Jonathan Hughes
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Posts posted by Jonathan Hughes
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My guess is that RABid does have the Jupiter XM, as there's no Fantom XM.
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Christian Scott, Jakob Bro, Sasha Berliner, Brian Blade and the Fellowship Band, Søren Dahl Jeppesen, Brandee Younger, and Julian Lage all come to mind as artists who play (and record with people) jazz that’s where “chops” aren’t the focus. Of course, they’re all masters of their instruments, but they tend to play more minimally.
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"In most modern and well-crafted jazz music it’s all about a cerebral satisfaction rather than emotional appeal. It’s been exhausted completely into a homogenous mass that is still a very smart and intellectually prepared music that has its audience but it’s also very rarely creative nowadays."
That's complete nonsense. You need to listen to better music.-
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"Are there examples of killer players who never touched a jazz standard in their life?"
I can't think of many, but Benmont Tench comes to mind. (although I have no idea if he has never played a jazz standard, he's certainly not known for it).-
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Another vote for Supermassive (although for me, it's the reverb that make it so valuable)
Puremagnetik has a bunch of free (and very cheap) interesting reverb/delay/lofi plugins
Spitfire Labs
There are some nice free things available for Orchestral Tools Sine Player
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That's a great story. Do you or did you used to live in Western NY? (the classified ad from Tom Schuman and the trombonist friend who works at Moog Aerospace are why I ask).
I always like seeing the "2500 Walden Ave., Buffalo, NY 14225" on the back of Moogs. Unfortunately, the location of the old factory is now a Walmart. -
"Does the incompatibility just refer to the Ipad and Key largo linked together not being able to use software like a DAW through the usb?"
Yes. Audio is audio if it's coming out of an analog headphone jack. -
Disclaimer: I’m bass player who solos (melodically) on pretty much all the songs on the records I make (because they’re my records, and, I’m good).
I’m not really interested in listening to an entire album of any solo instrument (even piano). A song here and there is okay, but there’s just not enough variation in texture to capture my attention for an entire album. So you won’t get any argument from me that a bass (or flute, or trumpet, or violin, or hi hat, etc.) solo album isn’t that appealing. But let’s address a few things:
“If the bass can't stand as a solo instrument for bulk of the album, then don't go down that road. “
No bass player is thinking “boy, my instrument sounds weak — I need someone to play the melody with me”. The reason they have someone play the melody along with them is that they like the sound. Miles Davis certainly didn’t think “ my muted trumpet sounds so weak! What can I do? My only choice is to double my melodies with a saxophone. Get Coltrane in here! Stat!”
“Not sure how politically (in)correct this is but bass should play bass.”
It’s neither "politically correct" or incorrect. It’s just a boring, narrow-minded thought. Bass players who are soloing are indeed playing bass. Maybe not your definition of “bass”, but thankfully, unless you’re leading the band, this kind of thinking has no bearing on anything. Also, I assume that this line of thinking also applies to tuba players in Dixieland bands? Good luck telling those guys that what they’re doing when they solo is “not playing the tuba”.
Of course, there are definitely a lot of bass players who play “stunt bass” solos. They get one solo per show and feel the need to show off and play a catalog of different techniques and ideas. Even worse is when everyone else drops out and the bass player has no harmonic context for their solo (or they choose to ignore it). I have little interest in hearing these kind of solos, no matter how technically impressive some of the techniques may be. (The same thought applies to drum solos where the everyone drops out and the drummer plays outside of the form and/or tempo of the song). Some of this is due to these players jumping on their one opportunity to show off, but I think a lot of it could be alleviated by giving these players more opportunity to solo so they don’t feel the need to throw everything they know into 60 seconds. (and yes, self control would also alleviate the need to show off).
“But outside of those super talented bassist virtuoso influencers, bass should play bass 😀 As simple as that.”
Ugh. Here we go again. Aren’t there some clouds you can shake your fist at?
It sounds like you played with one bad bass player and base your entire worldview of bass on that experience. I see lots of complaining on talkbass.com about drummers and guitarists, so you’re not unique in complaining about players of another instrument. My feeling is that whenever I hear musicians complain about players of another instrument as a group, it’s because they (the complainer) play with shitty players. They need to raise their standards (or practice so they get to the point where they can play with better players). In short, listening to and playing with better players will open up your mind to more possibilities for the instruments they play.
There are plenty of virtuoso bass players who are not “influencers” (I’m using that term (like I assume you are) in the current social media definition, as these players are certainly influential, albeit not household names) who can hold down a groove AND solo circles around pretty much anyone. Listen to Rich Brown or Mike Pope or Dane Alderson or Tony Grey. (note that none of these players has put out a “bass solo album”.)
“So, is it safe to say there are many guitarists who picked the bass because they liked how it sounds when played in the upper registers and they never intended to play root notes in the first place, but rather play guitar-like solos, rhythm guitar parts, etc?”
No, it’s not safe to say that. Maybe there are some, but all the great bass players I know of started as bass players and didn’t limit themselves or their role to a 50 year old definition of what a bass player is.
I majored in English and I literally have no idea what you’re trying to say in the next sentence.
So to recap:
• Open your mind
• Don’t group all people of a certain type under the same umbrella
• Don’t base your view of a group of people on a bad experience with one member of that group
(By the way, these are rules that you should follow throughout life — not just when dealing with or judging musicians.)
• Don’t gatekeep
• Listen to and play with new and better musicians
• Practice
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If you're just using them for reading charts, whatever model you choose will be more than capable (since displaying PDFs is pretty simple). And for pretty much anything else, it doesn't matter (unless you're trying to run a lot of virtual instruments — then, the more powerful, the better). So I think it mainly comes down to screen size. I just have the regular iPad, which is a 10.2" screen. I've used it for reading charts at home, where I'm sitting down and can be close to it, but i think it would be just a bit to small to use at a gig. Unfortunately, it's a big jump up in price to the bigger screens, but you can save money if you check out the refurb section one the apple website. I've bought a few refurbished things from them and never had any issues.
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Noise gates are handy, but they don't help getting rid of noise while the notes are playing, which, if you're recording quiet parts, are the things you really want to get rid of. I love fabfilter's ProQ3 and have used it to surgically remove weird cymbal overtones, 60 cycle hum, and the squeak from a kick drum pedal. But if I were you, I'd spend time (and possibly money) on getting the grounding issue cleared up. You'll get far better results — no weird artifacts from noise reduction algorithms, not unnatural sounding EQ curves, no hum during quiet parts, etc.
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I'm a bass payer who owns synths, not a keyboard player, so I'm a little hesitant to post my new album on here, as I didn't play any keyboard parts, but the player who did (Harry Graser) is fantastic. He's only like 24 or thereabouts, and sounded this good when he was 18.
https://jonathanhughes.bandcamp.com/album/aura -
Rodan88: well put! Occam's Razor comes to mind. Aside from what's already been stated, this piece was from a movie score, and movie scores are recorded quickly. No one wants to read runs of 32nd notes, and no one wants to read 2/2 when 4/4 does the job.
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Definitely not a Sonic Cell, SE-50, or SE-70. None of those were silver on the sides with a foot switch on the top. It's almost 100% an Electro Harmonix Deluxe memory Man:
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I've only listened through once, but it's really cool. (Although I wish he had chosen a different singer for "Maybe as his skies are wide"). He's used some synths on other records, so I guess it's not completely out of left field.
Of course, his success and reputation as a jazz player (and having a supportive record label) gives him the opportunity to more easily do this kind of thing, but he's the kind of musician everyone should strive to be: highly skilled and unencumbered by genre.-
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Of course! I don't understand this concept of keeping your computer off the internet. This concept only seems to be prevalent among musicians, too. I frequent forums for photography, 3D software, and video editing, and I've never once seen anyone bring up the idea of keeping their computer sequestered from the internet. In fact, it would be virtually impossible to do those jobs creatively and not be connected to the internet. And I can't image dealing with the inconvenience of downloading updates on one computers, moving them to another computer, and installing them. And of course, now that so much software requires online activation, the additional jumps you'd have to jump through to deal with that would be a massive waste of time. Viruses and malware don't appear on your computer just because it's connected to the internet. If you're worried about malicious software from questionable sources on your computer, then don't download software from questionable sources.
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If you really want #5, you should be looking for a used Stage 3. There aren't that many 76 or 73 key keyboards to begin with. If you can live without that, a Numa GTX 73 is probably the most affordable option.
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This is a bummer. I've had a subscription forever. I read a ton online, but it's nice to have some things to read in physical format, even though EM had gotten pretty skimpy, and I don't really need any more articles on compressors or EQs. My subscription doesn't run out for several months, so I'll see what it's like, but it's unlikely I'll resubscribe, since the main thing I was subscribing for was an actual magazine.
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You're talking about the three or four note synth line?I just sounds like a pretty standard bright analog synth synth sound, probably a sawtooth wave with the filter wide open.
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"So that mean no iMac Pro coming so buy a Mini Studio and shut up?"
No, you can go for a Mini and a monitor. I have a 16gb mini and a 27" LG monitor. I wouldn't mind 32gb of RAM, but it's great, and far cheaper than an iMac. I'm a designer and photographer and was worried about a third party monitor (after being used to a 27" iMac at home and work), but this monitor was under $350 is totally fine.
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"Yeah, I noticed that too. I can't imagine they're planning on discontinuing the larger iMac, but hey - I could easily be wrong"
They did indeed discontinue the 27" iMac today.-
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"The singer's voice has changed so much! Honestly, I never really liked the character of his voice, but it was very much part of their "sound." His "new" voice is less distinctive, but I might prefer it."
Both Curt Smith (the lead singer in "Everybody Wants Rule the World") and Roland Orzabal (the one playing guitar) sing lead on various songs (sometimes simultaneously), so I'm wondering if you're getting the voices confused (Roland Orzabal, to me, has the more unique voice — he sings more out of the back of his throat). I don't think Curt's voice has changed much. -
I'm like you: I appreciate what they've done, but I'm not really into the music. But the documentary is fantastic. A good documentary should be engaging, even f you're not interested in the subject matter, and this one certainly is.
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There's nothing to feel guilty about with Tears for Fears. The songs are interesting, well-performed, and sound great. Songs From the Big Chair is a fantastic album with a nice mix of pop tracks and more esoteric stuff.
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Spitfire is having a big one-day sale tomorrow with a bunch of libraries at a big discount. So if you're pondering any of their libraries, check out their site tomorrow to see if they're on sale.
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Jazz chops - synonymous with “being good”?
in The Keyboard Corner
Posted
SRV=Stevie Ray Vaughan