Download    I’ve had several people ask lately what kind of equipment I use and how so many instruments can spring from one keyboard.  I thought the jazz tune “Easier Said Than Done” would be appropriate for this subject.  This one is on the Jazz Instrumentals list or download it from this post.

Synthesized instruments and the use of “sampling” have been around for quite a while, but the process just keeps getting better and more realistic.  Engineers actually record instruments (saxophones, violins, trumpets, etc.) and then adapt those “samples”  to work on higher end keyboards.  You can never recreate the sound of, say, a violin just exactly right –  but as technology progresses, so does the quality of those sounds.  Through a process called “sequencing”  you can write your own music or emulate a top ten hit – one instrument at a time.  This is how karaoke was born.  We used to call this “multi-tracking” but that was a whole lot more trouble.

In this particular jazz piece, I only had to use 8 of the 16 tracks available on my keyboard – a Yamaha PSR910 Arranger Workstation.  Could have used more tracks, but that tends to clutter up a song if you have too many instruments.  That doesn’t apply to big band music, which tends to use all 16 tracks and takes forever to put together one song.  Combine this piano with a good mixer (Allen & Heath), a laptop, and QSR monitors and you’ve got a professional quality studio at your fingertips.

On this song, I laid down the  bass and drum tracks first – a good place to start since they determine the whole flavor and foundation of the music.  “Easier Said Than Done” has heavy piano chords throughout, so I played those next on a separate track while listening to drum and bass..  I wanted a soft French horn to be kinda subtle here and there, so that went on track 6 (I always put my horns on that track – don’t ask me why).  The recurring 8 bar theme I did with synth brass on track 5.  I thought a nice muted guitar would help carry the rhythm a bit on track 8.  And, finally, the lead piano goes on top of everything else.  Voila!  You’ve got a song!  Easy, huh?  Well, easier said than done but really not all that difficult.

This is all “old hat” to established performers, but for the uninitiated, this gives you a peek into how music is recorded and performed today.  I’ve been in this business for a long time, but I sure wish we’d had this kind of technology 30 years ago – would have saved a lot of time, pain, and frustration.   Now go out and buy yourself a keyboard with a 16-track sequencer on board and have some fun!  You don’t have to be a musical genius to do it – look at me!