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Before he was known as a movie star, Will Smith rapped that ‘parents just don’t understand. Hey, but sometimes kids just don’t understand their parents either. Some parental habits amuse or downright annoy their children. My habit of turning up the car radio when a great song comes on makes my son laugh. But he’s incredulous when I crank up the volume a few bars into a song I’m hearing for the first time. “How can you know you like it if you’ve never even heard it before?” he asks suspiciously. But I do. To me, one of the reasons I love music is that we can rearrange the same 11 notes and 26 letters in fresh ways that continue to excite and inspire.
I couldn’t grab the volume knob fast enough this past summer when I heard Keane’s “Bend and Break” the first time. It was only after purchasing Hopes and Fears that I found an integral part of their sound was a classic Yamaha CP70B. The departure of their guitar player in 2001 was the adversity that inspired Tim-Rice Oxley to switch from performing on bass to the CP70, and helped create the inventive Keane sound.
As musicians, we find inspiration everywhere, and in this issue of All Access you will read how great musicians use Yamaha gear to light their creative fire and capture that moment of inspiration. At Yamaha, we are all about capturing that moment, and we are constantly developing new innovations and products to get you going.
Arranger-Workstation keyboards, like our new Tyros2 or the PSR3000 that Sammy Nestico uses, let you create complete arrangements for performance, recording or making charts. Yamaha’s Mega Voice technology provides all the nuances of difficult to-reproduce instruments, like winds & strings, so you can hear exactly how your arrangement will sound. The vast instrument selection and built-in music styles are great song-starters too.
Being able to quickly record a song idea with very high quality audio brings your listeners in on your first moment of inspiration. Our AW-series recorders, like the new AW1600 or the AW16G that Howard Laravea uses, are easy to use and provide CDquality output.
There is nothing as satisfying as being able to record the sound you hear in your head. Session ace Russ Miller says that when he has a good day at the office it lasts forever. When your work lasts for eternity, it had better sound good. That’s why Russ has developed several products with Yamaha, including the incredible Subkick, the bestselling signature drum product in our history.
If you promise to keep making new music, we promise to keep making new products to help you find your muse. I hope you continue to find new sources of inspiration in the New Year. Enjoy this issue of All Access.
Sincerely,
Tom Sumner
Vice President/General Manager
Pro Audio & Combo Division
Yamaha Corporation of America
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