MUSIC PRODUCTION GUIDE OFFICIAL NEWS GUIDE FROM YAMAHA & EASY SOUNDS FOR YAMAHA MUSIC PRODUCTION INSTRUMENTS 04|2015 Contents Interview Chris Stainton 3 „Studio Drums“ DCP Productions 5 Musikmesse 2015 Sharing Passion & Performance 7 Yamaha M12 Touch App CHRIS Basic Workshop 1: Connection - Settings - Programming 10 STAINTON Sounds & Goodies 15 KEYS FOR Imprint 29 CLAPTON MUSIC PRODUCTION GUIDE 04|2015 CHRIS STAINTON - KEYS FOR CLAPTON Like many young british musicians who "When I first started listening to music in the ’50s, it was came of age in the ’60s, Chris Stainton all Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra," he recalls, speaking from his home in Camberley, a small town 30 miles west became infatuated with African-American of London. "Then all of a sudden we had Elvis Presley, blues and R&B. Such musical conversions Jerry Lee Lewis, and Little Richard. I remember thinking, weren’t rare for players of that generation, ‘Wow, this is it—this is what I want to listen to and play.’" but Stainton’s career longevity is. Fifty Stainton has worked with Clapton on and off for 35 years. In the guitarist’s current band, he shares keyboard duties years on, he still plays the blues with the with another great British player, Paul Carrack. Carrack, passion he felt then — often as keyboardist a former member of Squeeze and Ace, plays organ, while for singer/guitarist Eric Clapton. Stainton handles piano duties. YAMAHA.COM 3 MUSIC PRODUCTION GUIDE 04|2015 But Stainton was a seasoned sideman long before he Even if Stainton had never played with Cocker and began collaborating with Clapton. He made his initial Clapton, he’d probably be known for his contribution to splash with the Grease Band, the Sheffield, England, Quadrophenia, one of the Who’s most important albums. blues-rock group that launched the career of singer Joe He describes the sessions as exciting but demanding: Cocker. At the time, Stainton played bass, an instrument "Pete Townsend is a real stickler for what he wants, so that strongly influenced his keyboard style. it required a lot of discipline on my part. He wanted something very specific after hearing my piano part on "Even now, I think like a bass player," he observes. a Joe Cocker song called ‘Hitchcock Railway.’ Pete was "My left hand is always going where the bass part should jumping up and down when he heard that. He said, be. Sometimes I have to be careful not to tread on what ‘I want you to play something like that on my record!’" the bass player is doing." Stainton says that he thrives under the direction of a Stainton played bass on Cocker’s breakthrough hit, a strong music director. "As a musician," he says, "you cover of the Beatles’ "With a Little Help from My Friends" need someone to be a leader. Eric Clapton is absolutely that owes as much to Ray Charles as the Fab Four. That a leader, but in his own quiet way. Pete Townshend is memorable session was recorded at Olympic studios in a leader in a more vocal and aggressive way. And Joe London (now sadly closed down) with British musicians Cocker was another guy who is definitely in charge, knows (Jimmy Page, Albert Lee, Tommy Eyre, B J Wilson and what he wants, and is very good at directing the group." others). Stainton cites the recording, which he co-arranged with Cocker, as a career highlight. For Stainton, playing music is as big a thrill today as it was a half-century ago, but he allows that his approach has Not long after, Cocker began performing with a new band, matured: "Over the years I’ve learned to play a bit less and Mad Dogs and Englishmen. Cocker, who loved Stainton’s listen more. And that would be my advice for a younger keyboard playing, asked him to switch instruments. player, actually: Slow down a bit. Listen more. Learn when Stainton often performed in the group alongside another to shut up — and when to really play something!" great player, Leon Russell, who Stainton considers one of his three favorite keyboardists, along with Ray Charles and Nat King Cole. "I admire Leon Russell so much," Stainton says. "He’s an exquisite piano player, especially in that Louisiana style. He was so hot then, at the top of his playing ability. When Leon played piano, I’d play organ, and then I’d switch to piano when Leon took over on guitar." The colors Stainton relied on then — piano, organ, and electric piano — remain his bread-and-butter sounds today. "Those were mechanical instruments, not digital, and they were all we had in those days. They were good sounds — so good, in fact, that now all the electronic keyboard makers emulate those early sounds digitally. Like Yamaha, who in my opinion create the best acoustic piano samples in the world, as well as some of the best electric piano sounds. It’s amazing, the sounds you can get from Yamaha keyboards." These days Stainton’s workhorse is a Yamaha CP1 Stage Piano. "I’ve had a lot of Yamaha keyboards over the years," he says. "I had a Yamaha organ in the ’70s. And I had a CP70 electric grand piano. Before the CP1, I played a P250, which I thought was fantastic. But the CP1 tops even that. It truly feels like a piano." YAMAHA.COM 4 MUSIC PRODUCTION GUIDE 04|2015 „STUDIO Drums“ DCP PRODUCTIONS In the previous editions we have already HERE IS A COMPLETE LISTING OF THE reported that the most popular MOTIF DRUM KITS INCLUDED IN THE SOUNDSET: sound libraries from the sound developer • A001 – Ambient Kit DCP Productions (USA) will also be • A002 – Brush Kit 1 available from the EASY SOUNDS Shop. • A003 – Slingerland Kit The soundsets "Vintage Keys" and "Air" • A004 – Gretsch Kit Kit have already been presented. This time • A005 – Pearl Kit Kit we like to introduce the extensive and high • A006 - Room Kit Room quality drum library "Studio Drums", which • A007 – Gretsch Compressed was produced by mastermind Dave Polich, • A008 - Pearl Compressed just like the products mentioned above. • A009 – Slingerland Compressed "Studio Drums" is a drum library with a total of 32 User • A010 – Pop Compressor Kit Drum Kits, 235 MB samples and 50 Drum Arpeggios. The • A011 – Brush Kit 2 product is available for MOTIF XF, MOTIF XS, and MOXF. • A012 – Brush Kit 3 For the MOTIF XF or the MOXF optional flash memory • A013 - Towel Kit 1 (Flash Memory Expansion Module FL512M or FL1024M) is required. For the MOTIF XS it is required to have optional • A014 - Towel Kit 2 DIMMs of a minimum size of 128 MB x 2 (= 256 MB) • A015 – Hard Rocker Kit installed. • A016 – Metal Kit Kit • B001 – Funk Kit 1 The drum, cymbal, and percussion sounds were recorded at 24 bit and 44.1 kHz in the DCP Studios. The microphones • B002 - Funk Kit 2 used were Audio Technica 4040's, Audio Technica 4033's, • B003 - Funk Kit 3 and Audix C X111's. • B004 – Ring Snare Kit YAMAHA.COM 5 MUSIC PRODUCTION GUIDE 04|2015 • B005 – Country-Rock Kit • D4 = Gongroll • B006 – Arena Kit • D#4 = Gong hit • B007 – Indie-Rocker Kit • E4 = Gong hit • B008 – Rattle Snare Kit The 50 included Drum Arpeggios already cover a • B009 – Jazz Kit Ludwig representative range of drum grooves. However, the GM • B010 – DW Kit DW compatibility is a big advantage, because that makes • B011 – Rims Kit “Special FX” it possible to use the Drum Kits from Studio Drums for • B012 – Kitchen Kit “Special FX” existing Performances or Songs instead of Preset Drum • B013 – Fingers Kit Kits. This will certainly lead to a significant enhancement. • B014 – 8-bit Kit Each Drum Kit has five matching Arpeggios assigned to it. • B015 – Pitch Shifted Kit If you like to hear how the drums sound in a musical • B016 – 16 RPM Kit context along with other instruments, watch the video for the MOTIF / MOXF XF Workshop „EXPLORING SOUND - Vol. 12: Vintage Keys“: http://www.youtube.com/user/motifnews/videos An absolute highlight of the product is the exquisite collection of cymbals and hi-hats of different manufacturers. Especially in the area of the cymbals the sound difference to the Preset Waveforms is not to be underestimated, as the release phase of the ROM-Waves is rather short due to limited memory space. The use of fades and loops significantly reduces the authenticity. This is an important reason to use external samples for drum All Drum Kits use a modified GM map and are usable - with minor restrictions - for the Preset Drum Arpeggios or sounds. any drum grooves in the GM standard. Here is a list of the key assignments that differ from the GM standard map: • C0 = Snare brush roll or percussion sound • D#1 = Snare • G#1 = Half- or shank-ride hi-hat • A#2 = Cymbal choke • F3 = Tom rim hit • F#3 = Tom rim hit • B3 = Open foot hat • C4 = Closed foot hat More information about "Studio Drums" and a wide • F#4 = Percussion hit selection of MP3 demos can be found here: • G4 = Percussion hit http://www.easysounds.de • B4 = Rivet cymbal • C#4 = Cymbal roll Peter Krischker YAMAHA.COM 6 MUSIC PRODUCTION GUIDE 04|2015 MUSIKMESSE 2015 SHARING PASSION & PERFORMANCE Shortly after the turn of the year I always feel Xanthoné Blacq did not only present the CP4 on the the Musikmesse to be far away, timewise. Yamaha booth this year. Together with Chris Minh Doky But as soon as one has "set himself up" in and Wolfgang Haffner he formed a trio whose half-hour the new year, the Musikmesse is already program on the Agora Stage was one of the top events of over.