Merry Christmas All You Rockers!

Merry Christmas from Rob Lattin Music

Merry Christmas All You Rockers!
And everyone else!

Remember the reason for the season.
Hint, His name is hidden in this word "Christmas".

That was easy.

This Christmas card's for you!








Here's an oldie:


MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Facebook Fan Page Looking Good

Hey Everybody!

I've been doing a little improvement here and there on my Facebook fan page. 

Now I need your help!

Please go there and like it. Check it out and tell me what you think. Tell what you'd like to see on it. Comment on it and share posts on it whether it's your band or a band you like.

Here is the welcome post:

Post by Rob Lattin Music.

This is pretty nifty, eh?

Mrs Claus Promotes Fire of Love Music

The Perfect Gift

I made a quick call to the north Pole on Friday. I was asking Santa for some help with delivery of my new CD Fire of Love. 

Santa, alas, was too busy, but his daughter, Ms Kimmy Claus said she would help out.  However, she gave me a stern warning to be nice for Christmas this year.

I said I would and she said then that she will help me get the word out

She listened to the album, loved it and had this to say . . . . . .

Having trouble seeing it? See it on You Tube

My Four Favorite Comedians on One Video

"I got it! I got it!"  yelled Shemp. 

"What do you got?" asked Moe.

"A terrible headache!" replied Shemp.

Moe: "How would you like another one?"

Moe always ad libbed a second punchline to Shemp's or Curley's punchline, and many times he'd add a punch. Moe, Shemp Larry and Curly, better known as the Three Stooges, have been making people around the world laugh for decades. They are by far my favorite four comedians and luckily I was able to put together a video tribute to them with my own original soundtrack, "Shenanigans".

Now what does The Stooges and music have in common? Well, not only were these guys excellent at slapstick, gags, and one liners, they were also very musically inclined. Many of the shorts they appeared in featured music of some sort tied in with their brans of humor.

When I started recording Shenanigans, I was in a humorous mode. The song developed into a a tribute when I added my own Stooge impersonations. I felt I would honor them with my song and slap together a video of some funny moments they filmed.

In addition, I added some of my own original jokes a la Stooge style for some added ingredients. Well, the jokes aren't too hilarious, but hey, I'm a musician, not a jokester.

This song also appears on my album "Fire of Love". Stay tuned for updates, and in the meantime check the boys out on this video.

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Nothing Scarier than . . .

Dark Corridors - you never know who or what is there

Getting close to Halloween kiddos! 

Ringing doorbells, tee-peeing trees, throwing eggs, wearing spooky costumes, and the candy - rotten our teeth with every bite. Lots of cool things to see and do.

Like Parties, movies, music.

But
Nothing scarier than  . . . 

CIRCUS CLOWNS FROM THE GRAVE!

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The Day I Met The King - Albert King

(Originally published May 14, 2014)

Albert King Live album 
featuring Rory Gallagher (I still have the vinyl)

The Day I Met The King - Albert King 

by Robert Lattin

As a budding guitarist, I soon learned that writing songs was not enough to help me become better at my craft. I emulated the top guitarists of the 60's, studied what they studied, and listened to what influenced them. 

Meeting Rory Gallagher 

One of my favorite guitarists was Rory Gallagher. The first song I ever heard from him was an old instrumental called "Norman Invasion." Not really a blues song and hey, there was no singing. I loved the song. It served as a companion to my "Scottish Tea" song by the Amboy Dukes. I wanted more Rory expecting much of the same. Well, his blues/rock mix just knock me off my rocker. 

Well, one thing led to another and I followed everything he recorded and played, From Taste to solo stuff, I paid attention to articles and interviews and eventually seeing him play live and actually meeting Irish guitarist in person and having a decent conversation with the fine lad. 

Rory, along with Clapton, Beck and Page, but mostly Rory, steered me to the originators of American Blues. I bought album after album of Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf (yeah!), John Lee Hooker, Hubert Sumlin, and Albert King. Well there were three blues kings: Freddie King, B B King, and Albert King. To learn about Freddie, ask Mark Farner of Grand Funk Railroad. To learn about B B, ask Eric Clapton. To learn about Albert, the first person to ask was Rory Gallagher. 

 Rory impressed Albert King and had many jam sessions with him and was honored to perform on a couple of Albert King vinyls. Since I bought anything that had the name Rory Gallagher on it, I bought Albert Live. What in the world! 

Here we have an older black blues musician playing the folk sound music of the South (St. Louis to be precise) and a young white Irish rock guitarist who was influenced heavily on American music and perhaps Lonnie Mack. 

 Meeting Albert King 

Well, even before I ever had the chance to meet and see Rory play, I had the opportunity to see this Albert King guy. He was scheduled to play at the Kingston mines in Chicago, in 1980, if I can recall. His opening act was young bluesman Jimmy Johnson who just released a local album, Hot Whacks. 

Now I have gone to various blues clubs and smaller venues back then, seeing famous and not-so famous musicians. Kingston Mines was the most memorable place. To this day it showcases many great blues artists and if you want to see history and history-in-the-making, then this is THEEEE place. 

In between sets, my buddy and I went outside to the front of the building. And there it was! The gigantic bus with the name "Albert King" on it. No Chicago cop in his right mind would write a parking ticket for that legendary vehicle. If you saw this thing your heart will start to pump because you would be witness to an awesome machine. And then, after staring at the thing, we wondered, "Do you think Albert is in there or what?" 

Just as we were about to go back in to our table, the bus door opens, one guy comes out and walks past us and then slowly down the steps came King Albert! Full smile and hat. "Howdy, gentlemen, how you all doin'?". We were dumbfounded. "Great Albert! We came here to see you play" he then reached out and shook both of our hands and said "Thank you - I appreciate that very much." 

Then he went ahead of us and disappeared somewhere. We hurried back to the table and waited another 30 minutes. While we were waiting, my buddy and I were discussing how tall Albert was and how huge his hands were. I was perplexed at how a guy with large fingers could play guitar. I was struggling to play guitar with skinny fingers so I figured he must've had a wide guitar neck. 

At that precise moment, he came on stage. He made a short introduction and thank you and proceeded to play. I watched his huge fingers. He played with no effort - No gymnastics like the hair rock bands did. No sliding up and down and showing signs of struggle with the guitar like many other guitarists do. Here was a mature player. Playing the frets is second nature - he played with such an ease that he made it seem that there was no effort to learn guitar. I tried to watch and memorize every lick he played, but I was caught up in the excitement of the music and the sound. 

Another thing I noticed is that Albert could play one note in a short series and turn it into a dynamic melody. I have heard other guitarists try that but it sounds static. Albert's control over the strings was obvious and his singing was perfectly complimentary. The guy even asked for song suggestions at the end of his set. 

We suggested "Messin' with the Kid" and he complied and followed that song with "I'm a Man". (The Blues Brothers were still big then.) 

As with life, all good things soon come to an end. But the memory of that performance and meeting the man - the legend - and seeing his world famous bus has lasted a lifetime. 

I will never forget the day I met Albert King. Want to learn about Albert King? Here is Albert King on Wikipedia . And when in Chicago, check out the Kingston Mines for some great blues.

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News Updates on New Music

Hello everybody! 

I am so excited about my new solo album that I am just a "Happy Dude"! So excited that I added a new page (at top) for you to click. 

I am really feelin' GOOD
I am just a Happy Dude

Just click "News Updates" and you will get the latest buzz about all the crazy music I am making. The new album "Fire of Love", which will be available soon, features some great new songs, and some remixes. 

Some of the songs were previewed on Reverbnation. These were demos but have been remastered and remixed and put into the ultimate listening pleasure tests. Now it's just a matter of time to get this music extravaganza into your hands! 

 And don't think I will be sitting on my laurels while you guys are playing some of my tunes such as Fire of Love, The Rescue, and The Gate to the Sonic Dimension. No. I just finished recording all the music tracks for my Mad Experiment album. I will be adding the vocals as the icing on the cake.

The music for this album is somewhat experimental but it takes rock and roll to another level. Here's a comparison between the 2 albums: the music of Fire of Love is arena rock - played live and loud and your ears will be ringing for two weeks. The music from Mad Experiment is music to play at parties and dances. Well, that's the difference. 

Now you may be asking yourself, "Why did he record to two types of music? Why not just stay consistent with one?" The answer, grasshopper, is that I love multi genres of music, as you already know. How many musicians play and record Horror soundtracks, Hard Rock, Acoustic Blues and also play and record religious songs, pseudo-comedy and electronica? To answer your second question, Plato, I am being consistent as my second solo album will be similar to the first "Fire of Love". 

Mad Experiment is aptly titled because that is what it is. Whereas my solo stuff, such as Fire of Love, will not get any radio airplay, the Mad Experiment stuff will on alternative radio. You can thank Frank Zappa for paving the way of Alternative Music. In the meantime, keep your eyes peeled for "Fire Of Love" and check back occasionally to the News Updates.

Album Update

Hey everybody! This is just little update about my new album.

We made a few song changes and we're doing the final mastering. We expect to release it through CD Baby and have it available on many of the aggregate stores such as Google Play and as usual, Amazon and others. Album design is going a little slow, too.

So while I'm waiting for that, I'm working on some cover songs to release this year, as well as a narration project. Also getting the Driven album remixed as well as putting vocals to the Mad Experiment album.

 Alas it takes time so my blogging and social media hopping has been rare lately. I've had a guitar or mike in my hand more than a computer keyboard. Nevertheless, I don't want you to forget me so I thought I'd give you this update.

From The Nostalgia Files - Music Special Effects

A cup of coffee - A completed song - A Happy Dude!

It's tough trying to keep up with writing a blog more frequently so I'm gonna cheat, baby.

Between recording and mixing and living a regular life I try to squeeze out some textual content to share with the world. Due to lack of time, I've got to borrow something old.

I'm reaching way back into my "Nostalgia Files." I hate to let an old article slip by so I'm reprinting it here. Don't worry folks, I am the copyright owner so I can do as I please and I am pleased to please you by sharing another daring ditty of a blog with you.

This one was written in a not so distant past: October 29, 2009 to be exact. I just happen to love Blogger so much that I don't why I delved elsewhere, but if it is content you want it is content you got. No this is not recycled story just a little brief that was read by NOBODY so in essence it is NEW to you and the rest of the world's population. Thank You very much!

Enough of the polite rant! (Comments are made today in light blue.)

I’m revealing some secrets to my song's special effects

I just posted my next song (it is not a new one to me, but a new one to you!) on my MySpace page “Welcome To The Sonic Dimension”. The Sonic Dimension is the name of my band which is currently not doing anything. (No longer the name of a band but the name of a website and concept and a song and maybe an album.- RL) (BTW-what the heck happened to MySpace? Where are all my songs and friends and stuff? BUMMER! -RL)

Anyway the song is titled “The Horsemen”. Yes the song is somewhat about the Apocalypse.  (Get ready for it, dudes! RL) The underlying rhythm to this song was written about 12 years ago. (1996. -RL) Most of the basic tracks were recorded in 2006/2007. (Gathering some dust, ha! -RL) 

I wanted to create a song that to me would be very visual, almost movie-like. I originally had an ethereal theme trumpet at the beginning but scrapped it. :( If you listen to the guitar after the final chorus of the song, you could hear most of the trumpet theme as it fades out.  But in this case the trumpet is played by the guitar using tone effects to give it that other-worldly feel. To further make it seem other-worldly I used multiple vocal blends to act as if there were four horsemen singing. 

Aside from being movie-like but not necessarily as a soundtrack, I needed to add special effects to create the image of the horsemen arriving through the sky with the wind and thunder following them. Obviously I couldn’t come up with lightening on audio but the stereo effects of the thunder as it approaches can create that effect. 

My intention was to make a frightening song, yet with a steady beat. I bypassed using a regular drum track and wanted the drums to sound as if you hear horses approaching and leaving and always keeping the same swift beat throughout as if they kept pace accomplishing what had to be accomplished. (The bell clanging sound was my guitar, too!) 

The overall effect was to have the horsemen coming in from a distance, do what they had to do, break to wipe everything out (or perhaps every evil) from east to west, and leave just like they came. So they enter with a distant thunder and hooves beating with a few frightful screams.   

In the horsemen “solo”, not my guitar solo by the way, they fly from left to right in a circular fashion along with wind and thunder. The ending has the theme of the horsemen but they fly off in wind and thunder and an after-sound – a scary hum. No hooves beating because I wanted it to seem as if they flew away into a cloud. 

For the intro I used galloping horses along with two guitars and one bass mimicking hooves. The wind and thunder fade in from left to right with an eerie whistle. The whistle, of course, was a signal for the horses to come closer and proceed. (I can whistle, indeed! RL) If you listen to the intro several times you’ll pick up an echo of the whistle and right after that you may even swear it sounds like the horses are descending from a distance. Don’t ask me how I did this, it just works and it’s pretty spooky. Even the part where some of the horses stop and scream it sounds like a warning. 

The “horsemen solo” is a thunder and wind solo. The wind is blowing in different tones and is random as the guitar swirls in a circular motion. I used a stereo flanger and phase shifter and two guitar tracks to create this effect. It’s as if the whooshing guitar is surrounding you. Of more importance, the guitar acts as a secondary sound effect to the thunder and wind which are both the showcase in this part. (Thank you very much!!! RL)

The outro fades out with a second guitar solo swallowed up by part of the Horsemen Theme.  (Yes there is a theme within the piece. RL) The thunder resumes and the wind blows and increases and recedes as the horsemen depart. The bass hum sound gives it that otherworldly sound as it fades. (That's me, too! RL) If you listen carefully, as the thunder departs and the wind follows out you can hear some paper flying. I wanted to create an impression that after all was done a few pages from the Book of Revelation were blown or floating down on the empty street. (Love the imagery????RL) 

What do you expect on a low budget? This song has taken many years to make and it’s one of many I have recorded. What makes me proud of it is the fact that once it was mixed down it created the mental image of a movie about the End of the World.

Here’s the link to My Space to hear the song as many times as you want.myspace.com/roblattin I hope you find it interesting.

Wow! I'll be sharing a link somewhere, maybe Reverbnation or Soundcloud so you can hear this song I'm talking about. What I wanted to share in the article is that making sound effects and audio-images simply takes some creativity. If you got the money you can do it fast, but if you're on a low budget well you need to spend time and not dollars making something very impressive.

Here's the first verse of the song:

4 Horsemen

The Horsemen 

(C)2009 Robert Lattin All Rights Reserved

Hear the horses' hooves of thunder

As the ground is torn asunder

Cracking whips striking fear

Shaking Earth approaching near . . . 

If you like this or any of my articles could you please spread the word on Facebook or Twitter and share with your friends - I really appreciate it!

Bass Guitar Recording Lesson for Guitarists

"Eye" Like to play guitar.

There comes many a time when a guitarist may need to write or even record his/her bass lines. Being a bassist takes a different skill than a guitarist so please do not think I am going to downplay the role a bassist plays. There are hundreds of songs where the bass carries the song more than guitar and in a perfect world both at 100% simultaneously. Doesn't always happen, even on a "hit" song. 

Nevertheless, I wanted to post something I wrote a few years ago on another blog that didn't get much exposure. I have permission as I am the owner of the article. Here it is . .

How Guitarists Can Record Quick and Easy 

Bass Lines For Demos or Projects

Fellow Axe men (and axe women), I want to show you how to record your own original quick and easy bass lines for your demos or home projects or even your albums to be released.

My Dilemma: I play all my own guitar tracks for my solo projects and many of the bass players I know want to improvise too much that the song strays away from my original vision. On band projects, that is OK but on projects where you have a clear vision and need it played the way YOU want it played, sometimes its best to play the parts yourself.

Solution: I record a lot of my projects onto a stand alone mixer, edit it, upload it to my mixing software on the computer, convert it to the various digital formats. So what I do initially is record a guitar work track which is called my skeleton.

The skeleton has the intro and the rhythm chords and the outro. The chord section determines the beat of the song as well (I don’t like metronomes). Once the skeleton is done, I prepare for the real rhythm guitar sound and rehearse the rhythm until it feels right. When it’s right I record.

Everything is based on this skeleton. The skeleton of a song is also something you can sing to live on an acoustic guitar (like Unplugged). Now once the real rhythm guitar is recorded you do not put in anything else or it may throw off your timing. Your next step is to grab your bass guitar. If you ain’t got one, your mixer can simulate your guitar into bass.

Now here’s the easy part. Play your track and play bass along with it ONLY KEEPING TIME with the song. Don’t worry about the notes. Then, start over but this time play the single bass notes that correspond to the chords. Rehearse this several times keeping in time and playing single notes.

Finally, once you are “in the groove”, you alter bass beats or add secondary notes. For example: let’s say your first chord is A major and it repeats four times or is 4/4, whatever. Instead of going A A A A, you play A stop A stop, or A E A E.

Going into more difficult techniques or methods is beyond the scope of this blog but for now this method is good especially if you are not a bass playin’ guitarist or want your demo done the way you want it.

Well I hoped you enjoyed my little article.