Boogie Beau

Posted By Scott on July 11, 2010

Monclova Home Coming Festival

I didn’t make it down Saturday but did spend a couple hours Friday evening listening to the All4It rock band.   The members of the 4 piece band (lead, bass, drum and keyboard)looked to be in the mid-50′s age group and they played great old cover songs from the 60′s, 70′s and 80′s like they had been doing it for 40 years.    A different keyboard player took the stage most of set two so I guess they had two guys sharing that job.    It’s always great to watch a keyboard player doing his thing with a band ..  unfortunately my ears seem to have troubles hearing the keyboard over the guitars most of the time.   My observation was a good percent of the songs the keyboardist was using a gritty rock organ sound.     However he had a few solos that I’ll have to try myself sometime.   He did a solo introduction with vocal of 3DogKnight’s   ”I  May Be Weary”  that was interesting.    Also the keyboard solo in Hotel California  sounded good also.   

All4It! Band

It was great to have live music and beer I could walk to.   The crowd was a little sparse I thought so I hope more people make it over to Monclova for the 2011 event.

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Posted By Scott on June 26, 2010

Inside GearFest 2010

SweetWater is a music gear equipment company head quartered in Ft. Wayne  Indiana about a two hour drive from me.    They are a different kind of music warehouse company.  For example when you purchase gear online from them you get a personal followup call from your assigned sales engineer.      When I seen the invite from Sweetwater to GearFest 2010 I didn’t think much about it at first.   Then I read there would be like 150 companies exhibiting products plus some free seminars so I signed up.   Still I was a bit concerned it might be time not so well spent.     I can say now that I’m extremely glad I went because SweetWater’s GearFest was a totally awesome experience.    The SweetWater facilities are incredible and I surely will go back again.       The highlight of the trip for me was a 90 minute talk by a mixing engineer.  

Mixing Lecture

Outside there were several large tents set up with over a hundred exhibitors.  Everything on display was for sale at GearFest prices.  That meant any gear you saw exhibited could be bought on the spot.    Well not that exact unit but a new unit right  from the warehouse shipped to your front door at a crazy low GearFest price.  I don’t want to tell you every little thing about GearFest because that would be like telling you the end of a new movie you been wanting to see.    Buy some gear from SweetWater and get invited to GearFest 2011.

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Posted By Scott on May 23, 2010

I am pleased to announce the release of my debut CD album Cats Out.    The digital release date is between  Friday 5/28/2010 on CD Baby and   6/11/2010 on most all other digital distribution sites like Amazon MP3.   The album contains six original songs and three Boogie Beau – tized old American classics that were published before 1922 and thus are now in the public domain. 

Cats Out CD cover

A sampling of the songs in Cats Out is available on the player on the top of this page.   Cats Out  will be available on most  online music distributors in the coming weeks for digital download.   Simply search for artist name  Scott Haas or album name Cats Out.    It can take anywhere from 2 weeks to 3 months to appear on distribution sites so be patient and check back again if you don’t find it on your favorite music site on the first try.    The physical CD’s are scheduled to be available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/ScottHaas  around 6/11/2010.   

For you keyboard and piano students the piano sheet music with lyrics  for the songs on Cats Out is available for download  now for a modest fee via the  Boogie Beau Album link on the right of this page.    

Cats Out is my first attempt at composing, recording and all other 101 things it takes to get an original album of songs up online.    Exactly how it’s all done on the computer and keyboard I’ll save  for a future post.     I will say that with the initial learning curve of several software programs behind me the composing, recording and mixing won’t be so challenging next time.   

May 23, 2010
Scott Haas  a.k.a.  Boogie Beau

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Posted By Scott on May 5, 2010

I had been pounding on the keys several months before I got my first sub-woofer a used Roland KCW-1 via EBAY.   With a sub-woofer unit the bottom sounds of the drum machine really sound great and once you get use to it you don’t want to play without one.  The Roland KCW-1 is a great unit but I wanted to save it for gigs down the road.   I pretty much turn the power on in the morning and leave it on sometimes till late evening.     While looking for another sub-woofer I came across the the Behringer Truth B2092A  which is advertised as a studio sub-woofer.   It has XLR connects and is rear ported.  The price was right delivered new to the door for like $180.   But I knew I was it trouble when I saw the size of the box.  The FedEx woman had trouble getting that big boy out of the truck.

Roland KC-60 and Behringer Truth B2092A

I use a Roland KC-60 amp which has a sub-woofer output jack on it.   Unlike  the Roland KCW-1 the Behringer Truth B2092A doesn’t have a volume control.   Instead it has an input trim control.   As it turned out the output volume was near perfect for my small 15 x 11 studio room.    However I thought it need a small boost so I got a Behringer MicroMix MX400 mixer.   That worked out great and acts pretty much like a volume control.

Behringer Micro Mixer

The end result is that I’m happy with this setup.  That said I wouldn’t do it again simply because the Truth is a large heavy box with no handles.  It’s really hard to move and takes up a bunch of room at 24 inches tall and  23 inches deep and 13 inches wide.    The other thing is it has a noticeable buzz to it so between that and my PC I don’t have the quiet environment I’d like to have when I’m not pounding on the keys.  One last note is I tried connecting direct from my main mixer L and R outs to the Truth then from it to my Roland KC-60.   Even on the lowest input trim setting the bass volume was way to loud.   At 360 watts the Behringer Truth B2092A can shake down the house.

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Posted By Scott on April 20, 2010

Owens Center for Fine and Performing Arts

After near a dozen lessons spread over four months I’ve completed my  Owen’s College  Community piano lesson offering.    It was fun, interesting and I surely improved greatly on my sight reading.    Owens College has a music education department and a newish building called the Owen’s Center For Fine and Performing Arts which houses music classrooms, practice rooms and a theater.    My instructor Dr. Lynda Dunn had decades of experience and got me going on some great books from Alfred’s publishing called Alfred  Piano for Adult Beginners.   

Owens Practice Room

Something I found hard was playing the acoustic Yamaha piano which the practice room had.   Between a different chair height and keys that pressed harder than what I have at home I had troubles warming up each week.    Of course  just playing for someone else (the teacher) wasn’t so easy for me either as I just get nervous and the brain stops working.    The big thing about lessons is they make you practice hard because you don’t want to look like an idiot at the next lesson.     I’m continuing on with the sight reading practice a bit every day.  I’m also doing better at  finger type exercises now as  I’ve found I can now sight read and play the notes in those long exercise riffs.    In all the lessons were a good experience.   I think I’m pretty good at learning on my own but as I mentioned a little pressure to practice hard sure helps speed the learning process.

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