Scott Henderson Discussion

[barik01]

Hey Scott,

cool that you're releasing backing tracks for the new album. I was wondering how the guitar layering is handled. Do you remove only the lead/unisono parts or everything, including background harmony? For example, will Vibe Station and Sphinx still have comping during the solo sections or is it Drums/Bass only? I really like the harmonies you're playing during the solos, would be nice to have them included.

[Scott Henderson]

Thanks for that question - I haven't started the project yet so I hadn't thought about that. I guess for the tunes which have comping behind the solos, I'll include the comping as a 4th file. I may need to break up the guitar files on some tunes for other reasons, but obviously I can't provide a file for every guitar track since there are dozens of them. Or maybe the only reason to make more than one guitar file will be for the comping tracks.

Another concern of mine is the delay/reverb on the guitar mixes. I want this version to sound exactly like the album when all three files are playing at the same volume, so a guitar mix played by itself will probably sound a bit wet.

The hard part will be writing the charts. The bass charts are done, but there were never guitar charts since all the guitar in my demos was entered by audio, not midi. Fishman was kind enough to give me their Triple Play guitar midi controller, so I'll hook that up and play the songs into the computer to make the charts. There will be a lot of voicings, but I'll include chord symbols too.

Before anyone asks, I'm not doing tab, mainly because I can't read it myself, and it would take me months to do it.

[barik01]

Thanks for the answer.

Including seperate files for overdubbing parts sounds like total overkill. I'll buy most of the backings anyway, but optional comping during solos with chord changes would be awesome. Not talking about real rhythm guitar like on Church of Xotic Dance and Dew Wut? or the complex lead guitar layering on some tunes. Just the solo comping like on Calhoun or Vibe Station, which almost sounds like something a keyboard player would do there, and it adds a lot to the music imo.

[Scott Henderson]

I totally agree - anytime there's a solo with comping I'll include the comping as a separate track.

Thanks for the input!

[dizzy]

For charts you could look in to "meladyne"(?)
It is software that turns audio into midi so you wouldn't have to replay the parts.

[Scott Henderson]

A nice thought, but I have to play the parts with no slides or whammy bar stuff or the charts are gonna be a mess. I'm hoping that it won't take too long to re-play everything and make good looking charts. I'm sure I can do at least one a day as soon as I get the Fishman Triple Play hooked up.

Im not going to attempt any fancy stuff, like trying to write an arpeggiated chord with notes ringing and ties everywhere. They'll just be single notes with "let ring" written on the top. If I get too anal with this I could end up in the nut house.

[dizzy]

[quote="Scott Henderson"]A nice thought, but I have to play the parts with no slides or whammy bar stuff or the charts are gonna be a mess. I'm hoping that it won't take too long to re-play everything and make good looking charts. I'm sure I can do at least one a day as soon as I get the Fishman Triple Play hooked up.

Im not going to attempt any fancy stuff, like trying to write an arpeggiated chord with notes ringing and ties everywhere. They'll just be single notes with "let ring" written on the top. If I get too anal with this I could end up in the nut house.[/quote]

Or how about this:
Have meladine transfer the songs to midi. Then print out the sheet music. It will look totally funky. Then assign a color to each note group and reprint it. At this point it will be a sheet with a blur of color on it. Then write up an explanation of it: "a visual representation of sound which challenges the fundamental conception of singular senses."
Then send it in and get a genius grant. I'll do it for you if I can have 20% of the grant money. Deal? I'll even send it to John Zorn.

[Scott Henderson]

Great idea! Then I'll spray the charts with patchouli oil. I'll get the band on the jam band circuit!

I'll give you 20%, and you can have the chicks with the hairy legs!

[dizzy]

Deal.
I'll take the hairy ones but when the tour makes it to New York we can split the hot art students 50/50.

[barik01]

Thanks for including comping tracks. Going to be a lot of fun playing along to the first half of Manic Carpet. So much cool stuff happening there.