TV interview from Polish Tour

This was a TV interview in the dressing room after the gig.

I think we may get footage of the concert soon

Back to business

I am now back in business after the long forced summer break

Currently starting to talk with promoters and Hammond about gigs etc.

I am also hoping to arrange a SK Stage Keyboard Demo Day.

We will take an in depth look at the new keyboards and I will pass on a few tips and tricks into the bargain.

I am pretty sure that you will be amazed at what the SK1 and SK2 can do in any scenario, home, studio, stage , part of a MIDI set up etc.

Most of the stuff you have seen on YouTube etc only scratches the surface.
Yes it is ideal for Hammond players wanting to add lightweight 'real Hammond' to the keyboard arsenal but it can offer much more than this.
Come along and find out for yourself.

Before I do this I REALLY NEED SOME FEEDBACK from those of you who would like to attend.
Once I have a rough idea of the interest I can arrange the venue and dats(s)

Cheers
Malc

Back from Poland

Hello ...

Now back home after the 10 day tour of Poland and it was GREAT

My hand help up 'sort of OK' and only needed to use the splint after a long rehearsal and sound check.

The experience was fantastic and I met many nice people and great musicians during the 10 days.

SPECIAL MASSIVE THANK YOU TO MONIKA KRASZEWSKA WHO WAS TOUR AND ROAD MANAGER FOR ME AND PAWEL WEISIK THE AGENT / PROMOTER AS WELL AS THE POLISH HAMMOND DISTRIBUTER / HIRE COMPANY

The Hammond SK2 and SK 1 performed impeccably at all the gigs and sounded very good indeed.
The main show in Warsaw was at a Palace just outside the city and was a great experience even though the hall had a natural 7 second reflection !!! Not so good for tight punchy phrasing but it was fine on the day.

Pałac w Drwalewie



Massive thank you to the band of incredible and talented musicians.. you are the best.
Pawel Dobrowolski 'Drums'
Krzysztof Scieranski 'Bass'
Piotr Świerzbiński `Guitar'
and Jola Lis who provided fantastic vocals on a couple of numbers.

After the show I was presented with an engraved Polish Eagle by the beautiful Fashion Designer Nina Nowak and her husband Jack .. truly honoured.

This was a great experience for me and the venue, audience, band, crew were all brilliant.

Even the sun shone all the way through my tour making a very nice 25C temprature :)








Next stop was the prestigious Blue Note Jazz Club in Poznan.

I am very excited to have played a Blue Note venue.

Big thank you to the band:
Wojtek Świeca - guitar
Bartek Krawczak - drums
Damian Kostka - bass

Different band for this show and this is a very 'Cool Club' Lots of history here and many of the worlds greatest musicians have appeared on this stage.

I decided to use the SK2 instead of the B-3 .. brave I know but it worked a treat and was very well accepted by the audience (:

This young man is called Jacob Mazurka and he came to one of the promo shows with his father who happens to be a very cool Hammond Player
After the show.. Jacob sat down at a drum kit on the stage and started to groove out with his dad. AWESOME duo. Jacob is only 13years I believe but already has a serious amount of soul and groove in his drumming. Great to meet you both and hopefully see you again soon.

After Poznan I did 3 SK promotions in WROCLAW - GLWICE - KILCE and would like to say a big thank you to all who came along to see me and promise to return soon.

In fact i am looking into options for maybe recording in Poland in the near future .. watch this space.

I am back ... (: and off to Poland

Hello .. been a long time.

many many thanks to all of you who have been sending me messages of support and good wishes.

Think I am back now.
Good news is that the wrist is doing well.
Still gets a bit swollen after playing a long session but it is getting there I reckon.

Next week I am on my first gig since the accident back in April.
Off to Poland and kick off the tour on Sunday at the very grand Pałac w Drwalewie in Warsaw then on Tuesday to the Blue Note Jazz Club in Pozan the gigs in Wroclaw Wed, Gliwice, Thurs and finish off in Kieice on Friday.

Cant wait to get back into it.
I have a fantastic Polish band:
Pawel Dobrowolski 'Drums'
Krzysztof Scieranski 'Bass'
Piotr Świerzbiński `Guitar'
and hopeful gust appearances from Kuba Raczyński 'Saxaphone' + maybe some other special guests ?

These guys are the best and recently have been seen with the likes of Nigel Kennedy, Jeff Beck + many more.

I have decided to give the New Hammond SK2 and SK1 an official airing at all of the gigs except the Blue note Club where the New B-3 and a couple of 122's will be the weapon of my choice .. well Blue Note Club gigs = B-3's right ?
Will write more soon and report on my return.

Cheers
Malc

Re: Malc's broken wrist ... Thanks to all for your wishes and support

Malc is going to be out of action for a few weeks due to his broken wrist.

A BIG THANK YOU to all that have sent messages / telephoned etc from all over the world.

It means a lot to Malc to know that so many people are concerned and supporting him and helps keep his mind positive and focused.

Hopefully will be back to normal soon .... Cheers

Back from Frankfurt and the New Hammond SK1 and Hammond SK2 Stage Keyboards

DEMO BOOTH...... MY STAGE AT THE SHOW SK-1 FOREGROUND SK-2 REAR

Well I am now back from Frankfurt after an amazingly successful launch of the new SK1 and SK2 Stage Keyboards.

Day 1 was fantastic and Jon Lord did a great job of officially launching the SK's
Then it was up to moi ! (-:

The demo room was fantastic (pictured above) and was pretty much full for every show.

The new SK-1 and SK-2 keyboards are incredible.
In live performance the ease at which you can select voices layer them or split and zone them on the fly is fantastic.

The sound quality of the VASE III digital tonewheel generator as we all know is awesome and the same as on the new B-3 so you know it will deliver that authentic Hammond sound and feel.

The extra Vintage Keys Voices are equally impressive and I soon found myself creating patches and layers that took the Hammond Player to another dimension without the need of extra MIDI outboard gear.

Everything from 60's Organ BLUES ( it has a great PR40 cab simulator) to FUNK, SLUSHY POP, ROCK PRODUCTION NUMBERS, CLASSICAL PIPE ORGAN PIECES, and HARD HITTING FUNKY CLAV and Hammond Layers were handled with ease. It has a duel effects processor so you can for instance put a flanger on a Clavinet or E. Piano sample and then add a wah wah to the organ sounds. very cool.

I got bored of telling people that we did not have a Leslie hidden somewhere and it was the internal Leslie simulator going through the demo booth straight PA.

The PA by the way was OUTSTANDINGLY AWESOME. We used the HK AUDIO ELEMENTS SYSTEM which was amazing. Thanks to all at HK for installing and setting this rig up for me.
I will write more about this PA system in another BLOG for those who are interested.

Many thanks to all the kind comments I received at the show and in my In-Box when I arrived home. I met many old friends last week and made a good few new ones.

As with all live recordings, the little video we have on the front page of Hammond Organ UK is less than good quality audio but it is not too bad but not ideal.
I will be going in to the studio pretty soon to do a 'proper professionally recorded ' demo of this instrument

You really have to see and hear this for yourself to understand how good it really is.

We were a little unsure about releasing any kind of demo material from the show for the following reasons.....

Some of the comments made on social networking sites etc not just about Hammond but many other instruments really make me laugh ... as most of the time they have not got a clue what they are talking about and waffle on about how they have B's and C's pianos, trumpets, guitars whatever ! blah .. blah .. blah and this doesn't sound as good.

Well excuse me but in our case amongst many ... we are talking about a 7 KG keyboard here which costs less than £1500.00 and if it is good enough for the likes of Jon Lord and many other pros who have ordered one that make a living from playing and performing ... er .. sorry but I am not interested in your narrow minded views. Anyway what kind of speakers etc are you listening on ?? and was it recoded on a mates mobile ?? mr grumpy !!!

Sorry ... had to get that off my chest and as I said this is not trying to protect anything that is Hammond related ...it is about all recordings of live gigs as well as product demos.

These sites are great .... and a offer a huge amount of entertainment and information and I love em. Just the odd person winds you up now and then through lack of knowledge ..

So I urge you when you get chance to listen to it and try it in the flesh no matter what it is .. HAMMOND .. GUITAR .. DRUMS .. BANDS .. GIGS ETC ... and do not rely on internet video to give you a true representation of the instrument .. person or band etc ... But .. you already knew that didn't you ?

There was a nice email in particular from Michel Devos who is a very experienced and respected recording engineer who has huge experience in recording Hammond Organs with the likes of Rhoda Scott, Dirk van der Linden to mention a few.. and I quote:

Subject: your demo at the Musik Messe yesterday

Message: Hi Malc,


Just a few lines to tell you how much I was impressed by your performance, your thorough knowledge of the Hammond and the music in which it shines at his best. Your demo completely convinced me that the new SK is a winner : a perfect combination of the vintage B3 sound and a really nice synth side for other musical genres. In every aspect, the sound is excellent, I expect it will be even better when fed to 3300's. I am myself a recording engineer having worked extensively with Rhoda Scott and Dirk va der Linden, meaning I have a reasonable knowledge of what a Hammond should do...Congratulations to the SK AND you, the winning team.

Kind regards


Michel Devos
Brussels

Thats about it for now.
More on the SK1 and SK2 soon and how it all works.
Few pics from the show below.
Cheers .. Malc



LAUNCH SHOW .. WORLD PREMIER OF THE SK-1 AND SK-2 STAGE KEYBOARDS


JON LORD TALKS ABOUT THE NEW HAMMOND ORGANS AND HOW HE LOVES THEM


MY SK-2 READY FOR THE SHOW
THE MACBOOK WAS ONLY USED FOR VIDEO / PRODUCT SLIDES ETC ON THE SCREEN

I will be at the Frankfurt International Music Show Next Week

see me @ BOOTH 30 HALLE 5.0 WED APRIL 6TH - SAT APRIL 9TH 2011

I am very proud and honoured to have been ask to make the performance for the Exclusive World Launch of the new Hammond SK Stage Keyboard Range

These keyboards 'rock' .. believe me (:
Everything a Hammond Player has been waiting for


I will be joined on the opening day by DEEP PURPLE Rock Legend JON LORD who will officially cut the ribbon so to speak.

If you happen to be at the show please pop in and say hello.

There will be a full in-depth report on this new baby after the show with sound bytes, video BLOG's etc.

Cheers for now
Malc

A few comments on the NEW B-3

I keep getting asked about the authenticity of the new B-3 ... Well these comments taken from one of my media channels from all over the world sort of sum it up.....Thanks to all for your kind words ... Cheers ... Malc

• OUTSTANDING Explanation of the Great Hammond Organ, I have owned and Played Hammond Organs since 1961, Right now I have the XK-3 with a Leslie Simulator, at only 40Lbs You have to Love it, Excellent Sound without the weight, Thanks for a Great Channel Malc ... BobbyD (USA)

• Wonderful Channel, Excellent Playing and Outstanding Explanations.

• Hi MalcDeakin, your DVD arrived today, and I'm very happy with them. Everybody who likes the Hammond organ should see it! Best regards Alfatull

• Fantastic instrument. Saw it brilliantly demonstrated at the Music Show in Dublin, while checking ot the Hammond stand, was great to see!\

• Keep up the good work, heres to Hammond going strong into the future!

• I've been playing for over 40 yrs. I owned a B3 in 1970. I owned a beautiful A100 in 1990. Now, I'm the PROUD owner of the new B3. BEST instrument I have had the pure pleasure to own and play in my entire life.All the New Hammond B3 haters out there....I understand that you don't want to spend or don't have the money to make a quality investment...I love my New B3

• Malc. great playing and bril explanation. I bought one !  More vids please

• I own a 1960 C3 - I adore it, but I'm it's no secret how unreliable the originals can be for giggers, and anyone who disagrees is insane.

• The generator is invincible, but the ageing parts will go wrong soon enough. You can delay it by paying out for a full rebuild, but a stock original B3 is simply NOT a reliable instrument to gig with.

• I would gladly buy the new B3/B3P, except I'm scared off by the price

• Hopefully I will be one day able to buy a B3........I use an XK1...and the organ sound great....but B3 is my dream.......and when I see this new digital B3...wow.....I wish I had one......or a Chopped vintage B3....:)...God bless.....Great job!!!!

• Thanks for the detailed explanation of the tonewheels - I never really knew how the sound was made.

• I'm amazed. Pure astonishment. This organ is fantastic, I'm seeing, as was the original Hammond B-3. I am glad you covered this in an overview such as this.

• I want to see & hear MORE.... Great info here, just need more....

• Good to see something different from boring funk/blues on Hammond  Very Santana-ish

• This is beautiful !! The organ sound is a bit overdriven unlike the other videos, is it connected to some overdrive pedal here ?
  

• VERY VERYYYY NICEEEEEE.

Update on the Kent International Keyboard Show

There is now a 'news' sheet available with all the details of the show
click here for more details


will be with Hammond Organ UK at the KENT INTERNATIONAL KEYBOARD SHOW 5th & 6th Feb 2011

Lots of Jamminn' - Workshops - Free Player Clinics.

Would be great to see anyone that can make it.

Also part of the 'workshops' include "how did I do that"

I am always being asked about the demos and audio I use in some live shows
Well ...... I have prepared some stuff to take you through tweaking your Hammond XK's sound to suite various styles of music.

The little audio player below will give you a taste of what I will be going through on the XK- and Computer based DAW's.
Everything you hear is generated and played from the XK connected to my Mac system.

Learn how I do this at the show. I have chosen 3 iconic Hammond tunes in diverse styles plus a nice little funk riff.

player_mp3_maxi

Cheers ... Malc