Perhaps the best way to get acquainted is to watch him demonstrating a small sampling of his vast collection of instruments. The clips do not have unique URL’s so you’ll need to use the following steps to navigate through his website to get to the video demonstrations:

1) go to http://www.steveshehan.com/index_site.html
2) click on “english version” on the very bottom of the page
3) click on “MEDIA”
4) in the bottom left quadrant of the page, use the yellow-ish scroll bar to scroll the window contents until you see yellow text that says “Videos: Steve Shehan et ses instruments” – click on this

The first demonstration will be titled “Les Instruments de Steve – Orgue de cristal”

The video will automatically advance through all the demonstrations but you can jump around using the menu if you wish.

You can also view lots of great performances on his YouTube channel.

Enjoy!

I owned the MPC60 back in the early 90′s and loved working with it and remember programming some great feeling grooves in the sequencer. Fast forward to 2010 and occasionally I feel like I wrestle with getting just the right quantization settings within my current sequencing environment which is Logic Studio v9. I was therefore excited to learn someone (thank you whoever you are!) had gone through the work of creating specialized MIDI files that were generated using the MPC3000. Using 8th note and 16th note sequences and MPC “swing” values applied from 50% to 75%, these sequence files are basically snapshots of the MPC swing feel. Once opened within Logic, they can be easily turned into custom Groove Templates. This means any selection of MIDI events within your sequences can be quantized using the MPC3000 “swing” quantization options. Pretty cool!

This article on the Logic Cafe website provides the file download and instructions for Logic. Note that the new MPC3000 Groove Template options created this way are project specific. This means that if you want these available in all future projects you create in Logic, you should create a new Logic project, use the instructions to create the Groove Template in the new project, and save the project as a Logic template file (found within the Save As option in the File menu).

If you are using Logic Studio v9, note that you will not find “Make Groove Template” within the Options menu as stated in the instructions. Instead, you will find it by clicking on the Quantize option menu circled in red below.

I’m not teaching drum lessons right now although I might start to one day. If I do, any student of mine will be required to spend weeks playing only one drum and presenting new sounds and ideas they came up with on that one drum. Just when they think they are being relieved of this exercise, I will repeat the assignment with a different drum. A simple concept with profound consequences for musicians seeking to embrace the expressiveness of their instrument. Oh – and I would have my students do the same things with cymbals too! Dig deep and you will be rewarded. And enjoy this clip of the one and only Max Roach.

ITF 2010 | Gerd Leonhard | The Future Of Cinema & Film from NIFFF on Vimeo.

The title mentions cinema and film, but what he talks about has implications for music distribution and marketing as well. See my links page for links to more of Gerd Leonhard’s work. This presentation can also be downloaded from his site.

Paco Sery is from the Ivory Coast and a very fluid, dynamic, and precise drummer. There’s a sense of forward propulsion in his playing without rushing. Here he is teamed up with Richard Bona on bass and Manolo Badrena on percussion.

“River: The Joni Letters” by Herbie Hancock is a masterpiece and with the 24-bit/96kHz version from HD Tracks, we can all swim in a really deep river. I’m really looking forward to listening to this in the studio.

Check out HD Tracks – you can buy single tracks or complete albums in HD. You’ll see an interview with Peter Frampton on their home page (he’s a big HD fan). I think high resolution will continue to gain traction in the market but pricing will remain a bit higher for a while still. I guess I’m somewhat naively hoping that the sooner people start purchasing HD audio, the sooner the prices will fall…

I’ve added a links page today which will continue to grow. You can access it under the Pages menu up at the top of the website.

Welcome to my new site which went live August 13. I will be finalizing the format and features over the next couple of weeks. I hope you enjoy visiting.