Here we go!
12/03/07 09:18
Here I am, launching my first real website! I'm
so excited about this, because it means my new
CD, Impromptu is almost ready to ship. I
haven't released a recording of new music since
1998, with my first CD, Horizon.
Impromptu is quite a departure from the music I usually write, as it's entirely made up of instrumental solo piano pieces. I felt strongly this was a good way for me to re-enter the world of recording, as it forced me to return to the basic elements of music: melody, harmony and rhythm. It can be so easy to hide behind complex arrangements and studio special effects. 88 keys and my ten fingers were all I could use to paint my ideas. I'm very proud of the results, and I think a lot of people are going to like this stuff (if I may say so myself...).
Many of the songs on Impromptu began as, well, impromptu improvisations (I suppose that's redundant, eh?). For the older ones, I had no proper recording equipment nor a recordable piano. So I "recorded" them using a MIDI sequencer (MOTU's Digital Performer) on my Mac and an old Alesis QS7 synthesizer, saving them for possible future use. Over the years I ended up with quite a collection of sketches and improvisations waiting for completion.
When I began to plan this project, I found that I really liked the vibe that these original recordings had, and I wanted to keep that. Using a newer digital piano (a Yamaha S90ES synthesizer), I revisited these songs and "tweaked" them to get them ready for prime-time. This mostly involved shortening them by cutting out overly repetitive material, the result of my improvising and trying different avenues of melodies and rhythms on the fly. (One of these improvisations, Dawn, remains exactly as I played it the first time, including a couple funky notes that probably only bug me...)
Other pieces on Impromptu were written especially for the recording. These include Water of Life, First Steps, Looking Back and others. Again, what a joy to sit and write for my own enjoyment once more! This project has been a catharsis for me, and I'm so grateful for the opportunity and the freedom to finally do this again!
When I got ready to finally present these pieces to Michael McDonald for mastering, I had to admit they still sounded too much like a digital piano pretending to be a real piano. So I imported everything into Michael's PC using Tascam's GigaSampler and played all the sequences (except Dawn) through a "virtual" Bösendorfer Imperial Grand. The results were stunning! Yeah, I'd sure rather be playing a the real Bösendorfer, but the nature of how this project came about made this an ideal approach to getting these songs out to the public.
In future posts, I'll tell more about the individual songs, as well as what's happening with new projects (including an upcoming release of instrumental pieces featuring my wife, Cathy on flute and myself on everything else...
Thanks for visiting, and pick up a copy of Impromptu. You won't regret it!
Yours,
n
Impromptu is quite a departure from the music I usually write, as it's entirely made up of instrumental solo piano pieces. I felt strongly this was a good way for me to re-enter the world of recording, as it forced me to return to the basic elements of music: melody, harmony and rhythm. It can be so easy to hide behind complex arrangements and studio special effects. 88 keys and my ten fingers were all I could use to paint my ideas. I'm very proud of the results, and I think a lot of people are going to like this stuff (if I may say so myself...).
Many of the songs on Impromptu began as, well, impromptu improvisations (I suppose that's redundant, eh?). For the older ones, I had no proper recording equipment nor a recordable piano. So I "recorded" them using a MIDI sequencer (MOTU's Digital Performer) on my Mac and an old Alesis QS7 synthesizer, saving them for possible future use. Over the years I ended up with quite a collection of sketches and improvisations waiting for completion.
When I began to plan this project, I found that I really liked the vibe that these original recordings had, and I wanted to keep that. Using a newer digital piano (a Yamaha S90ES synthesizer), I revisited these songs and "tweaked" them to get them ready for prime-time. This mostly involved shortening them by cutting out overly repetitive material, the result of my improvising and trying different avenues of melodies and rhythms on the fly. (One of these improvisations, Dawn, remains exactly as I played it the first time, including a couple funky notes that probably only bug me...)
Other pieces on Impromptu were written especially for the recording. These include Water of Life, First Steps, Looking Back and others. Again, what a joy to sit and write for my own enjoyment once more! This project has been a catharsis for me, and I'm so grateful for the opportunity and the freedom to finally do this again!
When I got ready to finally present these pieces to Michael McDonald for mastering, I had to admit they still sounded too much like a digital piano pretending to be a real piano. So I imported everything into Michael's PC using Tascam's GigaSampler and played all the sequences (except Dawn) through a "virtual" Bösendorfer Imperial Grand. The results were stunning! Yeah, I'd sure rather be playing a the real Bösendorfer, but the nature of how this project came about made this an ideal approach to getting these songs out to the public.
In future posts, I'll tell more about the individual songs, as well as what's happening with new projects (including an upcoming release of instrumental pieces featuring my wife, Cathy on flute and myself on everything else...
Thanks for visiting, and pick up a copy of Impromptu. You won't regret it!
Yours,
n