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Equipment and Techniques
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Jans believes that shared information makes for a friendlier world. (Of course, she also believes that an elf named WYSIWIG lives under the stairs, sneaking out at night to steal olives from the refrigerator...) To that end, here is a run-down of everything that goes into one of her shows on the equipment front. Please note that Janis does not make money from any of these products; they're here because she uses them!. Guitars: Janis plays "Janis Ian Model" Kevin Ryan guitars onstage, a smaller version of the Ryan she uses in the studio. For more information about the guitars, please go here. She also sometimes plays a Santa Cruz Janis Ian Model; for more information, go to http://www.santacruzguitar.com/acousticguitars/details/janis-ian.html . |
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Vocal mic: Janis uses a Shure KSM-9 microphone, and says "I never, ever write glowing reviews for my equipment affiliates. I try to stay pretty subtle about it. But I've got to say, this microphone is absolutely the best road mic I've ever worked with - and it sounds great in the studio, too! Pop screens are not used; wind screens are only used in extreme outdoor weather conditions. Pickup: Janis has known Lloyd Baggs since 1975, when he custom-made two wonderful guitars for her. Since Lloyd began making pickups, she's been proto-typing the new ones and talking up the others! Amplification of Janis' guitars is through Baggs basic under-saddle pickups. Although a lot of people are convinced Janis gets her guitar sound through a bunch of expensive equipment, she uses only the Baggs pickup and a Baggs preamp/DI box. But as Janis points out, "After a point, as Chet Atkins used to say, it's mostly in the fingers...." Strings: Janis uses D'Addario phosphor bronze strings (gauges 10, 12, 22W, 30, 39, 53) for shows and recording. This is an extreme custom set and not available in packets, sorry. Capos: Janis swears by Kyser capos because "they never break, and they let me do a partial capo or change capo position mid-song". She also says "When I was broke, and had no money to buy equipment, Milton Kyser gave me two dozen capos for free. I don't think he knew who I was; he just knew that a lot of people respected me, and I needed help. I was one of the first to use his capos, and I've never turned back." She'd never brag about it, but she also has a coveted "Gold capo award" from the Kyser folks. It's actually hanging in the hall, next to one of her Grammy nominations. Really. Picks: Both Janis and Chet Atkins bemoaned the environmental concerns that forced the end of the "old-style" thumbpicks. When in Japan one tour she found some thumbpicks by Yamaha that fit her, and brought back a gross for herself and Chet. The current thumbpicks are a variant on Yamaha smalls, custom-made for Janis by Yamaha Japan. The flatpicks are Dunlop Tortex light/medium, though she's switching to Planet Waves this year because no one from Dunlop ever calls her back. Cables: Janis uses Planet Waves by D'Addario. (Also their humidity checkers, string changers, and whatever else we can get.) Reaching the board: The guitar is taken to the mixing board through a regular Baggs DI box via either a Shure wireless system, or an ordinary Planet Waves cable. Absolutely nothing else is done to the raw guitar sound. Any effects you hear during the show come from the stomp boxes in front of her, or occasional effects (reverb, mostly) from the front of house sound person. When you hear the naked guitar (as on "Jesse" or "At 17"), nothing has been done to it. That's why she uses this gear, right? Other guitar stuff: Guitars are shipped (air) in Calton cases. We love them. On-stage effects: On stage, in front of her, Janis has an A/B box (tuner to B, direct box to A) which allows her to tune silently during the show. She uses a Boss TU212 tuner to her left for this purpose. Guitar effects are created with a "stomp box" (delay, wah-wah, flanger, or myriad others), though to be brutally honest, most guiitar effects (harmonics, "whang") are created by the positioning of her hands on the guitar neck and body. Tunings: "I hate re-tuning, so if there's a song in the set in an odd tuning, chances are there'll be five or six in that tuning." All the tunings for the Folk Is the New Black album can be found in the digital songbook of that name, available on this website at an absurdly low price. Janis uses a C tuning a great deal these days; strings are C-G-D-G-B-E. For "On the Other Side" the sleight-of-hand is partial capo, where the capo is placed on the bottom four strings only, second fret, with the low E string in dropped D. She uses that a lot, on "Marching On Glasgow", "This Train Still Runs", "On the Other Side", and "Take No Prisoners". Contrary to rumor, these are the only two non-standard tunings Janis uses; she doesn't know any others! Vocal effects: We used to do a lot of these. We got bored with it. Monitors: Shure PSM 600 system in-ear monitors are used onstage when feasible. "They're fantastic, because they've eliminated the need for a monitor person or monitor speakers. I'm so small, onstage monitors cut me off at the waist!" From Janis: The companies below help us to make albums and tour by loaning, selling at cost, or sometimes giving outright the equipment and services we need. Without their assistance, our show wouldn’t be nearly as good, and the albums would stink. We highly recommend them! D'Addario D’Addario provide all my strings, case humidifiers, straps, and a host of other cool stuff. Of course, none of this will help if you don't have talent. But you knew that already... |
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