Tech Tuesday with Radio 45’s C. Scott Gilbert
Tech Tuesday! Nerd notes for the musically inclined. Or interested. Or not. It’s all good.
“How do you guys get that great big phat sound?”
Financing a rock band has its challenges. Everyone’s time is important — and unless it’s exclusively a labor of love — each band member should be paid for the work they do (in my world, your world may vary). The more band members you have, the more revenue you need to generate to make ends meet. If anyone can double-up on the instruments they play live if can help the band sound full with less cost.
In Radio 45 I play a mix of bass guitar and keyboards (among other instruments). Bass guitar is my long-time favorite instrument — there is nothing like locking-in with a great drummer and laying down a groove.
But the world of digital synths offers an infinite realm of sound discovery. It’s amazing. Both worlds are incredible — but I only have two hands.
Which instrument should I play live?
The answer for me is simple: I’ve played keyboards exclusively for bands in the past (First Strike) and know first-hand that I just can’t move the way I want to standing behind a keyboard rig. I gotta play bass. I gotta be free to move.
While I only have two hands, fortunately, I also have two feet. Enter the Roland PK-5A MIDI foot controller…
I’m a big fan of leveraging technology in order to get more done with less hands/people involved. Using Apple MainStage I can play keyboard parts with my feet. This gives Radio 45 an incredibly full sound when needed — and can give the audience a richer musical experience.
MainStage has the added benefit of allowing me to create precision sound patches — audio produced on the fly that sounds exactly like the record — and enables me to combine individual notes or sequences to be triggered with a single bass pedal on the PK-5A.
“With a few exceptions as detailed in liner notes, all piano, synths and similar sound effects (particle accelerator) on Radio 45 recordings are sound designed, written and recorded by me — I just don’t have enough hands to play everything live at the same time. MainStage enables me to do just that...”
This technology isn’t perfect — but it works well today and we’re continually evolving with it. MainStage is a bargain at only $29.99, and in true Apple fashion is pretty easy to use. The PK-5A (and successor PK-6) are discontinued now, but are solid and roadworthy (with a proper road case). They run about $600 new.
Band Chemistry and the More with Less Philosophy
Forming a band is great fun — and it’s hard work. Keeping a band together is even harder. Finding talent is one thing. Finding somebody you can work with is another. Even the best of personalities can clash over time. One bad actor can turn something truly fun into a truly stressful chore — killing creativity in it the process. It’s tricky.
Radio 45 enjoys a tight chemistry unlike any I’ve ever known before (and we employ a “no-fester” clause to make sure any issues are exposed and resolved quickly). I’ve been working with these guys for decades. Brilliant musicians and exceptional human beings. Good men.
We’d love to add a dedicated keyboard player to our lineup. But until we find that person — we’ll be content delivering more with less.
Until next time,
Scotto
Using MainStage to combine multiple patches into a single package, Scotto can trigger complex chords and progressions live with the Roland PK-5A MIDI foot controller.
MainStage gets it’s own reference amp on stage for Scotto, and the rest of the band gets the keyboard feed in monitors.
Photo Credit: Digital Noise Photography
Roland
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Digital Noise Photography
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