Gear: Diarmuid Mac Diarmada, multi-instrumentalist

What's your guitar/drum kit/bass/piano/whatever (make & model)?
Trevor James tenor saxophone

Where did you buy it?
Educational Music Services on a hire-purchase scheme

What was your first instrument (make & model)?
My hands, feet and larynx (human, male)

If you had an unlimited budget, what would you buy?
a) Microphone
b) Amp (see below)
c) Guitar: Fender Telecaster & Vox AC30 or Gibson SG & Mesa-boogie amplifier.
d) Bass: a Wal fretless or a Fender Precision
e) Drum kit
f) Piano
g) Studio device: an Eventide harmoniser

Who and what song did you play air guitar to as a kid?
My earliest recollections are Meat Loaf ‘Bat out of hell’ and ZZ Top ‘Eliminator’, prior to that I was mostly into synthesizers. As an older kid I played an awful lot of heavy-metal air-guitar.

What instruments can you knock a tune out of (however bad it may be)?
Almost anything

What's your favourite studio effect and why?
Sound Forge: a sound processing program for computers; I really like getting at the sound waves and messing with them.

Did you ever get piano/any-other-instrument lessons when you were a kid and do you have any fond memories of them?
I learned the recorder at six years old and got thrown out of the class for being too disruptive. I don’t feel very strongly about the memory.

What's the most rock n roll thing you've ever done to an instrument?
Blowing up an amplifier in a very punishing experiment.

What's your favourite Irish musical instrument shop and why?
Musician Inc behind the Georges St. mall has good customer service.

What's your favourite place to record and why?
At home, because I like to take a lot of time over the work and don’t want to be watching the clock.