公告
- New album _Inland Territory_ available now!
http://www.scarabcart.com/cgi-bin/viennateng/item.cgi?id=172
Check out the new video for Gravity:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8nypWKa_aU&fmt=18
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Slow Q&A 2009: The What Is That? Edition, pt. 1
2009-08-31 8:47AM / 標準BLOG / 會員可以看
What was the electronic looping device you used? (brand, model, etc.) Would love to get one to play with—gave you lots of flexibility in the show.
-bill
What is that beautiful shiny red keyboard you tour with now-a-days? I did enough investigative work to figure out it was a Nord something or other.
- roofboy179Here’s the gear I use onstage these days:
Electro-Harmonix 2880 Stereo Multi-Track Looper
This is my favorite toy at the moment. There are a number of more popular looping pedals out there, including the Line 6 DL4 (also a delay modeler—Alex and Ward both have one in their setups) and the Digitech JamMan, but the EHX 2880 is perfect for me. It seems designed to be operated mostly by hand, not foot—a problem for guitarists, but great for a piano player who needs to see what she’s doing, and who’s unaccustomed to pushing switches with her left foot. It can record much longer loops than the DL4, and the unique 4-channel design allows you to fade loops in and out, features that make it possible to do songs like “The Last Snowfall” and “1br/1ba”. The Reverse feature is fun (been using it to create backwards piano loops for “Gravity” lately), and I’d like to try hooking it up in stereo so I can pan different loops to the right or left of the stage. Also would be fun to have multiple instruments/musicians going into it. It is missing play-once and last-time (i.e. stop after this go-round is over) buttons, but you can’t have everything, I guess.
Right now I’m just using this as a compact mic preamp so I can use the EHX 2880 with a microphone. Hooked up to a keyboard via MIDI, this thing becomes a spookily realistic vocal harmonizer (think Imogen Heap’s vocoder masterpiece “Hide And Seek”—not written on a harmonyM, but something similar). If we ever put “Radio” on the setlist I’ll unleash its full powers.
Another fun instrument currently under-utilized in our set. I’m mostly using it as a substitute for a real Wurlitzer or Rhodes electric piano, occasionally employing the handy built-in effects/delay section. The Paper Raincoat, who borrow it a lot, take advantage of its keyboard split and synth features.
And in case you’re curious, Alex’s setup includes a Fat Congas Cuban bajo cajon, with a mic attached to the sound hole that runs to his effects pedals. (In other words, he’s not sitting on any ordinary box. Though “cajón” does mean “box.”)
[ Thanks to the authors of the YouTube videos linked above for taping the shows! ]
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intake
2010-03-09 10:45AM
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Slow Q&A 2009: The Kaoru Questionnaire
2009-10-15 7:57PM
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compass
2009-09-26 2:39AM (1 個評論)
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archive of Twitter Q&A, 15 Aug 2009
2009-09-03 2:00PM
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Slow Q&A 2009: The What Is That? Edition, pt. 2
2009-08-31 3:21PM
统计信息
- Q: Who are your influences? ...Q: Who are your influences?
A: My parents' record collection: Simon & Garfunkel, James Taylor, Mozart and Beethoven, 60s Mandarin pop. That's what I started with and it'll never leave me. Later on, pianist-songwriters: Elton John, Billy Joel, Tori Amos. These days I'm influenced by whoever intimidates me. I hear them, I'm astounded by them, I think daily about quitting music because I'll never be able to do it as well as they do. Then I try to steal from them without imitating. A tricky thing.
Q: How would you characterize your music?
A: Oh man, I don't know. I've taken to saying "chamber folk" or "singer-songwriter" to some people. "Somewhere between folk and pop, with a bit of classical and jazz," if they look confused after that. It's frustrating that I have no succinct phrase to offer; at the same time, I think it also means I'm doing something right.
Q: How long have you been playing piano?
A: Since I was five.
Q: Did you study at a conservatory?
A: No, just one-on-one piano lessons until I was 17. Changed my life, though.
Q: How did you learn to sing?
A: In the shower, and in school choirs. I took some voice lessons here and there, which amounted to paying $40-150 a week to be told that I was doing it all wrong. I don't think we fixed anything. So maybe I haven't learned to sing, actually.
Q: When did you start writing songs?
A: I think I was six when I decided I could cobble my own piano piece together. As for songs that I still play in public, the earliest ones are from high school.
Q: How long does it take for you to write songs?
A: A long time. Sometimes months. Occasionally over a year. I don't revise all that much; it just takes that long for all the pieces to form and assemble.
Q: Who arranges the songs for live performance?
A: It's a collaborative process. My bandmates generally compose their own parts as we work through a song in rehearsal—sometimes they're based on the studio recordings, oftentimes not. Sometimes they have cool ideas for my parts, too.
Q: How old are you?
Q: Is Vienna the name your parents gave you?
Q: How do you write your name in Chinese?
A: Wikipedia knows all. And is reasonably accurate, though I don't know why it has photos of me wearing a knit hat and playing guitar onstage, two things I almost never do.
Q: Is it true that you used to be a software engineer?
A: Yes. I got my bachelor's in Computer Science at Stanford University, and went to work for Cisco Systems for two years. These days I remember exactly enough to crash whatever computer I'm working on.
Q: Is it true that you went to/dropped out of medical school?
A: No. Can't imagine paying off med school loans and funding an album...
Q: What was it like being on Letterman?
A: Surreal. Pretty much like how it'd be for you if you got called to play on the Late Show. I still think I dreamt the whole thing. Except the studio was very, very cold, and my dreams aren't often cold.
Q: Which of your albums is the best one, in your opinion?
A: Like anyone, I'd hope that the most recent is always the strongest. I think I'm getting better as I go...
Q: Does constantly talking about yourself ever make you feel like an egomaniac?
A: Yes, yes it does. Makes me wish I were in a band sometimes.
Q: Are you going to release a live album?
A: We do have a live DVD out now. For sound-only recordings, there's always the Internet Audio Archive.
Q: Do you ever reply to emails?
A: No, and I apologize. It's not a policy or anything; I'm just not good at staying on top of it. I promise that I do read everything, and that I'm grateful. - 職業: 樂手 , 歌手 , 作曲家
- 性別: 女
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