Roster of musicians on the Board?

Cafe Society
61

Just for fun, I went through all 60 posts (so far), and tried to list everybody and their instruments.

Note that it was difficult in some cases. Some of you said you were in a band of some sort in the military, but what did you play? Then, I had no idea what to do with those who could compose and write music—you folks are definitely musical, but I’m not about to assume what you compose upon.

I also slotted the one-offs into their orchestral classifications (strings, woodwinds, brass, percussion), even if some of the instruments would never be found in a symphony orchestra. In such cases, I specified the instruments in parentheses.

Apologies if I missed anything or anybody. Additions and corrections (and I’m sure there will be some) are welcome. So, for now, meet the SDMB Band:

Guitar:

xtenfarpl, Eonwe, pulykamell, dolphinboy, FinsToTheLeft (air), engineer_comp_geek, Kropotkin, Biffster, RivkahChaya, Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela, F.U.Shakespeare, Chefguy, by-tor.

Bass:

xtenfarpl, RitterSport, Eonwe, pulykamell, minor7flat5, Dinsdale, Jaycat.again, engineer_comp_geek, Biffster, Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela, Crafter_Man, by-tor.

Keyboards:

xtenfarpl, Ellecram, Eonwe, pulykamell, Disinfectus, dolphinboy, Misnomer, engineer_comp_geek, Biffster, Spoons, Hoops, CalMeacham.

Vocals:

Ellecram, Eonwe, fachverwirrt, Misnomer, Apodder, Kropotkin, Gyrate, ekedolphin, Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela, F.U.Shakespeare, Spoons, Sylvanz.

Percussion:

Disinfectus, FinsToTheLeft (air), engineer_comp_geek, Spoons, by-tor.

Woodwinds:

Apodder (flute, piccolo), Toxgoddess (flute), pjd (clarinet), Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela (Irish flute, pennywhistle), F.U.Shakespeare (harmonica), Spoons (flute, pennywhistle, recorder), CalMeacham (harmonica, recorder).

Strings:

pjd (violin), Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela (mandolin, Appalachian dulcimer), Kropotkin (banjo).

Brass:

CalMeacham (cornet, trumpet), Spoons (trombone).

62

Hey - make sure you place me and my banjo way off in a corner by ourselves, will ya? :wink:

Jumpbass hasn’t checked in. He plays upright and IIRC teaches HS music.

63

Gotcha, @Dinsdale. Thanks!

I’ll let additions and corrections pile up for a while, but there will be a version 2.0, as they come in. Stand by.

Oh, and percussionists, can you be a little more specific?

64

Wow. Those are very good imho.

65

I haven’t played violin for ~years or clarinet for ~30 !
I now mainly play sax, and sometimes … bass (which is now
fretless) !

66

No probs, @pjd, I’ll fix it. Thanks!

67

Good point. Strangely we don’t seem to have many standard-kit drummers amongst us?

68

I can play standard kit drums, but I’ve never had a paid gig playing them. I used to play some classical piano, but not well.

69

Certainly easier than playing lying down.

Also - make sure to include me in the string section as well as vocals, even if I have to sit at the back of the cello section.

70

Thanks all. I’m modifying the list as the thread moves. Note that it doesn’t matter if you’ve ever played a paying gig; if you play music, and you like playing music, even for nobody, you are qualified to be a musician in this thread. Assuming the OP (@xtenkfarpl) agrees, of course.

71

Fine by me!

72

Well then, it feels a tiny bit like cheating, but I’ve been playing guitar off & on for about 40 years, I’m just not very good at it. (there were some long breaks in the middle)

73

No worries, Maserschmidt; if you have been playing guitar for 40 years, you qualify for the list.

74

In my recordings these days I find I’m doing about 50/50. The MIDI editors in most DAWs usually have a ‘humanize’ feature that introduces small random variations that are supposed to make things sound less robotic. But I’ve never been all that impressed: for nuance, there is no substitute for a live player.

On the other hand, if the arrangement needs an acoustic upright, I have to sequence it or play it on keys, since I don’t have one & it would hardly fit in my tiny home studio anyway. Some of the virtual instrument VSTs are really quite good nowadays, though.

75

I play piano, guitar, cello, hand drums. I compose and arrange a little. When I was 15 I had no friends or social life; instead, I borrowed all the books on music theory, orchestration, and composition I could find in the public library and read through them.

76

I don’t post much, because I use the Dope as a place to learn, but this seems like a thread I should contribute to—it’s one of the few occasions I have applicable knowledge :grinning_face:

I’m a musician, audio editor, recording engineer and producer; been doing one or all of them for about 35 years, professionally (according to my taxes). I play guitar and bass as my primary instruments, but also can sing (grunt), play keys and drums. I’ve also been a Copywriter and/or Technical Writer in the Musical Instrument/Pro Audio industry, working for both retailers and manufacturers.

I started out playing bass at churches when I was 15, then moved on to a bar cover band at 17, got bored with covers and began writing/recording music. That band ended up doing regional touring, playing festivals and larger venues, as well as releasing three albums/EPs and a DVD. I decided to quit touring when my daughter was born, and quit gigging altogether after moving to the L.A. area.

Production-wise, I’ve worked as a Sound Designer, making and selecting sounds for Sound Forge, ACID, CineScore and Vegas, if anyone’s ever used those. I’ve also done hundreds of remixes for major labels and some independent work—mostly in industrial and metal (Ministry/KMFDM/White Zombie). Along the way, I picked up work writing for Fender and its related brands—my first line was the original American Ultra release, my last major launch was the Acoustasonics.

I also compose, both traditionally and using generative techniques, in any genre I feel like exploring (usually something heavy or noisy). I’m fascinated by the intersection of control and chaos, so I’m currently exploring AI workflows and tools. I’m also consulting with a couple of companies, one focuses on remote musical collaboration, the other is an AI-powered VST drum sampler. I’ve also gotten into single-board computers lately, so I’m having fun creating custom sensor-based instruments/controllers that run on Raspberry Pis with custom software.

77

I get that. I was badly off one time, barely able to keep body and soul together, and music was one of the few joys I had. I borrowed music books from the local public library, and transcribed the music from them onto manuscript paper. Yes, even library Xeroxes were expensive to me in those days. Somehow, I kept the rent paid, and I got a library of wonderful tunes in my own hand, that I still have.

78

That’s an interesting area, though we should probably move it into the parallel thread I just opened about composition and recording. In fact I will describe a recent AI experiment in that thread: see you there!

79

That sounds like such a fun career!

80

Just as an aside, I have spun off a new thread about composing and recording (‘Composers and recordists’), in case anyone hasn’t seen it or thinks discussion would fit better in that context. Hope to see some of you there!