Oh yes, those are the "big three" for me. Great songwriting, intelligent expression of musical art, and of course, masterful integration of keyboards and keyboard sounds within the music.
I sampled the flute from Arturia emulator using Nord sample editor sounds perfect, I also layer brass top and organ bottom for the end. And in the second verse with the brass part I have a synth on the top and the brass in the bottom. Live this gives a more realistic feel and fills out the sound.And using set list mode I have 5 patches to achieve quick changes. The solo I have the flute at the top and the brass underneath.
*Thanks for sharing your strategy!* @Paul Hale Let me reflect on some of this if I may: 1) Arturia emulator - I love how far these have come. I really need to explore this topic a bit more. There's so much stuff to cover, and the Nord boards keep me busy. But yes, amazing what we can do with emulators these days. The Nord Sound Manager can take these tremendous foundational sounds and present them for us to play at the tips of our fingers - allowing us to "fill in the gaps" when the Nord engines themselves are not up to the task. 2) Great tip about the brass on the bottom and the synth on the top! 3) So, I see you use 5 programs to achieve this. You are a guy not afraid to pull out all the stops, and I love that! Your overall setup and approach sound spot-on from the way you describe it. * As a young keyboard player, I never took the time to learn how to program my boards. I would just find a patch and use whatever was built-in (and hope for the best). Now in my later years, I find it fascinating to discover how one might try to imitate these sounds or find a way to set up the boards where you can perform them live. Granted, Nord boards were not around when I was 16, so there's that. The Roland D-50 had just come out, and I was using the Roland SH-101 for white noise and bass sounds. I learned how to operate the SH-101 because it had "knobs and buttons I could see" - The D-50, on the other hand, required menu diving. I was never a "menu diver." Perhaps that's why Nord boards seem to resonate with me the most thus far. In any case, thanks for sharing your setup with us! 👍🏻 🎓
@Doctor Mix !! It's an absolute honor to have you stop by today!!! 🙏🏻 Keep up the great work by the way on your channel. Been following you for years now. I mentioned you in my "a-ha" video so that my fans know of all your awesome goodness: ruclips.net/video/nx1lWiO0tlE/видео.html (at 2:23)
Great clinic on a great song, Marc! Back in the day as a starving musician, I created and sold sample and patch libraries, mostly for Ensoniq boards (and wrote for the Transoniq Hacker ‘zine :). I had that shakuhachi flute sound in so many different formats - I never knew it originated with the emulator! I *think* I sampled mine from a Roland M1, but could be wrong. Thanks for the blast from the past! ✌🏼⚒️
Thanks for sharing a bit of your background here @West_47-122 I owned an Ensoniq Mirage and my favorite samples was the first 10 seconds of the "Johnny Carson intro theme" from the "Tonight Show" which someone had recorded and presented as a sample (on a single 3.5 floppy). I was so blown away at the time to have that one at my fingertips. Alas, I found out that I was more of a "preset guy" and samplers were not my main calling, so I ended up selling that board - but it was a true classic!
@@MyKeysToMusic Yah, you had to be quite a geek to love sampling in the Mirage lol. I had the rack version, and it’s amazing how much info you can communicate with a 2-digit segment display!
Great presentation, as always, Marc. I'd need to use the shakuhachi patch from Arturia's Emu II simulation (which I can import into the Nord 3 using the Sample Editor, of course), but it is great how accurately Nord 3 can emulate the brass from "Sledgehammer". I love integrating a bit of organ into my (non-organ) patches too - it beefs them up immensely! I wondered how you got the "slurs" between the brass notes (wondering whether you used a bit of portamento), but it's simply your skilful playing! :)
Hello Mark! (A good name you have there! 😀) Thank you for your comment, confirmation, and question. The slurs between the notes (I think) are coming from the samples themselves. I am playing grace notes in selected areas of the video, and that's what you might be hearing as well? Although for the main brass line of the song (when the brass first comes in), you do have to play those notes more legato and less staccato, I have found. At first, (not recorded in the video), I was playing the line in octaves (both hands), but I found that the lines are so quick that they end up sounding too staccato and have since switched to playing two hands but with single fingers in each hand (versus octaves) so that the phrase is more "rounded". This more "rounded" approach is what you see in the video here. If that didn't answer the question, feel free to ask in another way. Thanks for watching! 🎺
Excellent showcase of how to get these sounds! I found the Shakuhachi flute in Nord's sample library download and there's some obvious changes done to the program like you mentioned here in your video vs what the sample sounds like. Any idea how to get that swell/synth sound specifically with the Shakuhachi?
Hello @Josh Paredes - I played around just now with the Shakuhachi found on the Nord website. Ya, the way it works with Sledgehammer is completely different, and I think it has to be recorded that way from the get-go. You can find the sample here from this fellow on RUclips: ruclips.net/video/rmNl11TAFU8/видео.html
@@MyKeysToMusic yeah I actually found that right after I commented hah. Wish there was a way to change the Eb to actually play on the Eb and not the F#. Odd the sample comes like that but he plays it on the Eb.
@@joshparedes_ Ya, I'm not sure what they were thinking to pin this to f# Maybe they were actually performing the song in a different key and attached the sample to the f# to compensate or something like that.
@mjwalters8394 If you made a custom sample, then yes, you could layer the two - good idea! Out of the box, the keyboard itself doesn't support "chord" settings whereby one note plays two (which is another way this could be handled). Keyboard controllers can do this however - hmm, yet another good idea.
@floling Wow, you have good ears! Yes, it's slowed to 95% in a futile attempt to avoid copyright claims. But that didn't work, they still claimed the video, and I couldn't monetize it. 😢 I didn't bother going back to speed it back up to 100% since all the editing had been done at that point. Congrats on being the first person to call this out! Good👂🏼!
Yes, the piano and Org are great. I do like the built-in synth on the Stage 3 as well actually too. The built-in brass is weak, and the strings by themselves are so-so. However, those so-so strings can be used on many different songs as they blend well to my years. "Orchestra Strings Legato" are not bad. I use the Symphobia strings too from time to time. This is room for improvement in the sample dept.
Thanks for making this video. One detail was not covered..... the brass that is heard throughout the song. At 2:06 time into the song, brass is heard with an attack. This is just one of the articulations heard for the brass lines. Link to song: ruclips.net/video/KkiqTmwEQ-U/видео.html
@DLightful You are correct. I didn't mention much about sforzando in the brass section but I'm glad you mentioned it. I think you can "kind of" imitate that with the volume pedal but it's tricky. Another thing to mention about this is the fact that the Stage 3 doesn't really make it easy to produce a sforzando effect because there is no dedicated sustain option. On many of the Nord keyboards, the sustain is combined with the decay. On the Nord Wave 2 however, there is a separate sustain knob making it a touch easy to produce sforzando-type effects from the synth section.
Hi - on this video I decided I wasn't going to spell everything out as I sometimes do. You can gleen what I'm doing with the brass by looking at the sample screen (for the most part). The sample on the other hand can be found here in the description of this video (this is another channel where they posts it I believe): ruclips.net/video/rmNl11TAFU8/видео.html
Hello @FEAT WIZZLE - yes and no is the answer to that. If you join one of the online courses I offer, you'll be a student. 🎓Sometimes I take private students depending on the situation... Thanks for asking!
Hello Daniel - I'm using two samples for the "big brass," and they are layered. They are "Brass Section Pop 1" and "Trumpets Legato." I keep the Trumpets Legato at slightly less volume in that layer. Then when it's just the brass and the flute split, I'm using "Brass Section Pop 1". I'm also using a bit of EQ and organ layered with the big brass. I may also be using EQ for the flute/brass split as well I have these downloads available on Patreon/my website. I believe you may find other brass examples/options on the Nord User Forum for this song.
Hello Chase. Thank you for your suggestion. I don't plan to do this song specifically but I did touch upon this song in another video where I reviewed particular sound packs for the Nord Stage 3 (which includes this song). You can check out a very brief excerpt of it here: ruclips.net/video/G4vIDEiKoas/видео.html
![Summer Walker - Heart Of A Woman [Official Lyric Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/SFddctbZzw8/mqdefault.jpg)
Absolutely great sounds and organized setup. Thanks Marc!!
Note: I highly encourage viewers to support Marc's Patreon channel.
Thank you Eric for watching and for your support! A comment like this needs to get pinned at the top. Many thanks!
Awesome sounds dude, especially the brass.
Thank you Lindsay and thanks for your comment. 👍🏻
Thank you Marc,so interesting and useful.These Nord's never cease to deliver.
Thank's for watching and for your comment Richard! Yes, the Nord boards do deliver!
You got my attention when you said that Genesis, Yes and Rush are your favs. 😉👍 killer brass, wow
Oh yes, those are the "big three" for me. Great songwriting, intelligent expression of musical art, and of course, masterful integration of keyboards and keyboard sounds within the music.
@@MyKeysToMusic agreed 100%.
Fantastic! I really appreciate the advice about playing the octaves.
Glad you like it Halifax Trio! Octaves is the way to go for brass stabs. 👍
This is an incredible channel. Everything about the Stage 3, I have learnt here. Can’t wait to get into this.
Thank you @Shamsheed for your excellent comment. This made my day!👍🏻
nice job on these! Spot on!
Thank you MesaGuitarGuy!
I sampled the flute from Arturia emulator using Nord sample editor sounds perfect, I also layer brass top and organ bottom for the end. And in the second verse with the brass part I have a synth on the top and the brass in the bottom. Live this gives a more realistic feel and fills out the sound.And using set list mode I have 5 patches to achieve quick changes. The solo I have the flute at the top and the brass underneath.
*Thanks for sharing your strategy!*
@Paul Hale Let me reflect on some of this if I may:
1) Arturia emulator - I love how far these have come. I really need to explore this topic a bit more. There's so much stuff to cover, and the Nord boards keep me busy. But yes, amazing what we can do with emulators these days. The Nord Sound Manager can take these tremendous foundational sounds and present them for us to play at the tips of our fingers - allowing us to "fill in the gaps" when the Nord engines themselves are not up to the task.
2) Great tip about the brass on the bottom and the synth on the top!
3) So, I see you use 5 programs to achieve this. You are a guy not afraid to pull out all the stops, and I love that! Your overall setup and approach sound spot-on from the way you describe it.
* As a young keyboard player, I never took the time to learn how to program my boards. I would just find a patch and use whatever was built-in (and hope for the best). Now in my later years, I find it fascinating to discover how one might try to imitate these sounds or find a way to set up the boards where you can perform them live. Granted, Nord boards were not around when I was 16, so there's that. The Roland D-50 had just come out, and I was using the Roland SH-101 for white noise and bass sounds. I learned how to operate the SH-101 because it had "knobs and buttons I could see" - The D-50, on the other hand, required menu diving. I was never a "menu diver." Perhaps that's why Nord boards seem to resonate with me the most thus far.
In any case, thanks for sharing your setup with us! 👍🏻 🎓
Well done! 👏👏👏👏👏👏
@Doctor Mix !! It's an absolute honor to have you stop by today!!! 🙏🏻 Keep up the great work by the way on your channel. Been following you for years now. I mentioned you in my "a-ha" video so that my fans know of all your awesome goodness: ruclips.net/video/nx1lWiO0tlE/видео.html (at 2:23)
Great clinic on a great song, Marc! Back in the day as a starving musician, I created and sold sample and patch libraries, mostly for Ensoniq boards (and wrote for the Transoniq Hacker ‘zine :). I had that shakuhachi flute sound in so many different formats - I never knew it originated with the emulator! I *think* I sampled mine from a Roland M1, but could be wrong. Thanks for the blast from the past! ✌🏼⚒️
Thanks for sharing a bit of your background here @West_47-122 I owned an Ensoniq Mirage and my favorite samples was the first 10 seconds of the "Johnny Carson intro theme" from the "Tonight Show" which someone had recorded and presented as a sample (on a single 3.5 floppy). I was so blown away at the time to have that one at my fingertips. Alas, I found out that I was more of a "preset guy" and samplers were not my main calling, so I ended up selling that board - but it was a true classic!
@@MyKeysToMusic Yah, you had to be quite a geek to love sampling in the Mirage lol. I had the rack version, and it’s amazing how much info you can communicate with a 2-digit segment display!
@@sgvincent100 So true!
Amazing
Thanks for watching! 🎼
Excellent tutorial, thank you for saving me a million hours...lol...well done.
@petercalnan230 Glad you hear this Peter! Have fun - it's a great song!
Great presentation, as always, Marc. I'd need to use the shakuhachi patch from Arturia's Emu II simulation (which I can import into the Nord 3 using the Sample Editor, of course), but it is great how accurately Nord 3 can emulate the brass from "Sledgehammer". I love integrating a bit of organ into my (non-organ) patches too - it beefs them up immensely! I wondered how you got the "slurs" between the brass notes (wondering whether you used a bit of portamento), but it's simply your skilful playing! :)
Hello Mark! (A good name you have there! 😀) Thank you for your comment, confirmation, and question. The slurs between the notes (I think) are coming from the samples themselves. I am playing grace notes in selected areas of the video, and that's what you might be hearing as well? Although for the main brass line of the song (when the brass first comes in), you do have to play those notes more legato and less staccato, I have found. At first, (not recorded in the video), I was playing the line in octaves (both hands), but I found that the lines are so quick that they end up sounding too staccato and have since switched to playing two hands but with single fingers in each hand (versus octaves) so that the phrase is more "rounded". This more "rounded" approach is what you see in the video here. If that didn't answer the question, feel free to ask in another way. Thanks for watching! 🎺
You are awesome 🤩
Thanks Eugene!
Excellent showcase of how to get these sounds!
I found the Shakuhachi flute in Nord's sample library download and there's some obvious changes done to the program like you mentioned here in your video vs what the sample sounds like. Any idea how to get that swell/synth sound specifically with the Shakuhachi?
Hello @Josh Paredes - I played around just now with the Shakuhachi found on the Nord website. Ya, the way it works with Sledgehammer is completely different, and I think it has to be recorded that way from the get-go. You can find the sample here from this fellow on RUclips: ruclips.net/video/rmNl11TAFU8/видео.html
@@MyKeysToMusic yeah I actually found that right after I commented hah. Wish there was a way to change the Eb to actually play on the Eb and not the F#. Odd the sample comes like that but he plays it on the Eb.
@@joshparedes_ Ya, I'm not sure what they were thinking to pin this to f# Maybe they were actually performing the song in a different key and attached the sample to the f# to compensate or something like that.
YOU ARE GREAT!!!
Thank you @Matthias Lay 🙏🏻
Can't you just layer the brass in different octaves onto one octave ??
@mjwalters8394 If you made a custom sample, then yes, you could layer the two - good idea! Out of the box, the keyboard itself doesn't support "chord" settings whereby one note plays two (which is another way this could be handled). Keyboard controllers can do this however - hmm, yet another good idea.
Не глядя в папку NORD 😃👍
well done.. but what bugges me.. is the audio slowed down just a tiny bit?
@floling Wow, you have good ears! Yes, it's slowed to 95% in a futile attempt to avoid copyright claims. But that didn't work, they still claimed the video, and I couldn't monetize it. 😢 I didn't bother going back to speed it back up to 100% since all the editing had been done at that point. Congrats on being the first person to call this out! Good👂🏼!
Great job on the sounds. My Stage 3 still has crappy brass and lame strings. Luckily, I still love the piano and org.
Yes, the piano and Org are great. I do like the built-in synth on the Stage 3 as well actually too. The built-in brass is weak, and the strings by themselves are so-so. However, those so-so strings can be used on many different songs as they blend well to my years. "Orchestra Strings Legato" are not bad. I use the Symphobia strings too from time to time. This is room for improvement in the sample dept.
Thanks for making this video. One detail was not covered..... the brass that is heard throughout the song. At 2:06 time into the song, brass is heard with an attack. This is just one of the articulations heard for the brass lines. Link to song: ruclips.net/video/KkiqTmwEQ-U/видео.html
@DLightful You are correct. I didn't mention much about sforzando in the brass section but I'm glad you mentioned it. I think you can "kind of" imitate that with the volume pedal but it's tricky. Another thing to mention about this is the fact that the Stage 3 doesn't really make it easy to produce a sforzando effect because there is no dedicated sustain option. On many of the Nord keyboards, the sustain is combined with the decay. On the Nord Wave 2 however, there is a separate sustain knob making it a touch easy to produce sforzando-type effects from the synth section.
How did you do the brass sound? Which sample is that? This information seems to be missing in the video. Otherwise, great video, as always!
Hi - on this video I decided I wasn't going to spell everything out as I sometimes do. You can gleen what I'm doing with the brass by looking at the sample screen (for the most part). The sample on the other hand can be found here in the description of this video (this is another channel where they posts it I believe): ruclips.net/video/rmNl11TAFU8/видео.html
Hey man! Do you still take students?
Hello @FEAT WIZZLE - yes and no is the answer to that. If you join one of the online courses I offer, you'll be a student. 🎓Sometimes I take private students depending on the situation... Thanks for asking!
What brass sample are you using?
Hello Daniel - I'm using two samples for the "big brass," and they are layered. They are "Brass Section Pop 1" and "Trumpets Legato." I keep the Trumpets Legato at slightly less volume in that layer. Then when it's just the brass and the flute split, I'm using "Brass Section Pop 1". I'm also using a bit of EQ and organ layered with the big brass. I may also be using EQ for the flute/brass split as well I have these downloads available on Patreon/my website. I believe you may find other brass examples/options on the Nord User Forum for this song.
can you please do a phil collins in the air tonight video?
Hello Chase. Thank you for your suggestion. I don't plan to do this song specifically but I did touch upon this song in another video where I reviewed particular sound packs for the Nord Stage 3 (which includes this song). You can check out a very brief excerpt of it here: ruclips.net/video/G4vIDEiKoas/видео.html