Nice Gibson L-5 Tone

**floatingpickup** · 11-21-2014, 10:42 PM

Originally Posted by Jimmy Mack

What a tough crowd. I get the feeling that some people find it easier to criticize than to accept. Just like it was in junior High! Got nuthin' good to say ? then "cut" it down.

Buble has brought back so many great songs, with a great treatment, and gives life to "band" arrangements ....

what do you want???? more Led Zepp?? and fizzled out pop stars who can't sing anymore - need some money - so they do standards - without any pinache???

And to criticize Norlin L5's??? That alone tells me that you don't know squat. Really.

Too much compression - yes. Too much artist ? absolutely not.

Get out of your "easiness" chairs and live a little.

Sheesh

Well said.
Keith

**Jimmy Mack** · 11-21-2014, 11:09 PM

Quote:

"but what he lacks is the swagger Frank sang with. But in fairness most of the newer music lacks the same thing no matter what the genre. Maybe a lot has to do with the way it's actually made and produced."

You have a point here jads57. I'll agree halfway. I think Frank had a quarter of the swagger his bands had! Nelson Riddle? Fantastic.

I'll quote one writer saying that : "Frank sang with the conviction of someone who just had someone put to death" !!!

Now that's harsh. But I bring it into the light to show that people can be cruel and over - convicting!

I'm not a fan of "newer" music, and largely because it is produced in a more mechanical fashion. The "groove" is missing. You don't have the great "ensemble" rhythm section playing that you we used to hear. Sensationalism. Phoned in tracks pieced together.

Bass players used to listen, and complement the music being recorded. Artistically.

drummers used to keep time, and a groove.

Just some of my observations, and not at all encompassing every recording, but Buble, and his producers, have brought back some wonderful recording magic.

even with Norlins.

**mr. beaumont** · 11-21-2014, 11:26 PM

I'd DO! Myyyyyy......impression. of. Sinatra. Singing. BUT! Iwouldn'tmake.....any friends...i...sup....pose.

**Jim Soloway** · 11-22-2014, 12:19 AM

Originally Posted by Jimmy Mack

What a tough crowd. I get the feeling that some people find it easier to criticize than to accept. Just like it was in junior High! Got nuthin' good to say ? then "cut" it down.

Buble has brought back so many great songs, with a great treatment, and gives life to "band" arrangements ....

what do you want???? more Led Zepp?? and fizzled out pop stars who can't sing anymore - need some money - so they do standards - without any pinache???

And to criticize Norlin L5's??? That alone tells me that you don't know squat. Really.

Too much compression - yes. Too much artist ? absolutely not.

Get out of your "easiness" chairs and live a little.

Sheesh

Just my opinion, but I think there's a lot of great music being made these days. I also think there are a lot more alternatives to Michael Buble than just Led Zeppelin and Rod Stewart.

**mr. beaumont** · 11-22-2014, 10:57 PM

Oh, I'm just playing. I just don't care for him. Different strokes.

Btw, my joke's not really fair to Frank in his prime...its more of a caricature of older Frank, which was a good deal different...unless we're talking the verse of 'night and day.'

**dizzy101** · 12-02-2014, 06:03 PM

Accompaniment was pretty meh.

It also seems to me with balads like that, it's best not have a steady beat at all. Just scratch the drummer. What does it add? Except for a metronome-like feel that limits the expression?

Just let the phrasing of the singer dictate the rhythm, so that you can slow down and speed up as required. It'll sound better and less elevator-music-like.

**Greentone** · 12-02-2014, 06:34 PM

I wouldn't blame the tone of the guitar on the instrument. That L-5CES is capable of MUCH better--and I'd say it is capable of much better in the hands of the fellow that played it.

Rather, I would speculate that the blame is to be assessed at the studio and in the engineering/production. The guys who recorded and mixed or re-amped the guitar channel put a spit-ton of compression on it. I can replicate that signal with my carved archtop, my L5 Lab Series amp, and the compression cranked. (The L5 Lab Series has a built-in compressor.) You can squash the signal like crazy with the compressor on the L5. Comes out much like what you heard in the video.

My guess is that the engineer was about the same age as the average age of the musicians in the video, and may have been a music school recording major just learning his/her stuff.

**Takemitsu** · 12-02-2014, 08:47 PM

As for the guitar sound...You can't hear the piano AT ALL so imagine the capacities of the sound engineer and his abilities at getting the most out of an L-5.

That's got to be a hard tune to sing without being too cheesy. Everything; melody and words are just screaming for you to do all those little crooner tics.

**Stuart Elliott** · 12-02-2014, 10:18 PM

an alternative to Buble--Kevin Mahagony. Lots of jazz on his CDs and room for the instrumentalists. (A recent CD Next Time You See Me, was recorded in Brazil with the Dave Stryker Organ Trio.)

KM studied jazz, vocal and instrumental at Baker University in Kansas/

Here doing a Percy Mayfield classic with Stryker on guitar.

P.S. I liked Buble more on this cut than I thought I would, but the guitar sound was terrible, I thought.

**Phil in London** · 12-04-2014, 09:28 AM

back to the original vid - I thought he sounds fine for the setting. I guess in radio they would call this 'smooth jazz'. I am using the EH Black Finger compressor (tube based) and my L5 sounds very much like this one when its on.