an American serviceman during WWII and how it helped turn people like Bing Crosby into a megastar.

from: http://www.wordmagazine.co.uk/content/third-reich-and-roll

"The fascinating story of how the Third Reich - a dictatorship with an advanced appreciation of media manipulation - developed magnetic tape recording, the very technology that led to the birth of rock’n’roll."