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| PRODUCERS RANDOM NOTES - HITS OF IRON MAIDEN |
HEAVY KARAOKE - HITS OF IRON MAIDEN
PRODUCER'S RANDOM NOTES
-WHAT IS BANDOKE
Bandoke is a concept that allows you to choose from different mixes
that have different instrumentation. If you're a singer, you pick the regular
karaoke-mix, which only lacks the lead vocals. If you want to play bass,
there is a mix of every song with drums, guitars and vocals but without bass.
On the screen you can read the lyrics and chords. If a song starts with
your instrument, you hear a click telling you when to start. For this DVD
we have all these mixes of every song:
Karaoke-side:
1. everything except lead vocals
2. no left guitar or lead vocals
3. no right guitar or lead vocals
4. no guitars or lead vocals
5. no bass or lead vocals
6. no bass, left guitar or lead vocals
7. no bass, right guitar or lead vocals
8. only drums and backing vocals - you sing and play everything else!
Vocal-side:
1. Complete version
2. no left guitar
3. no right guitar
4. no guitars
5. no bass
6. no bass or left guitar
7. no bass or right guitar
8. only drums and vocals - you play everything else!
The right mix can be selected from the setup-page or with the audio-button.
-WHY WE DID THIS
You know what enormous fun karaoke can sometimes be.
When we started to produce Heavy Metal for karaoke,
we wanted to bring the whole thing to a new level,
to record the songs more professionally and give
the singers and the audience something more than the
average karaoke backing where sometimes the original song is hardly recognizable. Because we are
musicians and/or music lovers we wanted our karaoke
records to sound professionally made also in the ears
of other music lovers.
The next step, of course, was to create something
for musicians as well. Backgrounds for solistic
instruments have been produced for some time already,
but for some reason no one has thought of adding
the chords on the screen. First we had to create a way
to do this. After that we had to choose
the right music for the very first Bandoke-DVD in the world
ever. What could beat the songs of Iron Maiden, songs that
millions of people love to listen to, sing along with, play air
guitar or table drums to, or jam along with the records
and learn how to play them for real? Nothing. That's what
we thought too.
-HOW WE CHOSE THE SONGS
Oh, the dream come true: choose your favourite Maiden-tunes!
No, more like a nightmare. Pretty soon we found out we would
have to do at least three DVD:s to get all our favourites.
And that was just the three of us! Suddenly our friends and
colleagues, their mothers and their mothers' dogs had an
opinion on which songs we should make first.
That is the power of Iron Maiden. In Finland, 2005. After choosing the songs
we still had to decide on the version we would make. We decided to use the original
album version with these exceptions: The intro for Hallowed Be Thy Name is from
the live version but the rest of the song is made according to the Number of
the Beast album. Fear of the Dark is based on the famous Helsinki-live, of course.
-WHO WE ARE
KSF Ltd is a Finnish company that imports karaoke equipment and discs.
We started our own production of Heavy Karaoke DVD's in 2005. We are all
singers, musicians and producers and perform in bands as well as in Heavy Karaoke.
-ON RECORDING
This is how, on a basic level, you make a karaoke record:
You take the original recording and create the lyrics on the screen
according to how the singer sings. Then you play everything
over again on top of the original. You have to time every beat
together with the original. Then you simply put the new recording
and the video of the lyrics together. We had to do a little more than this:
We recorded also the lead vocals and made all the different mixes.
-ON MAURON MAIDEN
Mauron Maiden is a Finnish Iron Maiden tribute of five diehard Maiden-fans.
They started in 2002 and have played on Finnish festivals and in rockclubs. They
have the right elements to play Maiden: musical skills, a passion for the songs and
the right sense of humour. Every member of Mauron Maiden is a professional musician with
bands of their own. For more information: www.mauronmaiden.com
-ON SPLITTING THE GUITARS
We had to make some decisions on which solo and rhyhmt guitar is on the left or on the right.
Since Mauron Maiden have always played along the classical Maiden line-up
(Dickinson, Harris, Murray, Smith, McBrain), Mika (mixed on the left) plays the first solos,
usually originally by Dave Murray, and Joel plays the second ones,
usually originally by Adrian Smith. You will probably have to listen to the whole track
first to see which parts you'll have to play. On the actual solos Mika and Joel play
the most essential licks as they are on the original recording, but take some artistic freedom
with the more improvised parts.
-ON DOING THE CHORDS
An interesting part of the work was to produce the chords on screen. We went through every single
bar of every song and had to choose whether we would mark the chords as barre (E5--C5--D5--) or whole
chords (Em--C--D--). In case the major/minor difference is essential and can be heard, we used
the whole chords, otherwise they're marked as barre-chords. Sometimes we had to divide the bass
notes with a regular Am/F-marking, and the riffs that are based on bare-chords, are written all through.
Usually riffs were impossible to write without tabulatures, which would then again have been impossible
to read on the screen. In these cases we presumed it would be easier to learn the riff from the recording
and just follow the chord-markings on the screen.
Some examples on chord-marking:
Am(RIFF)---------D5--E5--
The basic feeling is first A-minor, but the guitar plays a riff (with A-minor notes). Then the chords
are D5 and E5.
RIFF(E5)-----(C5)----(D5)----
The whole line is a guitar-riff, and the tonality is of the chords in brackets, usually played at least with bass.
C----G----Am----RIFF--
The chords are C-major, G-major and A-minor. After these chords there is a riff played both on guitars and bass.
On the top of the screen we placed information notes about the part of the song
that is playing, for example:
1ST SOLO 16 MEASURES or 1ST & 2ND LEAD 24 MEASURES.
-LAST WORDS:
We had lots of fun making this DVD, and I hope you will have fun with it as well!
This DVD can be used home, in rehearsal rooms, schools or on stage, just for fun or for practise.
NOTE: Any unauthorised copying, editing or broadcasting (tv or internet) of this product is
strictly prohibited! For more information contact luca@hevikaraoke.fi. Any feedback is also welcome!
UP THE IRONS!
- Luca Gargano | |
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