might be a tad deceiving to call this our 2016 keyboard feature being that all of our panelists are essentially multi-instrumentalists and wear many musical hats , or jackets – whichever suits you .

Then again , it may not be deceiving at all because as the music industry continues to shift and evolve , musicians are taking on more roles to make their musical visions become reality . More roles will definitely mean more work , but the way our panelists seem to see it , it ’ s all worth it because at the end of the performance , studio session , writing session , or just a rad jam , what gets put out into the world feels and sounds more like what they had in mind instead of what someone else told them they should sound like .

The significance of the keyboard in this industry metamorphosis can ’ t be overstated either . Whether it ’ s versatility , familiarity , portability , or its wide reaching appeal , the keyboard remains the starting point for many songs and songwriters .

For insight into their multi-faceted music-making lifestyles , we turned to acclaimed keyboardist , Black Eyed Peas drummer , and producer Keith Harris , David Matisse from Keys N Krates , pop master Shawn Hook , Karrie Douglas from Highs , and Sideways collective member , producer , and Coleman Hell keyboardist La + ch .

Keith Harris

Keith Harris is a humble Grammy and Juno Award-winning keyboardist , drummer , producer , songwriter , and musical director whose talents are perhaps only outnumbered by his accolades and achievements . He primarily tours as the drummer / percussionist for the Black Eyed Peas and Fergie , though he has also worked with a long list of successful artists , including Mary J Blige , Estelle , and Jully Black .

THE GEAR

• Korg Kronos 61-Key Workstation

• Novation Bass Station Analog Synth

• Roli Seaboard GRAND

CM : What is the newest piece of gear that you ’ ve added to your set-up ? KH : I have several new pieces of gear , actually . The first one that I ’ ve added to my collection is a Roli keyboard . I use it as a secondary keyboard on my drum set when I ’ m playing with Fergie . I love the Bluetooth MIDI feature , where I can literally have either my phone or iPad as my sound engine and then I can control that from the keyboard itself , which is really cool . The audio that comes out of the phone or the device sounds really good .

The last piece of gear that I just got maybe a week ago is a Roland VT-3 . It ’ s a voice transformer . It ’ s really cool . It can stretch the pitch of your voice and modulate it and just being able to change it from a male voice to a female voice seamlessly is really cool . So , if I have an idea and I ’ m humming it and I think a woman should sing it , I can demo it first myself , which is pretty cool .

CM : You played the drums at a fairly young age at church , but when did the keyboard come into your life ? KH : I started playing keyboards in high school and in church , so they were pretty much hand in hand . I learned drums but being in a rhythm section , you kind of have to learn all of the rhythm section instruments . There was a natural progression to go from the drums to the keyboards to the bass , just to learn them all because they are all percussion . I used to play organ for a church before I was on the Black Eyed Peas gig . That was my main gig in Boston right out of college , an organist . Then I would play drums on the weekend with my cover band , so I had two lives .

CM : With the technology changing constantly , what is your ideal music listening experience ?

KH : I would say my prime listening time is in my car because it gives me the time to analyze mixes and see how things translate on the speakers of my car . I do go to my studio to listen , but not as often as I ’ m driving from place to place , especially being in California , you ’ re always in the car .

I think the phones and things that are coming out , the audio quality has improved tremendously from where it started to where it is now . Once they figure out a way to make the MP3 sonically more in depth like a WAV file , music will sound even better on your portable devices . I ’ m sure somebody will think of a way to do that . Most people don ’ t even notice the difference , but music people do . My car isn ’ t even the best listening experience because it ’ s not high fidelity , but it gives me a good sense of placement , depth of field , and how it feels being somewhat compressed off of your radio or streaming device .

CM : With such a successful resume , is there a challenge that you haven ’ t tackled that you ’ d like to take on ? What ’ s next for you ? KH : It ’ s about getting back in the studio and honing in on my craft and my sound . For the last three years , I ’ ve been more in the musical director and touring world and not so much so in the production or record world . Now , I ’ m coming back to really focusing on the studio world because I have the time .

50 • CANADIAN MUSICIAN