Document 6472408

Second,I was really into Genesis,because
just
loved the darknessofit, and the way they
I
experimented with drum machines,but also
with live drums, and how they crossedbetween
the two. Somesongsstart out really dark, like
"Mamai' but then the choruseswould just open
up.I really wanted to understand what that
was about.
Third, I listenedto a lot of FleetwoodMac'
That was becauseone of my closestfriends
invited me to see them for her birthday' At
first, I was like, "Surel' lRolls her eyes'l Everybody was singing along to every word, and
I was the onlY one who didn't know the
words. I felt a little embarrassed.But it was
c o ol, becauseit o pe ne d me uP t o a whole
other sound, and drum style,and group' Of
courseI knew their big songs-everybody does'
But to go deeper in, like the Tusk album ' ' '
that was the one that I really went back and
zoned on.
So,those were the kinds of things I was listening to, and I did start concentratinga lot on
the songwriting style,and that influenced the
chords I would use, and the way I wanted the
chorusesto be.It wasaboutjust openinguP the
flow. I knew I wanted to experiment, and plus,
I was in my studio collecting fons of keyboards'
My engineer,Ann Mincieli, is a collectionaddict'
So,shed be like, "I saw this new. . . I'
A little eBaY action?
Yes!She gets on eBay and says,"Oh, I saw this
Roland Jupiter-8youd think is craz7.You should
checkit outl' That was really fly, becauseI knew
I was searchingfor a new sound.So I was ableto
experimenta lot with Moogs,and different oscillator-basedkeyboards,and in terms ofthe creative flow, it was just/rin.
And then there's a kind of Roland TR-808
drum vibe as well. It seems like there was an
amazing willingness to say, "Hey, let's see
what t rr:ssounds like!"
Oh my gosh-it's so much fun. I think I was
just ableto bring what we startedwith [2007
album] As I Am to the next level. On As I
Ara, I d saywe definitely did more with elecfrlc pianos-a lot of Wurly and Rhodes'We
evendid harpsichordsand things like that'
but wed put crazy effects on them' just
to take it to a new place. Now, I kind of
pushed that to the next place, going into
more of the vintage keYboard, drum
machine stYle.
You seem prettY fearless when it
comes to different keYs.You're
in Dl on one song' then F on
the next, then G. Are You
deliberatelYstarting songs in
certain keys?
That's cool. Thank you. I'm not
so deliberatewith that-I think I
kind of find my way into the keY
more. Like with "That's How
Strong My Love Is," that started
in a different key. And then as I'm
singing it, and I'm flowing with
it, I go, "Hmm, hmml' lSingsand
raisesher Pitch.] So I took it uP a
half-step,and I'm Iike'What does
Ianother] half-steP feel like?'
And then I'm like, "Hmm." So
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a lot of times,the playing is about how it feels
when I'm singing.
So it may not end up where it started'
Usuallyitworitend up whereit started.Then,by
the time I'm on the road, and I'm doing 30something songsa night-then I'm like, " l{h7
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The Element of Freedom features
Kevs'personalacousticgrand,the
YamahaC3 Neo-but in samPled
form for her new signaturevirtual
piano plug-in,Alicia'sKeys' "All the
acousticpianosoundson the album
are from Alicia's KeYsi'she saYs.
"The sound is just incrediblel'
FeaturingnearlY3,000 samPlesin
12 velocitylayers,Alicia's Keys captures the sinewYPiano sound that
helped rocket KeYs to worldwide
acclaim.See our full review on
page 60.
o 6 .2 0 1 0
did I write that song so high?" Because
like'
flaughs], I beat myself up all the time,
up
way
"What were you thinking? All the
there? Come downt'"
fue theresome piano playersthatwere instru'
mentalto you when you were learningto play
and coming uP with Yourown concePt?
Well, Nina Simone has always been a huge
influenceon me, becauseI think she'sprobably one of the baddest piano playersthat ever
existed,period.Period,end ofstory! Shecould
play probably every dude under the table, in a
heartbeat.And I think she'sjust special'She
has this mixture about her, betweenstudying
classical,andjazz,and alsothe intensitythat
shehasabouther-her life, and the very intense
erashelivedin, wh ich makesher writingstyle
very deep.So I love her a lot.
I listen to Herbie Hancock. He'sincredible,
and a very specialguy too. He'sbeenin the businessfor so long, and he just lovesit' He lovesit
purely, and its such a beautiful thing to seesomeone love it like that. He was also generousenough
to play my plug-in and test it out. He had some
piano playing,too. BecauseI thinkthat hejust has
something in him aswell, and I love the way his
melodies and piano playing were so beautiful.
great comments,and he loved it, too!
Growing up, I reallyadmired Brian Mcl(night's
cold, rude, killer!
Donny Hathaway.Like, major, zone,stone'
Of course, there's Stevie Wonder, because
we carit evenleavehim out. It doesnt evenmake
sense-the chordshe plays!NobodTplayschords
like he plays them, so you probably might as
well iust not trv! B
Alida l(eys' enginser Ann Minciell srlth (l6ft to
right) Oberheim OB.8 synth atop YamahaCPi70
electric grand piano, rare Hofner bass, and
Fender Rhodes Piano Bass atop the rare ARP
Elec{ric piano. Her left hand rests on a Gibson
EH-150,one of the firct guitar amps ever made.
THE ELEMENT OF GEAR
Ann Mineieli
on recordingAlicia Keysnnew album
The concept of every Alicia Keys album is to marry new sounds
with old ones. Alicia always wants to be retro-futuristic-she has
an amazingcollection of gear and lets me scour the earth looking
for new toys.
BetweenAs I Am andThe Element of Freedom,we designedher
signatureAlici a\ Keyspiano plug-in. [Seepage 60for our full review'
-Ed.l We also built an incredible arsenalof drum samples.I hired
drummers, bought and rented drum kits, and spent days sampling
and mapping in NI Battery.I also roamed the world trading producers'sounds. Almost every drum sample onThe Element of Freedom
came from libraries we built and collected.Alicia has bought some
very exotic drum kits throughout the years;this time' we bought a
1970Ludwig red sparkle drum kit, a 1960Rogersexotic kick drum'
four toms, (including a 16" x 16" floor tom with beater), and 6" x 8"
bongos.
We also purchased nine rare drum machines, which we sampled via Pro Tools and 2" tape. These included a Linn LM-l (serial
#25, made by Roger Linn himself), Roland TR-808, TR-909' CR78, and CR-8000,a LinnDrum 2, and an Oberheim DMX. You hear
40
KE Y B OA RD MA G,C OM
o 6 .2 0 1 0
a lot of these on the album, which includes programmed drums
over live ones. Alicia is an incredible producer who can Program
drums better than anyonet
'The
Element of Freedom has a lot of synths: Prophets, Moogs'
Roland |unos, the Yamaha CP70 electric grand, and many others. We
also used a lot of vintage guitars and amps-everything from Carol
Kaye'sVersatone bass amp, to one of the first 1950sHofner violin
basses.Alicia owns two from '56 and'57*Paul McCartney doesnt
even have those!
Alicia owns her own facility, Oven Studios, and it's like a candy
store of gear! I have about 80 of the most vintage guitar pedals,
40 of the rarest guitars, and a huge collection of guitar amps. We
use the amps and pedals on everything from guitar to keyboards
to vocals.
Im alreadypreparingfor Alicia's next album' I found an old Rheem
keyboard from 1967that hasa double-octavebass.I'm also making new
drum samples,and reworking her whole virtual synth rig. For the next
album, Im going to take all of the gear we used on this one and hide it
awayto push her to try new things!