About Online Keyboard Tracks

Ed Roth playing keyboards in his online studio

 

 

Why Choose Vintage Keyboard Tracks From
Veteran Session Musician Ed Roth


About Ed Roth:

Keyboardist Ed Roth’s feel, spirit and touch have made him a top choice of renowned artists, producers, and musicians worldwide. Utilizing acoustic and vintage keyboard instruments, Roth creates memorable, soulful, melodies that sing, as well as adding deep organic grooves with his accompaniment.

Roth has recorded and/or performed with a wide variety of artists across all kinds of genres including Robby Krieger and John Densmore (of the Doors), Joe Walsh, Ringo Starr, Annie Lennox, Shelby Lynne, Sophie B. Hawkins, The Avett Brothers, Tom Morello, the Brothers Johnson, Mya ,Taylor Dayne, Jimmy Barnes, Ronnie Montrose, Keith Emerson, Glenn Hughes (of Deep Purple), Rob Halford, Shuggie Otis, Angus and Julia Stone, Flogging Molly, Coolio, Marisela, Suor Christina, Sebastian Bach, Turnpike Troubadours, Cody Jinks, Impelliterri, Joe Lynn Turner, Steelheart, Gamma, Maia Sharp, and the Divas of Disco featuring Thelma Houston, Cece Penniston and a Taste of Honey.

The LA based arranger, keyboardist, musical director, and producer has played and/or recorded with a 11 Grammy winning artists.

His soundtrack, video game, and commercial credits include Grey’s Anatomy, America’s Got Talent, Scrubbs, Bones, Community, Red Band Society, Revenge, Driven, Heroes, The History Channel, Telemundo, Honda, Tropicana, and Kenwood.

Ed Roth is also a featured band member of The new Experience, (featuring Robby Krieger of the Doors); The Bombastic Meatbats (featuring Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers); and CTA (featuring Danny Seraphine of Chicago).


 

 

Ed on Making Music:

My goals on a recording session are simple — play for the song, and make it and all the tracks on it sound and feel better. My job is to help the producer achieve his vision for the song, find exactly what the song needs, and play memorable, melodic tracks.

Ed's session studio ready to record your keyboard tracks


 

Different Songs and Styles Have Different Needs:

Different songs and styles have different needs. Accompanying a vocal is becoming a lost art. Sometimes you need to fill the cracks, round out the corners, supply ear candy, and instrumental hooks. Always make the track feel good. Other times, you must lift up the song without really being noticed. In some heavy rock songs,for example, the keyboards must be felt, not heard. The wrong keyboard parts can really dilute the power of a track. You have to know when your job is just to make the track feel and sound bigger, without revealing that this has been done with keyboards. As with any style, you can’t let your ego get in the way of coming up with and playing the right parts.

Some of the Rob Halford songs I played on might have as many as 9 tracks of keyboards on them, but you don’t hear keyboards when you listen to them.When I was hired to do the keyboards on the remake of Come on feel the Noise (Quiet Riot, RIP Kevin) for the video game Guitar Hero, so much of the track was an OBX, yet all you seem to hear are guitars. When I muted the keyboard parts I put down, the guitars suddenly sounded tiny, and the whole track lost all it’s girth.


Ed on Vintage Instruments:

Edward Roth playing before a crowd

I believe there is a living quality to some vintage keyboards.They breathe and respond in a different way than samples.

They speak and sing in a way that samples can’t. Plug-ins sound great by themselves, but a track full of soft synths all going through the same system and converters are no match for real vintage keyboard instruments.

Fact: Real instruments have a totally different dimension than samples. Plug-ins and samples are just approximations of the original that don’t have any depth or movement. In a track they never feel or sound the same as the original. It’s like looking at a photo instead of seeing the real thing.

Samples and modeling sounds need to be turned up much more than real instruments to be heard and felt, masking other instruments, fighting for the same frequencies, and making mixing more difficult. You don’t need to blast a real vintage keyboard instrument for it to pop out of the mix.

A real vintage keyboard sits in a track in a very special way. Real instruments don’t cloud and clutter the track, instead, they allow the song and the mix to breathe. Real instruments complement other instruments rather than fight with them.

Tracks using the real thing always feel different. Playing on a real instrument (Rhodes, B3, Wurli, Acoustic Piano, or Clav) always affects the way I play, it is has a feel that I interact with that’s simply not there playing a sample, it inspires.

Ed Roth during a performance, photo by Naoju Nakamura


 

Working with Online Keyboard Sessions:

Instead of using samples, get the power of real keyboard instruments and the creativity of top LA session veteran Ed Roth; you’ll get a lifetime of experience without leaving your home.

I cut tracks for Guitar Hero,Rob Halford, Kristine W, Tom Morello, and many others on my Vintage keyboards at my studio.

Edward Roth and the band

Using online keyboard sessions is simple. Send us an MP3, WAV or AIFF file with a rough mix of each song.

If it is a vocal tune, please make sure the lead vocal is on there. A scratch vocal track is fine. Include a count-off if possible. Email any ideas/instrument choices/suggestions you might have. We will send you back a link to WAV or AIFF files of the keyboard tracks at your choice of Bit and sample rates. We will leave the count-in on each track to ensure that lining up is a breeze.

 


 

Ed on The Internet and Music:

By now it is clear to everyone in the business that the Internet and downloading have completely changed the music business. Things are wide open now for independent groups and artists like never before.

Aside from all the promotional opportunities out there now, excellent quality recordings can be made for a fraction of what they used to cost.

The opportunity exists to create music from the heart as opposed to from the wallet. It is possible now to create and record music without having to make all the compromises a small recording budget once forced.

Gone are the days of paying for cartage, or high rental costs to get true vintage keyboards recorded. Now one can just send the files back and forth.

keyboardist Ed Roth - photo by Alex Kluft


 

A Message from Ed:

I am blessed to make a good living doing what I love.

Make music for the right reasons. When you make great music, good things come. Be true to yourself with your music.

Making music in the studio is still exciting and a joy for me. It’s as fresh as it was when I played my first keys, a good melody or groove always brings inspiration.

Ed playing keyboard in his session recording studio

I frequently get calls from artists and producers I started working for 15 years ago and approach each project no matter how big or small with the same passion and love for doing what is needed and making it the best it can be.

I will make your songs/tracks sound special. Feel free to contact me to talk about your project.


contact Ed Roth

 

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