I have been playing arrangers since they came out and I never needed a
DAW setup. Very old school here but I always was able to create just what I wanted on my arranger itself. If I needed more I just used a tascam recorder as in making a CD. To me there is no need for overthinking every note you play. I am mostly a find the right rythem and learn the song kink of guy. That way I have full freedom to play the song anyway I want,longer or shorter or in a medley or whatever. I am and still are a fulltime entertainer at the age of 74 and still took forward to going to work every day.Not many people can say that. I see the point in making a perfect track but to me Its more fun to just make it happen live every time I play. By the way there is no such thing as a perfect track. It depends on the player. So anyway when I hear or read all the daw words to me it sounds like a differant language. I guess I'm just old school but that's ok with me.
JUST MY FEELING. FOR ANYONE WHO HAS THE TALENT TO DO IT THE NEW WAY. GOD BLESS YOU

MEL

By the way there is a real talent in picking just the right rythem for a song. I here a lot of people using the wrong rythem when trying to copy the original and totally missing the boat. It is not easy but it will make a big differance in the feel of the song.
Thanks for letting me rant
MEL

Good rant!

Gary

Mel, I agree. I'm a "find the style and play it" guy too. I do totally understand those who do multi-track recording, and I have done some in the past, but now it doesn't interest me.
I'm the same age as you and still working as well, so far.

No..thanks for the "rant." I wish there would be more talk like what you said here.

Mark

I just wish I was still working.

Gary

Mel, Like you and Don, I too am mostly a 'find the style and play it' guy for the majority of my audiences which are NH/AL venues ... I still do some multi tracking, sometimes adding 'back up singers' to the tune ...
But case in point about 'style and play', working an Assisted Living gig yesterday I was doing 'Down By the Riverside' to a strong shuffle beat and the crowd was singing all the 'Down By the Riverside' parts ... I just segued into "Goody Goody', "Just a Gigolo", and a number of others and closed the show with about 20 minutes of songs to that style with the crowd singing all the tunes ... They loved and the AD it and so did I ...

I use an arranger, sometimes, for rough scratch tracks, and full-blown multi-track productions for scores. Been thinking of sending one of these projects to you guys to show the process.The breaks, tempo changes, fades to other audio samples, etc. in films require precise changes which are impossible to do on an arranger. Great tool to do roughs on, though.

Russ

Mel I love your post, I could not have said it better. I also feel we must make room for the younger minds – their world is far more complexed.

John C.

LMAO Mel "rythem" sure looks like a made up word.