Scott Sharrard on S-Gear

During the pandemic lockdown of 2020, Scott found himself recording parts for the RUSTBELT album from his NYC apartment. It was after a recommendation from his engineer Charles Martinez, that Scott started working with S-Gear.

"S-Gear is the first amp sim that actually delivers. The amount of control over this digital recreation of the very best vintage amps and mics puts the power of great tone entirely in the hands of the player.

In their time, artists like The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix embraced the newest recording techniques and gear to push music into the future while also retaining the feel and warmth of what makes all great music come to life. Plug-ins like the S-Gear amp sim are such a tool for the modern guitarist who won’t compromise on the feel and tone that real expression and musical storytelling requires.

I encourage every guitarist to try it and compare it to the real thing. I think Mike has finally cracked the code and I look forward to what he cooks up next.”

Charles Martinez on S-Gear

Charles Martinez has been working with Scott as engineer/co-producer for over two decades. Despite having a large collection of amps and mics at his disposal, Charles is not shy of using amp emulation where it works:

"I've been using S-Gear since 2020 initially as a way to fix recorded guitars while remote mixing. It works perfectly. I tried a lot of amp emulators and S-Gear is the only one I kept. It's easily the most musical. It's reactive in a way that I expect traditional amplifiers to behave.

I'm very proud of my collection of amps, mics and ability to record electric guitar. But since I can get the sounds I have in my head totally in the box, I've been happy to use S-Gear from the get-go instead of using it as a (very effective) band-aid. Tracking guitars remotely, and in the studio, has been a pleasure. I have all of the adjustability that I could want combined with usable presets and ease-of-use."

Scott Sharrard is a Grammy nominated singer, songwriter, guitarist, producer, and educator. Since 2019, Scott has provided guitar and lead vocals for legendary band, Little Feat, prior to that he'd spent nearly a decade as lead guitarist and bandleader to the late Gregg Allman. American roots music lies at the heart of Scott's musical journey. Having grown up surrounded by the blues music scene of Milwaukee, Scott later moved to New York City, forging his place within a network of musicians whose origins and influences are firmly rooted in American rock & roll history.
www.scottsharrard.com

Charles Martinez is a New York City based audio engineer and producer with a broad experience in both studio recording and concert sound, not to mention Grammy winning engineering work to his name. Charles was chief engineer at Dangerous Music Studios for over ten years, and has served as FOH engineer for Steely Dan and Little Feat amongst others. Charles runs his own studio OneTwoSeven and has co-produced several projects with Scott.