Yves Frulla
Yves has been the resident keyboard player for Canadian diva Celine Dion since 1990. He has played with Celine to packed audiences in every corner of the globe and recorded three live albums with her. Yves is also an experienced composer and arranger who produced music for television, film as well as numerous songwriters and artists. After five years in Las Vegas for the A New Day show at the Ceasar's Palace, Celine and her musicians are now back on the road for the Taking Chances world tour. Since February 2008 they have played in South Africa, Asia, Australia and major European cities. They will start the North-American portion of their tour in August. We were lucky enough to catch up with Yves on his way to Zurich following a show in Munich.
A Few Words with Yves Frulla
After five years in Las Vegas, how is it to be on tour again?
It's really cool to be back on the road. Although, it's not an easy thing to do when you travel that much but it's great to play for huge audiences. The energy is highly contagious and it shows in our performances. It's also great to know that, even if we haven't toured in almost 9 years, the fans are still there and they have been very supportive.
Is the show very different from the one you were doing in Vegas?
Yes. It's really a 'concert' more than a theatrical production. The music has come up to the forefront again and that's very cool for us, the musicians. The Vegas show was a new concept for a pop show and it brought some cool elements but there's nothing like a real concert for getting some musical energy out there to the crowds. We have put together many more tunes and different arrangements for this tour because the show varies from country to country. All depends on the songs that were popular in a particular country. Also, Celine has a huge French speaking fan base so we also have a French show that caters to those French speaking countries.
In Vegas, you were playing in a theater designed and constructed specially for Celine's show. Is it more challenging now to play in an environment which is changing at every show?
Well, probably for the technicians that need to setup the stage at every gig in different arenas and stadiums. But for us, it doesn't make much of a difference because we use in-ear monitoring so the sound is pretty much the same every night with some exceptions here and there, depending on the size of the room. It might affect the overall natural reverberation. Even if we have in-ear monitoring, we can feel the differences due to the ambiance that is picked up by the mics on stage and from Celine's microphone as well.
What is your current set-up on stage?
I still use my sampler based setup. I have 3 Yamaha A-5000 samplers and added 2 Yamaha Motif ES racks for this tour as I needed some 'synths' sounds readily available that can be programmed and also controlled via some midi controllers. The samplers are loaded with orchestral samples plus some custom samples that I made a while ago for some specific songs from Celine's catalog. I always need to have a certain set of samples ready in case they add some older tunes at the last minute.
I also have 3 Yamaha KX-88 controllers, the original versions. They have been great. I love the feel of the keys and they have been very reliable. All of this is controlled by a central Midi Matrix switcher. It is an old Opcode Studio 5, another great unit. It still is the best Midi Switcher out there for controlling external midi hardware. It is pre-USB so I program it with a older Macbook G3. I have backups of each in case something goes wrong but it's been really reliable so far.
I also use a Roland PK-5 midi foot controller to trigger sounds with my left foot and also a Motion Sound Pro-3 rotary speaker cabinet. I send a mono signal from one of the Motif to it so i can recreate the Hammond organ feel.
Do you carry a laptop and software with you on tour?
Yes I do. It's an absolute must for me. I need a portable setup for some additional sequencing work for the show when it is needed and also to work on my own stuff. I do write songs on the road so this setup has been great because I can stay creative when I have the inspiration. It is based around a MacBook Pro, a M-Audio Fast Track Pro USB interface and a Oxygene 61 USB keyboard. I also have some external FireWire hard drives to record audio on and also to stream some sound libraries. I use Logic 8 as my main sequencing environment. I also have some additional virtual instruments like all of the AAS stuff.
On stage, I’m running Live 6 with Sampler, String Studio, and Lounge Lizard on my Macbook. The laptop is primary my sampler, but it’s also my backup, in case any of my hardware dies mid show. AAS has been invaluable to ensuring that backup is solid. I use a fair number of Wurly and E-piano patches and string/synth layers live. While they’re not incredibly complex, they have a distinct character, and the depth of the String Studio and Lounge Lizard virtual control surfaces has allowed me to recreate them effortlessly.
I know you have been busy lately but did you have time to try our new Strum Acoustic GS-1 synth? What do you think of this instrument?
I just got my hands on Strum. I think it's brilliant! The playability is remarkable. The funny thing is I write a lot for guitars and guitar oriented songs. Just having this instrument to help me get a guitar kind of vibe is tremendous. It requires some learning-how-to-play-it kinna thing but it's well worth it. I also like the implementation of some controllers, like the pitch bend control that can bend only one string. That's really cool. Also, using a model instead of samples enables the user to tweak the sound more and it responds better to velocity variations. It's also low on CPU usage. Can't wait to see an electric version of it!
Thanks Yves!
Live in Hamburg—June 20th, 2008