AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2009

Transcription

1 (part 21) 24keyboard workshop The operating system is fundamentally the same for Tyros/Tyros2/Tyros3, PSR1/2/3000/ S700/S900 series keyboards and CVP200/300/400 Clavinovas. Over the course of the past two installments of Keyboard Performer I ve tried to guide you through the workings of the Chord Sequencer using the popular rock classic A Whiter Shade Of Pale as my illustration. If you ve accompanied me on this journey you may be about to breathe a sigh of relief because... this is the final chapter. Having built the foundation of the piece using the Chord Sequencer, all that s left to do is to add the melody parts. Preparation You know what I m going to say don t you? Time spent in preparation usually pays off many times over in performance - so the first thing to do is practise the parts you re going to record until you re completely comfortable with them. This may save you several takes when the [RECORD] button is pressed and you try to capture that perfect performance. Sounds - Registration 1 Creating the right sound for Whiter Shade is quite important because the piece opens with such a well known organ solo. Fortunately, the Music Finder setting usually comes pretty close. 1. I press the [Music Finder] button and select Whiter Shade Of Pale from the list. Note: Actually, OTS-1 was called up when I selected Whiter Shade on my PSR-S900. This gave me a guitar sound - which is not what I wanted at all. Happily though, OTS-2 provided the organ sound I was looking for. The Music Finder settings vary from one instrument to another so I can t guarantee that yours will fire up the same One Touch Settings as my PSR-S900. Just in case it doesn t I ll give you a run down on the setting. Illustrations 2-4 show the three pages of the Organ Flute section of the S900. The settings shown on each page are those called up when the OTS-2 button is pressed. You can set up your instrument to match if you wish. To do this I Press the [Organ Flutes] button (fig.1) Fig.1 Then I select a jazz organ preset (e.g. Jazz Draw ) followed by [Footage] from the display. 3. Next I copy the settings shown (fig s 2-4). Fig.2 Fig.3

2 Fig.4 If your instrument (e.g. Tyros) has a Right 3 section, reduce the volume of this to 0 too. Note: If you prefer, you can switch the Right 2 and Right 3 voice sections off using the [Part On/Off] buttons instead. Either way will achieve the same result. 2. I store the setting in Registration Memory button [2]. Sounds -Registration 3 Registration 3 is easier still - and all I have to do is Press the [DSP Vari] button to change the speed of the rotary speaker effect from slow to fast (fig.8). Fig.8 I use the [Tab] buttons to move between the three pages. 4. Then I press [Direct Access] followed by [Exit] to return to the Main display page (fig.5). Fig.5 5. Next I switch off the [OTS Link] and [Acmp] buttons. 6. I store this setting in Registration Memory button [1] (fig.6). Fig.6 2. And store the updated setting in Registration Memory [3]. Sounds -Registration 4 A little more work is needed for registration 4 because this will be the setting we use for the melody line - in place of the voice of Gary Brooker (lead singer in the original Procol Harem arrangement). After re-selecting A Whiter Shade of Pale from the Music Finder my PSR-S900 s [OTS-3] button provides a great sound to emulate the throatiness of Brooker s soulful voice... the Growl Sax. Note: You can, of course, select Growl Sax straight from the display by pressing the [Saxophone] button on the panel. I want to make a few adjustments however so, having selected the sax voice I press [Direct Access] followed by [Exit] to return to the Main display page (fig.9). Fig.9 Sounds - Registration 2 Creating the next registration is easy. Essentially it s the same as Registration 1 - but a bit quieter as this setting will be used when the organ plays under the lead voice. 1. First I reduce the volume of the Right 1 voice section to 52 and the volume of Right 2 to 0. (Fig.7) Fig.7 2. Here, I increase the volume of the Right 1 voice section to and reduce Right 2 (and Right 3) to minimum. 3. As before I check that the [OTS Link] and [Acmp] buttons are switched off. Note: The [OTS Link] button is switched on every time the Music Finder list is activated. The auto-accompaniment [Acmp] button is switched on each time an OTS button is pressed. 25

3 4. I press the [Mixing Console] button and Tab to the Effect page (fig.10). Fig.10 Recording - Channel 1 (and 2) With all the registration settings in place it s time to lay down the first track. 1. I check that the Whiter Shade song file is selected in the Song section of the Main page - and that the Whiter Regist registration file is showing in the Regist section. (Fig.11) Fig.11 keyboard workshop 5. Increase the Reverb level of the Right 1 voice section to 42 - and decrease the DSP level of the same section to the minimum amount possible (fig.10). Note: There is a limit to the number of DSP effects that can be used at one time. If too many are called on during a recording the function is cancelled from the voice leaving it sounding dead. For this reason it is better to use one global Reverb across every part than to rely on different DSP reverb effects for each voice. 6. Store the setting in Registration Memory [4]. Save the Registration Bank 1. I press [Direct Access] followed by [Exit] to return to the Main page of the display. 2. Then I press button [J] Regist to the right of the screen to call up the Registration Bank User page. (Fig.11) Fig I select [Save] from the bottom of the screen and, when the text box appears (fig.11), I enter the name of my new bank of registrations - Whiter Regist - followed by [OK] to confirm the name. The registrations are saved and the Bank name appears in the User display. 4. Once again I press [Direct Access] followed by [Exit] to return to the Main page. If either of these files is not displayed I press the button adjacent to the section to call it up. 2. When I m ready to record I press the Registration Memory [1] button to call up the first organ sound I created earlier. 3. Then I press and hold the [RECORD] button on the Song section of the keyboard s panel - and select the top part of the [1] button under the screen. Channel 1 switches into record mode (fig.12). Fig I check the inset Part display to make sure Right 1 is highlighted here (because my organ sound is in the Right 1 voice part). Note: If your 1st organ sound was derived from the Music Finder it will probably be made up of two parts. The second voice part, however, only contains percussion and, for the purpose of this exercise I m not going to record it. It s not necessary, but if you do want to record the percussive voice in the Right 2 voice part, press and hold [REC] - and the top part of button [2] as well (fig.13). Make sure Right 2 is selected in the inset Part box this time (because the percussive voice is contained in the Right 2 voice part). 26

4 Tyros3 is illustrated The operation is the same for PSR-S900 or CVP Clavinova series. [FUNCTION] and/or [DIGITAL RECORDING] buttons. Song Control buttons: [RECORD], [PLAY], [STOP], [F/FORWARD], [REWIND], [METRONOME] etc. [DIRECT ACCESS] [EXIT] DATA Buttons 1-8. Use these to select the channel for recording The [REGISTRATION MEMORY] buttons. The [TAB] buttons (sometimes labelled BACK/NEXT on older instruments) Fig I follow the tune on the music score (do this in your head if you re not reading music) and then I play the same eight bar section again starting at bar 41 as the song repeats. 8. When this section is complete I press [Stop] in the Song section of the keyboard s panel. That s one part done! I can listen to your recording by pressing [Play] in the Song section. If you make a mistake during recording press [Stop] - then press [Record] again. The same channel(s) will switch to record mode and you can have another go. 5. I press [Play] and the chord sequence begins - starting with the intro. When the intro has finished, I play the opening eight bars of Whiter Shade. Fig.14 shows how this section begins. Unfortunately copyright prevents me from printing the entire score but, as you ve probably found by now, this music score is readily available. Fig At bar 17 I stop playing (at the point where the vocal line should come in) and listen to the backing sequence as it continues through the song. Recording - Channel 3 With channel 1 (and 2 if you used the second voice) complete the next track I want to to add is my replacement for the original vocal line - using the Growl Sax. The setting I created for this is stored in Registration Memory button [4]. 1. I press the Registration Memory [4] button to call up the Growl Sax. 2. Then I press and hold the [RECORD] button - and select the top part of the [3] button under the screen. Channel 3 switches into record mode. 3. I check the inset Part display to make sure Right 1 is highlighted (because the Growl Sax is contained in the Right 1 voice part). 27

5 28keyboard workshop 4. Next I press [Play]. The chord sequence begins and, at bar 9 the organ part I ve just recorded begins to play back. 5. At bar 17 the vocal line begins as shown in fig and I start to play the melody. Fig.15: We skipped the light fandango 6. The Growl Sax plays through all the lyric part - but on the repeat of the verse I give the sound a bit of a lift by raising the sax s pitch an octave. 7. When the part is complete I press [Stop] to end the recording - then [Play] to listen to all the parts I ve recorded so far. As before, I can have a second (or third) attempt by pressing the [Record] button again. Only the channel I ve just recorded will be switched to record - leaving the others in playback mode. Recording - Channel 4 And so we come to the last track - which is slightly more difficult to explain because this part isn t generally included in the sheet music score. Usually, in a live performance of Whiter Shade I d play the opening organ solo followed by the vocal melody line. Now though, because I m making a multi-layered recording, I m able to play both the melody and the underlying organ part. I m afraid you ll either have to play this by ear and improvise (which is what I m doing) or get someone to write the part for you. Note: A little tip for the ear players here... The underlying counter-melody in Whiter Shade is often drawn from the middle note of the chord so, if the accompaniment chord is C major, you ll generally find that E (being the middle note of the C major triad) will work well in the counter melody. You may remember that I noted down all the chords in Keyboard Performer (part 19) when I set out the initial chord sequence. It s a bit like joining up a dot to dot puzzle because you move from each chord to the next, charting the middle note and trying it out by moving from the previous chord to see if it works. It s a bit of a generalisation (and you ll probably have to jig the notes about a bit) but it will provide you with a working model. I created two registration settings for this part, one with a slow rotary speaker effect and one with a fast rotor effect. We ll need to switch between the two at bar 32 and again, after the repeat at bar 64 as the music plays... Fig.16 Switch to fast rotor... And so it was I select Registration Memory button [2]. This is the setting with the slow rotary speaker effect. 2. Then I press and hold the [RECORD] button - and select the top part of the [4] button under the screen. Channel 4 switches into record mode. 3. Next, I check the inset Part display to make sure Right 1 is highlighted (because the Organ voice is contained in the Right 1 voice part). 4. Then I press [Play]. The chord sequence begins and, as the Growl Sax begins to play the melody at bar 17, I start to add the organ counter melody part. 5. At bar 32 I switch to Registration Memory button [3] (the fast rotor sound) and, using the palm of my hand, make the big slur down - then up - the keyboard as the rotor speeds up. 6. Roughly four bars later, at bar 36 (or thereabouts) I slow the rotor again by re-selecting Registration Memory button [2]. In the second verse I do the same thing again - speeding up and slowing down the rotor at exactly the same point in the tune. 7. When the part is complete I press [Stop] to end the recording - then [Play] to listen to all the parts. Save the song I m sure you ll be keen to avoid losing the result of so much hard work so we d better save the completed song Press [Direct Access] followed by [Exit] to return to the Main display page. 2. Check the Whiter Shade is displayed in the Song section of the window and press the adjacent button to go to the Song User page. 3. Press [Save] at the bottom of the screen. 4. As we ve just been working on the file, the name Whiter Shade should already be entered in the text box that appears - so press [OK] to confirm (and [Yes] at the prompt telling you that you re about to overwrite the previous version of the file. 5. Your song is now safe in the User memory. Return to the Main window. You can listen to the recording whenever you wish by pressing [Play] in the Song section of the panel. You might also like to record the file into the Audio recorder and add it to a CD - and the procedure for doing this has been covered in earlier editions of Yamaha Club Magazine. You can also use the [Channel On/Off] buttons to switch off parts of the recording during playback - so that you can play those parts yourself in a live performance. During August/September an MP3 file of my completed performance will be available for you to download and use as an illustration should you need it.