As a live musician, one of the most essential tools of our trade is having a good collection of current and “greatest of all time” music. With the advent of the Internet, downloading great music has become as easy as picking a song and clicking on the download button. What’s really great for musicians playing in live bands is the ease of getting everyone in your band to download the same song. It makes things a lot easier when your band is learning songs to be able to send out a download link for the songs you’re learning. As you know, iTunes is currently the largest retailer of music in the United States. CD sales continue to slide as sales of music in downloadable digital form continue to increase.
I get a lot of traffic on Live Musician Central for both the Fender Cyber-Twin SE Amplifier and the Fender Stratocaster. I talk about both those pieces of Fender equipment a lot because that’s what I use myself. The Cyber-Twin SE and my Fender American Deluxe Ash Stratocaster comprise the core of my current live guitar rig. I also have a home studio where I record my own original music as well as my bands Shufflin’ Noah and In Stereo’s original music. Needless to say, my Cyber-Twin SE and Stratocasters are on a lot of my recordings. I also get a lot of traffic on my Fender Cyber-Twin SE custom patch-preset download page from Cyber-Twin SE users looking for quality sound patches for their amplifiers. I have short sound clips of my custom Cyber-Twin SE sound patches on the download page but I haven’t posted up a lot of complete songs that highlight the way these preset patches sound within the confines of a band. Today I’m going to point you to an album I recorded with my band Shufflin’ Noah that features the Fender Cyber-Twin SE amplifer and my ’98 Fender Jeff Beck Signature Stratocaster using my custom programmed preset patches exclusively for every guitar sound on the album.
The album by Shufflin’ Noah is called “Fudgie The Dog” and it’s a concept album detailing the life and misadventures of a German Shorthair dog named Fudgie. The entire album came out of a 2-hour jam session where we simply recorded everything we played. The only discussion or planning that went into creating the album were short 5 to 10 minute discussions about what Fudgie would do next. Then we’d create the next song complete with music, melody and lyrics right there on the spot. Sometimes the playing is loose and sometimes the songs are just okay, but there are times when we catch that special musical magic that comes from four musicians being completely in synch with one another. If you haven’t downloaded the album yet, you can go to the main download page to download it. Just follow this link ->Fudgie The Dog Download Page.
Once you have a copy of the album you can hear for yourself how great the Fender Cyber-Twin SE and Jeff Beck Stratocaster sound on the recording without any overdubs or added studio effects. Below is a track-by-track breakdown of the custom preset sound patches that I programmed for the Cyber-Twin SE and used on each track. The preset patch is noted in italics for each track. If I have already posted the sound on Live Musician Central, you can click the name to go to that sound patches download page. You can hear sound clips of every track by checking out the Shufflin’ Noah Releases “Fudgie The Dog” On Live Musician Central page.
“Shufflin’ Noah – Fudgie The Dog” – Cyber-Twin SE Track-by-Track Sound Patch Breakdown
Track 1 – Fudgie The Dog (Intro) I used the “LMC Twang” patch which has not been posted.
And there you have it, a listing of all the sound preset patches used on the Fudgie The Dog album. I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as we enjoyed creating the album. -Matt-
In Stereo played an excellent live gig at the Canyon Inn in Salt Lake City, Utah the weekend of April 3-4, 2009. We really had a lot of fun this past weekend even though the weekend started with an extreme low point for In Stereo. We had practiced on Wednesday night and Ted (our drummer) seemed to be doing fine and we got some excellent new songs ready to go. So when I got a call about midday on Thursday from Ted to tell me he was in the hospital with a severely infected ankle it was a complete surprise. Ted had his ankle’s fused about a year ago and the screws in the bones had started to come out and caused bleeding inside his ankle, which in turn became infected. Needless to say, he would be unable to make our scheduled gig. Luckily, we were able to secure the drumming services of Frank Lee who is the drummer for Shufflin’ Noah and also the original drummer for In Stereo before he left the band and Ted took over the drumming. It turned out to be really fun for all of us to have Frank come and drum although our thoughts were with Ted all weekend. (more…)
On Live Musician Central this week we’re celebrating the realease of Jeff Beck’s fabulous live concert titled “Jeff Beck Performing This Week: Live At Ronnie Scott’s”. This is truly a monumental live release for Jeff Beck as live concert footage of this quality has been extremely rare for him. The performance has been released on DVD and Blu-Ray with the Blu-Ray version having additional bonus features as well as DTS HD 5.1 sound. You can pick up the DVD from for a mere $9.99 and the Blu-Ray for $18.99 in the Live Musician Central store. (more…)
Live Musician Central is proud to announce the release of the new album “Fudgie The Dog” by the band Shufflin’ Noah. Live Musician Central author Matt Rushton is the lead guitarist and one of the principle singers and songwriters in Shufflin’ Noah. The “Fudgie The Dog” concept album was recorded live as it was improvised in Matt’s home studio. The entire album was recorded in one 2-hour session where the only planning consisted of 5 or 10 minute conversations between takes about what Fudgie would do next. The music, lyrics and melodies were all made up as they were being played and there are no overdubs or re-takes on this recording. You will hear some bad notes and the band is loose at times but things come together in a really pleasing way overall.
What can I say about the great Jeff Beck? Of all the guitarists in history, he’s my personal favorite. If you listen to his recordings it’s easy to believe that he uses a lot of studio wizardry on his guitar. The truth is, he doesn’t. He uses very little in the way of effects. He’ll have a Wah-Wah, echo and a distortion pedal in his signal chain and that’s usually it. He doesn’t usually use a guitar pick because he prefers to use his fingers to create his amazing sound although I have seen him employ the use of a plectrum when he’s after a certain attack. The big question is, can he create what he does live? The answer is a great big YES! He’s simply an amazing guitar player and everytime I see a video of him perform I just can’t stop watching it. (more…)
All I can say after watching this amazing live performance is wow! The Tielman Brothers come from Indonesia and they are just incredible to watch perform. They really knew how to put on a show. It’s a true art to have four people put on a single dynamic stageshow. They each take a turn in the spotlight and all four brothers are truly talented. This kind of energetic performance is what rock-n-roll is really all about. I do have to say, it made me a little squeamish when the lead guitarist wedged the neck of that beutiful Les Paul on the floor and put his foot down on it to play it with his foot. I thought for sure that guitar neck was going to snap.
I took a 3-day trip to New York City last week just to hang out, take in the sights and get a feel for how live musicians worked in the Big Apple. It was a great trip and I had a lot of fun seeing the usual tourist attractions like the Statue Of Liberty, Empire State Building and, of course, the Hard Rock Cafe. I also took in a couple of Broadway shows seeing “Wicked” as well as “Phantom Of The Opera”, both were truly excellent. As I made my way around the city I took particular notice of all the live musicians everywhere I went. There really seem to be a lot of places to play music in New York City so today I’m going to talk about a couple.
In my live band we have a microphone on every drum and on every piece of equipment onstage and it’s all run through the main P.A.. It’s by far the best way to get a good mix and the best way to control your live sound level. Of course we have invested a lot of money in our live setup and we also play fairly big venues so having everything mic’ed up and mixed through the P.A. is not a problem for us. But there are times when we play a smaller room and we don’t need to mic everything up. There was even a time when all we could afford was a drumset, instruments and amplifiers and a microphone with a small P.A. for the singer. That’s when it can be tricky to get a decent live mix. So what’s the best way to get a good live mix without mic’ing everything? Here are some tips for you to help you with your small venue and and small budget live mixing.
Keith Emerson is one of the best keyboard showmen in all of live music. He’s not just a proficient keyboard player, his appeal really lies in his ability to combine showmanship with ability. Keith really has a unique keyboard playing style which is very percussive. He has fast hands and can play very technical classical music. As I said, he doesn’t just sit there and dazzle you with his keyboard playing skill. In concert he has been known to jam knives into his Hammond organ to hold down specific keys while he plays. He’s been seen jumping over his keyboard and tipping it upside down and playing it in that position. He’s never been afraid to experiment and express music with simple sound manipulation. His Moog Synthesizer solo on the ELP song “Lucky Man” put synthesizer playing front and center in popular music.
In this clip, he’s playing a piano solo at the Montreaux festival in 1997. It’s a jazz festival and the progressive players really seem to step it up at this particular event. It’s fun to watch Keith as he just can’t resist doing zany things during the solo like playing a few hits with his elbow. That particular move’s musical relevance within the solo is questionable but the showmanship aspect of it is undeniable. That’s Keith Emerson in a nutshell. Watch this clip and you’ll get a little bit of understanding into what makes Keith tick. (more…)
