Baba O Riley

Dave the Knife · Post by **Dave the Knife** » 29 Mar 2014, 17:25

Hi everyone

Here is a one shot intro for Baba O Riley. The Nord editor places a limit on the size/time length of the sample, therefore it fades out a few bars after the drums come in.

rababoreilly.mp3

I cannot take credit for the superb work of making the original backing track. I found it on You Tube and thought it was too good to be forgotten. The full work is below at the link . I simply downloaded it converted it to .wav, edited it, and converted it to .nsmp

I dont feel I am breaching the original author's copyright/whatever, as his intention was for people to download from YouTube and use as backing tracks. I have simply changed the format.

We are stuck with the limitations of the software we are given by Nord. Maybe someone here can do it justice and get the full track onto the Nord. Beats me. ( Lots of other stuff by The Who there as well)

Look forward to hearing how you get on

Regards to all.

Dave

Post by **pablomastodon** » 29 Mar 2014, 18:55

Personally, I'd rather do a bad job of trying to actually play something than a good job of holding one finger down on a sample displaying someone else's work...that feels too much like simple karaoke to me, some kind of Milli Vanilli thing.

And the actual Baba O'Riley program here on the forum is really, REALLY good. Makes it possible to do a creditable job.

Just my two sense,

Pablo

Post by **shark** » 31 Mar 2014, 14:19

Woah Pablo! Tell us what you really think...

Whilst I agree with you on the principle there are instances where the piece you want to play is too complex to reproduce on stage and if you do try you risk of disappointing especially with an intro like Baba O'Riley's.

So sometimes a good sample is better than a bad reproduction. And this sample surely is good.

If I am not mistaken even the Who used a sample during their live shows, an other example of great musicians who make use of samples live is Rush. I hope you don't accuse them of doing Karaoke.

My two CenTs...(centavos).

Post by **pablomastodon** » 01 Apr 2014, 07:12

Perhaps I may be forgiven for that bit of frustration ventilation. You see, I live in Florida, a place where much too much of the live music scene is populated by people who run backing tracks on computers, hardware sequencers, mini-disk players (still!) and/or iPods and then perform alongside the canned noise.

Shark, you are of course correct on both counts. Some tunes are quite complex, and many big name acts run with canned tracks onstage.

Nevertheless, given Maxpiano's excellent NS2 program, tweaked nicely by DJKeys, I'll prefer to see/hear someone accept the challenge and spontaneity of trying to pull it off well live (and perhaps blowing it) to playing back a canned sample...

Pablo

Post by **shark** » 01 Apr 2014, 10:17

I hear ya Pablo, I too get irritated by all those neo-musicians with their oversampled music and kaospads.
Samples can add to the performance if used in the right amount and with good taste.

I listened to maxpiano's demo of Baba O'Reilly and whilst I think he did a good job I believe it sounds really thin and quite different from the original (I believe Pete Townshend used a Lowrey organ with repeat function to achieve the sound - see link below). So in my opinion it really falls short of expectations, to me Baba O'Reilly has such a seminal intro that either you do it just right or better leave it alone.

Besides it's for the stage so not very useful to electro users.

shark

Post by **pablomastodon** » 01 Apr 2014, 20:48

Hi Shark,

Your closing comment has me sorely tempted to make some tongue-in-cheek reference about electro users compared to stage users, especially since it's April 1, but that might be dangerous!

But yes, someone with an Electro as a single keyboard rig will have a real problem pulling off Baba O'Riley without resorting to the pure sample route.

Perhaps Max's version isn't quite there (which he readily admitted when he posted). DJ's tweaks assisted with that somewhat, I think. And yeah, it's a seminal tune. But after watching the youtube vid reference (thanks for that), I searched Baba O'Riley and found a live version done by Pearl Jam. They managed to pull it off without keyboards at all. From all appearances, the audience didn't seem to mind. I just think that sometimes people get so lost in detail that they may lose sight of the intended feel. And for me it's more about the feel. If I want to hear the intro exactly as performed on the record, I'll go home and play the record, but I don't want to criticize someone for trying to pull off the same thing in a different way (unless of course they butcher it!). To me, it's kind of a shame if The Who's audiences demand such perfection that the band is forced to use samples which are more than a minute long to deliver studio recordings onstage. I say let 'em play!

Bless,

Pablo

Post by **DJKeys** » 01 Apr 2014, 23:40

I agree with Pablo, it is more about feeling. When my band played the song using the patch I updated from Max's, the audience loved it. Not a single person noticed or cared that the arpeggios behind the main one were not note-for-note, or that the main arpeggiated sound was not exactly the same as on the recording. As long as the spirit of the song is captured, that is the main thing in live entertainment.

My guess is the Who would most likely do it differently today, but I seriously doubt they would use samples or backing tracks.

-dj

Post by **shark** » 02 Apr 2014, 10:05

DJKeys wrote:
My guess is the Who would most likely do it differently today, but I seriously doubt they would use samples or backing tracks.

-dj

Well DJ we're all entitled to our opinion, however we cannot change history just to fit our arguments.

Allow me:

For some obscure reason known only to Pete Townshend the fact is that the Who has always performed Baba O'Riley to a backingtrack of the Lowrey organ part. He probably didn't know much about playing live or capturing the song's spirit, he just wrote it.

My educated guess is because in the seventies they had no keyboard player (duh!). However later they did hire a keys man but all he ever played on the intro were the "complex" piano powerchords see link below at 0:48. Wow he looks really concentrated - must be hard to place the chords exactly on the backingtrack! (sarcasm intended).

So the mystery why they didn't actually PLAY the full intro remains.

In any case your band seems to be doing a better job at covering BOR than the Who themselves, possibly because they had no Nord keyboard and the patch? No sarcasm intended.

Post by **DJKeys** » 02 Apr 2014, 17:28

I never saw this video before and was completely unaware that the Who did the song with the backing track.
My statement quoted above was an opinion, not a statement of fact, as I had not done any research. It does surprise me though.

The song goes over in public, the band is happy, the audience is happy. That is the most important thing.

Appreciate the clarification, Shark-

-dj

Post by **RedLeo** » 10 Apr 2014, 06:50

Sorry for the out-of-date reply but I'm currently enjoying a well-earned holiday Down Under

The reason the Who never play or played it live is very simple - it was actually created using (or abusing) the auto arpeggiator system on the Lowrey organ (using, I believe a Marimba sound setting). So it was never actually played by hand in the first place. If you want to play it by hand, you're a braver man than me! Good luck

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