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J. Dan

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About J. Dan

  • Birthday 03/26/1971

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  • homepage
    http://www.facebook.com/danelze
  • occupation
    Sales Engineer
  • hobbies
    Electronics, Music, Industrial Process Instrumentation and Controls
  • Location
    St. Louis, MO
  • custom_title
    Bannination Free Since '08

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  1. Gig went pretty well, though we ended up not playing some songs I spent a lot of time on. Also, started the night with Mr. Crowley, and shortly into my intro they waved me off to stop and informed me that they tune down a 1/2 step. Thank God for transpose per slot in setlist mode on the Kronos. Even after the transpose, there was one more song they did in a different key than I learned but it was 12-bar blues and A instead of G so I just winged it and it was fine.
  2. I have a one-off gig tomorrow which means learning a lot of songs on short notice, most I’ve never played, and some I’ve never even heard/. I’ve been cramming and I feel good about each song before going on to the next, but then going back through the list it’s like “wait, what song is that?” When I hear it, it’s like “oh, OK” and I can play along, but at the gig you just have a list. I’ve been putting notes like keys on the Kronos set list. How do you guys handle these kind of gigs?
  3. No careless whisper, unfortunately. we had 5 gigs but one fell through, so we have 4 so far. I’m a little worried about selling out based on ticket prices at $20 ea for one and $35 ea for another, but we have a couple gigs where we are opening for touring tribute acts doing only one set for a guaranteed minimum, so that’s good. Have 2 practices in the next 2 weeks so we’ll see how things are coming along.
  4. I haven’t gigged with a laptop in a long time so there is a lot out there that I’m not familiar with - others can chime in. Given you have no drummer or bass player, you’ll have to be using a sequence or tracks and what you use and how you use it will depend on your skill level and what resources you have. If I had to do that now, I would do it all in my Kronos in song mode. I don’t think any of your keys have workstation capabilities which brings it to the Mac. I did a duo in the 90s where we sequences all the bass and drums (and some other parts). I used Performer (pre-digital performer) to make the sequences, saved them as SMF’s and used a player on an IBM thinkpad to play the SMF’s. All the sounds still came from my keyboard, at the time a Roland JV-30 utilizing the Roland GS sound set.
  5. Had our 2nd practice tonight - first time with the new guitar player and at his house. A little disappointed we didn’t do any of the George Michael since I worked pretty hard on it and brought my sax for “I’m your man”. I’m coming off of a few days sick with a fever so I had no energy, but everyone seemed happy with me on the Cindy and Madonna stuff. Besides that we did a couple Billy Idol tunes. We have two practices scheduled in Feb - besides the Culture Club and B52’s stuff they now want to add some Duran Duran, which I can do but I let the drummer know that songs like Rio have an arpeggiator and without a click he’ll need to follow iit, to which he said was fine as long as he can hear it.
  6. Most of the sounds are pretty easy to program, it’s just getting all the parts together. So here are the songs we’re doing and my thoughts so far Girls Just Wanna Have Fun - I did this song before but had a sequence take over when I played the solo, so now I’m trying to do them together with no sequence and finding the timing tough. All Through the Night - I broke down and used an aroeggiator for the beginning part - no click, but I can re-trigger on the beat and also have tap-tempo. I let the other parts drop out during the solo so I can use the pitch bend while playing. The Goonies are Alright - struggling a little bit with the timing doing the Marimba-like part with the flutes, but I’m getting there. Time after Time - the easiest of them so far Change of Heart - also pretty easy She Bop - the main riff with the harp-like part is a little tough but I mostly have it. I drop out the other parts to do the whistle solo.
  7. The Cindy Lauper stuff is surprisingly tough! That and the George Michael Wham era stuff - pretty tough! Practice got postponed a week so I have time to work on it some more. So far the first gig is June 29 at a large ballroom with tix $20/head and an expected minimum of 200 sold.
  8. My understanding is that they are basically doing it for free, though we’ve decided that on the higher paying gigs we’ll throw some money at the main dancers. It’s already a 6 piece so there are a lot of divisions going on, and we’ve decided to take half of the first few gigs to put into video which means I may have to do a few shows for $100-$150/man at first.
  9. My understanding is that they are basically doing it for free, though we’ve decided that on the higher paying gigs we’ll throw some money at the main dancers. It’s already a 6 piece so there are a lot of divisions going on, and we’ve decided to take half of the first few gigs to put into video which means I may have to do a few shows for $100-$150/man at first.
  10. So I had our first practice tonight and although I was worried about it, they seemed pretty happy with me. They were impressed with my sound programming mostly. So we have another practice in 3 weeks and a bit of a change in direction. Instead of the movie theme songs, we’re adding 2 more mini tributes. So it will be 6 tributes, 2 per set. Cindy Lauper, George Michael, Madonna, Billy Idol, Culture Club, and B52’s. Also there will be dancers and dance routines on stage. I actually think the dancers will set us apart.
  11. So I haven’t played in a band for a while. My last regular band was an original progressive metal band but I also filled in with several pop bands. So I just joined a band doing a bunch of 80s mini tributes. We have 2 practices in 2023 before booking 2024. So our first practice is Nov 29 and I have a lot to learn - no sequencing.
  12. It’s difficult given the wide range of music I enjoy. Growing up I loved Rush due to the complexity, thoughtfulness, and overall sound. But then I was into punk rock like Black Flag, Dead Kennedys, etc due to the rawness of it all and probably a sense of rebellion. In the 80’s I liked bands like Duran Duran and Depeche Mode for a combination of production and good song writing. Through the 90’s I liked a conglomeration of my earlier influences in the Pixies, Nine Inch Nails, Chemical Brothers, Garbage. I don’t think they all have a single thing in common. It’s more like each one has enough of one of many criteria - songwriting, musicianship, sound/production, raw energy/message.
  13. The fusion and S3000XL have been in storage for a long time! I’ve been using the Kronos since it came out along with an A70 for a 22nd tier.
  14. If I can remember the login to the server where I hosted the pic, lol.
  15. And let me just say that Joe is such a great guy! It was great sharing family stories and getting closer - this was the 3rd time we had ever met face to face and first time I ever met Lori after hearing about her for years.
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