LAP STEEL OVERDUBS
My name is Hamilton Belk, and I'm a session musician. I record lap steel overdubs from my studio for bands and artists all over the world. I got into lap steel for the haunting, high lonesome sound, and I quickly became enamored with its history and traditions.
I do overdubs for $150 per song, and I will play ANY genre. I've broken up my work samples into a few different tracks. "Clean" is more spacious, ambient, textural material. "Saturated" is a little dirtier, a bit gritty, and perhaps a little more lead oriented.
Hopefully you'll hear something that resonates with your project. If not, drop me a line, and I should be able find a sample that does.
LAP STEEL SAMPLES
LAP STEEL RECORDING PROCESS
DECIDING WHAT TO PLAY: In some productions, the lap steel can be quite constant and busy, but tucked way behind the vocal. Other times it's strictly hooks and fills. In others still it's minimalistic, providing swelling pads and generating unique ambiences. Knowing the sound your aiming for based on your description and/or song references will help me listen to your recording with the right styles in mind. I've played on hundreds of songs, so I'm also happy to approach your production based on my intuition if you don't have any instructions. I'll listen to the song from start to finish to take in the lyrics, the energy, and the overall arc of the arrangement in order to determine where to focus on supportive parts and where the lap steel can be more prominent. It's all about elevating the emotional tone as best as I can. I consider all of these parameters as I record the first draft. If I nail it, great! If not, we can work together on honing it in until it's perfect. Once I get the green light on the track, I'll send dry amp and DI signals, as well as any effects prints you'd like for your mix. I can tailor the delivery to meet your technical needs.
SIGNAL CHAIN: Here is my typical signal chain for recording lap steel. Recording King Lap Steel > Sarno Steel Guitar Black Box (a vacuumm tube pickup driver) > Goodrich Passive Volume Pedal > Radial DI Box (this is where I split the signal in order to provide a clean DI) > Peavey Session 400 or Roland JC 40 (two excellent steel guitar amps) > Royer 121 Ribbon Mic > Neve 511 Portico Preamp > Warm Audio EPQ (a pultec style EQ I usually use in bypass mode for the extra tubes)> Apollo x8p interface > Pro Tools 12. My go to plugins I use for reverb and delay are SoundToys Little Plate and Echo Boy. I have an extensive collection of plugins for post signal processing.