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Heart Rig Rundown


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Thanks Dan for taking the time to reply to my and all questions.

There's always been a lot of freedom for all the players to rearrange things in how this band has operated. There's certainly no level of detail required to the point of unearthing old multitracks. On this tour in particular, both Ann & Nancy have encouraged us all to find ways to steer the 80's material away from the 80's, both sonically and parts-wise (which lines up with my own aesthetic preferences completely). They really are timeless songs once you strip away the sonic signatures of the era. In the case of "These Dreams", Nancy's side project with Liv Warfield, "Roadcase Royale", had already cooked up a great arrangement of the song. Nancy's acoustic drives the bus, there's some great slide guitar commentary, and I'm just playing simple chords on Wurly. No keyboard strings, though I do swell in a super subtle square wave vibrato synth pad thing in a few spots, just to give it a little extra sonic "chill". We're playing that version, and it's one of my favorite moments every night.
I saw a version on Youtube where Nancy was playing mandolin on that song - sounded amazing.

 

Fun fact: Bernie Taupin wrote the lyrics - who knew?

 

Regards, Mike.

 

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In the case of "These Dreams", Nancy's side project with Liv Warfield, "Roadcase Royale", had already cooked up a great arrangement of the song. Nancy's acoustic drives the bus, there's some great slide guitar commentary, and I'm just playing simple chords on Wurly. No keyboard strings, though I do swell in a super subtle square wave vibrato synth pad thing in a few spots, just to give it a little extra sonic "chill". We're playing that version, and it's one of my favorite moments every night.
I saw a version on Youtube where Nancy was playing mandolin on that song - sounded amazing.

 

Fun fact: Bernie Taupin wrote the lyrics - who knew?

One of Bernie's handful of high-profile successes without Elton John. One of the other, more dubious ones is, of course, "We Built This City."

Samuel B. Lupowitz

Musician. Songwriter. Food Enthusiast. Bad Pun Aficionado.

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It's refreshing to see a Rig Rundown that's based on hardware-no laptop screen with MainStage running and racks of computer hard drives loaded with samples. It makes an old guy like me still feel relevant.

Makes an old guy like me seem irrelevant, long live MainsStage with B5 for Hammond. Unless you think nothing can can beat a Nord for Hammond tone. But seriously each to their own and what works for them, why these informative threads have to devolve into hardware v software debates is beyond me.

A misguided plumber attempting to entertain | MainStage 3 | Axiom 61 2nd Gen | Pianoteq | B5 | XK3c | EV ZLX 12P

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YAY, Minimoog!!!
some photos from last night's excellent show. First one Dan playing a very cool MiniMoog solo during "Crazy On You", last one Dan all alone, playing, well, you know. :smile:

Man, that rig looks sexy from the audience perspective, too!

 

Samuel B. Lupowitz

Musician. Songwriter. Food Enthusiast. Bad Pun Aficionado.

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It's refreshing to see a Rig Rundown that's based on hardware-no laptop screen with MainStage running and racks of computer hard drives loaded with samples. It makes an old guy like me still feel relevant.

Makes an old guy like me seem irrelevant, long live MainsStage with B5 for Hammond. Unless you think nothing can can beat a Nord for Hammond tone. But seriously each to their own and what works for them, why these informative threads have to devolve into hardware v software debates is beyond me.

 

Honestly, I agonized a little about whether to include a laptop in this rig. Nothing wrong with that approach. I am a heavy user of VIs in the studio, though mostly pianos and strings, I always record with a 'real' Hammond.

 

At the end of the day, I just didn"t want to be climbing the Mainstage / laptop logistics learning curve on this particular gig, especially when setup and teardown labor and gear transport aren"t really major constraints. If I were trying to do a gig with this kind of sonic variety but with logistical constraints (e.g. lots of fly dates or rental backline), I probably would have gone laptop.

 

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I want a pedal with the magic and more magic modes too ð Very cool rundown, thank you. I saw you looked annoyed about the change of lighting in your face as much as I was.

 

There"s not too many ten minute windows in the afternoon where somebody isn"t doing a job up there! I was just glad to have some time where the rig would be set up but there wouldn"t be white noise blasting through the PA, or drums being tuned, or laser beams being aimed, etc.

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Which Nord acoustic piano samples do you use for this gig?

 

Hey Al, the big piano moment in the show is Alone. We rearranged / reharmonized it considerably from the original when I started playing with Ann, and we"ve kept that arrangement for Heart this year. That one is using the Royal Grand 3D, with some low and low-mids cut out using the Nord"s EQ (he"s got a very powerful PA at his disposal out front, so I"ve EQ"d some patches to his taste so he"s not having to EQ me on the fly). I used the new White Grand for the first couple weeks of the tour, but we decided the Royal was better for that tune, which is just piano and voice for the first verse, and the band slowly enters over the course of the song.

 

I"m also using the Bambino upright, Wurly 2 Amped, the Sparkletop Rhodes, and a CP70/80 sample, can"t remember which.

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It's refreshing to see a Rig Rundown that's based on hardware-no laptop screen with MainStage running and racks of computer hard drives loaded with samples. It makes an old guy like me still feel relevant.

 

Many of my friends are reverting from laptops to hardware. Laptops just aren"t reliable enough, and it"s way more fun to play 'real' instruments. I used a laptop 10 years ago, figured it wasn"t for me and looked for options. Nowadays I use iconnectmidi stuff and a Music Labs Sipario for routing and filtering. It"s actually easier to fly with an Integra-7 in a 2u rack then with a laptop, sound card, midi interface, power adapters, cables, laptop stand and so on.

 

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