"The New Sound"

There is hardly a jukebox in the U.S. that will not disgorge one or two records by Guitarist Les Paul, alone or with his singing wife Mary Ford. So far this year, Paul and Ford have turned out about one bestseller a month.-If they keep it up, they will sell close to 6,000,000 records before the year is over--and that's tops in Tin Pan Alley's books. One secret of their success is a tape recorder on which Paul dubs multiple guitar and vocal passages, layer-cake style. The result is a reverberating volcano of polyphony which Paul calls "The New Sound."

The Pauls record wherever they happen to be. They carry the recorders with them on their road tours, and send batches of recordings to Capitol Records for pressing and distribution. Says Paul with a grin: "We grind 'em out like hamburger."

Their first big hit, How High the Moon, was ground out in a basement in Jackson Heights, N.Y. Paul first taped the bass rhythm on the guitar, covered it a few times with guitar chords, ran through it some more with guitar embroidery. Then he dubbed in Mary's voice twelve times, to get the effect of both unison and harmony. Total number of layers: 24.

Paul has given considerable thought to echoes. A good echo effect can be produced in a radio studio with a twist of a dial. But Paul finds that inadequate. "I got a better echo by putting Mary and a mike in a bathroom. That's how we recorded the Rheingold Beer commercials." For a still bigger echo, he uses two tape recorders, running them a split second apart.

* Among them: Nola, Goof us, Tennessee Waltz, Mockin' Bird Hill, How High the Moon, The World Is Waiting jor the Sunrise, Just One More Chance.

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