Starr Ackerman's Music Production Blog & PR/AR

I had to set up a date between NY1 News Team- Tech Reporter Adam Balkin and Dave Matthews Band- Stefan Lessard, bassist, and Erik Porter, bass tech. Public and Artist Relations can be a pretty fun job….The point of the date was to show the evolution of how AmpliTube software has made it from the stage to the iPhone/iPad, AmpliTube iRig, and how crazy good the sounds still are for professional practice, play or music production. We all met up at Mets Stadium in Corona, NY- Citifield and completed the interview. It was pretty rad, and here is the article and video that Adam shot for the NY1 News spot (which aired on like 13 stations!- 11 million viewers).

(Citifield is huge when you are looking from the stage to all the seated fans…and 40,000 screaming Dave Matthews Band fans surely make a nice setting for a news video. In the video, you get to see Stefan from DMB playing through AmpliTube iRig, and Erik Porter explaining the system they have on stage for all of Stefan’s bass setup with Ampeg SVX/ AmpliTube software.

Here is a direct link to the video of Stefan and Erik from Dave Matthews Band on guitar and bass software, AmpliTube for Mac/PC, and AmpliTube iRig (AmpliTube for iPhone and iPad)

From NY1 News:

If you’ve ever wondered how bassist Stefan Lessard of The Dave Matthews Band creates his unique sound on stage, you may be surprised to find out it’s all thanks to some high tech gadgets. NY1’s Adam Balkin filed the following report.

I think it’s fair to say most of us will never come anywhere close to playing the bass as well as Stefan Lessard of The Dave Matthews Band. You can, however, come close to replicating his sound using something you may have in your pocket. Back to how that’s possible in a minute. First, a quick explanation of the high tech way Lessard gets that sound, pretty much any sound he wants, while live on stage.

“We play so many different styles of music and there are so many different elements inside the songs that change. One minute it might be kinda jazzy and the next it’s all out rock. I kinda need a real versatile system,” says Lessard.

A few years ago, he would have needed a row of effects pedals and different types of amps to get each particular sound. Today though, his bass is routed through a Mac mini computer that runs software called AmpliTube XGear. Developers at IK Multimedia say it serves up just about any guitar or bass effect ever conceived, played virtually through just about any style of amp or cabinet, which, when combined, offer more than 20,000 different sounds.

“So on stage I don’t have to go over to my mouse and keyboard and try to change the sounds. I can just go to my pedal board, it has all these buttons A,B,C,D and I know that C is the sound I want for this section of the song,” says Lessard.

And to answer one of the first questions people usually have when they hear about the system — how does one trust a live show to a desktop computer? Lessard’s bass and violin tech Erik Porter says only once in two years has there ever been a system crash.

“We have a UPS backup battery to keep the computers running in case the power does go down we have we have two computers running at all times so if a computer were to go down we switch to a backup computer and it’s all pretty easy to make that switch it’d take about 30 seconds,” explains Porter.

Now here’s where it gets exciting for anyone who’s ever stepped anywhere near a guitar or bass. Much of what Stefan is doing on stage, you can also do by plugging your guitar or bass into your iPhone.

AmpliTube’s iRig is a guitar to iPhone adaptor and then an app that offers as many as 11 effects, five amps, five cabinets and even two microphone simulations.

“I was surprised the first time I plugged it in. I didn’t know what to expect out of it. ANd it sounded just like my stage sound,” says Lessard.

Lessard, by the way, is not a paid endorser. The app itself costs anywhere from $0 to $20 depending on how many features and effects you want. The adaptor itself is another $40.

Author- Adam Balkin-NY1News

Starr Ackerman Artist/ Public Relations

~ by Starr Ackerman on July 26, 2010.

Posted in Apple, Events, guitar recording, How to- Music Production Videos, iPad music apps, iPhone 4, Live performance with audio software, Music Production Techniques and Articles, Video Interview, Videos
Tags: amplitube irig, artist relations, bass tech, citifield, dave matthews band, erik porter, how to plug your guitar into your iphone, how to plug your guitar or bass into your ipad, IK Multimedia, public relations, shows, Starr Ackerman, Stefan Lessard, tickets