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Jim Alfredson

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Posts posted by Jim Alfredson

  1. Lowest paying gig ...

    in Musician's Forum

    Posted

    Do it! Start telling horror stories! I love em!

    The guitarist in my R&B band calls the phenom of people not liking music without words the "AM Radio Syndrome". He thinks it started back in the days of AM radio, when DJs would talk over the beginning of a tune up until the singer started. It's even worse today. They talk at the beginning and the end of the tune. No words? TALK TALK TALK! Subconsciously, according to his theory, people think, "Hey, the music isn't important... he's talking over it."

    Thus, we are where we are. :)

  2. Recommendations for a pianist switching to B3?

    in Musician's Forum

    Posted

    In the traditional style of jazz organ, (aka the Jimmy Smith style) the left hand plays bass.

    "Well what do the feet do, then?!" Ah... here's one of the secrets of the trade. You play bass with your feet, too. What's the point of that? Well, the left hand sustains the note. The feet tap the same note on the pedal board, adding an attack to the front of the note, not unlike a bass string being plucked. You can also add heavy accents to the bass line by holding the pedal down longer.

    Playing just bass pedals on a Hammond usually sound like poo. There are some players that can do it and make it sound great, but they are few and far between. The Jimmy Smith style is/was used by most players... Patterson, McGriff, McDuff, Holmes, Patton, Young, Earland, etc. Shirley Scott plays all pedals on that Strata-East record. Barbara Dennerlein has MIDI-fied pedals. There are exceptions for sure, but most use the tap method.

    The main reason, I think, is that to get a really swingin' bass line at a fast tempo, you'd really have to use two feet. And then how do you control volume? There's no foot available for the volume pedal if both are playing pedals. And as you know, the organ is not velocity sensitive! :)

    Some people just tap one note on the pedal board for the "same" effect. It doesn't sound the same. At least not to me. Plus you can't do accents very well that way.

  4. Lowest paying gig ...

    in Musician's Forum

    Posted

    Ah, the old Sportsmen Tavern.

    One of my favorites is back when I first started playing gigs (I was about 17) and I was in this country cover band. We were playing a beer tent in Mason, the little town Joe and I grew up in. They had this tent set up next to a gas station. The ground was grass. The drummer checked out the site the day previous to the event and told the "promoter" that we couldn't play on grass. That we needed a stage. He said, "No problem! I'll take care of it."

    So the drummer comes back the next afternoon to set up his drums and finds a big ass pile of dirt. The promoter says, "Yeah, we haven't spread it out yet, but it'll work great!" Dirt. So the drummer calls up his buddies and they all scrape together a measley amount of leftover wood and they actually build a semi-functional stage on top of this dirt.

    So I get there with my M3 (a little Hammond) and the rest of the band sets up. It starts to rain like mad. All that dirt under the stage starts turning to mud. It seeps out underneath the stage making our shoes, cables, speakers, my poor little organ all muddy.

    To top it off, there were two strictly divided camps of audience members. The "PLAY SOME SKYNYRD" rednecks and the "PLAY SOME SEGER" hillbillies. Funny thing is, we play "Beautiful Loser", get done with the tune, and instead of applause we hear, "PLAY SOME SEGER". :blink:

    I think I got $40 for that one. I feel really bad for my dad. I didn't have a drivers license yet, so he drove 12 miles from our house to drop me off and pick me up and load the organ. Now that's parental support!

  5. Lowest paying gig ...

    in Musician's Forum

    Posted

    Recently my trio played a joint in K-zoo. We were supposed to get $300 for the night... $100 a piece. We play for four hours and at the end of the night the bartender gives us the door.

    $60. A Jackson a piece. Ouch! The hour long drive home sucked on that one.

    I guess that's why they invented contracts.

    ps. I take total responsability for that one... :angry:

  6. Soulive

    in New Releases

    Posted

    I keep reading that these guys are the shit live. I haven't been too impressed with their records so far. I agree with the earlier assessment. The first one was pretty sweet, the second (first BN) was ok, the third one was kind of lame.

    My biggest complaints about them are:

    1. Drummer - not very inventive in my book. He seems to play nearly the same groove over everything.

    2. Solos - I think they have some neat heads to their tunes, but a lot of times their solos get dull to me.

    3. The organ - yes, his left hand is badass, but he never explores the different registrations of the Hammond... he also doesn't play pedals. I just have issues with that. :)

    My biggest compliments to the group:

    1. Nice heads on the tunes.

    2. Funky as hell.

    3. They have their own sound. Very hard to do.

    Just my two cents. I'll definately pick up the new record.

  8. Sleep?

    in Miscellaneous - Non-Political

    Posted

    I stay up waaaay too late. My wife constantly bugs me about it and she's right. I should get my ass to bed.

    However, when I do have a gig and I have to drive home late at night for an hour or so, I'm not tired. Which is a good thing!

    This week I've been getting up pretty early, though. And still staying up late.

    But, I'm sleeping in tomorrow!!!! YAY! :g

  9. Waiting for the Boogaloo Sisters... RELEASED!

    in organissimo - The Band Discussion

    Posted

    scottb,

    Clap Yo Hands is a favorite of the tikes, that's for sure! The drummer in the R&B band I play with has a 4 year old and she loves that tune, too! :) Like her proud father says, "Children are the true test of music." If they can get down to it, it's good. Just don't tell Barney that!

    Thanks for your comments.

    Soul Stream,

    Thank you as well for posting a review. It means a lot to me to have my fellow ex-BNBB brethren digging our stuff. A "phenom"? I don't know about that, but I'll take it! :) I do pride myself on doin' the funky thang.

    That record just makes me want to write more and record more! :) I've been working so hard lately, it's been a bummer not being able to practice. :rmad:

  12. Conversations with Jim Anderson

    in Audio Talk

    Posted

    I don't know much about mac software, so I'm going to keep my mouth shut! :) I still stand by my original assessment that a lower line G4 should run fine, however. The studio we recorded our trio record in has a G4 800Mhz machine running the newest Pro Tools (the HD) with all the plugins you can imagine and he has no problems.

    For preamps, you can't go wrong with Grace. Of course, they are $$$$$.

    I have a Presonus M80 that I like a lot, although I've read they've stopped using the Jensen transformers in them and went to a cheaper (and not as good sounding) alternative. Mine has the original Jensen's in it.

    The True Systems Precision 8 is nice. Sounds real good. The Focusrite Red series is awesome.

    All I know is that when it comes to preamps, you get what you pay for! :)

  13. BNBB refugees

    in Miscellaneous - Non-Political

    Posted

    Anyway, oddly enough- your attached image appears on my screen looking just like I normally see it- everything in pastels (light purple, that yellowish color, etc).

    That is really really weird. I mean, that image is a freakin' jpg. It shouldn't be affected by local color choices.

    WEIRD!

    :alien:

  18. Conversations with Jim Anderson

    in Audio Talk

    Posted

    Also, you concur that RAM is more important then processor speed? That's interesting... I'll keep it in mind. With $2000 for the G4, $2000 for the Pro Tools, and $2000 for monitors, that will be a pretty solid core unit and still leaves $3,300 for gear (mics, pre's, comp's, etc). Then, as we get funding over the next few years, we will build our mic arsonal little by little.

    I do think RAM is more important. True, with the lower line Pro Tools you use more processor than you would with a full Pro Tools rig, but an 800MHz machine would do the job nicely. Does Pro Tools even take advantage of dual processors? I think only OS X does as an operating system and then it's up to individual software.

    Definately check out the MXL mics. And get some good mic preamps. I can't stress enough how important these are.

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