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Keyboard Phenom Kevin Hastings Integrates Reason into His Writing Rig

Keyboard Phenom Kevin Hastings Integrates Reason into His Writing Rig and Worldwide Gigs with Liz Phair & Rihanna

Reason Figures Prominently into All Aspects of Solo Artist/Sideman's Work

Stockholm, Sweden, April 11, 2008 - Keyboardist Kevin Hastings has had an undeniable fascination with the piano since a very early age. Studying under such prestigious musicians as Arletta O'Hearn, he developed a broad background in both classical and jazz. In 2005, Kevin received a scholarship to Los Angeles' Musician's Institute and graduated with honors in only six months. Fresh out of school, he landed a gigs with Liz Phair and MTV reality star Cheyenne Kimball, touring internationally with both and appearing on many mainstream TV shows. Currently, he's on a worldwide tour with the multi-platinum hip-hop artist Rihanna and performed on this year's MTV Video Music Awards, as well as on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The View, and on the TODAY Show. Kevin has released two EPs to date, Kevin Does Piano Rock and more recently, So Far Off Center. As both a sideman and a songwriter, Kevin integrates Reason into every aspect of his work.

On stage, Hastings finds that Reason is invaluable. "It's so versatile," he says. "In a live setting, it's easy to set up. Hook Reason into your favorite USB controller, select an output, and you are ready to rock! Propellerhead couldn't have made it easier to sound like a rock star! I also use Reason for dialing-in incredible, original synth sounds, as well as playing actual samples live. It's every keyboard player's best friend!"

With Reason's vast library of sounds, it's easy for Hastings to recreate live on stage what was recorded in the studio previously-often by other players. "By searching through Reason's incredible library of sounds, I can find one that is pretty close and then just make little adjustments to match what is on the recording. I can't tell you how many times this has saved me in a rehearsal/live setting when you need to dial up something right away!"

Reason's ReFills are an essential part of the sounds Hastings incorporates into his rack - his two favorites being the Drum Kits and Piano ReFills. "The sounds on those are too amazing to even begin to describe. The layout (of those ReFills) is another big thing. Reason has taken so much time to set up everything in one, easy-to-use Combinator. All you have to do is load the ReFill, select a patch, and play the most realistic drum kit/piano you have ever played from any software company!" As a solo artist and a songwriter, Hastings discovered that Reason's portability made demoing song ideas a breeze on the road. "I've demoed all my songs entirely in Reason using the Drum and Pianos ReFills and a couple of synths. Just give me about 30 minutes in the back of a tour bus and you'll hear what I'm talking about! In fact, I was so pleased with the quality of my demos that I decided to write a short instrumental intro for my EP-also made entirely in Reason."

So what's in his Reason rack? "I use the Subtractor, Malström, NN-XT and NN-19 for all my samples, as well as the DDL-1 Digital Delay Line and the RV-7 Digital Reverb-all running through different line mixers, a master mixer, compressors and finishing up with a mastering suite."

For more info on Kevin Hastings, and to sample some of his musical wares, go to: www.myspace.com/kevinhastings