June 2010: Some newer songs are here. These are ones that I recorded for Erin's wedding, and others that I was working on around that same time. These went on the second CD that I made for anyone who wants one, called Dr. Del's Piano Volume II, which was finished up in May, 2010. Many of these were first recorded on the Motif, which is a long and very tedious process. Some of them were recoded later in Reason, and that is a much better way to do it (quicker and easier) but I could never get the piano sounds right even though I have some great add-on sampled pianos. The piano always sounded very "pluncky" to me. I worked a lot with equalization and compression and that helped, but I was never really satistfied with it. Then I discovered Pro Tools. That changed everything. The standard piano in Pro Tools 8 is just outstanding, and it has a simple little knob that controls the touch response (velocity curve) that makes it so easy to set it up to be just what my playing style needs. The sampled sounds are great. Although the learning curve for Pro Tools is a bit steep, once I got over the hump it is very easy to record and edit midi, and the power of the program is incredible. So, all of these were finished up in Pro Tools no matter how they were originally recorded except Lazy Susan, which has a flute part that was done on the Motif with its flute voice. I'm sure Pro Tools will be my main program from now on.

Now a little background on the songs. These are all straight piano except one that has a flute part in it (which is also me playing), and most of them are soft and gentle. No rockers here. That's the next CD. These were mostly done for the wedding.

Years ago, like in the early 90's, I played a few Jim Brickman songs quite often on the old acoustic piano in our living room. I got tired of them later and hadn't played any of them more than once a year for a long time. When Erin got engaged and started talking about the wedding, she told me that she wanted to walk down the aisle to "Angel Eyes" and wanted me to record it. I was surprised, but very honored. She said that she when she had listened to me playing that song when she was little, she imagined walking down the aisle for her wedding to that song. So, I recorded it along with two others, and used those along with some of the Laura Nyro songs for background music before the ceremony. Erin used Time and Love after the ceremony for the wedding party to march out.

Laura Nyro has been my favorite song writer since the early 70's, and I've played her songs more than anything else over time. The ones on this CD are some of my favorites. Most people don't know that many of the best songs we remember from the 5th Dimension, Blood Sweat & Tears, and even Petula Clark were written by Laura Nyro. But her songs were best when she played them while singing. These are my interpretations of a few of my favorites.

The Prayer is a great song that I wanted to work up, and did here. I don't know why. I just like the theatricality of it, I guess. 

The Wind Beneath My Wings was meant for the wedding, but Erin doesn't like it because it got overplayed so much when she was younger. It's like me and Hotel California -- which I can't stand because I have heard it so many times that I never want to hear it again. I didn't know she didn't like it when I recorded it, and I thought it was a good pick for the wedding since Darin is pilot and, yeah it's corny, but it didn't make it in the wedding. I still like the song, so it's here.

Then there are a few hymns at the end. I am the pianist for a little church here, and these are a few songs I recorded for a week when I couldn't be there. They just played the CD for music that day. The last one was a request from one of the former members.

So here are MP3s from CD 2:

Jim Brickman Songs

1.     Angel Eyes      2. If You Believe  
3. In a Lovers’s Eyes

Laura Nyro Songs

4. And When I Die    5. Goodbye Joe
6. I Never Meant to Hurt You
7. Lazy Susan    8. Emmie   9. Time and Love

Miscellaneous

 10, The Wind Beneath My Wings
11. The Prayer

Hymns

12. Morning Has Broken  13. This is My Father’s World
14. Great Is Thy Faithfulness  15. We Shall Behold Him
16. He Knows My Name

Earlier recordings are here in reverse chronological order. Some of these ended up on the first CD:

Information on some of the songs is given below in chronological order

Killing Me Softly:

My first recording (December, 2006) was Killing Me Softly (MP3), first recorded by Roberta Flack in 1973 with Donny Hathaway. It may surprise some of you that I recorded this first rather than some rockin' boogie, but it just happened to be the first one I tried out and I have always loved the flowing melody and rhythm of this song. The rock-n-roll will follow shortly.

I recorded it by doing the following:

1. I first found a good midi version of it (here it is) and edited it in Midinotate Composer to leave out some of the instruments and the melody line and also to create a good printed score to play from. There really wasn't a piano part in the song, so what I am playing is part melody and part improvisation.
2. Next I loaded the edited midi file into Cakewalk's Sonar 6 and made some instrument and effects adjustments to get a nice stereo backing track. (Here is the .cwp file if you want it.)
3. Then I played the song on my Yamaha P60 digital piano through Sonar into a Boss Micro BR recorder, a very neat little giz that does some truly amazing things. The file in the BR was an audio file at that point.
4. I broke the score down into about 6 pieces (clips) that started and ended with natural breaks in the song so I could record multiple takes of each part and have some dead space at the beginning and end to help when putting the pieces back together for the final mix.
5. Each clip was then recorded in the Micro BR, using the imported audio track as backing, until I got a reasonably good take of each clip.
6. Those clips were then exported as audio (wav) files and were loaded back into Sonar for the final mix.
7. The result is here as an MP3 file. I hope you like it.

B3 Blues Jam (01/27/07):

This short jam was recorded as a learning exercise so I could figure out how a few things worked on my new Motif ES. It uses a Hammond B3 voice with full Leslies and is recorded in three parts or layers. I first recorded the pedal line for 12 bars, and then the bass chords for the same 12 bars, and then chained both of those together twice to make a total of 36 bars or three 12-bar "verses". Then I recorded the top part over those. The MP3 file is here.

Your Song (01/28/07):

This old Elton John song is my first straight recording (meaning I am playing it straight through with no layering or other technical touch-up). It was recorded in my Motif ES using its main piano voice, which is a 3-layered sampled grand. The "sampled" means that the Motif contains actual recordings of the sounds made by a real grand piano (as opposed to synthesizing the sounds -- as is the case with most of the voices in the instrument), and the "3 layered" means that the piano sounds were sampled at three different levels of loudness and velocity (how hard the key was pressed) because the sounds in a real piano are quite different when you play softly or loudly (more than just different in volume).

This is one of my favorite songs from the late 60's, and one of Sir Elton's best in my opinion (before he got weird and pop). The MP3 file is here. I will record this one with background accompaniment as soon as I figure out how to do that in the Motif.

Bridge Over Troubled Water (01/28/07):

The Simon and Garfunkle classis was also recorded straight using the Motif's main piano voice. The MP3 file is here.

Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring (02/10/07):

OK, this is what I bought the Motif for -- and I finally got time to figure out how to do it. This recording is done using a midi file for the orchestral instruments and then I play the piano part. Midi files contain no sounds -- they are really just [up to] 16 separate sequences (tracks) of digital signals that tell whatever is creating the sounds (a computer or, in this case, the Motif) 4 pieces of information at a time: what note should sound, how long it should sound, how hard the note was struck, and what the aftertouch was (did it get softer or louder after it was struck -- like a wind instrument could fade out or get louder while a note is being held).

I have LOTS of midi files that I have found on the web, and they work great for backing tracks so I have accompaniment while I play the piano part. The problem with midi files is that they generally get played on a computer using what are called "general midi" sounds. There are 128 general midi sounds used by computers, and some of them are really awful. The Motif, has  about 1800 sounds and all of them are REALLY GOOD -- so the trick was to get the midi files into the Motif and then map its sounds to the tracks instead of the general midi sounds. Once that was done, I could use the Motif to record all of it -- and me playing the piano line. The resulting MP3 file is here.

When You Say Nothing At All (02/17/07):

This Alison Krauss song uses a midi file I found on the web that was imported into the Motif. The backing tracks use the Motif's sounds, and I am playing the piano part using the Motif's main grand piano voice. The file is here.

Tiny Dancer (02/18/07):

This Elton John song was also recorded using the midi file for backing and the main grand piano voice as the lead. This one came out pretty good. The file is here.

Erin's Songs (02/19/07):

My daughter, Erin, is taking a voice class (this is her fourth) and I am accompanying her for the lessons and for the performance. I recorded these songs so she would have something to practice with when she can't come home. Eventually I will record her voice with the accompaniment as well. The songs are:

Bel Piacere, by Handel
Art Thou Troubled, also by Handel
Don't Rain on My Parade, from Funny Girl (Merrill and Styne)
 

Low Spark of High Heeled Boys (03/03/07):

This great Traffic song was an experiment to learn how to change the assigned voices for the track, and to learn how to mix the tracks. I am playing the piano, but all of the other instruments are synthesized by the Motif. This one turned out good. The MP3 file is here.

Your Song - With Backing Tracks (03/10/07):

This is one of Elton John's first recordings, written by Bernie Taupin, and back before EJ got wierd. I started with a MIDI file that I found on the web, imported that into my Motif ES, and mapped Motif voices to the backing tracks. I then recorded the piano over the backing tracks and adjusted the mix in the Motif. The finished song was played into my Boss Micro BR to record it as a WAV file, and then that was converted to an MP3 and here it is.

Bridge Over Troubled Water with Backing Tracks (03/14/07):

From Simon and Garfunkel, of course. The process was the same as for Your Song.  Here it is.

Upstairs by a Chinese Lamp (03/18/07):

Just me and my old friend, Laura (Nyro). No backing tracks. The MP3 is here. See my TOP 10 page for more on Laura Nyro.

Just me Jammin' (03/18/07):

This was just a straight recording of me messing around with a tune I made up on the spot. The MP3 is here.

Wedding Bell Blues (03/25/07):

Most people will think of the 5th Dimension when they hear this song. The 5th Dimension did record it and made it a hit, but it was written by Laura Nyro and she recorded it first. The MP3 is here.

Billy's Blues (03/25/07):

Another Laura Nyro song. Just my Piano and her song. The MP3 is here.

Little Miss Honky Tonk (04/15/07):

Well, I couldn't hear for almost two weeks, so not much got done here... I still can't hear very well, so this might sound like #UY#! I really can't tell.

This started as a downloaded midi file. I mapped Motif voices to the parts and mixed the backing tracks. Then I recorded in "studio" style, meaning that I recorded a section until I got it right, then recoded the next section until I got it right, etc. The resulting MP3 is here.

After doing the studio recoding, I ran one take straight, meaning I just as down and played it straight through with no editing or corrections. This is the straight version.

Killing Me Softly - Revised (04/28/07):

The first recording of this song was the first one listed above, which was done pre-Motif on the computer. This version was a "learning project" for the Motif. I started with the MIDI file, mapped Motif voices to the tracks, and used all of the studio recording features to record the piano part. That is, I was able to clean up errors and tweak the sound quite a bit.  It took a about two weeks to complete, but I like the result. I am also the flute, by the way. I used the Motif's flute voice with a breath controller -- a device that let's me control the volume of the flute (or any other wind instrument) with my own breath to get expressiveness that can't be done with the keyboard alone. I'm kinda proud of this one. The MP3 is here.

Too Late (04/29/04):

This was a quickie. I voiced the non-piano tracks and then did three straight runs through the song. The third one sounded good, so this is it.

Timer (05/05/07):

This is one of my favorite Laura Nyro pieces. I recorded this in about 4 hours on a Sunday morning. It was done by recording sections sequentially. I then touched it up just a bit in Reason and voiced it in the Motif with a stretch-tuned brite grand piano. The MP3 is here.

Christmas In My Soul (05/20/07):

Another great Laura Nyro song, my favorite of all. Quite possibly my favorite song from anyone. It needs her voice to do it justice, but I did my best to capture her feeling. You need to know the song, and especially the words, to really appreciate the depth of the song but the music by itself is still inspiring. This was recorded first on the Motif and then touched up a bit in Reason, then voiced in the Motif with a stretch-tuned grand piano. The MP3 is here.

 

12/10/07:  Well, I took the summer and most of the fall off from recording, and instead spent my time learning more about my Motif ES and all of the other gear and software I have acquired, and of course I spent a lot of time just playing. The Motif ES is amazing. After having it for 10 months and spending a lot of hours with it, I know maybe 80% of what it CAN do, and I can make it do maybe half of that. It truly is an incredible instrument. I've posted a few songs I did over the last few months, and I'll be recording quite a few more (I hope) over the Christmas break. I want to record a CD of Laura Nyro songs, so I'll be working on that.

I Never Meant to Hurt You (November 2007)

Laura Nyro again. This is 1-track recording done in the Motif ES and then tweaked a bit for volume fades in Roxio 10. I recorded it sometime in the summer and just got around to getting it cleaned up and posted. The MP3 is here. It redone later and put on CD2 (above).

Stoney End (November 2007)

More Laura. This one was an experiment with the Motif's voices, and with multi-track recording. There are 8 tracks with 5 instruments, and they are all me. I did the arrangement, too. The sax is played using the breath controller (it lets me control the volume of the instrument with by blowing into a mouthpiece), and the others are played on the keyboard. The piano part was recorded first, and then the other tracks were added one at a time. Mixing was done in the ES, and resulting WAV was tweaked a bit in Roxio 10 to add fades.  The MP3 is here.

Lazy Susan (December 2007)

More Laura. This one uses an instrument voice that I created from the Mortif's internal wave files, layered and tweaked inside of the Motif. It's a nice vintage Fender Rhodes, one of the first and finest electric pianos ever made.  The MP3 is here. This was remixed later in Pro Tools and put on CD2.

He's A Runner (12/15/07)

Another Laura Nyro. I recorded this one using the 'Pattern' mode in the Motif. It let's me record segments and then chain them together to form the final song. I used four sections to do this one. The MP3 is here.

Emmie (01/06/08)

Another Laura Nyro song. I'm kinda proud of this one. I used several new things that I learned about pattern mode in the Motif, and I am getting better at using the features that pattern mode adds to my production toolbag. This song uses a layered voice, part piano and part string ensemble. The strings add a nice background sound pad.  The MP3 is here. This was later redone solo for the wedding and put on CD2.

Blues Jam (01/24/08)

This was an experiment in recording using many "takes" of a 12-bar blues pattern in G using an external recorder and a set of voices called a performance. The set of voices is a drum playing a arpeggio (pattern) for the beat, a bass guitar played with my left hand, and a Rhodes electric piano layered with a B3 organ sound played by the right hand. Using this set of voices, I recorded many takes into an external WAV recorder. The audio recordings were then loaded into Cubase LE, a computer audio processing program, and the good takes were identified, split out, and sequenced together to form this song. Some effects were added -- compression and EQ -- and the resulting MP3 file is here.

Goodbye Joe (December 2007)

More Laura. This one was recorded on the Motif in sections and then the sections were pieced together to form the complete song. That song was exported as a MIDI file (a computer file that just has note data -- no sounds) to a software program called Reason 4, where the MIDI data was tweaked and a few corrections were made. One of Reason's piano voices was used, and effects were added like compression and reverb. The finished song is here. This was remixed later in Pro Tools and put on CD2.