Oliver101 Websites

[oliver101]

If anyone fancies a browse at what I get up to I have put below two of the musical sites related to me.
One is my solo work site, and the other is a funtime 4 piece band that I play with purely because its so much fun playing with a group of muso's.
www.ianjordanmusic.co.uk
www.thewhoppers.co.uk

Ian

[cptkay0s]

4 piece or 5 now IAN??? (I'm of course referring to 'The Whoppers')



regards

Warren

[oliver101]

Warren
Officially a 4 piece but the bass players wife gets up and plays bass on 2 songs, just because it gives the rest of us a chance to fool around a bit. We all swap instruments around between us for a giggle..

Ian

[musicmaker]

Hi Ian,

Just love your own Web Pages - very (sorta!) formal and business-like - everything there that a potential client might want to know.

The Whoppers. I love the sense of fun running through this - particularly the bands profiles. Whoever penned this, has a mind very similar to mine ! - Question occurs !! : Do I in fact actually have a mind? - Did someone run off with it?, or perhaps I didn't have one at all, ever!

Thanks for sharing, Ian - I always love to see what others are doing on Web Pages, and then steal their ideas - or even content !! LOL

John

[oliver101]

John
Thanks for your comments, all feedback is good no matter what form it takes is what I say.
The whoppers will have a big update to the site soon once the bass player gets back from business in Amsterdam. ( He sells chemicals )

Ian

[kenja]

Hi Ian
Great websites. Do you use midis in your solo work? Also, is that a stripped Epiphone Sheraton?
Ken

[oliver101]

Hi Ken
Yes I do use Midi's in my solo work, some I have bought, some I have got from the internet, and a few I have programmed myself, mainly ones that I haven't been able to find anywhere. I use a Roland Discover 5M for the master unit, which I then put into a Ketron SD" sound module. The Roland does everything I need for live work but the sounds onboard are average to say the least. Both guitars I use are Epiphones, the Sheraton is bog standard as arrived from the factory, the other is a PRS lookalike that hasn't been made for 15 or so years. Both guitars have their plusses and minuses, the Sheraton stays in perfect tune and is great for 50's and 60's type music, whereas the PRS lookalike is temperamental with its tuning, and dislikes being taken from a cool car into a hot club ( the neck is very thin ) but has a far broader range of sounds for more modern music. For this reason I tend to use the Sheraton in the cooler months, and the PRS lookalike in the summer. Both guitars are plugged into a Fender Twin 100 watt amplifier. The vocals and the midi files set-up then get put into a Mackie mixer and then into a pair of JBL EON15G2 speakers totalling 800 watts. The JBL's are great for sound reproduction and are quite happy producing enough sound to fill venues with a capacity of up to about 400 people. By 'stripped epiphone sheraton' did you mean 'have I tinkered with the look of the guitar?
I cant see myself moving away from midi files for a while, as they give me all the flexibility that I require. I thought about mp3's but you are stuck with the key they are in, plus I like to take off all guitars and also change instrumentation around, plus the Roland master unit allows me to add extra choruses or verses if people are up and dancing, it reads midi files on the fly, and goes seemlessly from one song straight into another with no load time. The Roland unit does not read blank bars at the beginning and end of songs, it goes straight to the first note if required.
What type of midi file set-up do you have Ken?

All the best

Ian

[kenja]

Hi Ian

I also have an Epiphone Sheraton but it is tobacco coloured and I thought that this was the standard colour. Your headstock is dark as mine is. I just wondered if it had been stripped down to the natural wood colour. In any case it looks very nice - like the Lennon Epiphone DOT. He apparently stripped his from the regular sunburst finish. I was thinking about doing mine in the same way. Anyhow I have only gigged it a couple of times - I prefer my Fender Strats. I have two vintage re-issues (1957 and 1962) both in Fiesta Red, and a Mexican Strat in black. The black Strat is my favourite for gereral rock n roll.
I haven't gigged regularly for some time and I am trying to get involved again but work keeps getting in the way!
I have been in a couple of transient bands of late (one as lead guitar/vocals, one just as vocalist). On solo gigs I used to use mp3 backing tracks but in a way they are too good because as like to play guitar they made me feel a bit of a fake.
A year ago I was introduced to midi files and saw the potential. I don't use them directly but manipulate them first on a Yamaha QY700, take out guitar parts as required and then record them to a wav file via Cool Edit Pro. Then I put them on a minidisc for gigs.
A mate of mine does the same thing but gigs directly from his computer. He also has all the lyrics on the screen in front of him for every song. personally I don't like hiding behind such equipment as I like to take every opportunity to get nearer the audience for participation. Forgetting lyrics is an occupational hazard!
Lately though I have toyed with using my Creative Zen Vision M player. I can have this on a mic stand attachment so I don't have to keep turning to the minidisc at one side. Furthermore it has a 30 GB hard disk so it can hold hundreds of backing tracks. It's easy to search and shows the play time etc on the screen.
I have made backing tracks from midis as above for both solo work and also for duo work. Some have only drums and bass so you need to be pretty tight to use them. But the end result is music that is as live as it could be given the number of players involved.
I read an article last year which covered the use of backing tracks. It cited an example of Geri Halliwell singing with the Spice Girls and then singing solo with the other three singers on a backing track. I am sure you will agree, the first is very acceptable, the second is not even though they will sound just the same.

Best wishes
Ken