“Climb” from Ka is interesting because you have to remember the slight variations from verse to verse. Things are played slightly different in one spot than in another. You also have to pay close attention to the timing and the arrangement and no one to do the harmonic and the volume swells. This is pretty much as the song is written with a bit of my own thing thrown in at the end. I played this song with a pick to duplicate the original track I heard.
This is taken from a series of videos I shot for a Cirque Du Soleil audition.
This video is “Ephra” from the show “O.” It uses quite a bit of slap/pop style with atypical fingering positions.
This is “Arlequin” from the show “Saltimbanco.” There’s a short slap/pop solo section towards the end and I improvised some two-hand tapping post-solo with some volume swells. This is one of my favorite songs by Cirque Du Soleil as it has a variety of playing techniques and and odd arrangement structure.
“Luna” from Varekai. I used my custom 6-string fretless Carvin for this one.
“TV” from Zumanity. Notice the music director on the click track telling the player when to get out of a certain loop and back into the song’s arrangement. When things like this happen you have to be comfortable getting out of any fill you’re currently doing.
“Body to Body” also from Zumanity. I added some harmonics in the verse which weren’t normally in the recording. This song is all about staying in the pocket and laying back to not step on the vocals.
“O Makunde” from Ka. I wanted to play something to show that I could play and sing. So I decided to punch up a harmony patch on my TC Helicon vocal processor and do some thing simple. Easy bass line with some improvising at the end.
“16-Papillon” from Kooza is a rockin’ song by Cirque so of course I wanted to show that side of myself while showing some bass FX. It’s one of those Cirque songs where you have to really keep the arrangement in mind as it doesn’t repeat things like you’d think. I’d like to thank my room mate, Pin, for adding some accoustic guitar.
“Frevo Zumbido” from Ovo has a cool spanish feel to it. I took the liberty to add a solo in it towards the end that I thought was fun to play along with.
I chose to play “Northern Folk” from the show Wintuk because it had a slight rock feel, would allow me to do some volume swells (which i like doing) as well as doubling some guitar lines in the middle.
“Tundra Ballet” from Wintuk is something I chose because I wanted to cover a variety of shows and display a variety of styles. “Tundra Ballet” has that rock element to it as well as an opportunity for me to do a small solo at the end while displaying the ability to play in the pocket and know when to lay back a bit.
“Mer Noire” from O is something I chose just to show a little more of my slap/pop technique. It’s also a great song.
“Kunya Sobe” is one of Cirque Du Soleil’s early audition songs. I believe they chose it to see if the bass player would play the low E and octave on the same string (making it easier). I believe playing the line on two strings gives it a cleaner attack and overall better sound. I added my own bass part during the breakdown and took the liberty to make a vocal harmony patch as well to do my own harmony part. This is also one of the few songs I didn’t record direct.
“Nos Dejo” from Corteo is a song I chose cause I wanted to play an accoustic bass part. I recorded it in the planetarium but the sound quality suffers quite a bit from it not being recorded direct. Just me, a bass, and an mp3 player.
“Taruka” is a popular Cirque Du Soleil song because it’s bass line is very catchy. I took the liberty to add some electronic percussion when the bass isn’t going and added a second bass guitar for the end of the song to give it that fretted sound using an Mbrace guitar stand holder. I just lightened the sensitivity for the drum pads to respond to my knuckles and ran a duel input for both basses.
I chose “Saltimbanco” cause I wanted to have a song where I could play all the instruments. The song starts off with me playing bass with one hand and a shaker with the other. When the song kicks in I drop the pre-recorded track out and then I take over on all instruments: guitar, drums, keys and bass.
I wanted to do “Superstar II” cause it had that nice retro feel to it while still being heavy and I wanted to play a bit of electronic drums during the break.
“Ants” from Ovo was actually the first song I recorded. I was still trying to figure out the best way to get a good sound recording for these videos which I discovered later on. I added a fair bit of tapping during this song.
This is “Baton” from Ka. It’s a very beautiful song that pretty much has bowing throughout.
This song is called “Klezmer moment” and is from the Corteo show. It’s pretty much finger style playing throughout. You just have to be mindful of the arrangement and timing.
Another upright bass video here. This is “Procession” from Corteo. With this song you have to be good at going back and forth from bowing to fingers. Good times.
