BbAltered
-
Posts
846 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Blogs
Events
Articles
Downloads
Gallery
Store
Posts posted by BbAltered
-
-
Hello. A quick hit:
What E-Piano is Micheal McDonald playing in this video:Dukes of September (Lowdown) -
Skip to 2:47 if you just want to see the piano - but it's a fun performance and worth the view.
-
When I sit behind the keyboards in rehearsal or on stage, I can only know how the keys sounds or the band sounds right where I am sitting. I have no idea how it sounds anywhere else in the room or theater. So I have never understood these people who ask "how do I make my keyboard cut thru the mix?" AFAIK, there is no way I the keyboard player can know what "the mix" sounds like: I can only know what things sound like where I am sitting.
So when I see those questions about "how do I make my keyboard cut thru the mix?", I think this person is asking how to make his/her keyboards louder at their playing/listening position.
Conversely, when someone tells me I am too quiet "in the mix", I know it is not my job to correct "the mix". My job is to play keys competently and to make sure a strong signal goes to the mixing board. How it sounds out front is out of my hands.
I think it is possible for a band to play so that all instruments are heard. But that is advanced musicianship, requiring training and awareness. If the drummer is loud or the guitarist too busy, making the keys louder will likely have the consequence of pushing the drummer and guitarist louder. "The mix" should be understood as a dynamic thing, shaped by the musicians cooperatively, or muddied by the musicians competitively.
-
Thanks guys - you have provided some useful inexpensive and easy things to try: re-position the speakers; re-position my playing position in the room; try using headphones; try some other playback audio. Now I'm excited to try these things out.
-
My studio monitors are an old pair of m-Audio 6" powered speakers. Most of what happens in the studio is me practicing my digital keyboard (Roland rd-2k); less frequently I work on original projects and more rarely still I am recording someone.
As I practice, I am noticing the notes around high-Bb to high-high C sound louder and more prominent than surrounding notes. This seems to be true regardless of what patch I am playing. I suspect this occurs because those notes excite resonant frequencies in the speaker cabinet, and so stand out more.
Question: is there something else that might be going on to make those particular notes stand out? I don't think it is a problem of the audio samples in the keyboard - I hear the same notes standing out regardless of what patch I am playing.
The speakers themselves are positioned about 18 inches from a wall, and about 7 feet from the nearest room corner. The room itself is about 30 feet square with a fairly low 8 foot ceiling. When playing the keyboard, I am positioned a little off the center of the room.
More importantly, is there anything I can do to tame the loud notes? I would prefer not to have to buy new speakers or buy a lot of room treatments. Because this is bothering me mostly when playing the keyboard - and not when doing critical mixing duties (I don't have a whole lot of critical mixing duties to do) - my inclination is to not spend a lot on this particular problem and just live with it if the fix is expensive or complicated.
So I guess I am asking if anyone has any inexpensive and easy things I can do to temper notes I hear standing out. Thanks
-
It looks like parts of the video were shot in NYC Grand Central Station (or a mock-up). Appropriate when he's singing "running for the last train home".
Sounds pretty boring to me - even with the prominent keyboards.
-
Meanwhile, in my local GC, they were selling a used Nord Piano at a truly incredibly low price. The sign on it said: "Used - broken volume knob". I saw that and said to myself: "I can't turn that down!"
-
There is actually an exercise for this in Book 2 of Hanon.
When playing triplets on the same note, fingering goes: 3-2-1-3-2-1-3-2-1-etc
When playing 16ths on the same note, fingering is: 4-3-2-1-4-3-2-1-4-3-2-1-etc
Yes - it is possible to use the same idea when playing 2-note chords (thirds, sixths). With some adjustments, you can tackle triads this way,
As always, start with the metronome at 40 bpm and gradually increase. Keep the arm, hand, and fingers relaxed and supple - i.e. don't increase the tempo until your arm, hand, and fingers are relaxed and supple.
I once attended a Bruce Hornsby solo performance where he played repeated notes in the RH while soloing with his LH, and then in tempo played repeated notes in the LH while soloing with his RH, and continued to switch back and forth over the course of 3-4 minutes of continuous playing.
-
This always perplexes me. How do some musicians make it so far in the gig world without understanding dynamics. I don't know your situation, or if it's even feasible for you to say goodbye to them and find others who understand when playing in a band, we are serving the music, not ourselves.
I live in a pretty rural area. Most of the live music being made in this area is country, with some 2+ guitar blues bands. For all my complaints, this band I'm in plays more shows and more higher paying shows and plays a more varied and higher quality of music than any other band around. So for now, I'm playing with them. These days, I am thinking of making a change, but right now, any change will be a change to fewer and more poorly-played shows.
The band leader who was telling me I should turn it up and ignoring my comments about not burying a soloist actually has a high level of musical training - so he reads music, played in a jazz big band, and understands (on paper anyways) pianissimo and forte. (He's also a trumpeter, so pianissimo is sort of a foreign language for him and he is rarely buried by other when soloing.) If someone was to sit and talk to him, he would readily acknowledge that varying dynamics makes for a better performance. There exists a wide gulf between what we think, what we say out loud, and what actions we take.
-
Interestingly, the soul-dance band had this very conversation last night at rehearsal. It went about as well as it always goes. We were running thru Josh Stone's cover of Ray Charles I Believe It To My Soul. The intro has an EP doing a bluesy little thing with very sparse accompaniment. As usual, the bass player and drummer are attacking this "sparse accompaniment" as if they are backing ZZTop. The EP part is completely buried. The band leader waves everyone to a halt and tells me "you gotta turn up", and goes on about how that intro is a small keys solo and I should be much louder to make that happen, etc. I replied that it is the job of others to not play over the keys during this keys "solo", and the song itself is not a "turn it up to 11" song, but rather a "play it at 5-7" song, and is furthermore a great song to work on listening and playing with dynamics. Almost as if I had never said a word, the band leader repeats pretty much verbatim what he said previously. (Sigh - They don't listen when I play; they don't listen when I speak.)
And we tried it again: Me banging the keys like I hate the damn things and the drummer and bass player playing exactly as they had previously.
What makes it so frustrating for me is I know everyone in the band is playing at the top of their abilities, and doing the very best they can. They cannot play it any different or adjust to another player because they are already using up all their skills and resources. So I don't think being angry is going to help, and I don't think a lecture about loudness and group dynamics is going to help. I will say that quieter songs and playing dynamically are real things musicians do, and hope my words bump into a receptive musical mind. But what I really expect is after all the talking is done, the song will be played in the very same way.
-
I have my keyboard volume up high, and control volume when not soloing by playing softly (piano), playing one or two notes instead of a big chord, and playing very staccato. Playing very staccato is important: if you play a big chord and let it sustain, it becomes sonic sludge that makes everyone around you turn up.
Playing loud is easy - just turn it up. Playing quietly takes skill and technique. Playing piano and forte, and legato and staccato are two staples of classical keyboard technique that we jazz/rock/popular players often ignore as we focus on learning by ear and improvising over changes. This is to our detriment. I myself spend part of every piano day playing some classical music off the page where I am required to play passages piano and forte, and legato and staccato.
For myself, when I have those rare moment when I am playing quietly in a band context and I notice others responding to my quiet playing by modulating their own volume and then the whole band starts experimenting with loud and quiet in different parts of the song, this is thrilling to me. Pure musical magic to my ears. These musical moments are rare for me, but wonderful when I get to experience them. I love it when I can use my knowledge of piano and forte and have the skill to use that to nudge the other players around me. That's about as good as it gets in my musical world.
-
If you want a utility mixer that can do what you want, check out the Rolls PM351. It has three channels: instrument, mic and monitor. The first two have thru connections to send to the desk, and the third is for a return from the desk. Precisely three knobs, allowing you to do what you need.
No limiter though, so you might want to add something for that.
Alternative suggestion: what is the FoH desk that you use? Most modern digital desks have an app allowing you to control your own monitor mix.
Cheers, Mike.
Good suggestion Mike. I have not considered the Rolls PM351 - the thru connections should be very useful. The crux of the matter as I see it is the potential for feedback between what I send to the band mixer and what I receive from the band mixer.
The band mixer is a analog 16 channel Allen + Heath board. So no remote controlling of monitor mixes. The band has like 5 vocal mics and 2 horn mics, 1 mic on the kick, and sometimes a mic on the guitar cab (a lotta live mics on stage - windy outdoor concerts are a bitch). We are outgrowing this mixer: it only has 4 aux outputs so only 4 monitor mixes in a seven person band.
-
Hello. In the soul-dance band, I play keys and sing two songs and contribute b/u vocal for a bunch more tunes. As I think about moving to IEM, I am trying to figure out the best way to monitor myself in live settings.
Currently, I send a stereo keys signal and a mono mic signal to the PA (which is run by our bass player), and take a single mono signal from the band mixer back to my monitor. This mono return carries my keys sound, my vocal sound, and any other instrument or vocal from the band mixer I want to have in my monitor. This kinda works, but I cannot balance the level of my keys or my vocal against the other band instruments and vocals. That mixing would have to be done by the bass player - who is busy playing bass and can't really attend to my specific monitoring needs in real time.
No - we do not do a decent sound-check before a show - any soundcheck we do generally a hurried effort occuring in the 15 minutes immediately proceeding the first song, and is generally limited to making sure everyones' monitor is on and functioning.
In a perfect world, I want to be able to raise or lower my keyboard sound and vocal sound myself, independently of what monitor signal I am getting from the other band members. So I need a keyboard mixer that can 1) input a stereo line signal from the keys, input a mono mic-level signal from my mic, input a mono line signal from the band mixer, and output a mono line keys signal to the band mixer, and output a mono line vocal signal to the band mixer. Alternatively, the keys mixer can output one mono signal carrying both my keys and my mic to the band mixer (tho' I am pretty sure at some point there would be complaints from the bass player about how the keys and vocal are both in one channel in the band mixer). (Mostly I am using a single keyboard; some gigs I'll bring a second keyboard so any mixer I get should have an additional pair of line inputs for a second keyboard.)
Does anyone else play keys and sing who can advise me on the best way to monitor myself and provide decent signal(s) to the band mixer?
I have been looking at those smaller Mackie mixers to be my keyboard mixer. The Mix8 has two mic-level channels, two stereo line channels, a main stereo output, a "control room" stereo output, one mono aux output, and one (stereo) headphone output. So this would allow me to have my mic and one or two keyboards in stereo, and a feed from the band mixing board. I can monitor using the headphone out, and use the single aux out to send a (pre-mixed vocal and keys) signal to the band PA. Sadly there are no channel direct outs which would help to send separate keys and keys vocal to the band mixer. Also sadly, the headphone out and CR out is serviced by the same knob, which makes it difficult to use both simultaneously. To avoid feedback, I would have to use the Aux output to send signal to the band mixer (this allows me to make sure I am not sending the signal I get from the band mixer back to the band mixer).
Or is there a better way to do this? Any advice or experience is helpful.
-
Do you leave your musical equipment at your band's rehearsal space?
We rehearsal at the private home of the band leader. The space is out in the country and secure. I do not leave my equipment in the rehearsal space because I don't want to have to drive to that location to get my stuff should I ever need my equipment outside of the band's rehearsals - I play around with various other bands and friends.
I'm thinking I may want to leave a cheap amp/speaker combo at the rehearsal room because I am sick of monitoring thru the PA and having the bass player decide how much keys I get to hear. This would be an expendable piece of gear I would not need for other activities.
In a previous life, I played in a band and the digital piano would come home with me after gigs, but the organ and leslie would go in the sound guy's van and stay in his garage between shows. Perhaps surprisingly, the organ and leslie never appeared worse while in the sound guy's care.
-
Hello. The soul dance band wants to cover The Meters Just Kissed My Baby.
Here - https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=meters+just+kissed+my+baby
Great cover by Jon Cleary -
Great cover by Maceo Parker -
I confess: I'm having a lot of trouble locking into the beat. I keep hearing those off-the-beat bass notes as on the beat; my counting, toe-tapping, etc. gets thrown off. Any suggestions for getting a better feel for the tune is appreciated. The good news is the song is harmonically very simple (two chords only), and the organ part plays around and is not really foundational.
-
A couple of years ago someone used my name and SSN to buy cable TV services in Chicago. I found out about it when a collection agency called me, saying I owed Comcast $800. I called Comcast and told them I don't live anywhere near Chicago, and I get my cable services thru another provider. They asked me to send them my cable bill showing my correct address. When I did they acknowledged I was not responsible for the theft and stopped trying to collect from me.
I notified my local police. They said the crime had been committed in Chicago, so it was out of their jurisdiction and there was nothing for them to do. But they would put me in contact with Chicago police, so I could file a report. If memory serves, I sent a letter to the Chicago police, detailing the crime. I never heard from them. As far as I know, no police report of a crime was ever made.
I contacted the Social Security office to let them know about the fraudulent use of a SSN. The person I spoke to said the Social Security office is only involved in giving out SSN. They do not track criminal use of SSN and do not prosecute crimes involving SSNs. They did remind me that the SSA does not want SSN used as identification, and I should never reveal my SSN to anyone. So now I tell the bank, the credit card company, and the doctor's office and anyone else who asks "the SSA tells us our SSN are not to be used for identification, and I should not reveal my SSN to anyone." The banks and credit cards are cool about it; the doctors and dentists can be real shits about it (they are getting better about it).
So bottom line: other than a couple of communications with Comcast and their collection agency, the theft did not hurt me. No official law or regulatory office I notified did a thing about it.
-
"What's all this I hear about too bored for cover band work?"
-
It has been well established that humans will perceive more bass from a speaker placed in a corner, compared to the same speaker placed against one wall. So I suggest this is something you can experiment with. If you want more bass, put your speaker in the corner. If the speaker sounds too bassy sitting in a corner, place it along a wall away from a corner.
-
Thank you Mr. Hughes for your reply.
So one of the things I did to trouble shoot this problem is try recording on a new track at the same position in the song as the distorting track. So I created a new track, armed it for audio recording, and re-recorded the audio output of the sound module as it played back the midi passage. I got distortion at meas. 96, beat 2.5. I then tried recording some of my singing over the same song position (so using a different set of audio inputs when recording the audio output of the sound module). Again I hear distortion at meas. 96, beat 2.5.
So there is definitely something happening at meas. 96, beat 2.5. Because I will now have distortion at that location in the song with anything new I record.
I warned you that this is weird.
-
I am seeking help with a strange problem I am having in CakeWalk by BandLab (CWbBL or just CW). Any suggestions are welcome.
I am having a weird distortion problem in a project. The distortion appears in an audio clip in an audio track in a project that contains 8 audio tracks. The distortion occurs at one specific point in this audio clip that is 30-40 secs in length. The distortion occurs at meas. 96, beat 2.5 - there is no distortion anywhere else in that audio clip except at meas 96, beat 2.5. At that location, the CW meters show the audio to be more than 10 db below 0 dbFS (so the distortion is NOT due to audio clipping).
I created this audio clip by first recording a midi track to drive a sound module (Roland rd-2000). I then capture the audio output of the sound module on a separate audio track. This means I can monitor the audio output of the sound module and re-record the audio so it will always be exactly the same as the initial (same volume, etc.). When I monitor the audio output of the sound module at my hardware mixer, I hear no distortion of the audio. The meters of the hardware mixer receiving the audio output of the sound module are well below 0 dbFS - so the audio coming out of the sound module is NOT distorting the AD converter.
OK so here is where it gets weird. If I slide the midi track forward 20 measures or so (well beyond the location at meas 96, beat 2.5), and re-record the sound module, I get a audio clip that has NO distortion in it: it sounds great. Yet, if I then slide or copy/paste this audio clip that has no distortion in it to the location at meas 96, beat 2.5, this audio clip will now play back with the distortion, just like the previous clip.
So in sum: the audio output of the sound module itself is not distorted; the audio output of the sound module is not distorting the AD converter, and I can record the audio output of the sound module to CW without distortion as long as I am not recording at meas 96, beat 2.5.
All the other audio tracks except one play without distortion at meas. 96, beat 2.5. I am hearing a similar distortion in another audio clip on another audio track at the same meas. 96, beat 2.5. This other audio clip was also created by first recording a midi track and then using the midi track to drive the sound module.
Can anyone tell me why I am getting distortion at this one particular location (and not at any other location). Can anyone suggest a way to avoid or remove the distortion? Thanks.
-
I'm impressed by anyone who devotes themselves to learning two or more instruments - moreso if one of those instruments is a piano. The piano demands so much.
A while back, I imagined I would learn the clarinet. I had heard it was an easy instrument to learn. I got an instrument at a garage sale and took lessons. And then stopped because any time I spent on the clarinet felt like taking away from what I hope to do with the piano. I could not get past the thought that I should be spending that time with the piano.
I have a melodica - I don't spend any time on that either.
I do love to sing popular music and even occasionally lead sing simple stuff (blues, Dylan, Neil Young, etc) at friendly jams and hootenannies. I spend very little time "practicing" singing. I sing Ray Charles' MaryAnn with the Soul Dance band; that required some practice to be able to sing while playing the rhymthic piano parts.
-
I learned these tricks by playing with a really loud guitar player who had no sense of time.
Play forceful staccoto - do not play legato. The trick is to hit the chord (on time) and then immediately get off it. Do not let the chord linger. Loud sustaining notes will only create a muddy acoustic sludge making it hard to hear the tempo and will encourages others to turn up - which makes everything worse.
Think about playing one loud staccato chord (on time) per measure - do not play loud repeated chords thru the measure. The idea is you want the other guy to hear themselves in relation to others. You do not want to bury their sound under yours (it doesn't work - they just turn up). With loud players, if you give them lots of chords per measure, they will try and play over you. If you play one loud chord and then nothing, they will play quieter - because you are no longer playing and now there is a big empty spot where their off-tempo playing becomes obvious to themselves. This is a really good trick for those obnoxiously loud guitarists and drummers. They hear your loud note, they respond by playing loud, but you are now playing nothing, and their loud playing is out there all by itself, and they get embarrassed and quiet down.
If you can manage it, play a micro-hair behind the beat.
It is helpful to know the normal human psycho-acoustic response/behavior is to play faster when playing louder (and play louder when playing faster), and to play slower when playing quieter (and play quieter when playing slower). Our brains are wired this way. So suggest slower tempos. It is a little easier to keep the beat at a slower tempo, and there is less impetus to play louder.
And remember to have fun.
-
Thanks for all the input and suggestions, all very helpful. Is there any resource out there which covers fingering options/ best practices for more 'exotic' scales?
Best Practices: Use 1-2-3-1-2-3-4-1 when you can - it will become apparent when this doesn't work. I use 1-2-3-1-2-3-4-1 for all major, natural minor, harmonic minor, and altered scales - the starting finger varies depending on what scale/key you are playing, but the 3-4 pattern holds for all these scales in all 12 keys . For blues scales,pentatonic scales, and diminished scales, I have to use a different fingering - and for me the fingering seems to be unique and idiosyncratic for these scales in the different keys.
In general, if the scale includes black notes, I try to get fingers 3 and 4 up on a black note because this makes passing the thumb under easier. So for F major scale, I play 1-2-3-4-1-2-3-1. I avoid playing the thumb on a black note where I can.
If memory serves, the fingering for the major, harmonic minor, and melodic minor for all 12 keys are written out in Book 2 of the Hanon Exercises.
For all scales, focus on keeping your fingers and wrists relaxed and loose. As nadroj suggests, set the metronome really slow and play quarters, eights, eight-note triplets, and sixteenths. If you are obsessive like me, add in the swing eights and the swing sixteenths - and keep the fingers hands, and wrists relaxed and loose.
Did I mention the importance of keeping the fingers, hands, and wrists loose? Work on keeping the shoulders and back loose as well.
-
C-C#-D#-E-F#-G-A-Bb-C. That's what I was taught to call a "diminished" scale - more properly a "half-whole" diminished scale. As far as fingering is concerned, I will tell you what I was taught, and what has worked well for me: use whatever fingering works for you.
The good news here is that - like the diminished 7th chords - there are only three of them to learn. The C diminished scale is exactly the same as the Eb, F#, and A diminished scale; the C# diminished scale is exactly the same as the E, G, and Bb diminished scales; the D diminished scale is exactly the same as the F, Ab, and B diminished scales.
Use the "half/whole" diminished scale when playing over the corresponding dominant seventh chord: i.e. the C half/whole diminished scale is used over a C dom. seventh chord (or the Eb dom. 7th, the F# dom. 7th, and the A dom. 7th chords), or C dom. 7th variants (C9, C7#9, C7b9, etc.- so long as the chord has a maj 3rd and a minor 7th)
I recently learned that the so-called "whole/half" scale is ALSO a diminished scale, but is used when one is soloing over the corresponding diminished 7th chord. So use the C whole/half diminished scale when soloing over a C dim 7th chord. I don't practice the whole/half scale because the C whole/half diminished scale is exactly the same as the B half/whole diminished scale.
Bottom line: use whatever fingering works for you, and you only have 3 unique scales to learn/practice.
-
Thanks guys!! Good stuff. It looks like a laptop is in my future. Like DJKeys, I am finding the iphone interface difficult to manipulate.
What E-Piano Is This?
in The Keyboard Corner
Posted