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Geddy not actually playing synth in Camera Eye?


shaun3701
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He's hitting a trigger so when he steps away the effect keeps playing. He also can play simple note progressons with his foot pedals and frequently does this. It really takes a lot of talent and concentration to do this.

 

 

Alex does this too with his effects pedals.

 

Its better than when they had a guy at the sound board in the back of the hall playing keyboards, like they used to do.

Edited by briremo
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I think the whole thing was sequenced; his right hand doesn't appear to be playing anything before he moves it. Probably initiated the sequence with his foot.

 

That's just a wild guess...

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He is definatly playing a few of the parts, and a few of them are triggered.

 

It doesn't make a difference it's killer.

 

BTW the audio on that video is great!

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Rush shows are very controlled. If you watch their live videos very closely, you'll notice at times Geddy will just hold 1 note on the synth, and an entire section will play.

 

Ive noticed this many times. There are times when he does play, such as the little solo thing in tom sawyer, or in the trees, and other times he isnt really playing at all. Sequences are just triggered by them.

 

The whole purpose of this is to make things as easy as possible for him so he can focus on other things. Ill bet anything if you asked him he would tell you his job up there isnt as difficult as people think, its very controlled, its all rehearsed, and he isnt manually playing everything that you're hearing.

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QUOTE (Some Half-Forgotten Stranger @ Jul 6 2010, 09:03 PM)
QUOTE (briremo @ Jul 6 2010, 07:19 PM)


Its better than when they had a guy at the sound board in the back of the hall playing keyboards, like they used to do.

What are you talking about?

Exactly. Whut?

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QUOTE (Joshua @ Jul 6 2010, 09:36 PM)
QUOTE (Some Half-Forgotten Stranger @ Jul 6 2010, 09:03 PM)
QUOTE (briremo @ Jul 6 2010, 07:19 PM)


Its better than when they had a guy at the sound board in the back of the hall playing keyboards, like they used to do.

What are you talking about?

Exactly. Whut?

I think he might be talking about their live engineer, he would handle some of the triggering. He probably had a keyboard or a computer to do that, or both.

 

A lot of bands have a guy that just sits there every show triggering things. You cant do it automatically because not every band plays the songs at the exact same tempo every night.

 

People that dont know much about technology have this perception that these guys are just wizards up there doing everything themselves. There are people behind the scenes helping them.

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a lot of times I've noticed rush samples intros (caravan, spindrift, witch hunt, TCE) into one long sample, and its triggered by holding a foot pedal down. They do lots of other things to make things simpler too. Sometimes they will assign chords to one key on the keyboard so Ged doesn't actually play the actual chord (like on between the wheels and mystic rhythms). then for songs like mission its 2 different loops (the D to A and the G to A in this case) set on different keys. Watch enough live videos and try some of it for yourself and its pretty easy to figure out
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QUOTE (trenken @ Jul 6 2010, 09:41 PM)
QUOTE (Joshua @ Jul 6 2010, 09:36 PM)
QUOTE (Some Half-Forgotten Stranger @ Jul 6 2010, 09:03 PM)
QUOTE (briremo @ Jul 6 2010, 07:19 PM)


Its better than when they had a guy at the sound board in the back of the hall playing keyboards, like they used to do.

What are you talking about?

Exactly. Whut?

I think he might be talking about their live engineer, he would handle some of the triggering. He probably had a keyboard or a computer to do that, or both.

 

A lot of bands have a guy that just sits there every show triggering things. You cant do it automatically because not every band plays the songs at the exact same tempo every night.

 

People that dont know much about technology have this perception that these guys are just wizards up there doing everything themselves. There are people behind the scenes helping them.

I cant remember which tour it was, may have been RTB or CP, prolly CP. Not really sure. IDk somehwere in between 88-92? Miami Arena.

 

We were sitting lower bowl about 15 rows up towards the back looking down on the mixing console. Before the show I noticed a Keyboard at the mixing console. Wondered if it was just for sudio tests or whatever.

 

During the entire show this dude stood there and played almost all the keyboard parts. Geddy even introduced him about 2/3 of the way through the show.

 

I don't know if his rig died and they had 'quick fix' something or if the whole tour was done that way, but it was there and it did happen.

Edited by briremo
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QUOTE (Nate1647 @ Jul 6 2010, 10:16 PM)
a lot of times I've noticed rush samples intros (caravan, spindrift, witch hunt, TCE) into one long sample, and its triggered by holding a foot pedal down. They do lots of other things to make things simpler too. Sometimes they will assign chords to one key on the keyboard so Ged doesn't actually play the actual chord (like on between the wheels and mystic rhythms). then for songs like mission its 2 different loops (the D to A and the G to A in this case) set on different keys. Watch enough live videos and try some of it for yourself and its pretty easy to figure out

Yep ive noticed that too, him holding one key and an entire chord.

 

The reason for this is he cant really be bothered with having to memorize all that. He already has to memorize basslines and lyrics for songs he doesnt even listen to like we do, has to remember all the parts and changes for many songs over a 3+ hours time period, to have to remember all the keyboard parts on top of that is a bit much.

 

Could you imagine having to memorize all those keyboard chords? Thats silly. So he cheats a little, its not a big deal to me.

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QUOTE (mazyyz @ Jul 6 2010, 10:00 PM)
I heard he was lip syncing too!

Not only that, I heard they hired that guy who used to play guitar for The Edge under the stage for U2 concerts. tongue.gif

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QUOTE (trenken @ Jul 7 2010, 06:32 AM)
QUOTE (Nate1647 @ Jul 6 2010, 10:16 PM)
a lot of times I've noticed rush samples intros (caravan, spindrift, witch hunt, TCE) into one long sample, and its triggered by holding a foot pedal down. They do lots of other things to make things simpler too. Sometimes they will assign chords to one key on the keyboard so Ged doesn't actually play the actual chord (like on between the wheels and mystic rhythms). then for songs like mission its 2 different loops (the D to A and the G to A in this case) set on different keys. Watch enough live videos and try some of it for yourself and its pretty easy to figure out

Yep ive noticed that too, him holding one key and an entire chord.

 

The reason for this is he cant really be bothered with having to memorize all that. He already has to memorize basslines and lyrics for songs he doesnt even listen to like we do, has to remember all the parts and changes for many songs over a 3+ hours time period, to have to remember all the keyboard parts on top of that is a bit much.

 

Could you imagine having to memorize all those keyboard chords? Thats silly. So he cheats a little, its not a big deal to me.

Trenken, do you know if it's always been like this? If you watch ASOH it looks like he's really active on the keyboards, much more than now.

 

Is it just because technology finally caught up to the point where massive keyboard playing isn't necessary for Geddy anymore?

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QUOTE (Del_Duio @ Jul 7 2010, 07:17 AM)
QUOTE (trenken @ Jul 7 2010, 06:32 AM)
QUOTE (Nate1647 @ Jul 6 2010, 10:16 PM)
a lot of times I've noticed rush samples intros (caravan, spindrift, witch hunt, TCE) into one long sample, and its triggered by holding a foot pedal down. They do lots of other things to make things simpler too. Sometimes they will assign chords to one key on the keyboard so Ged doesn't actually play the actual chord (like on between the wheels and mystic rhythms). then for songs like mission its 2 different loops (the D to A and the G to A in this case) set on different keys. Watch enough live videos and try some of it for yourself and its pretty easy to figure out

Yep ive noticed that too, him holding one key and an entire chord.

 

The reason for this is he cant really be bothered with having to memorize all that. He already has to memorize basslines and lyrics for songs he doesnt even listen to like we do, has to remember all the parts and changes for many songs over a 3+ hours time period, to have to remember all the keyboard parts on top of that is a bit much.

 

Could you imagine having to memorize all those keyboard chords? Thats silly. So he cheats a little, its not a big deal to me.

Trenken, do you know if it's always been like this? If you watch ASOH it looks like he's really active on the keyboards, much more than now.

 

Is it just because technology finally caught up to the point where massive keyboard playing isn't necessary for Geddy anymore?

No not always. He's always triggered things, but he used to play more on the keys than he does now. Now he can just hold one note and have a full chord play, or even entire sequences.

 

I think at his age now its a bit much for him to have to remember all this. I dont have any problems with it. Youll notice it now when you watch all their newer DVDs.

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QUOTE (Del_Duio @ Jul 7 2010, 07:17 AM)
QUOTE (trenken @ Jul 7 2010, 06:32 AM)
QUOTE (Nate1647 @ Jul 6 2010, 10:16 PM)
a lot of times I've noticed rush samples intros (caravan, spindrift, witch hunt, TCE) into one long sample, and its triggered by holding a foot pedal down. They do lots of other things to make things simpler too. Sometimes they will assign chords to one key on the keyboard so Ged doesn't actually play the actual chord (like on between the wheels and mystic rhythms). then for songs like mission its 2 different loops (the D to A and the G to A in this case) set on different keys. Watch enough live videos and try some of it for yourself and its pretty easy to figure out

Yep ive noticed that too, him holding one key and an entire chord.

 

The reason for this is he cant really be bothered with having to memorize all that. He already has to memorize basslines and lyrics for songs he doesnt even listen to like we do, has to remember all the parts and changes for many songs over a 3+ hours time period, to have to remember all the keyboard parts on top of that is a bit much.

 

Could you imagine having to memorize all those keyboard chords? Thats silly. So he cheats a little, its not a big deal to me.

Trenken, do you know if it's always been like this? If you watch ASOH it looks like he's really active on the keyboards, much more than now.

 

Is it just because technology finally caught up to the point where massive keyboard playing isn't necessary for Geddy anymore?

As far as the technology, I dont really know. I just know what I see, and I notice him just standing there holding 1 note, and either full chords playing or all kinds of different sounds that he obviously isnt actually playing.

 

He was triggering things in the 80s so the technology existed, I guess he just used it less and there was more manual playing involved, where now he just doesnt seem to want to learn every single note.

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Thanks buddy cool.gif

 

I'll bet this sort of thing heavily influences Rush's setlists. You know, how if we get 1 or 2 songs from the synth era it's considered a SYNTH HEAVY set.

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QUOTE (briremo @ Jul 6 2010, 07:19 PM)


Its better than when they had a guy at the sound board in the back of the hall playing keyboards, like they used to do.

There are lighting controllers that are small keyboards. I think this is what you may have seen.

 

They have never had anyone offstage playing musical parts. The band is adamant about that. They do all the triggering and playing.

They did have a crewmember (Jack Secret) offstage changing the sampler banks and loading programs but that is not the same thing.

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QUOTE (_pete_ @ Jul 7 2010, 07:33 AM)
QUOTE (briremo @ Jul 6 2010, 07:19 PM)


Its better than when they had a guy at the sound board in the back of the hall playing keyboards, like they used to do.

There are lighting controllers that are small keyboards. I think this is what you may have seen.

 

They have never had anyone offstage playing musical parts. The band is adamant about that. They do all the triggering and playing.

They did have a crewmember (Jack Secret) offstage changing the sampler banks and loading programs but that is not the same thing.

never say never cool.gif

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QUOTE (briremo @ Jul 7 2010, 07:46 AM)
QUOTE (_pete_ @ Jul 7 2010, 07:33 AM)
QUOTE (briremo @ Jul 6 2010, 07:19 PM)


Its better than when they had a guy at the sound board in the back of the hall playing keyboards, like they used to do.

There are lighting controllers that are small keyboards. I think this is what you may have seen.

 

They have never had anyone offstage playing musical parts. The band is adamant about that. They do all the triggering and playing.

They did have a crewmember (Jack Secret) offstage changing the sampler banks and loading programs but that is not the same thing.

never say never cool.gif

Yeah I'm gonna say never. wink.gif

 

With samplers it's very simple to trigger a pre-recorded part. You can watch any live vid and see who triggers the parts and when they do it. Ged can trigger from the keyboards or either set of foot pedals. Alex triggers from his foot pedals and Neil triggers from his MalletKat, V-drums, or Dauz pads.

My band does it the same way with less tech than they have available. There is no need to have a fourth person playing parts. It would be harder to have a fourth person triggering parts due to the timing needed. It much safer to hit a trigger at the same time you hit a certain note.

They have said that they do ALL the triggering during the shows and there is no reason to doubt that.

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Hey its good to hear that the fans are that into the show to see how and when they do the things they do. Its got to be a lot of work to play,sing, stomp pedals, and look at the fans ,all at one time. I too look for that stuff cause it amazes me, I can spin the wrenches but playing on that or any level it a gift. IMHO. 2.gif On! new_thumbsupsmileyanim.gif
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QUOTE (_pete_ @ Jul 7 2010, 08:55 AM)
QUOTE (briremo @ Jul 7 2010, 07:46 AM)
QUOTE (_pete_ @ Jul 7 2010, 07:33 AM)
QUOTE (briremo @ Jul 6 2010, 07:19 PM)


Its better than when they had a guy at the sound board in the back of the hall playing keyboards, like they used to do.

There are lighting controllers that are small keyboards. I think this is what you may have seen.

 

They have never had anyone offstage playing musical parts. The band is adamant about that. They do all the triggering and playing.

They did have a crewmember (Jack Secret) offstage changing the sampler banks and loading programs but that is not the same thing.

never say never cool.gif

Yeah I'm gonna say never. wink.gif

 

With samplers it's very simple to trigger a pre-recorded part. You can watch any live vid and see who triggers the parts and when they do it. Ged can trigger from the keyboards or either set of foot pedals. Alex triggers from his foot pedals and Neil triggers from his MalletKat, V-drums, or Dauz pads.

My band does it the same way with less tech than they have available. There is no need to have a fourth person playing parts. It would be harder to have a fourth person triggering parts due to the timing needed. It much safer to hit a trigger at the same time you hit a certain note.

They have said that they do ALL the triggering during the shows and there is no reason to doubt that.

Briremo, _pete_ knows his shit. The band does not have anyone from the crew playing keys or triggering samples. Loading samples beforehand, yes. But not triggering them.

 

QUOTE (trenken @ Jul 7 2010, 07:32 AM)
QUOTE (Nate1647 @ Jul 6 2010, 10:16 PM)
a lot of times I've noticed rush samples intros (caravan, spindrift, witch hunt, TCE) into one long sample, and its triggered by holding a foot pedal down. They do lots of other things to make things simpler too. Sometimes they will assign chords to one key on the keyboard so Ged doesn't actually play the actual chord (like on between the wheels and mystic rhythms). then for songs like mission its 2 different loops (the D to A and the G to A in this case) set on different keys. Watch enough live videos and try some of it for yourself and its pretty easy to figure out

Yep ive noticed that too, him holding one key and an entire chord.

 

The reason for this is he cant really be bothered with having to memorize all that. He already has to memorize basslines and lyrics for songs he doesnt even listen to like we do, has to remember all the parts and changes for many songs over a 3+ hours time period, to have to remember all the keyboard parts on top of that is a bit much.

 

Could you imagine having to memorize all those keyboard chords? Thats silly. So he cheats a little, its not a big deal to me.

A good example of that is "Mission" from ASOH. You see him press one key and you hear the two opening chords cycling back and forth. You then see him press another key to change to two different chords.

 

Then you have songs like "Subdivisions" where he's playing all the keyboard parts the old fashioned way.

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There is someone doing something behind the scenes. When you watch live videos of show dont tell or time stand still for example, someone is triggering those extra vocals during the choruses, and Ive watched very closely, the band members are just standing there playing, noone on stage is triggering each of those little vocal parts going on. Its silly to assume they would even bother with something like that.

 

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