Keyboard addict

[Emo-Fan]

Hi, Everyone!

At the behest of Scorpion8, I joined your wonderful organization. (He's a long-lost buddy from Penn State.)

I'm a German teacher, but my real passion is jazz piano and jazz organ. I have an assortment of keyboards, digital sequencers, tone generators, etc. But my baby is my TEAC 3440, and my favorite tape is Quantegy 499. I hate noise reduction; the TEAC not only doesn't need it, it sounds better without it. I have other tape equipment, but the TEAC works best. Right now (during summer vacation) I'm working out new ways to record that wonderful Hammond C3 sound. I'm always interested in getting into the discussion. Anybody have any suggestions?

When I'm not goofing around with my stereo/keyboard stuff, I'm heavily into cycling (that's bicycling: the kind you have to pedal).

Hope to hear from you good people!

Emo-Fan

PS
There, Scorpion8! I posted! Ya happy now?

[Scorpion8]

Welcome! Good to see ya!

I've known Emo-fan since about 1980, but please don't hold that against me! :D He's got more knowledge about all-things-keyboard and mic'ing recording sessions than about anyone else I know. He originally got me interested in the German group Triumvirat (had never heard of them before I met him at PennState) and ELP, both groups I still dearly love and enjoy to this day. We shared many moments at school pondering eye-candy, listening to good music, and knocking back cold ones. Those were certainly the days.

But it's a new era, with a new member! Please welcome him into the family.

[Manalog]

Hey Emo-Fan,

Welcome!

I also have a TEAC A-3440. It has to be calibrated, which is among some of the things I'm here to learn, so I haven't recorded with it yet. I've played some tapes on it, Beatles & stuff, & it is quite spectacular to listen to & look at. I have a Kurzweil SP88 keyboard, which for me, soundwise, is quite an upgrade from the Casio-CT 630 I was using for years, although it served its' purpose, being dragged out to gigs back in the 90's. Anyway, welcome!

[Emo-Fan]

Thanks for the welcome, Manalog. I have a Casio WK3700 (cheap cabinet, but great sounds), one of my keyboards, anyway. Your Kurzweil is great. Did you know that the "music" that you hear between scenes on Seinfeld (It's supposed to be a fretless bass) is really a Kurzweil?

[Emo-Fan]

Get Manalog's A-3440 calibrated, and maybe we can find some people to get your AKAI up and running. (I can't bear to think of the advice you're getting about just dumping it and getting an MP3. Long live analogue!!)

PS
Thanks for pushing me to join this outfit! (It's summer vacation and I'm moving a little slow at the Junction...)

[Scorpion8]

My Akai is in good hands. I've got one of the best techs helping me by e-mail step-by-step. I had to get a signal generator (borrowed one from the wife's workplace) and now we can get down in earnest.

[vinyldavid]

ANYONE that likes Triumvirat is a friend of mine!

WELCOME!

[Web Police]

Welcome. :)

[Rat44]

Welcome aboard. :D

[Des-Lab]

Welcome!

I once entertained the thought of buying a keyboard and maybe doing some of my own recordings.

Then I came to my senses. I might have a good ear for LISTENING to music. But my brain is not what you would call wired towards a dispostion for actually MAKING it.

[Acoustic]

Hello and welcome! Big jazz fan here. Practically all I listen to anymore. Be bop trio, quartets... are big favorites. As are Jimmy Smith and Joey D.

I am assuming your trying to record your B3 out of your leslie.... correct?

[Mr. Lin]

Hi Emo-fan! Bist du Professor oder Lehrer? Ich war Deutsch in Nebenfach als ich an der Universitaet war, und ich hab' in Frankfurt als Austauschstudent sieben Monate gewohnt.

Hope to see you around here often.
Dave

[Emo-Fan]

Thanks for all the cool responses and making me feel so welcome!

I'm using my digital keyboards to play the famous Hammond C3 sound that made Keith Emerson so famous. His idol was apparently Jimmy Smith, so that's the sound that I'm aiming for. I love jazz piano and jazz organ, with a bit of synth, though not too Techno.

My big recording problems lie not with the Hammond sounds (the digital signal processors do a fine job, also with the so-called Doppler effect created by a real Leslie as opposed to a virtual one), but with digital pianos:

Digital pianos pose 2 basic problems:
a) They give a stereo effect for the player with the low tones at the left and the high ones at the right, but in a real-life setting, a grand piano is at right angles to the audience with the lid opening toward the listeners. In other words, a digital piano played to a live audience sounds as wide as the distance between the speakers, which for a symphony orchestra would be many feet wide.

b) When you record a real acoustic piano, you don't want to mike it up too closely, otherwise it has that in-yer-face sound. That's exactly the sound I get from digital pianos, and it's especially evident when played opposite a jazz organ.

I'm trying to correct these problems with my mixer (narrowing the sound stage) and with microphone placement. I also use two feeds into my multi-tracker: One set of stereo inputs with the patch cords, and one set of stereo inputs with mics; then I mix 'em down.

Anybody have any other suggestions?

Thanks!

Emo-Fan

PS
Fuer denjenigen, der das wissen mochte:
Ich bin PhD (also Professor) unterrichte aber auf einer High School. Ich habe auf der Uni Kiel studiert!

And I love Triumvirat, but besides you guys nobody's ever heard of 'em! Even in Germany!

[vinyldavid]

And I love Triumvirat, but besides you guys nobody's ever heard of 'em! Even in Germany!

I'm 16 and I LOVE Triumvirat. :D

Just gotta find the LP's....:-?

[Acoustic]

And I love Triumvirat, but besides you guys nobody's ever heard of 'em! Even in Germany!

Triumvirat had a pretty good following here in middle America back in the mid 70's. I had the Sparticus LP and the band was starting to build momentum... but then I rarely heard anything about them again.

No doubt you are into 'The Nice' also, the band Keith was in before ELP. I saw ELP in the late 1990's here in Kansas City.... good to see Keith still beating up that Hammond.... great to hear "Pictures At An Exhibition" played live again.

Are you using condenser mikes to record your elec piano?

Andy.

[Mr. Lin]

Thanks for all the cool responses and making me feel so welcome!

I'm using my digital keyboards to play the famous Hammond C3 sound that made Keith Emerson so famous. His idol was apparently Jimmy Smith, so that's the sound that I'm aiming for. I love jazz piano and jazz organ, with a bit of synth, though not too Techno.

My big recording problems lie not with the Hammond sounds (the digital signal processors do a fine job, also with the so-called Doppler effect created by a real Leslie as opposed to a virtual one), but with digital pianos:

Digital pianos pose 2 basic problems:
a) They give a stereo effect for the player with the low tones at the left and the high ones at the right, but in a real-life setting, a grand piano is at right angles to the audience with the lid opening toward the listeners. In other words, a digital piano played to a live audience sounds as wide as the distance between the speakers, which for a symphony orchestra would be many feet wide.

b) When you record a real acoustic piano, you don't want to mike it up too closely, otherwise it has that in-yer-face sound. That's exactly the sound I get from digital pianos, and it's especially evident when played opposite a jazz organ.

I'm trying to correct these problems with my mixer (narrowing the sound stage) and with microphone placement. I also use two feeds into my multi-tracker: One set of stereo inputs with the patch cords, and one set of stereo inputs with mics; then I mix 'em down.

Anybody have any other suggestions?

Thanks!

Emo-Fan

PS
Fuer denjenigen, der das wissen mochte:
Ich bin PhD (also Professor) unterrichte aber auf einer High School. Ich habe auf der Uni Kiel studiert!

And I love Triumvirat, but besides you guys nobody's ever heard of 'em! Even in Germany!

This is all very interesting stuff. In all honesty I know little about keyboards, but I love 'em.:) I also played keyboards in a band that was just me, a bass player, and a drummer. It was wonderful and I loved it all but sadly we broke up before even getting a chance to perform.

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