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slg1013

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Posts posted by slg1013

    Rick Beato goes ballistic thinking the public can't detect relative pitch errors.

    in The Keyboard Corner

    Posted

    57 minutes ago, Docbop said:

     

    Back in my recording day I worked on a Elton John horn overdub session for the album Caribou.   It was Elton's producer Gus Dudgeon,  Greg Adams and TOP horns,  the engineer and I was assisting, the mic setup and mic selection was all mine, my big claim to fame.     Gus and TOP hadn't worked together before so both sniffing each other out.    We started with the tune The Bitch is Back.   TOP did a few takes so Gus could check out the arrangement, Greg Adams was still writing when he got to the studio.    Then they  started to do some takes and Gus kept stopping them and starting over.   TOP was not happy so Gus started getting more specific like...  bar 5 beat 3 trumpet quarter tone off.    Now TOP was ticked off so Gus said come into the control room and take a listen.     They come in and are in front of the console listening and then look at each other and say  he's right, dam he's got ears.   Suddenly TOP respected Gus and was into it.    Gus told them The Bitch is Back is going to be the hit record on the album so I want it perfect.   They ended up taking the rest of the day to get perfect horns on the Bitch is Back.    After that we took a dinner break after dinner in a few hours they put horns on all the other tunes that had horns and even did some organ overdubs.       So have to be careful some engineer/producers do have amazing ears.   

     

    Another fun part of that session is Linda Ronstadt and Peter Asher came later to hang out.   Ronstadt started flirting with Doc from TOP on if they could play Country horns.    Ronstadt found out quick flirting with horn players was not a good thing to do.   Next thing I saw was Linda  back on the other side of the control room by Peter Asher trying to stay as far away from Doc as she could.   <grin>    That session was a lot of fun.  

     

    That's an awesome story. Thanks for sharing... :)

    Dang... I guess I don't know what a great jazz pianist is. Who is the greatest of my generation?

    in The Keyboard Corner

    Posted

    The Chopin Etude in Am was *the* piece I aspired to play as I continued taking classical lessons. Never really got close - could never get anywhere close to the tempo required. I had never heard of Jacob Gimpel prior to this thread and I hadn't really thought about that Chopin Etude in a number of years. Watching the video above, it's amazing how easy he makes playing that piece look. Thanks for sharing. I always learn so much on this forum. I definitely need to spend more time here...

    Any Jellyfish fans?

    in The Keyboard Corner

    Posted

    Huge fan. Have the now fairly rare, Box Set, which includes demos of all the songs from both CDs as well as a bunch of live material. Got to see them live on the Spilt Milk tour (1993 or 94). They were absolutely amazing. Nailed all those vocal harmonies. Interesting that you bring them up as I've just started listening them again. They did a pretty cool mini-version of "Hold your head up" that led into a never-released song called "Hello". Great power-pop stuff. Having a hard time getting that song out of my head now. Also a big fan of Jason Falkner...

    Hearing aids

    in The Keyboard Corner

    Posted

    I've worn Oticon minis for about 6 years now; I think they were around $4000 and this was the least expensive model (had the fewest frequency bands). They took me a while to get used to and had to be adjusted multiple times before I was happy with them. That said, they've made a huge difference. I still don't hear anywhere near as well as people with no hearing loss, but I can have a normal conversation without having to say "What?" if there was any change in volume or I couldn't see the other person's lips moving. Another thing that's nice is that when I have the aids in my tinnitus is significantly reduced (which is huge). The one down side is the dependency factor. My hearing hasn't gotten significantly worse since I started wearing the aids, but my brain tells me that I can't hear anything when I don't have them in. I recommend getting a hearing test from a good audiologist because they can use the results to properly program the hearing aids. I don't have any experience with the OTC aids, but (not surprisingly) my audiologist says they will not work well for me. I do trust her, but I think she really wants me to buy another set... Anyway, hope this helps. Feel free to ask me any questions and good luck.

    • Like 2

    What's next? Could use some support.

    in The Keyboard Corner

    Posted

    So much great advice on this thread... When I was in my 20s I worked with several songwriters with the hope that one would hit it big and I'd be a rock star, but I was always far too practical to not have a day job and the stability it provided; I was also fortunate that I really enjoyed the work I did. This made a huge difference, so I agree with the other members that say not to give up your day gig. When I got married and we had our first son, I was working 70 hours/week for my day job (this was during the internet bubble) and trying to gig on the weekends. It didn't take long before I completely burned out and stopped playing gigs entirely. It was a difficult, but liberating decision; I got to spend my little free time nurturing my relationships with my wife and son. I continued to play and enjoy music just without the additional stress of playing in a band. Looking back on it, my advice would be to stop doing everything except your day gig. As the time passes, you'll be able to tell what you miss and what you don't. When you start to feel the pull in one direction, talk it through with your wife and decide what will be best for both of you. As others have said, as a singing keyboardist, you'll always be able to find work if you're "jonesing" for a gig. I wish you the best and I thank you and all the other members of this community for sharing your thoughts and giving such great advice.

    The most useless, disappointing keyboard you ever bought?

    in The Keyboard Corner

    Posted

    The Crumar Bit One was absolutely the worst synth I ever bought. I guess there was a good reason it was as cheap as it was. Horrible sounding, keyboard trigger problems. After two weeks of frustration, I took it back to West LA Music and they let me exchange it for an Ensoniq ESQ-1. The ESQ-1 was several hundred dollars more expensive, but they did give me a full refund on the Bit One. Had lots of fun with the ESQ-1...

    Your biggest concert memories?

    in The Keyboard Corner

    Posted

    I have four to share and they were all personal "firsts" for me.

     

    1. Elton John - 1976 - Madison Square Garden - My first concert and I was a huge Elton John fan - was learning to play Elton's catalog, bedroom walls covered in Elton poster, created scrap books of Elton articles from magazines. I was 12 years old and my parents took me and my little brother who was 8. My parents (well just my mom at this point) still laugh when they recount my brother and I looking at them and saying "Ew... What's that smell?" Concert was amazing - James Newton Howard on keys - I think he had 2 or 3 Arp 2600s in the rig...

     

    2. U2 - 1992 - Dodger Stadium - The 2nd date with my wife. We were married two years later and I've been torturing her ever since...

     

    3. Rush - 2007 - Hollywood Bowl - The 1st concert for my son. He was almost 12 years old and loved every second of it. I could only laugh when he asked be about the "smell"...

     

    4. Thank You Scientist with Bent Knee and Tea Club - 2019 - Bootleg Theater - The 1st concert for my daughter who was 14. She was exhausted having participated in a dance competition the entire weekend, but still seemed to love every minute of it.

     

    Love sharing live music with the family...

    Is KC access slow?

    in The Keyboard Corner

    Posted

    Just now... 4:07PM PST 11/7/2020 - took about 30 seconds to go from a thread back to the thread listing. Accessing this thread after that was very quick. Windows 10 OS on the latest version of Chrome - didn't notice any increase in CPU usage while waiting.
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