GANG!

Here, at last, is the soon-to-be infamous "JB goes MIDI" CD. Some of these tunes you may recognize as having been performed by Tacoma as full-on "pop" songs with lyrics, etc. Some of them are JB’s "art project" songs, performed maybe once or twice, at a PalmStalk or two. A couple of them are brand new, and never existed as anything but MIDI sequences.

The tunes on this CD were recorded to mini-disk in October (1999) from MIDI sequences - no "live" playing. The basic tracks - the "performances" - were recorded as MIDI files about four or five years ago, when JB and I programmed them in response to a request from Wayne for some tunes to use in his "music-on-hold" business. The original arrangements were sequenced into my computer during a couple of Saturday sessions with JB at the keyboard (synthesizer) and me at the keyboard (computer). We sent the sequencer files to Wayne, and I did a rough mix to cassette for JB and myself at that time. I always intended to get back to this collection, but I never found time (or had the right equipment available) to make it the project I had hoped it might become.

This summer, Greg offered to bring his hot-stuff digital recorder over, help me do some gnarly mixes, and burn a CD of the tunes which we could then duplicate for family and friends. Too coool! Unfortunately, his previous commitments - you know, the work that pays the bills! - made scheduling the sessions impossible. But while e-chatting with Wayne about the project, he encouraged me to continue on and record a new, hot and clean mix of these tunes to cassette. When I was happy with the tape, send it up to him and he would create the CD’s. The project stayed alive! When I got ready to do the final mixes, rather than use a cassette tape, Greg graciously loaned me a mini-disk deck, I did the new mixes and sent the mini-disk to Wayne, who mastered this CD and did the paper inserts.

My intent was to produce something that (at least occasionally) would recall the images of the people who actually performed these tunes. Personally, I can’t listen to "Caroline" without seeing Marty on flute, Jack intensely hunched over the vibes, glaring at the score, Poody clutching a mallet, back behind the orchestra bells, Lasoo on a stool with his Yamaha acoustic, and I can see Yil, but his bass guitar keeps changing... I hope you’ll see Wayne playing the drum parts he helped me program, and there are even some fills straight from Keith Segal. And, of course, John at his "horseshoe" keyboard setup, hand-puppet and all.

I wanted everything to sound as "real" as I could possibly make it on my (meager) equipment. For voicing, I went back to the basics, trying to stick to the sound of the instruments that really would have - or could have - been used: piano, electric piano, Hammond, clavinet, EML synth, Mini-Korg, flute, guitars, vibes and bells, drums and percussion - and only fudged maybe on the horns - hey, we had synths back then, and we had real horns for the Ballet session, right? ...And the strings, which sound just a tad better than the Elka stringy-thingy JB used to have... OK, and the harp... and the toy piano? Well... there’s one on the cover, isn’t there?

My apologies to JB for him not being involved in the new mixes - just like old times! - and for the liberties I took with the arrangements, which varied from just cleaning up a few clams and quantizing some parts, re-voicing them from the sounds we used during the original sessions, to replacing a complete drum track, even to writing a few new parts and inserting a bridge on one tune. I’m afraid we’re all stuck with "MY" versions of the tunes on this CD (see the disclaimer).

Enjoy, EB

THE TECHNICAL:

On this CD, you are hearing:

Roland U-220   as the acoustic and electric piano
Roland MKS-7  as the melody flute voice
Korg EX 8000  as the portameto synth, the Hammond on "Incomplete" and "Say Goodbye,"
and a horn part in "Wind Rider"

All other sounds were produced by a Reveal SC500 wavetable soundcard (in my computer)

Mixed through a Mackie 1202 (thanks, Wayne) with a Boss RRV-1 Digital Reverb and a Yamaha R-100 Digital Effects Processor to a Sharp MD MS702 MK mini-disk recorder (thanks, Yil)

THE DISCLAIMER:

Unhappy with the product? Send me a stamped, self-addressed envelope and I’ll mail you the original sequences on a floppy disk - do your own damn mixes!

1. JB Goes MIDI!

Suite: Caroline

2. Caroline
3. Why Don’t You Stay?
4. Morning
5. Song #7

        ***

6. Led Astray
7. Tomorrow
8. Day After Day
9. One-Day-at-a-Time Kind of Love
10. Away
11. Incomplete
12. Say Goodbye
13. Love Times Two
14. Wind Rider

All songs written by JB except 7, 10, 12 by EB

All selections c 2001 Arohana Music BMI

CD Conceived and created by John Brown, Emmett Brown, Wayne Newitt, Greg Youtsey

Engineered by Emmett Brown - Produced by Wayne Newitt