Category Archives: Informational and educational interest
Earth, Wind and Fire Music Arranger Charles Stephney
Check out the Youtube video of Earth, Wind and Fire’s Maurice White and other band members testimonial to the work of Charles Stephney leading to their crossover success in the 70’s. His musical and vocal arrangements took them to another level-as their guitar player states, along with Ramsey Lewis and many others. The Keyboard player Larry Dunn and Phillip Bailey also give him credit and praise. Check out the arrangements this man contributed to not only EWF, but Minnie Ripperton, Rotary Connection, and many other artists and labels during that era. He passed early, leaving us all wondering what amazing arrangements he would have continued to elevate to another level had he still been with us. Again, like I gave Kudos to Maurice White, I also must give the same to Mr. Charles Stephney. Check out the video on Youtube of him-type in Charles Setphney and it will show a limited selection of this man’s great contribution to the music industry! Thank you so much for you contributions Mr. Stephney and God bless your legacy and may you, as Quincy Jones, continue to inspire many more arrangers and producers in the industry!
Basic music rhythm track recording
Bass, Drums, guitar and keyboard– is the basic rhythm section that I always use. Being a keyboard player, I usually start with my keyboard and my left hand playing the bass lines. I combine chord structures and lead vocal parts with my right hand or overdub the lead part. I then work on the drum parts consisting of bass drum, snare, high hat and floor toms. I then add the rhythm guitar and bass drum. Once I have these basic tracks sequenced, I then work on adding additional instrumental parts or vocals. As you can hear with my tracks, a lot of times I will hear how the vocal musical notes should flow, even without completing the lyrics-which usually takes me longest to complete. This is just my system and not everyone uses the same system as I, but this has worked for me for over thirty years. I do all of the parts on my Studio 440 Sequencer by Sequential Circuits, even though I have an Akai MPC 3000 (I just love the sound and feel of the 440). However, the Studio 440 only allows you to record eight tracks, which is it’s limitation, but I simply record the eight tracks onto Logic Pro on my Mac G5, and once these tracks are recorded onto the computer, I can dub in as many additional tracks as I need!