Brian Donohoe
Brian Donohoe
HOW AND WHY I USE PEDALS WITH MY SAXOPHONE
"I grew up playing keys, guitar, and bass before I ever even touched a saxophone, so I’ve been fascinated with pedals since I was a kid. I always loved the way artists like Joe Zawinul and Andy Summers used effects to turn keyboards and guitars into massive, beautiful soundscapes, and just over a decade ago I started applying those ideas to the saxophone with the bands I was playing in at the time, Snarky Puppy and Moosehound. In Progger I play both keyboards and saxophone, and since I have a full palette of synth sounds at my disposal, I never want to use pedals to fundamentally change the sound of the saxophone, but rather to manipulate, augment, and enhance it. I try to use octaves, reverb, delay, and envelope filters to add layers and permutations to the all-important acoustic sound of the instrument as subtly and beautifully as I can."
Email: progger@proggermusic.com
Check out Brian's Website!
Brian Donohoe was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico, but came of age artistically in the music-rich environment of Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas. A founding member of and early composer for Snarky Puppy, Brian enjoyed a diverse career as a saxophonist, keyboardist, composer, producer, and band leader in Dallas and Austin before relocating to New York City in 2013. He is the band leader and primary composer for Progger whose latest album, Scattering, was released to critical acclaim in 2016 on Ropeadope Records. Brian appears on recordings by numerous artists including Snarky Puppy, Okkervil River, Bill Laurance, Nelo, and many more.
EarthQuaker Devices Space Spiral (delay)
EarthQuaker Devices Organizer (octave and chorus)
TC Electronic Hall of Fame (reverb)
MXR Bass Envelope Filter
Radial VocoLoco (preamp/effects loop/DI)
Here are a couple great videos of Brian playing through two of EarthQuaker Device's cooler pedals, the Space Spiral Delay and the Organizer.
Below are a couple videos from Brians project called Progger: