I’d vote for the right channel to be more knopflery.

You read in the article that he used a Les Paul Junior through a Jim Kelley amp (cited in the article as a “Kelly” amp, but I got to ask MK about that a during the recording of the Sailing To Philadelphia album, and it’s definitely a Jim Kelley 1×12 combo), so there’s your starting point.

The big trick is getting that hollow, nasal sound to the guitar. I’ll cut to the chase- it’s not guitar wiring tricks, it’s not a wah pedal or any other kind of pedal, or anything else pre- guitar amp. Jim Kelley amps are very Fender-like and have that same “squawy bark” when they’re pushed hard, so that’s the first big clue. But like Fender amps, they don’t have THAT sound that we hear on Money for Nothing or Brothers In Arms… Simply put, that sound came from the way the microphones were aimed at the amplifier.

If you’ve never played with two microphones on the same speaker, then you’re probably saying “HUH!?” What happens is that each microphone, when they are combined into one signal (say, panning them both to the left speaker) will actually cancel out certain frequencies that you hear. This effect can be very subtle to very dramatic- the trick is how and where you place each microphone in relation to the other- this is a “black art” and why every recording engineer is a little insane.

So: that sound we’ve all looked for at one time or another is actually two microphones that are playing with each other’s frequencies to create: a hollow/ nasal guitar sound.

Bummed? I was. How do you replicate that live!? I asked MK that question, and his solution: “I use a wah pedal.” Well, I figure if it’s good enough for him…!

Hope this was helpful-

is Mark really using a Shure SM 57 on picture 1 for vocals? And what’s the desk in front of him?