KEYS
TIPS ON BEING FULLY PREPARED | Ed Kerr
Ever heard the phrase “ life-long learner ”? Wikipedia defines it as “ the ongoing , voluntary , and self-motivated pursuit of knowledge for either personal or professional reasons .” Among the things that I ’ m learning about these days is livestreaming . I ’ ve started using software called Ecamm Live . It ’ s a popular platform for a lot of musicians , including our own Editorial Director for [ WM ] Doug Doppler . Among the features that I like about the software is the option to overlay multiple images when I ’ m coaching a keyboard player online . In this image you can see how handsome I am along with overlays that show a virtual keyboard along with a staff that displays whatever I ’ m playing on my keyboard along with a window that analyzes the chord I ’ m playing . Nice !
I have weekly online sessions with keyboard players I ’ m coaching . In a perfect world , I ’ d open up my Ecamm software and everything would look just like it needs to . Maybe you ’ ve noticed that we don ’ t live in a perfect world . So , when I ’ m about to begin a session there are things I have to do in Ecamm to be sure everything ’ s going to work as it should .
Good thing there aren ’ t any similarities to this situation with what you and I do as keyboard players on worship teams , right ? Just now I was watching a livestream with three experts from Ecamm , and one of their comments jumped out at me . They said , “ You can ’ t cheat your way through this !” They were in the midst of tracking down an audio problem that was creating an echo on their voices . Oops . And it was happening as people around the world were watching the livestream . Their point was that problems that present themselves give you an opportunity to learn , really learn , how to get the desired result from your equipment .
Does this remind you at all of the feeling you get when you ’ re at your keyboard trying to find the perfect pad sound and all you can find is a great sounding Tuba patch or an 80 ’ s lead synth ? Arggh . You may have learned this lesson yourself or you may be learning it now . Here is a summary of lessons I ’ ve learned and continue to learn as I play keyboards on my worship team .
Organize your sounds . I find that week to week I need these sounds :
A realistic acoustic piano sound .
A warm pad sound .
A layer that allows me to blend piano and pad in whatever balance I choose . I have control within this layer to change this balance . I can start with pad only and fade in piano , for
Ecamm setup with me , keyboard , etc