[ WM ] What is your main stage and songwriting guitar / keyboard you use ?
[ Leeland ] In Janaury of ‘ 21 I purchased an OOO-18 Martin Modern Deluxe . I absolutely love it ! To me it ’ s the best of both worlds , sort of a hybrid between the low-end goodness of the ( Eric ) Clapton Signature guitar but the ease of the ( John ) Mayer in terms of playability .
It is also not too heavy , which is nice when you are standing a ton or playing more extended sets . I ’ ve always down deep been a big fan of Martin acoustics but just didn ’ t know where to start . Once I picked this one up and played it , me and my musician buddies all let out in unison a collective sigh of “ that ’ s the one ”.
As for keyboard , that would normally , in most cases , be the Nord Stage 2 . But on our live record City of God , we had this crazy set up , it was a a CP80 upright that had midi capability blended with key scape ! That was the craziest sounding thing I ’ ve ever played with live , it had all the natural sounding goodness of a cp70 but also the clear perfect sound of a key scape upright patch .
[ WM ] What type of vocal mic do you use ?
[ Leeland ] I love the DPA d : facto 2 wired mic . It gives me all of the high-mid top end range that I love in my mix and naturally helps get rid of that boomy stage slap that you get from the kit , cymbals and amps on stage . We captured all of my vocals live for our last album City of God with that mic . That mic was a great surprise to all of us .
[ WM ] Which pick-up system is on your guitar ?
[ Leeland ] I installed the L . R . Baggs Anthem . What I love about it most of all is the tone blend knob between the pickup and the mic . it gives me the ability to roll off some of the brighter highs when I ’ m about to dig in with a pick and I can bring them back when I ’ m picking with my fingers . When you pair that pick up / acoustic with some simple parallel compression and reverb its magical .
[ WM ] What brand capo do you use ?
[ Leeland ] I think it ’ s the G7th Performance 3 for me ! I love how sleek it is and unassuming . It holds well and is aesthetically pleasing .
[ WM ] What guitar strings do you prefer ?
[ Leeland ] Martin mediums . For some reason I ’ ve never been too picky about strings . I guess I ’ ve always leaned more into gauge of string than necessarily brand . Also , the age of the strings are important to me . If they are older and warmer and I ’ m about to do a writer ’ s round I won ’ t change them . But if the strings are older but I ’ m about to play a show with a full band and lots of energy , then I ’ m stupid not to change them .
[ WM ] Are you using a clip-on tuner , or a floor pedal tuner ?
[ Leeland ] Both ! A simple boss chromatic for the floor tuner and a small Polytune clip- on . The floor tuner is awesome and also works as a mute , but sometimes in church environments you can ’ t get to your board because of a speaker , so you need a good back up on the headstock . Polytune clip-on is the nicest in my opinion .
[ WM ] What brand of In-Ears do you use ?
[ Leeland ] 6 driver 64 ’ s . I know that most of these companies are making in-ears with a crazy amount of drivers in them , but these have been great for me . Once I find something that is inspiring to listen to , then it ’ s about refining my mixing habits to get the maximum amount of music into my complete mix picture . I want to hear a band playing in my mix , I ’ ve never understood leaders or artists who only want click , their instrument and their voice . That ’ s insane to me . ( laughing )
[ WM ] What do you use to capture song ideas ?
[ Leeland ] Right now it ’ s a cross between voice memo ’ s and demoing ideas with my Shure SM7b , Logic and Apollo 8P Interface . Most of the time I ’ m lucky enough to have friends around me with studios for the demoing part .
The part I put a ton of attention into is song or idea capture and having a system of organizing by name melody and bass ideas . Usually categorized by genre feel , to tempo and any unique lyrical identifiers .
[ WM ] What is a current worship record you enjoy listening to right now ?
[ Leeland ] I ’ ve been loving going back to some of the ‘ live ’ worship albums or studio albums that shaped me in worship , one of those is Delirious ? Glo album .
[ WM ] What is your current music project ?
[ Leeland ] Our latest project is called City of God . I ’ m really proud of this one , it ’ s probably one of my favorites outside of our first album Sound of Melodies . The whole thing was shot ‘ live in the round ’ with the band and no audience . It felt like two days of heaven-onearth making it ! The whole record is inspired by Psalm 46 … “ there is a river whose streams make glad the City of God . The Lord is in her midst and she will not be moved .”
[ WM ] What is the next piece of gear you would be excited to have ?
[ Leeland ] Probably a set of ATC studio speakers .
[ WM ] What advice do you have for our worship leaders , bandmates and tech teams reading this magazine ?
[ Leeland ] Remember that your gifting is for the secret place before anything else . And though your gifting might make room for you , your character will decide whether you stay or not . Who are you becoming ? leelandonline . com @ leelandoffical @ leelandmooring
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