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What are you listening to? Part III
- Thread starter S.B.G
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This one is for @rm5. Don't know if you follow Matt Johnson from Jamiroquoi at all; when COVID hit he started doing a lot of free tutorials and discussions on EweTube, and I found them fascinating. Here he talks about preparing for a gig, whether it's a club date, wedding or stadium tour. One thing I learned from this particular video is to kill most of the reverb in your patches; synth reverbs simulate club, hall, or stadium ambience, in your basement/bedroom/headphones; if you're actually playing in a club, hall or stadium, having that reverb programmed in is doubling up and just making the sound muddy (he used a different term, might be a British thing).
I've used mostly Yamaha gear over the years: DX-7, TX-81Z, SPX effects, TG-77, sampler, and finally the miserable, buggy EX-5, which couldn't even call up its own factory presets reliably! Yammie's followups, the Motif, and Montage, were solid and you see them on stages everywhere; I don't gig anymore but hearing that Montage he's using, whoa, it's tempting!
I've used mostly Yamaha gear over the years: DX-7, TX-81Z, SPX effects, TG-77, sampler, and finally the miserable, buggy EX-5, which couldn't even call up its own factory presets reliably! Yammie's followups, the Motif, and Montage, were solid and you see them on stages everywhere; I don't gig anymore but hearing that Montage he's using, whoa, it's tempting!
No, I've never heard of him! Will have to check him out more though—this video is excellent! Totally agree with playing "identifiable chords," especially in the pop domain. You can get away with a lot more in jazz, but I would never show up to a rock gig and play dominant 13th chords all over the place! Part of your responsibility as a musician is to know the song, especially if on a non-straight-ahead-jazz set. Learn it by ear so you can play in multiple keys (I've found that by learning the sheet music, I cannot transpose nearly as well as if I learned the song by ear). If parts are fully notated, that's different, and you have to learn the part - of course strong sight-reading skills are essential in that case.
About the reverb stuff—I generally apply just a touch of stage reverb to the piano sounds (I mostly use the CFX sound on my Yamaha), and perhaps some EQ, depending on what's needed. Generally though, the little bit of reverb I have on pianos is not an issue. Though when I'm gigging around town over the break, I'll be sure to try having no reverb at all and see how it sounds.
No idea what that piano patch he's using on the Montage is, I don't recognize it. Must be a new one exclusive to that board. I've been using Yamaha keyboards since I was 7 years old, so I am quite familiar with them. I've had probably 10 or so over the course of the last decade. Over the years, I've had the YPG-235 and 535, PSR-E343, 353, 443, and 453, the PSR S750 and S770, the MM6, and the P-125.
Though currently, I've dumbed down my setup to a single Yamaha CP88. Since I've been doing so much jazz (and less pop stuff - though I'd love to get back into that!) the past couple years since the pandemic, I really only need a piano and a Rhodes, which that provides. The Natural Wood Graded Hammer action on the CP is the best keyboard action I have ever played—nothing else gets close.
I'm considering picking up a Crumar Mojo 61 B3 clonewheel, because currently, with my CP88, I have no organ patches. A friend of mine (Berklee student, actually—plays in a bunch of different bands in Boston) has one. I played it once and liked it.
EDIT: Actually, I have a story to go along with my first point: last week (Tuesday and Thursday) everyone brought in their final compositions for MUCA 330 (Jazz Composition and Arranging) class. We only had time for one (usually incomplete) run-through before recording the pieces. A lot of them (including mine) had fully-notated piano parts (as opposed to lead sheets with the melody and chords). Glad I took (and passed) my Functional Piano Skills class already, because the sight-reading there REALLY prepared me for this. So I was able to perform all the pieces mostly without issue.
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Some stuff I haven't listened to in many years...
Got Faure's Requiem playing as I pack (traveling home tomorrow). Actually, it has become an (accidental) tradition that I listen to the Requiem as I pack... I've done it three times before.
Waiting to board a plane so I’m using my phone—a Spotify link is all I can give you unfortunately. But here’s this great Oscar Peterson version of “Tricrotism”—what a fun tune to play, too! In a really hard key of D flat, but that doesn’t deter me from playing it! It’s actually made me a whole lot more comfortable playing in difficult keys like that.
Listening to some GD this morning...Been to 38 of their concerts. Can't believe Phil died last month.😢
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Jean-Guihen Queyras revisits the Bach Cello Suites a couple of decades after his first recordings...this time as part of a collaboration with choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker.
Yeah, this blurb sounds like the classified ad that resulted in Kim Deal joining the Pixies but if you dig Coltrane, the Minutemen, and Richard Thompson, check this out.
I saw the opera Tristan und Isolde recently. I'm pretty new to opera, so I had no idea Bernard Herrmann was so, er, influenced by Wagner.
(plus the turbulent, ominous feelings stirred up in both works tie into an earlier discussion here)
Yeah, this blurb sounds like the classified ad that resulted in Kim Deal joining the Pixies but if you dig Coltrane, the Minutemen, and Richard Thompson, check this out.
I saw the opera Tristan und Isolde recently. I'm pretty new to opera, so I had no idea Bernard Herrmann was so, er, influenced by Wagner.
(plus the turbulent, ominous feelings stirred up in both works tie into an earlier discussion here)
Testing out some new headphones today after letting them burn-in for about 80 hours. The HarmonicDyne x Zeos ERIS.
The box says "The Bass Violence Necessary For Change."
I couldn't think of a better album than this one to put that to the test. So far on track two, I am not disappointed.
Testing these headphones right now through my Cambridge Audio DACMagic 200M and the Geshelli Labs Erish.
The box says "The Bass Violence Necessary For Change."
I couldn't think of a better album than this one to put that to the test. So far on track two, I am not disappointed.
Testing these headphones right now through my Cambridge Audio DACMagic 200M and the Geshelli Labs Erish.
Korn right now.....
Need some help picking new headphones.... I am awear of the risks just to get that out of the way. But I want LOUD and Clean. My current AirPod Pros are sounding dull. (1st gen) And only last about 2 hours. I tried the Max's. The mid range seems just flat to me.
I listen to everything. Classic, rap, blues, jazz, metal anything with good comp, and clarity.
I am looking for a something under 500, has to be both plug in or bluetooth. I mainly will just listen while on my MBA, or doing yard work.
What do you use?
Need some help picking new headphones.... I am awear of the risks just to get that out of the way. But I want LOUD and Clean. My current AirPod Pros are sounding dull. (1st gen) And only last about 2 hours. I tried the Max's. The mid range seems just flat to me.
I listen to everything. Classic, rap, blues, jazz, metal anything with good comp, and clarity.
I am looking for a something under 500, has to be both plug in or bluetooth. I mainly will just listen while on my MBA, or doing yard work.
What do you use?
Well, this is a new take on “What Are You Listening To?”!!!
I’ve used Sony MDR-7506 headphones with my computers, my game consoles, and my audio systems for years. Unlike many people, I enjoy headphones that have a minimal effect on the signal that’s coming over the wire. I like to make tone adjustments on whatever hardware is driving the ‘phones or, if I choose, to hear exactly what a disc player or turntable is sending to an amplifier.
And bonus…the 7506’s don’t cost hundreds of dollars!!!
(if you’re wondering what music I like, this thread is a fine place to look, ha)
We have a thread dedicated to headphones discussion here.
Phil Manzanera - Diamond Head (1975)
Lead guitarist Roxy Music and countless projects since...
Lead guitarist Roxy Music and countless projects since...