SamuelBLupowitz

February 1

16 hours ago, Adan said:

I have infinite respect for Medeski, and I would also suspect he said that tongue in cheek.

That may be so, but he's also known to be a little bit of an intense, cantankerous purist, so who can say, really! It's a different climate economically than the early days of MMW when they'd load the B3 and Leslie out of the van and the stairs into the club themselves -- and I don't imagine he does much moving Hammonds around on his own at this stage of his career...

January 31

Assuming you are starting totally from scratch, here's the first, most important lesson I had to learn to start understanding how to make this stuff work:

MIDI Out - from the device sending a message to another device -- "play this note," "switch to this patch," "open the filter."

MIDI In - for the device that is *receiving* a MIDI signal and reacting to it -- a patch change, a parameter adjustment, audio output.

Some of you might laugh, but when I started hooking up my bass pedals to control a digital organ or synth, it took me awhile to get a grip on how to connect the cable between the two! "well if the sound is coming OUT of the synth, then I need to put the MIDI into the ... no wait, that's not right ..."

January 31

My Wurlitzer 200 is one of my prized possessions. I stopped taking it to gigs for the most part after the pandemic (both to save my back and because I now have a home studio I can keep it set up in), but man, truly nothing like the real thing -- the feel, the sound, the response. Maintenance is kind of a pain though, I admit. I'd be fascinated by a Vintage Vibe-style contemporary electromechanical piano that's more reed-y than tine-y. I imagine the market would be more for mid- to upper-level touring and recording artists (and of course home use by affluent folks), than those of us carting our own gear to gigs. That seems to be how Vintage Vibe gets by, what with Stevie Wonder, Esperanza Spaulding, and John Ginty touring with their pianos and clav copies.

Interested to see where this goes!

January 31

13 hours ago, MathOfInsects said:

Unpopular opinion I guess, but I hated that show. It was so mannered. It was like Seinfeld meets Golden Girls meets some random radio drama from the 1940s.

For me, as someone who got into the show 20 years after it aired, I feel like the self-importance and pomposity of Frasier and Niles is usually the butt of the joke -- their attempts at social climbing and self-aggrandizement pretty much always blow up in their faces. Though I will say, as a former English major, I'm a sucker for an arcane literary joke, and the show is full of those. Definitely less about the minutiae of everyday life than Seinfeld, which was also impeccably written, but with fewer quips about Chaucer, midcentury American theater ("Well, I wish you had lent her your Tennessee Williams biography. She wouldn't have kept forgetting his name and calling him Indiana Jones") and expensive wine.

Like all 90s sitcoms, there are some ideas and moments that have aged poorly, but it generally does pretty well compared to its peers -- it's much less homophobic than, say, Friends. And the writing is almost always stellar and erudite, like playwriting (which, if we're going to keep picking on Friends even though nobody asked, that's definitely not something you can say for that show, either).

17 hours ago, K K said:

Also, it is worth mentioning that the actor playing Niles plays piano very well. When you see him play piano in several episodes either at Frasier's or in his own fancy apartment in the show, it is actually real playing.

I love the moments when they get David Hyde Pierce to play the piano. Kelsey Grammer is always very obviously miming, but by a few seasons in they start looking for excuses for Niles to play instead of Frasier. I sang the praises of David Hyde Pierce in a previous post in this thread, but I think it's worth mentioning again how key his immense talent was to the success of the show. His physical comedy is magic (never better displayed than in the nearly-dialogue-less opening segment of the "Three Valentines" episode), and as a stage actor who has done everything from Spamalot to Sondheim, he brings a certain groundedness and finesse to a character that could otherwise be overly cartoonish, or a pale rehash of his onscreen brother.

13 hours ago, Polychrest said:

Revisiting episodes of Frasier revives one of the more challenging pub questions faced by men of a certain age: Daphne or Roz?

Listen, she might be close to my mother's age, but Peri Gilpin can still get it. 😉

January 30

Just now, CyberGene said:

Although I’m not a huge fan of the show (but the wife is mad about it and has been binge watching it every free minute for the last weeks) I watched that episode the other day since it was music related and when he said that line I laughed a lot 😀 I believe many on this forum would agree with it, right!

There's another episode where Frasier and Niles help Martin finish a song he wrote for Frank Sinatra. Season 3. Might enjoy that one as well!

January 30

54 minutes ago, K K said:

This episode is the source of one of the most quotable lines in the entire show: "if less is more, imagine how much more more would be!"

I think about that in the recording studio ... all the time.

January 30

I didn't grow up in a Frasier household (my dad was more into Seinfeld) but my wife brought a love of that show into our marriage and now it's one of my go-to comfort shows. At its best -- and it stays pretty consistently funny even through the later seasons -- it's old-school, door-slamming farce, a 22-minute Neil Simon play every episode.

Haven't been able to bring myself to watch the recent revival (let's be honest, I'm not in it for Kelsey Grammer; David Hyde Pierce *made* that show) but you can bet I'll be watching the 1996 comedy of errors "Look Before You Leap" on February 29th this year.

Oh yeah, and the swanky jazz score is pretty cool too.

January 29

Wow and the keyboard section is the tip of the iceberg. I guess if you're going to have two bass players, they might as well be John Entwistle and Stanley Clarke.

January 25

As someone who did a whole lot of movable-do solfege in college, I appreciated Mary having a Phrygian lamb there!

For real, some people get down on movable do, but those four years of sight singing helped train my ear and hear pitch relationships contextually SO much better than pure interval training ever did. My biggest leap forward in "hearing what I want to play before I play it" in my musical education.

January 24

15 hours ago, ProfD said:

The Motion Sound was made for that type of gig situation where there is no PA system and two smaller amps won't cut it.

OTOH, if a PA is provided and/or load in/out is fast or stage space is limited, it's better to use in-ears or smaller amps.

It's all about using the right tool for the job or in this case....right gear for the gig. Have a blast with that organ trio mayne.😎

The advantage of an instrumental three-piece is that it's easier to book in smaller venues that don't have the sound and stage infrastructure that some of my larger projects need to make it worthwhile.

The disadvantage of an instrumental three-piece is that so far I've been playing a lot of smaller venues that don't have the sound and stage infrastructure that some of my larger projects need to make it worthwhile! Hauling the amp is still easier than a mixer, mains, speaker stands, a bunch of mics and mic stands, and monitor wedges, I suppose. But the one actual club show we've played so far has been easier to load in, set up, and get levels, that's for sure. Baby steps!

January 23

31 minutes ago, stoken6 said:

Can you fit castors to it to make moving easier?

Not out of the question if it comes to it, and if I wind up using it often again, I may do that. With this amp it's not even so much the weight but the size and bulk of it. Trickier for loading in the car, maneuvering down narrow stairways, etc. If I need to I can carry it by one handle, but good luck fitting through a door that way!

The specs say it weighs 70 pounds but it's never felt that heavy to me, at least not the way the weight is distributed. Just harder to slide into the back of the car than the Two Amp Solution.

January 23

Thought some of y'all would find this Plight of the Gigging Musician relatable.

I got a used Motion Sound KBR-3D around 2018 so that I could run my clones through a real spinny thing (and still have stereo inputs for my other boards without having to ask for multiple lines or, god forbid, bring additional amps). It served me well onstage and even in some Leslie-less studio situations. But my eventual move to in-ear monitors, plus a post-pandemic desire to lighten my load-in/load-out, left the amp sidelined to a corner of my studio (where I now have a real Leslie 147 when I want to move air). I got the sim on my Mojo dialed in to a place where it sounded great in the in-ears and PA speakers, so why not just run everything direct on gigs and save my back? I still had my SpaceStation when I wanted quick stereo amplification for a rehearsal or vocals-only-in-the-PA gig, and that's a lot less cumbersome. So I started thinking about selling the Motion Sound.

When I started gigging in earnest with my organ trio last fall, I wasn't using the in-ears, especially since we were playing more breweries and small venues without house PAs. Still, I was getting by with the SpaceStation and my little 10" Line 6 bass amp from 2008. Yeah, two amps, but both pretty small and easy to transport. But I was struggling with a lack of focus and punch in the bass synth patches, and a shrillness in the organ I wasn't entirely happy with.

So for our gig this past weekend, I thought "what the hell, I'll run through the Motion Sound to see if it makes it any different, and if not, I'll know for sure I don't need to keep it."

You know how that story ends. Even not using the "Leslie" part of the amp and running the sim and the bass synth into the stereo inputs, there was my full, beautiful organ sound and a synth that was thumping more like a dirty old p-bass than I had been able to dial in previously.

Hooray, but also, I guess I'm back to lugging a big hefty amp around for these gigs! At least it's only one of them now, and I can leave it at home when there's a PA with subs at the venue... so it can continue to take up space in my studio rather than my wallet. Life is tough. 😉

January 22

Shame the video isn't on YouTube anymore -- find it if you can -- but this is the audio of the same performance. Kofi Burbridge's playing on this Stevie Wonder cover was a game changer for me when I first heard it in college. He does the Stevie rhythmic funk clav thing, but he also goes beyond that and makes the instrument sing like a second guitar (complementing Derek Trucks brilliantly) in a way I hadn't heard previously. It really shaped my approach to playing clavinet. The whole performance is worth listening to, but Kofi's solo creeps in around 3:30.

January 19

20 hours ago, Old No7 said:

ps: "Won't" get fooled is the title, yet the lyrics of the song say "Don't" get fooled... And our drummer asked me why???

My thoughts are that the title is a statement by the band, saying that they "won't" get fooled again; and when they sing it, they're telling the listener to "don't" get fooled again.

One of those funny little lyrical idiosyncrasies that pops out to me occasionally! I think this interpretation is solid; the full lyric is essentially a statement of "the more things change, the more they stay the same" and the full chorus lyric is "then we'll get down on our knees and pray we don't get fooled again." So the lyric itself is a hope and a wish -- "maybe in the future we won't be so gullible" -- but the statement of the title, and one might say, the overall impact of the song, is more declarative and assertive. An embodiment of the courage and clarity that the narrator is, with some uncertainty and insecurity, praying for.

Or maybe Pete Townshend just thinks he's smarter than everybody else. Who could IMAGINE.

January 19

And I was just telling my guitarist he should get a Hammond for his music room! Probably only an eight hour drive for me or so... what could go wrong?

January 19

At this rate, I'm expecting to see a thread any day now informing us that Korg has assumed control of the US government and will be rolling out a new Constitution. 😆

January 18

January 16

On 1/14/2024 at 11:58 AM, Tusker said:

Woah! 💪

Nice rig indeed. Very organic sound.

Here's a rundown of the rig. He sure knows how to get the most out of it. 👍

What a cool setup. Guess I need to get myself one of those brushes! 😆

EDIT: I see they're coming to my town in March, on a double bill with a singer/songwriter/harpist based not too far from me, Mikaela Davis. Looks like she was featured on one of their recent singles as well. That's cool! If I'm available I'll have to try to catch the show.

January 12

15 hours ago, Lou_NC said:

You bet I play bass. Both 16' and 8', in various combinations.........🙂

The trusty Roland PK-5! I've had mine since about 2014 and I finally feel like I'm getting good at moving around on them ... I feel like it's a slightly different technique from the radial organ style pedals though, and a little tougher to heel-toe through passing tones. I've also found that sometimes the pedals aren't quite as sensitive as I would like and I will miss notes (though maybe we could chalk that up to inconsistent technique on my end, or the MIDI response of the Korg Prologue I've been connecting them to).

I see these in the wild so rarely, so it's always nice to be able to confer with other bass pedal users. It's a different feel and approach than left hand bass that I've found demands, and rewards, simplicity. I couldn't do my organ trio gig without a combination of left hand and pedals.

EDIT: thought I'd share a picture of my PK-5 pedals as a part of my rig. My philosophy is, if you're doing something that requires some unusual skill you want to impress the audience with, like playing keyboards with your feet, you should do something to call attention to it...

January 11

1 hour ago, Stokely said:

I love playing with a good real bass player. IMO it makes the band more than any keys or guitar player, paired with a good drummer the entire band just feels like it's in cruise control. You let things breathe more and play less because drums and bass alone just sound so good.

I have nothing but respect for you LH bass players (or foot players). My buddy plays LH bass in his band and it's tough. I not only don't want to do it, I'm not that great at syncopation between my two hands in the first place. And I sing a lot so that would be another tough combo. I like taking breaks in songs, lazy bastard I guess

For years, any time I would take the occasional left hand bass gig, I would feel really pleased with myself, but grateful to be returning to situations with great bass players so that I can focus on textures and serving the song (and dancing around onstage). Playing just keys, whether it's more of a singer-songwriter piano style or as an accent/texture instrument in a band that's more driven by guitar or the rhythm section, is a very different animal than when you have to prioritize being a key member of the rhythm section while also covering harmony and/or melody.

When we were first getting my organ trio together, I had a lot of doubts about my ability to deliver. If it hadn't been for the years I've spent working with the guitarist (who was the one who really wanted to make the project happen), I might have bowed out. I'm really glad I stuck it out and put in the time necessary to be able to perform the music; it's been incredibly satisfying, and I really feel like I've grown and expanded my abilities. But I do have to think of it as a different role than when I'm playing just keys or just bass in a band.

January 11

And of course, one of my very earliest influences: 😉

"Hey Matt, bring in the next piano, will ya?"

January 10

Yes, keyboards and bass are my two primary instruments.

As of last year, I'm in a project where I'm playing left-hand (or left foot) bass full time; it's something I've always enjoyed dabbling in and has been a lot of fun to dig into more. My experience playing bass guitar absolutely helps my approach and feel, but it is, as others have noted, a separate skill.

Occasionally I'll get a gig where I get to do both, John Paul Jones-style (playing bass and then jumping over to keys while still covering the low-end) and I always feel like a king when I get to do that. But, it winds up being a really grueling load-in/load-out! Except for that one time where I showed up and the backline gear included an Ampeg SVT and a B3 with a Leslie 147...

Anyway, that's what the studio is for, I guess!

40 minutes ago, stoken6 said:

Bass Axe-ual?

We're not confused. We're not greedy. Bass Axe-ual people exist. 🦄

January 10

43 minutes ago, Stokely said:

Non-keys players are not impressed by big rigs. In fact, they strongly dislike them is my takeaway

The space consideration is a real thing. But I will say that my guitar player always liked when I brought out the Wurlitzer and the clavinet because he thought it made the band look cooler/more legit. But then, that's why I've worked with that guitar player in almost every project I've gotten involved in for *checks calendar* the last ten years.

And now that I think about it, a touring band I've played with on and off was always more than happy to help move a Leslie and (when my predecessor was in the band) a Hammond chop in and out of the trailer, because, again, it just added an extra sheen of legitimacy to the project ("Grace Potter would lug her B3 in and out of tiny clubs before she made it big!").

So I think it comes down to that thing it ALWAYS comes down to, which is the luck of finding collaborators who support your insanity rather than merely tolerate or resent it. I've been lucky that I haven't had to deal with a lot of the "guitar is cool, keyboards are not" attitude that seems to plague a lot of the bands y'all have worked with.

January 8

1 minute ago, ProfD said:

They could use a track or trigger samples if it's a prominent part or drop the KB part altogether it's inaudible in the mix anyway.

😎

Well, what I'm saying is that there *are* songs in the catalog with prominent keys parts. It's just not every song. If the choice is between "only bring the auxiliary guy out for a few songs" and "sure, play all night, even on songs where the keys will be mixed under the guitars as more of an extra sauce," I'd personally prefer the latter. And I'd certainly prefer it to hearing a prerecorded track or sample! Pay a musician to be up there.

4 minutes ago, ProfD said:

it doesn't help to make KB players essential to the band.

In this instance, these are bands that had no keyboards for many years of their multiple-album history, choosing to augment their sound with an additional player because some songs in their catalog DO feature, or benefit from, keys. Blissfully, they have the budget to have a guy onstage all the time instead of playing to a track for four songs out of the set. Would it be cool for the keyboard player if a band like that reworked all of their arrangements to feature more keys? Sure, but that's not the gig. It's still a far cry from "let's hear Jump without the keyboards." And we've all heard what can happen when you perform Jump with a track instead of a live keyboard player... 😉

January 8

On 1/6/2024 at 9:52 AM, ProfD said:

I saw a performance by American punk rock band Green Day on a New Year's Eve TV show.

Sure enough, Green Day's touring KB player Jason Freese is set up behind a stack of guitar amps.

It's only by accident that the KB player was in any band shots as the camera pans. Every now and then there was a glimpse of his hat. He looked like an off-stage-hand. Any KB parts were buried in the mix.

I think we're looking at a different beast when a well-established band like Green Day, who rose to fame as a punk-influenced guitar-bass-drums power trio, adds a touring keyboardist so that they can play some of the more eclectic songs from their catalog. A lot of Queen or Beatles songs are entirely guitar driven, but you couldn't do Bohemian Rhapsody or Let It Be without a piano. If Billie Joe Armstrong can't drop his guitar and sit down at the keys, somebody's gotta do it, and if they're getting paid, they might as well be up there to beef up the sound on all the other tunes, even if it's way down in the mix. I'm sure, in this case, Mr. Freese gets paid well enough that he doesn't mind, much like Rami Jaffee in the Foo Fighters who is almost always inaudible behind their wall of three guitar players ... until there's a moment in the set that features piano or Mellotron strings and that just has to be there.

It wouldn't be my ideal gig (paycheck aside), but I understand and appreciate it. These cover bands some of y'all have played in where they seem to resent your very presence, that I will NEVER understand.

3 hours ago, Stokely said:

I've heard road stories from a drummer who was on tour with Nugent (with Rick Derringer iirc) that made anything I've ever read about him look tame. The thread will get locked if I say much about that "man".

If anyone is feeling particularly intense ire about Ted Nugent, there's a wonderful clip from the 70s floating around on the internet of Patti Smith punching him live on the radio.

Profiles

Forums

Blogs

Events

Articles

Downloads

Gallery

Store

Posts posted by SamuelBLupowitz