SamuelBLupowitz
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Posts posted by SamuelBLupowitz
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Honestly, y'all, sometimes these threads are great for me because they remind me I *don't* need to covet the thing I almost got but didn't, lol. I love my Mojo XT but I got it less than a year before the Classic came out and not long before the MAG seemed to rise up in everyone's esteem, so it's nice to remember I don't constantly have to want to upgrade.
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Hey, I got paid *$200* for this gig, thank you very much!Rock star rig. So cool!Yup, $10,000 dollars worth of gear for a $100 dollar gig, that's what we do.
At least there were roadies on this gig.
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It's like that old flame you just can't seem to let go of...It's back... I just picked it up a short time ago right as the GC was closing. Haven't had time to download the new OS, I think I need a tutor. Elmer ......!Dueling Yamahas.
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Was a hired gun for a big record release show this past weekend, the solo debut from the singer of a very well-established local band (with whom I've also done a couple of stints on keyboards). It was a sold-out show in a roughly 350-person theater, big sound/light/stage crew, the works, so I decided to do the thing I said I wasn't going to keep doing so much and went A Little Extra.
Photos of the rig attached -- Yamaha CP88 for acoustic and electric piano (plus a synth pad for one Genesis cover that pushed the limits of even this rig), Novation Ultranova for lead synth (including the talkbox stuff), Nord Electro 4D for samples (clavinet, Mellotron strings/flutes, and saw pads), Roli Seaboard Block Bluetoothed to an iPad (for some expressive "flute" leads on two of the tunes), and my Crumar Mojo XT for Hammond... which I ran through (I can't believe I did this) my Leslie 147 (it actually fit in the back of my car, and there was a crew to help lift it onto the stage!).
A pretty hefty rig, but the gig had a lot of simple parts utilizing varied textures song to song, and it made my life a lot easier to have a breadth of sounds I could grab at any time, rather than complicated patch changes dominating each tune. The new music we were performing live was very much created "in the box" with a lot of electronic sounds and Production rather than a band, and the Nord was really handy to have for some drone parts that came in and out of the recorded arrangements -- I used a latching footswitch and a volume pedal to bring some open fifths in and out during some songs without having to take my hands away from more prominent parts. That's a trick I learned from Benmont Tench; he used to do it with the synth parts on Running Down a Dream so he could keep both hands on the piano. I also got to get a little cozier than I had been with the modeled tape delay on the CP88 for a few of the songs.
And hey, even by my massive rig standards, this one still had the advantage of being all digital!
Well, except for the Leslie. What am I, a philistine? :wink:
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At a certain point I developed a reputation as the guy with all the emergency stuff, and that's helped/haunted me to an absurd degree. I'm the guy with extra quarter inch cables, power cables, XLRs... one time the piano player in the band (I was playing bass on that gig) asked if they could use my keyboard! Hilariously, I had a Nord Electro and a Wurlitzer in my car, but the piano player's partner still had to drive half an hour back to my house to pick up a weighted 88-key board from my wife.
So when I am missing a cable I need, I get really mad.
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There's something extremely funny to me about the idea of a drummer going on an ego trip and touring without any of his bandmates. "I'm sorry, was someone complaining about the drum solo? I guess not because you're BOTH DEAD."
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Those isolated Brown Sugar tricks give an even greater opportunity to appreciate how horribly out of tune the bass is!
At any rate, I think your attention to detail is admirable, and I will say I'm having a hard time hearing exactly what Ian Stewart is playing in that section -- I hear the high octave Gs, I hear maybe some blues licks happening within them or underneath them? It's hard to say.
But if you want my two cents, I'd zoom out a bit. While learning the ins and outs of each Stones keyboardist's style will certainly help bring the correct flavor and more than a casual cover band approach to these (in some cases well-worn) songs, I think it's fair to say that any of these players, given another pass at the tune, would play something totally different. There are probably dozens or hundreds of live recordings of Brown Sugar, with Stu, with Ian McLagan, with Chuck Leavell especially, and while every single one of them is full of sick blues and boogie woogie licks (if you can hear them under the guitars), I think getting too hung up on what exactly is happening at any particular moment isn't necessarily in the spirit of the thing. So see what feels best when you play it with the band -- hammer out those octave Gs, throw in a little honky tonk lick to break it up, answer the guitar, or comp rhythmically for a bit. And as awesome as it would be to bring the full bore of Stu's complex left hand patterns and syncopated right hand licks to the tunes... how often can you *really* hear the left hand of the piano in the context of a Stones arrangement at all?
So none of this is to say "eh, why bother," because as Josh Paxton often points out, there is great benefit to be had from learning the ins and outs and details of a player's style and approach. But if your inability to figure out exactly what is happening on the studio recording is inhibiting your enjoyment or, even worse, your confidence in your abilities to handle the gig... remember, Ian Stewart would refuse to play on any song with a minor chord in it, so let your limitations springboard you to finding your creative voice in the context of a Rolling Stones tribute band!
EDIT: Chuck Leavell also has a lot of solo performance videos and tutorials showing the ins and outs of his style, and again, while he didn't play on the classic records, he's been putting his flavor into the Stones' catalog longer than any other keyboard player at this point, so there's certainly something to be gained from watching him play anything:
[video:youtube]
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What is there to say? They're the BEATLES. My heart.
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My one wish for the CP88 is that it had Nord-style "live sets" in addition to the presets, and I'm told that the YC88 has those. That said, I prefer the panel layout and simplicity of the CP, especially since (as I was just saying on another thread) I'll compromise a lighter action for piano if I'm slimming down a rig, but I won't usually mess around with playing organ or lead synth on a weighted piano action.As AnotherScott pointed out though, the CP has a more immediate workflow. At the moment I have both the CP88 and YC61 here and whilst I love the layout of the YC61, the CP88 is even more intuitive and quicker to use.Anyway, all this said, this is my first stage piano upgrade in a decade, so I'm extremely pleased with it.
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In the "late to the party" category: at the behest of the bassist I've been working with a lot lately, I recently checked out Sting's 1993 solo effort "Ten Summoner's Tales" and was totally blown away by the songwriting, the musicianship, and David Sancious's stellar keyboard performances (though Vinnie Colaiuta is no slouch behind the drums, either). Great melodies, infectious odd-meter rhythms, just a compelling record all around.
I assumed that Sancious (who I've long admired; one day I'll learn that piano intro to Bruce Springsteen's "New York City Serenade") would have access to whatever well-maintained vintage keyboards he wanted for the piano and Hammond that dominate the record (alongside the gooey synth pads that were de rigueur in the early 90s) but the videos from the studio sessions and the accompanying tour I've dug up have him playing a single controller attached to a massive rack of modules and a very period-looking computer system. Cutting edge for '93, I imagine! I've included one of those videos below -- any insight into the equipment he would have been using will certainly be of interest to me.
My bassist has suggested a 30th anniversary tribute show in 2023, and we know a drummer who can definitely hack it... I'll have my work cut out for me, but I'll have a blast, and prooooobably bring more keyboards than David Sancious in this case!
[video:youtube]
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...so you can say "it belonged to someone in the Dead." That may not be worth $900 to you, but, like, have you MET Grateful Dead fans?There is one on reverb for $199. Why would I pay an additional $900, so I could say "it belonged to someone in the Dead"?
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Assuming it's the same action as the Electro 4D, I also find their waterfall action to be extremely satisfying for electric piano and clav. It's not the same as any of the authentic instruments, it just feels nice to me!Also, for some reason the action feels great to me on Rhodes and Wurli but YMMV. -
I'll tell you what, as a longtime Electro 4D owner, the Stage 3 Compact seems like the ultimate flexible lightweight rig rounder-outer/cover-all-bases board, and I would absolutely love to have one in my collection. Playing acoustic piano on an organ keybed is never ideal but if it means I only have to haul one board up the stairs to the shitty tiny club or rehearsal space to get by, I'll suffer through playing my blues and honky-tonk licks with zero resistance, especially if it means I also have Wurlis and clavs and synths and Mellotron, oh my. [Edit: I feel very differently about playing piano in a band context on a keyboard that's too light than I do about playing organ on a board that's too heavy. I won't bother playing anything that vaguely sounds like a Hammond on a weighted action unless it's, like, for a joke,]
Only trouble is that price tag. YEESH.
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I know this board has been around for awhile now, but as I've been window-shopping synths, I realized that while the cover-many-bases VA board is very useful, I already sort of have that covered, but I don't have an analog synth anywhere in my collection. It looks intuitive, sounds pretty cool, fairly low-profile, and a reasonable price point. Wondering if anyone here owns/used to own/plays one and what your experience has been!
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Excited to see how the new touch sensitivity feels on the CP88, particularly on the electric piano section.
Unrelated, anyone know what stand Nahre Sol is using in that video...? My ten-year-old platform stand is a little worse for wear...
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Yes, my glee over this enormous evil tech conglomerate getting kicked in the proverbial nuts is helping balance out the jitters I am feeling from not being able to compulsively check the social media apps that I am clearly addicted to.
This is kinda fun.Finding it hard not to enjoy it a little. -
Apparently the DNS records for all three apps are mysteriously gone, as well -- "facebook.com" was shown as available for sale this afternoon. So this is not an accident. I bet Mark Zuckerberg is having a very bad day.
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Thank you so much! I have a good time.Nice work all around Sam! You"re studio is well equipped. Love the vintage gear.
Fair enough -- truly, the video is exactly what it looks like, a snapshot of the actual tracking the of song, nothing staged or artifical (well, other than the goofy visual effect when I do that silly Moog pitch slide near the end). I read the lyrics off my phone when I laid down the lead vocal because... that's where I had the lyrics!...and just as a follow-up on my last post, put out a music video for one of the new album tracks today, just showing me laying down all the parts in my studio.Liked this a lot, Sam. You wrote something that's inimitably you, and yet extremely hooky. Very hard to do. Love all the keyboard work. I can see how the Wurly has become your musical center.
I have to be critical about reading your own lyrics from your phone for the video. I wish you had found a way around that.
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Hooray! Happy birthday!
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This is a treasure trove. I always love bands with both piano and B3 players in a rock context (Springsteen, The Band, mid-70s Billy Joel, some of the Beatles' Let It Be stuff with Billy Preston) but I haven't heard much of that in jazz.
In gospel, of course, it's pretty common!
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My animated nature behind the keys (but especially when playing bass) is legendary among my bandmates past and present, hahaha.One bright side of being wired--nobody can ask me to dance! Believe me, you DO NOT want me "dancing" (the air quotes are required in this case). An intense head bob will have to do.Anyway, good to hear all this. I don't think the wireless purchase would be immediate, but it's good to keep an eye on what I might want to spend some money on in the future. Need to invest in a sturdier TRS cable for my wired beltpack in the meantime, and keep weighing pros and cons of the Galaxy or the Shure wireless system.
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Hey all! So, I started using in-ears right before the pandemic hit, and while I haven't gigged with them as much as I would have had things not ground so horrifically to a halt, I am definitely of the mindset that I will never go back to wedges. It's the single best thing I've done for my playing and especially my singing in a live context.
Now, seeing as I'm usually stuck inside a fortress of keyboards, I've been content to stay wired, with an XLR or two trailing from my beltpack at gigs. But the urge for a little more mobility, plus a really bad experience with a cable that went bad before my set the other night (what's worse than no monitors at all? Monitors cutting in and out and distracting you from what's happening), have me thinking it might be time to liberate myself like the guitarists and bassist have, and go fully wireless.
But a lot of the functional-but-affordable wireless monitoring systems for players like us, who aren't hitting up Madison Square Garden anytime soon, are mono only (a lot of folks I know use the little XVive U4 transmitter/receiver combo that charges over USB and plugs right into the mixer, but that's mono only). Monitoring piano and organ in stereo is a much more pleasant, immersive experience for me. So I'm wondering if any of y'all run wireless ears in stereo, and how much you've invested in those systems, if there's anything you'd recommend. Obviously I want something that's reliable, but I also am trying to be realistic about the price points and what they mean -- how much money do I *need* to spend to get a wireless setup I'd be happy with, rather than "what's the best, most bulletproof thing that all the pros use that will set me back 3k?"
Aaaaand GO!
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I think it also depends on what you mean by a "pop" song. Is there much B3 on a Lil Nas X record, or a Dua Lipa track? Probably not (but I haven't heard either of those artists, I just know that I'm a 32 year old man and even though pop music was never really for me I'm exceptionally out of touch now). But aside from the Hammond's iconic status as a vintage "vinyl era" instrument, it's a go-to of contemporary rock, funk, reggae, soul, and jam bands -- not just "old guys," young folks who tour full-time and sell out theaters and play big festivals, like Turkuaz, Pigeons Playing Ping Pong, Grace Potter, Dawes, Goose, Vulfpeck... I could go on. You won't hear any of those bands on Clear Channel top 40 radio, but they're thrilling and delighting audiences and record buyers/streamers all over the place. It's just that the musical landscape is so much broader and more segmented now, given the tight corporate control of radio, algorithmic recommendations of Spotify and Pandora, and how much easier it is to make your record and put it on the internet!
Instruments, sounds, and styles go in and out of vogue. Juicy 80s synth patches are really in right now, whereas while I was growing up in the early aughts I remember that being the definition of cheesy. But certain sounds and instruments transcend the time and space that popularized them, and they just become a classic: the drum set. The piano. The acoustic guitar. The saxophone. The cello. And yeah, I'd go out on a limb and say the Hammond organ.
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There's a song on my new record coming out next week that's built around full-on Clav-that-civilians-will-mistake-for-crunch-guitar. In an act of absolutely shameless self promotion, I will share it here when the record drops.
As threatened...
[video:youtube]
The left channel "guitar" is a clav that I just slammed through a Fender amp with a wah pedal. Aside from managing to get a nice two-guitar rock band vibe with only one guitar on the track, I got some nice feedback effects out of the deal!
I just picked it up a short time ago right as the GC was closing. Haven't had time to download the new OS, I think I need a tutor. Elmer ......!
Yamaha CP88 and 73 - Deserve their own thread
in The Keyboard Corner
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But now that I've settled into all of that, the accuracy of the sample is quite eerie.