Paul Le Clair: A Scotts Tune

In 2002, when it seemed that the Lord was going to be moving us from Minnesota to North Carolina, I realized that I needed to sieze the opportunity of recording certain brethren in the area who were musically gifted. I’m very glad that I did this - in fact, I was blessed with so many contributers that I was able to put together a whole CD of their work. One of the men that I was eager to record was Paul LeClair whose giftedness in classical guitar is - compelling. Best of all, Paul is a humble man who loves Christ dearly. The extent of his past training in classical guitar is simply amazing, and is very much a part of his testimony as a believer - however, he is rather cautious when discussing his background, which is a blessed expression of his humility in Christ. Unfortunately, I only have a few recordings from him. Perhaps if I am able to visit the brethren at Twin Cities Bible Church in Saint Paul Minnesota again, with some sort of portable gear, then perhaps I can expand the LeClair library! We’ll see.

Recording Paul was a treat. We didn’t have to do several takes with him - he just played, and it was a blessing. I can’t remember the background on his guitar, but I do remember that it is one that you’ll never find in the average guitar shop. It had excellent craftsmanship and a rich tone that I had not yet heard in a classical guitar (and I had owned and used several myself).

The recording was done very simply. This was an obvious application for the Neumann TLM103 microphone, and the recording was finished with the minimal mastering plugins from Waves Renaissance. The following recording below is simply called A Scotts Tune - the recording of which I have adopted for our Lift Up Your Eyes flash videos: