Jazz Piano Cafe » synth

Jam session recording: Geoff Peters and Gustavo Lacerda

admin — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 19:38:42 +0000

I had a music jam today with my friend Gustavo. He is multi-talented and plays many instruments. Today he brought along his violin.

You can grab the Mp3′s we made here, or use the players below!

Minor Swing (folk music style swing tune with violin and piano)

Upbeat Evil Castle
(violin, synth (i)pad, synth bass, Latin drum samples)

Please note that Upbeat Evil Castle has been agreed on by the composers Gustavo and Geoff to allow Geoff to use the song in his videos on Geoffmobile.com and Youtube.com/geoffmobile.

Tetris Theme played on Violin with piano, and some Gypsy songs improvized.

Heartbeet – Live improvised synth & acoustic piano with drum samples

admin — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 21:09:03 +0000

My friend Marcus dropped by today for a visit, and we recorded an improvised performance of synthesizer and piano. It’s called Heartbeet. We named it this maybe because we both really like to eat beets, (yum!) and so therefore “heart” them, as well as because we were wanting to play on the concept of the pulsating bass drum that sometimes goes out of time from the piano, much like a heart beat will continue its own rhythm oblivious to the other rhythms around it.

The video is also available on Blip.tv and the Mp3 file for the song is available here.

Visit Marcus’s Knobb.ca music blog for more interesting ideas and videos. Also produced in cooperation with Birds in the House Productions.

Song of the Week: “Your Amazing Grace” by Marcus Miller feat Chaka Khan

admin — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 05:08:45 +0000

Marcus Miller

The JazzPianoCafe song of the week is “Your Amazing Grace” by Marcus Miller featuring Chaka Khan.

It’s from Marcus’s 2001 album M2 (find Marcus Miller M² on Amazon.com).

The song features a stellar cast of musicians:

Marcus Miller Bass Clarinet, Bass Guitar, Bass Synth, Synths, Percussion Programming
Chaka Khan Vocals
Kenny Garrett Alto Saxophone solo
Leroy “Scooter” Taylor Fender Rhodes
Hiram Bullock Guitar
Poogie Bell Drums
Mixed by David Isaac

The track starts off with a soft synth patch and a triangle wave lead that repeats a catchy little riff, which is echoed by Marcus Miller’s bass clarinet as it enters. The bass clarinet then plays the familiar melody from Amazing Grace, still over top of the synth pad. A drum and bass rhythm programming begins, but it is low in the mix (although it is well textured and contoured using cutoff filters). Chaka Khan’s soulful voice enters and after introducing herself musically, begins on a totally different melody that is “Your Amazing Grace” – Marcus Miller’s original composition. Kenny Garrett plays a killer alto-sax solo, and the song modulates keys, adding even more energy. An extended outro section keeps the music happening right ’till the end.

Listening to this song can excite something spiritual within me. I love how it’s a fusion of electronic and acoustic, of jazz, soul and drum and bass. (Marcus Miller even adds a reggae-style bass line in the outro.)

The track is available on Imeem (free account registration required), or you can purchase the CD which it’s on, M2 (“M Squared”), from Amazon. I’ve also included a streaming player below which should play the full version of the song.

Your Amazing Grace – Marcus Miller feat.Chaka Khan

Stay tuned for another great Song of the Week from JazzPianoCafe.com!

If you have any suggestions on a future song of the week, please email me at geoff@gpeters.com.

Take care and until next time,
Geoff Peters

Afternoon in New York by Geoff Peters – electronic synth music

admin — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 23:20:42 +0000

I had a fun afternoon playing around with my synthesizer (Korg MS-2000) and composed/recorded a new song. It is called Afternoon in New York.

Afternoon in New York by Geoff Peters
Listen:

Download the song (free): Mp3

It features a really simple hip-hop style bass drum/snare (thanks to the Garage Band Hip Hop Synthesized drum kit and a bit of dynamics compression), a synthesized choir patch from my Yamaha P90 keyboard, a soft pad from the Korg, a few notes of an acoustic piano patch from my Yamaha, and a lead synth line from my Korg (with a bit of cutoff filter controlled during the performance to vary the tone). I recorded all the tracks in layers, live & individually along with a metronome. I also used a Volume automation envelope to vary the volume of the lead line and the choir patch.

I don’t know very much about mastering, but the track sounded pretty good on my Macbook laptop speakers, my Behringer studio monitors, and my Creative Labs computer speakers.

Hope you enjoy it! And please let me know your comments, I would really appreciate them!