Last year for Halloween, I was playing in the Dudley Manlove Quartet and we were David Bowie which gave me the chance to dig into a little bit of his material for the first time. We would play a show on Halloween and for a set we would perform as a 'band'. Previous years we were the Talking Heads, the B52's, you get the idea.
Prior to last September, I had not spent any time listening to David Bowie - I could not even recall hearing one of his songs on the radio. The only thing I knew him from was Labryinth.
But now - I love his music. I only have his 'best of' cd's, I just have not dug any further to find some of his secret gems. Anyone know of any great ones? I love Hero, and Ashes to Ashes. Ashes to Ashes was a tricky one to pull of live, but I love that piano riff with the chorus and pitch bend. Totally awesome. The other thing I love is when you listen to these tracks on headphones, you can really hear the different stereo techniques that they use (for instance on Ziggy Stardust) and you can hear the mix - which is fantastic.
I have been listening to music lately and thinking about mixes because it is time for me to mix down my solo cd. Obviously, a solo piano w/ vocals cd is fairly simple to mix down, but there are still many different mic's to level out, and some parts that I added after the fact (pads, etc). I would recommend everyone listen to some David Bowie on headphones and just jam out for a while, but think about how reverb makes things sound further away from you, and how dry vocals in the left ear only give a certain effect, as well as doubled, tripled, quadrupled and quintupled voices on chorus'! Totally crazy, and masterful mixing on those tunes!
Monday, November 7, 2011
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Been a while!
Been a while since the last update. Getting ready to go backpacking through Asia for a few months. We leave in two days! Follow our blog at http://mackandchelseainasia.blogspot.com!
Bon Voyage!
M
Bon Voyage!
M
Monday, August 2, 2010
Zubbato Syndicate and More!
Cool video featuring yours truly as a member of Zubbato Syndicate... although it is a small feature, and you only see my hands! Hahaha!
Support live music, this is a great band to be a part of.
Cheers,
M
Support live music, this is a great band to be a part of.
Cheers,
M
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Hiromi!
Went and saw Hiromi this weekend with Stanley Clark at Jazz Alley.
Outstanding show, totally not what I was expecting though. This show was "The Stanley Clark Band" featuring Hiromi on piano -- I was secretly hoping it was the other way around. I love Hiromi and wanted to really see her blow up that piano, but she was very modest in her playing -- interesting to see Hiromi acting as a sideman.
The band was great though, Keyboard player was from Israel, and when Stanley was playing electric bass, this guy would kick bass on a Yamaha Motif. He was also playing a Nord Stage for all the rhodes sounds and stuff they are made for. My favorite thing about his playing was some of the "light" pads he was playing under everything to fill it out, man it really made a big difference. It made it sound full, kind of like it would on a CD, and less like an acoustic band (where often times you can hear gaps in the music).
Hiromi is a legit chops player though, man... burning. I need to go see her play solo. I know she is a harmonic player as well, although I was not seeing any of that at jazz alley. Then again, we went on there last night, on Sunday, to see their last set, so they might have just been messing around, ready to get out of seattle.
I just wish she was featured a little more... like, allowed to play solo piano intro's, melodies, etc.
ANYWAYS - LUCID GIG this Saturday! If you are not doing anything feel free to come on down and hang out! One of the few chances you get to see the band with out a cover charge.
Cheers,
Mack
Outstanding show, totally not what I was expecting though. This show was "The Stanley Clark Band" featuring Hiromi on piano -- I was secretly hoping it was the other way around. I love Hiromi and wanted to really see her blow up that piano, but she was very modest in her playing -- interesting to see Hiromi acting as a sideman.
The band was great though, Keyboard player was from Israel, and when Stanley was playing electric bass, this guy would kick bass on a Yamaha Motif. He was also playing a Nord Stage for all the rhodes sounds and stuff they are made for. My favorite thing about his playing was some of the "light" pads he was playing under everything to fill it out, man it really made a big difference. It made it sound full, kind of like it would on a CD, and less like an acoustic band (where often times you can hear gaps in the music).
Hiromi is a legit chops player though, man... burning. I need to go see her play solo. I know she is a harmonic player as well, although I was not seeing any of that at jazz alley. Then again, we went on there last night, on Sunday, to see their last set, so they might have just been messing around, ready to get out of seattle.
I just wish she was featured a little more... like, allowed to play solo piano intro's, melodies, etc.
ANYWAYS - LUCID GIG this Saturday! If you are not doing anything feel free to come on down and hang out! One of the few chances you get to see the band with out a cover charge.
Cheers,
Mack
Friday, April 2, 2010
First piano recital!
So, I have been a piano instructor for over six years now, and have had hundreds of students. I do not teach full time, but I do teach an amount that fluctuates between 12 and 20 hours a week.
Anyways, we had our first piano recital on March 28th. It was outstanding. The goal was to make every student incredibly nervous, and light a fire under their butts so I picked much harder music than everybody was used to playing. It worked. Everybody was really nervous, and everybody played. I explained to them that dealing with stage fright is a part of performing, no matter what you do. It is usually the HARDEST part of performing. Anyways, it was really fun and I am really proud that everyone went up and did their thing. Being the first recital a lot of my long time students have ever played in, they did not quite know how to prepare, but now they know.
So I am going to post a link here to my YOUTUBE.COM channel, where you can go and watch clips of them all! Yay! They should be up soon, as soon as they are all uploaded.
http://www.youtube.com/user/mackgrout
Cheers,
Mack
Anyways, we had our first piano recital on March 28th. It was outstanding. The goal was to make every student incredibly nervous, and light a fire under their butts so I picked much harder music than everybody was used to playing. It worked. Everybody was really nervous, and everybody played. I explained to them that dealing with stage fright is a part of performing, no matter what you do. It is usually the HARDEST part of performing. Anyways, it was really fun and I am really proud that everyone went up and did their thing. Being the first recital a lot of my long time students have ever played in, they did not quite know how to prepare, but now they know.
So I am going to post a link here to my YOUTUBE.COM channel, where you can go and watch clips of them all! Yay! They should be up soon, as soon as they are all uploaded.
http://www.youtube.com/user/mackgrout
Cheers,
Mack
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