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As a music director for tours, I spend countless hours scouring YouTube to see what other touring artists are doing. This leads to helpful lessons in the craft of live performance and transforming recorded music into energetic live shows. Sometimes, I can’t help it that the bassist in me naturally takes over and I only zoom in on the bass parts. One of these moments happened just a few weeks ago, when I was watching clips from the Backstreet Boys and New Kids on the Block arena tour they did together in 2013.
A fair amount of pre-recorded tracks were used due to the pop nature of the music, but the four players in the backup band generated a surprisingly large sonic footprint. I was actually blown away by the arrangements that borrowed heavily from classic R&B and featured chord progressions and rhythms that completely revamped the feel and structure of the album versions. What really knocked me over was bassist Ethan Farmer’s playing and the way his parts filled up much more space than a more traditional approach.
Farmer has also lent his skills to Lionel Richie, Janet Jackson, Christina Aguilera, Babyface, and Patti LaBelle—just to name a few. His signature approach has been apparent on every major tour I’ve heard him on, but in this specific case, it seemed like he wasn’t holding back whatsoever! The notes sounded warm and fat on the bottom, but there were plenty of upper-register, rhythmical pops peppered in with high intensity. At first listen, however, I couldn’t totally decipher what technique he was using.
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