I had a lot of fun today, recording this song and have learned a valuable lesson: to record a good song on an arranger keyboard you need a good style. Well, I was lucky because on my VA7 I have found the right style to record....... (snare roll)....... "Toussaint l'Overture" by Santana! And I was so carried away by the rhytm and the composition process that I ended up adding all kind of things, from latin vocalizations to live percussions and a real horn section.
Wow!
Eric, this song is for you; please, let me know what you think.
Andrea

http://andrearotolo.tripod.com/dreamer/id1.html

Dreamer,


Very nice I enjoyed your latest song, excellent guitar work!

thanx

Andrea,
Your rendition of "Toussaint l'Overture"sounds SUPERB . . . Live, exciting & spontaneous! You say that the latin vocalizations, live percussions, and horn section were added. Were these sampled, recorded (by you) on a separate digital track, or? What parts are actually a part of the arranger style and what was recorded later? Please share with us your production process and the tools you used to create your masterpiece. BRAVO ! - Scott

PS: looking forward to your visit here in June.

Don and Scott,
thanks for your words!
To record this song I started with a VA7 style called JazzLatin1 and recorded the whole rhytm track, having already in mind the arrangement (i.e. the different parts, like guitar intro, organ solo, guitar solo, then a break -at first I was thinking to add a percussion solo- and finally the end).
Then I started recording the different parts (synth pads, rhytm organ, guitar solo, organ solo); at this point I had the idea to record a track with all different kinds of latin vocalization (the VA7 has a drum set called V-Fiesta which has all kind of latin things, even timbales rolls!)
Finally, when I was about to record a little percussion solo played live, an idea came to my mind: why not record a little horn section? After all the last Santana band features horns too... so I have chosen the kind of instruments that would fit in a latin band (Trumpet and Mariachi trumpet) and recorded five different tracks, each featuring a different kind of horn and each playing a different line (octave high, octave low, one third high in the second verse, etc) At first I had recorded two trombone tracks too, but then realized that a trombone is out of place in a latin combo.
That'all, folks!
P.S.: Scott, I too am looking forward to June!
Have a great time, everybody: I am going to sleep: had a very busy day ...

Hi Andrea,

I'm at work right now and unable to listen to your surprise. I'll listen to it when I get home tonight

Thanks for thinking of me.

Eric

Hi Andrea Santana,

just got home and listened to your song.
Great tune. I loved it.

Thanks a lot for sharing.

Keep on rocking

Eric

Arriva, Arrriva
Bravo Andrea. You had me and the wife doing "la Pachanga" while listening to your great rendition. Watch out Santana! here comes Andrea Rotolo. Are shure you don't have a little "cubano" in you!
Keep up the tempo, I like you the best with this kind of "hot" stuff.
Mario

Eric:
I love your graemlings! where did you get them? can you share?
Mario

Hi Mario

Here is the address:
http://www.plauder-smilies.de/

Click on the icon on top to choose a category, then click on the smile you like, a UBB code will apear highlighted in the bottom field, right click mouse to coppy, then right click in this field to paste.
Make sure you leave a space between your last word and the adress.

Have fun

Eric