rob thomas - Jon Regen

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ROB THOMAS
Learnhow to turn keys,soft synths,and an Olympianwork
ethicintoa platinumcollectionof instantclassicswiththe
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2A
ERIC HUTCHINSON
The younglionof pianorock on the questfor the
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Rob Thomas' ,,Her Diamonds" combinessynthbassand toy pianosoundsto createsoaring
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Learnclassicand cutting-edge
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44
SOFT SYNTHS
THE STEVEMILLER BAND'S ftFLYLIKE AN EAGLE"
Timemayslip intothe future,but this classicsynthsoundis hereto stay.
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INDEPENDENTCHORDSYMBOLSIN FINALE
Laydownyourpiece'sharmonicroadmap,regardless
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A
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EDITOR
18
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SPOTLIGHT
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WRITING SONGS WITH
R OB TH OMA S
It's onethingto scorean interview
with a
majorpop star.lt's entirelyanotherwhen
saidpop starinvitesyou to theirhome,
bootsup theirstudio,and letsyou roll
videowhilethey pressbuttonsand write a
songfromthe groundup. Don'tmissJon
Regen'sspecialvideosupplement
to this
month'scoverstory.
i *- _
homas
Pop.Music'sMasterSongsmith
on the SoundsandStories
Behind Cradlesong/
byJonRegen
Photograph
byAndrew
Macpherson
"That one iust might let me keep my
jobi' Rob Thomasjokes as he playsme
" f ir s ts ingl efro m h i s
" H er Di a mo n d s t, he
new albumCradlesong.Justweeks
awayfrom the record'srelease,Thomas
and en g i n e e Hal
r W inerar e c a m p e do u t
b es ideth e i mpos ingS S L c onso l ea t
BiCoastalMusic,a WestchesterCounty,
New York,recordingstudio,sculpting
songsand craftingvocalsfor the
a l b um'sB-si desand bonust r a c k s .
Thomasmultitaskswith ease,comping
complexvocallineswith the precisionof
an air trafficcontroller,stealingbitesof
C h i n e s efo o d ,a n d taki ngti meto del ve
d e e p i n toth e s o n gsand stori esbehi nd
the new album,his first solo effortsince
2005's SomethingTo Be.
Thomas,
the Grammy-winning
singer
and frontmanof the successfulrock band
MatchboxTwenty(andthe scribebehind
such megahitsas "Push,""Smooth,"and
"LonelyNo More"),is arguablythe hardest
workingsongwriterin pop musictoday.
With his recordedeffortssellinga
combinedtotalof morethan80 million
albumsworldwide,
you mightthinkhe'd
spendmoretime traversingthe society
partycircuitthan hammeringout demosin
his homestudio.But an iron-cladwork
ethic,coupledwith a relentlesspursuitof
the unforgettable
lyricand the devastating
chorus,is Thomas'svice of choicethese
days."Thisis what I doj' he tells me."l'm a
guy who writessongsl'
Cradlesongis anothercollectionof
infectiousRob Thomaspop creations,
this time with a surprisingsonicshift.
Acousticand electronictimbrescollide
givingthe entirecollecwith confidence,
tion of tunesa new sheenall its own.The
ThomasDolby-esque
clangof "Gasoline,"
oz.2oog
t(E Y B oA nD
2l
Rob Thomas
the JohnnyCashcampfirecall o{ "Getting
freneticpop drive
Late,"the unabashed,
o{ "Gi veMe t he M elt down-" a l l u n i q u ei n
yet all prime
theirauralarchitecture,
examplesof Rob'ssongwritingcraftat its
most refined.
Rob Thomasand I sat down overa
periodto talkaboutthe making
three-day
ol Cradlesong,and his continuedquestto
writethe perfectpop song.
On Cradlesong, you actually changed
the way you write songs and put
demos together. What's different this
time around?
I usedto writeon piano.I playverylittle
guitar,so evenif I'd starta song on guitar,I'd haveto use the piano- becauseI
know how to playit. l'd hearthe chord I
woul dn e e dt o go t o on t he g u i ta ra n d I
woul dg e t s t uc k ,s o I ' d nee dto ru n to
t he o i a n o .
But whenI'd starton the piano,sometimesljust didn'tget the vibeI liked.On
the guitar,I couldget that [strumsan imaginaryguitarl shunk,ka-junk,ka-junk,kind
of feel.lt's so percussive.
When I first startedto play,I had this
littleCasiotoneMT-68keyboard.Theway
clacked],I would usu[the keysphysically
allyuse the keyboardfor percussionwhen I
playedit. I would hit my bassnotesand
thing
makethemclickto makea percussive
happen.And so when I startedto play
guitar,I did it the sameway.Everything
to
me was aboutthe percussion.
Now with my newstudio,I startworking
on songsevenwhenI don'thavean idea.
Or if I just havea melodyfor a verse,I can
followit. l'llget a drumbeatgoing,throw
that melodywhereverI feel it, and thenjust
starl writing.l'llwriteat my KorgOASYS
and [Digidesign]ProTools,and just srngif,
hear it, sing it, hear it, changethat line, go
I haveno ideaat all,
back.. .. Sometimes
and l'lljust startwith a drumbeat.
On the OASYS?
Yeah,or throughthe OASYSand using
differentdrumsoftware,likemaybeSpectrasonicsStylusRMX.Thenl'llplaya bass
line,playa littlekeyboardpart,kindof get a
vibe going,and thenwriteto the trackthat
I'vebuilt- kindof likewhensomebody
sendsyou a trackto writeto. I'venever
doneanythinglikethat beforenow,'cause
I'veneverbeforehadthe abilityto sit at my
houseall afternoonand makea record.
22
r(E Y E o A n o
o7.2oog
THOMAS GUTDE
and myspace.com/robthomas
Webpage: robthomasmusic.com
Albums recorded as a leader: Cradlesong(Atlantic)and SornefhrngToBe
(Melisma/Atlantic).
Sefected recordings as lead singer for Matctbox Twenty: Exile on Mainstream
(Atlantic),More Than YouThink You Are (Atlantic),Mad Season(Atlantic),and
Yourselfor Someone Like You(Atlantic).
Selected studio instruments: YamahaYDP223(fortour useas well),Wurlitzer206
StudentElectricPiano,Gibsonand Epiphoneguitars,Fenderelectricguitarsand basses,
FenderDeluxereverbamp,RolandV-Drums,CasiotoneMT-68.
Grammy-winning collaboration with Santana: "Smooth"off of Santana's
Supernatural (Arista).
Want to learn how to play Rob's new single, "Her Diamonds"? Flipto page
34 for MichaelGallant'sbeginnerlesson.
Towatdr lon Regenand RobThomastalking music:
Visitkevboardmaq,com.
Yeah.I hadjust gottenthat new Velvet
So the first solo record was not writprogramlDigidesign'selectricpiano
ten that way?
plug-in for Pro Tools.-Ed.l and I was
No,the firstsolorecordwasjust piano
goingthroughthesegreatRhodes
and guitar.On the demos,therewould
becausethe sounds,and I foundone that remindedme
alwaysbe a smalldisconnect,
demoswouldbe just a pianoor guitarver- of "SlipSlidin'Awayl'So it was all very
mellow.But thenwhen I sent it to Matt
sionof the song.I'd bringthe demosto
' was
and
he
would
tol d hi m," Thi nkP aulS i monlhe
and
Matt
Serletic],
[producer
a lot of thingsabout
thinkingof the albumsGracelandand
haveto presuppose
the vibeI'd be thinkingof - for the record, Rhythmof the Saints.So he came back
differentrhythm.That
with a completely
notjust for the song.
Now I can bringin a muchmorefinished was all Mattpullingit together.I would
renditionof the way I want it to feel - edgy havenevercomeuo with thatvibewithout
guitarpartas
the Stylusdrumbeatand the soundof the
here,or with such-and-such
Rhodesthat broughtthat songout.
thewholevibeof the songthere,so thatit
buildsout fromthatpart.Forme,everything Cradlesong has a much different
but pianoand guitarusedto be secondary. sonic imprint than your last solo
album. lt's dirtier in places - the bot'
Now,sometimeseverythingsfarfsfrom
tom
end is fatter and the mix of
"secondary"
elements.
those
acoustic and electronic sounds is
I stillbelievethatwitheveryoneof the
songson the record,I haveto be ableto sit wider. Was this departure in produc'
tion intentional?
downat the pianoand playyouthe song
get
you
should
it.
Mattwas reallyconsciousof that,and
and
lt
stripped-down.
guitar
"Well.
the
aboutlookingfor lesstraditional
then
when
comes
also
can'tbe
you
have
as well.My last recordcameout
Once
to
explain
sounds
in iI's reallycooll'
"Cry Me A
understand
the
JustinTimberlake
somebody
it,
during
a songto make
period.
So a
Riverj'
Timbaland-produced
it's notthere,
vibe
of
fit
that
"Lonely
No
More"
like
D
i
amonds"
i
s
tune
a
T h e i n tro to "H er
me,
But
to
going
the
time.
percussive
on
at
loop.
Did
what
was
drum
kind of
using that beat, in youl new recording that recordwasn'trealizedas muchas
y l over
thi s one i s.Thi sone i s defi ni telal
setup, lay the groundwork for the rest
likea
it
feels
place
ways,
but
in
some
the
o f th e s o n g ?
like
feel
All
the
tunes
record.
unified
Actuai_.:^a: one.oddlyenough,started
witha c'--ceat, but it was a totallydiffer- they'refromthe sameperiodin my lifei t soundsl i keme.
ent d'--::a:. WhenI startedit, it was
=
a
u
i
.:
Si mon' s" S l i pS l i di n'A w ay," Who are some musicians,singers,
mo re
and songwriters that influenced you
w i tha ' --< c e atfromS tyl us.
comi ng up?
Like a Steve Gadd kind of drum vibe?
Rob Thomas
TomPetty,withouta doubt.Also growing
up, EltonJohnand BillyJoel.I remember
goingto see thosetwo in Orlandobefore
we wereeversigned,on theirhead-toheadtour.
Also,most peopleI knowthat are in
my musicalworld flippedtheirgasket
when that first CountingCrows record
lAugust and EverythingAfterl came out'
Thatwas the firsttime that I felt that the
kind of stuff I was workingon in my
on the
housewas being represented
radio,Thatwas when I felt likethis is the
time.This is my time.
Ghuck Close, the renowned visual
artist, has a saying: "lnspiration is for
amateurs,l'AndI think that the kind of
success you have had' and continue to
have,is due in no small Part to that
kind of work ethic and drive. You're
constantly writing songs and search'
ing for the next story to tell' instead of
just waiting around for inspiration to
hit you. You get up' and You do the
work. Period. Do You agree?
Withouta doubt.Youjust haveto startwith
the basicthing.Youhaveit, and I haveit,
and everybodythat writessongsfor a living
hasit - knowinghow to writea song,and
knowinghow to makea melodythat makes
somebodygo, "Oh, that'sreallynicel'
That'sthe key.But that,in and of itself,gets
you nowhere.Maybeit gets you in the
door.In fact,sometimesthatjust givesyou
theJones,andthatkillsyou.
Peoplecan lookat a pieceof abstract
art and say,"l could havepaintedthatl'But
they don't understandthat the purposeof
art was that they didn't paintit, Ihrs guy
paintedit. And halfof art,is gettingout of
f***ingbed anddoing rt Halfof being
Bono is the fact that Bono workshis ass
off at beingBono.He's got the mostamazing voicethat was givento himby God, but
the reasonwe knowaboutit is becausehe
is firelessat seeinghow far hisvoicecan
take him- and if can he writea bettersong
thanthe lastsong he wrote.
Rob's Home Rig
of
HalWiner
Music
BiGoastal
designed
home
studio.
Hob's
10324
andtwinBenelec
Cinema
Display,
a Korg0iSVSworktation,
Robusesa MacProwitha 30"Apple
at center,
Gonsole
Studio
Housed
in anArgosy
TG
Eleckonic
preamps,
and
a
El0-Xs,
llistressor
twinEmpirical
labs
X?3
power
twoUintech
conditioner,
a Furman
Ihetopdghtrackhouses
monitors.
conditioner,
Furman
|lnn 1640mixer,
1(SM44
mic,Mackie
andto hisleftarea Shure
Reverb
4000.
0nthedeskto hisrightsitsa Line6 P00processor,
192interface.
anp,andOigidesign
SrnetlCEHeadphone
rig put togetherby Hal \Mner,the engiRob Thomaswritesand recordsin his upstateNew Yorkhomestudioon a streamlined
neerand ownerof BiCoastalMusicin Ossining,New York.
Winerdescribesthe customrecordingrig in detail:'Rob has a ProToolsHD3 system,with a KorgOASYSworkstationkeyboard.All the inputsare labeledwith the namesof the keyboardsand/orthe microphones,so he can easilybringup whatever
he wants."
,,Robalso usestwo VintechXZ3 mic preamps,two EmpiricalLabsDistressors,
plus his old AkaiMPC3000.We hookedhim
that Digidesignmakes,includingVelvet,Xpandl,Structure,Strike- all of them' He alsouses
up with everyvirtualinstrument
Stylusand Synthogylvory,and a MackieOnyxmixerthat he can usefor jam sessionsin the studiol'
Spectrasonics
(hehastwo of themin hisstudio),and likesthe NeumannM149 mic as
Thomassingsthrougha ShureKSM44microphone,
well. He listensthroughGenelec1032A activenearfieldmonitors,
l ( EY B 0 A RD
0 7 .2 0 0 9
Rolr Tlromas
You seem like you're still as excited to write, play and
sing, as you were back in your hometown, playing for tips
in a bar or at a college.
True.Youknow,l'm stillcompletelybewilderedeveryday by the
gig, everytime I sit down and come up with a songthat passes
for me and I loveit. I'm like,"lt willneverhappenagain'How
couldthat errerhappenagain?"
SometimesI sit down and actuallythinkaboutthe impetus
wherethe melodycamefrom,and how
for a song.l'll remember
I almostdidn'tevenfollowit, how I wasn'tevengoingto sit
downto workon it - and thenI think,"Whatwouldhavehappenedif I hadn't?Thatsongwouldn'texistl'ThenI startto think
aboutthe mathand I'mjust like,"Thisis it. Thatwas definitely
my lastsongl'
SometimesI go downstairsto my studiojust to makethat not
for hoursand fish'Fornothing.I'llbe
happen.l'llsit downstairs
and mywifewill
downtherefor fourhours,and l'llcomeupstairs,
lookat me,and l'llsay,"Nothingl'
But I'velearnedthat if I do that for a few days,one day somewas one
thinghappens- like the first single,"HerDiamondsi'
o1those.lt wasjustdaysof fishin'andfishin'andfishiniand I
was frustrated.
So I decidedto quit tryingto write,andjust p/ay.I hadjust
gottenVelvet.I pulledthat out with a cool drumloop in Stylus,
and then,one of myfavoritesongseverpoppedout' So you have
to searchfor it a littlebit.
These kinds of things are like a master class - lessons
xtvB0AnD
0 7 ,2 0 0 s
'or the next generationof artists com'
ng up, in this age of immediate grati'
'ication, where everybodYwants
everythingnow. But success doesn't
lappen immediately.lt happenswhen
you'rehoning your craft, working tireessly,day in and daYout.
':ah, you know,sinceI becamea "famous
.:ngwriterl'I work harder,not lesshard.A
:t of peopleI knowgo totallyto the other
. de of this life,and get intoall the kindof
that camewith the success'They
':uff
:se focus,hangingout everynightwith a
at somebig partyin
:rnch of sycophants
-.A.or somewhere.
I spendthe majorityof my time with my
.vife,our dogs,and a few closefriendsup
^ere.I havefriendswho workfor banks
and I ' mt he g u yw h o
andin a d ve rt is ing,
,vrit es
so n g s.l' ll wak eup in t h e mo rn i n g
andhavesomecoffee.l'll answersome
: mail s,a n d l 'll go downs t airas n d d o
mantra into a few Sentences,what
would your advice be to someone
comi ng up now ?
Everytimeyouwritea song,that'sthe only
nour s a oay .
Th^,
^'D^ d^ U^^^
you'reworkingon.That'sthe only
song
Jy
lllElV
!,\
r^
ti '
^,,MalcolmGladwell
songthatexists.Stayin the placewhere
called Outliers,l^ :. re says the difference
youcareaboutwhatyou'rewriting,where
betweenyou anc so"nebodydoing what
the onlythingthatmattersis that"l'm
t hey want t o do s 1 0 , 0 0 0 h o u r s - t h a t i f
gonnawritethissong,and I wantto feel
you want to be in the leagueof the best,
somethi ngl '
you haveto spelo 10.000 hours,at least,
So, don't be afraid to throw things
of your life dedicatedsolelyto that thing
aw ay....
that you want to do, So that's why I'm all
about put t ingm y 1 0 , 0 0 0 G l a d w e l lh o u r s i n . Yeah.Don'tbe afraidto suck,you know?
E
Darelo suck.Thatchangeseverything.
lf you could reduce your Process or
s om e wr i - : 3= : . - s e t h a t 's m Yj o b . I
c an' t r em e- c : - : - : a s t t i m e I h a d a 4 0 hour wor k \ ' ,eer - i e c a u s e I w o r k 1 8
The Keys To
trHer Diamondstt
Rob'snewsingle,"HerDiamondsj'
makesgreat use of keyboard
elements- a centraltoy pianosound
and powerfulsynthstabs,for example. How did Rob get thosetones?
"Thetoy pianois literallya toy piano
from Korea,sampledin TASCAM
Gigastudio,and processedthrough
EmblemMusicGroup'sechochamber and a RolandRE-201SPace
Echoj'he reveals."Thesynthstabs
are lproducerMattSerletic]singing
througha RolandV-Synthvocoder,
blendedwith a DaveSmith
PolyEvolver."
Instruments
Want to learnto playthe chords
Flip
andgroovefor "HerDiamonds"?
Iesson'
to page34 for our exclusive
And to see exclusivevideoof Rob
talkingand makingmusic.checkout
on
JonRegen'scontinuedinterview
keyboardmag.com.
KT YBOAR O
POP
R()B THOMAS'
ITT{ER DIAMC,NDS''
byMichael
0allant
The manhasa powerfulway with melodies,
lyrics'and chords,and his latestsingle,
"Her Diamondsl'is no exception.
Centralto Rob'ssingleis a simple,but
four-barchordprogression
unconventional,
playedon a toy pianosound.Underneath
that,he adds a grooving,syncopatedsynth
Youknowthat catchyMatchboxTwenty
song "SAM"fromthe mid-'9Osthat st//
seemsto hit the airwaveseveryfive minutes- and remainin yourheadfor hours
aftereachlisten?Rob Thomasco-wrote
that.Santana'sraucousGrammymagnet
"Smooth"?Yeah,Rob co-wrotethat,too.
layonlhekeysinodertoplaythe
howyourlelthand
should
Ex.1.Here's
and
5foltipsontiming
linein"HerDiamonds"
bass
ryncopated
- lookathample
prograssion
outlined
thesame
chord
Following
Exrmpla
6forthelullnotation.
inonnge
onthediagram),
f (shown
in$a nsxtihrueoxamples,
shrlbyplaying
back
to0 again'
inpurple),
andlinally
inbluo),
C(shown
thsn/ (shown
belowto
bassline.Checkouttheexamples
yourself.
H
play"HerDiamonds"
withRob
cover
sloryinteruiew
Road
JonRegen's
lor
20rndvisilkoyhoardmag.com
Ihomas
onpage
video
olJonandflob
exclusive
morc
- including
discussing
"ller0iamondsi'
athitd
a Swithout
Ex.2."ller0iamonds"
withthischodintherighthand,
opens
prugrussion
6'
inExample
shown
Thisisalsothelastchord
inthefour-bar
M id d lr C= *
54
2
0A
c
1
c
prugression,
an
four-chord
central
thesecond
chodinthesong's
Ex.3,Here's
inversion
ofIZ
1
G
5
0
tothefinal
belore
returning
Ex.4.From
Cmchord,
there,
Robplays
aninverled
(nothhd),
2.
shown
intxample
4
ci
synthbasslinemaylooklric$, butifs easyto
tx. 5,Ihetimingofthesyncopated
here,count
Asshown
alonga fewtimes.
onceyou'ye
counted
internalize
thegroove
tour-ethrese-and'a,
two-e-and-a,
syllables
withthehefpluf
"nnle-and-a,
afoud
frnpo-ta-t0,"elc.worksiustaswell)andtapyourhandon
and-a"("0nFp0-ta-io,
thenotes
yourlegwitheachnoie.Praclicing
thiswaywillmakeadding
therhylhm
easier
whenthetimecomes.
exponentially
putting
belore
toypianosound
eachhandsepamtely
in theright.Practice
of"HerDiamonds"
a tmnscdbed
excerpt
Ex.0.Here's
- synthbassin thelefthand,
yourownmusical
diamonds.
themtogether
andcreating
"Her Diarrondsl' words and mus c :. i
A o Mu sic lnc. All Rights Reser ' ' :
::.:1 Music Inc. and U Rule Mi:sic. All Rights Conirolled and Adminislered by EMI
':: Used by Permission.Reor nted by Permissionof Hal Leonard Corporation.