Looking for an epic lead instrument sound that’s a bit different? Consider converting your lead vocal. In this sound design and mixing tutorial, Mo Volans shows you how he used a vocal part as a lead instrument in one of his recent projects. Even if you work with a different DAW or style of music, you’ll find this screencast useful.
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Bondax is definitely a winning duo! Having seen recent smash success with their original tracks, such as Gold, All Inside, and It’s You, these boys are on the forefront of the melodic house movement! With their rise in the music industry being exponential over the last 6 months, MixMag brought the young duo to its headquarters last night to throw down a soulful set of lyrical groove and funky bass lines.
The post [Video Live Set] Bondax in the MixMag DJ Lab (05.17.13) appeared first on PB&J.
Ivory tower, let down your hair.
Make no mistake. The slightly-impossible-to-pronounce acronym CCRMA (“karma”), standing for the not-terribly-sexy “Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics,” is one of the world’s hotbeds for innovation in electronic music. From the lowest-level DSP code to the craziest live performances, this northern California research center nesting at Stanford is where a lot is going on. So, when they put on a concert, this isn’t just another dry exposition of “tape” pieces, academics scratching their chins and trying not to nod off. (Trust me: I’ve … on occasion darned nearly rubbed my chin raw in that scene.)
No, this is a sampling of the state of the art in live music. CCRMA is currently hosting Robert Henke aka Monolake; it’s the school where Holly Herndon is finishing her studies while simultaneously upending the dance music scene, it’s a place where people learn the nitty gritty of sound and then re-imagine how to play with laptops.
And it’s also where another musician is doing extraordinary work – CDM contributor Gina Collecchia. Naturally, we asked Gina to give us a peek so we could live vicariously through her. It’s striking to see that the technologies here run the gamut from simple transducers to vivid generative software structures. People aren’t really so concerned about whether they’re working in low or high fidelity, tens of thousands of lines of code or old-fashioned mic technique; its on to the sound.
And Herr Monolake has been kind enough to let us share ten minutes of that live performance. I heard this duo in Berlin, and it’s stunning in person, but you can get a feel for Robert working live even in the stream. See also Tarik Barri talking about how he does visuals and works with Jitter, at top, courtesy the fine folks of Cycling ’74. Have a listen, have a look, and then get your Google ready for all the artists Gina scopes out below. -PK
Every year, Stanford University’s Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA) puts on Modulations, a concert showcasing some of the best music that comes out of the CCRMA community.
The night was rich with electronic music both danceable and cerebral, and gorgeous visuals were supplied by Mary Franck and Tarik Barri. Visiting professor Robert Henke headlined the event this year, playing under his moniker monolake, with long-time collaborator Tarik Barri manipulating visuals live. Henke is teaching a class at Stanford on composition called “Sound, Structure, and Machines“, while Barri is working with Atoms for Peace.
Carr Wilkerson has put on Modulations since its first year at CCRMA in 2007. The first Modulations was actually in New Orleans and a concert for electronic musicians at Tulane University.
Photo from the 2005 Modulations in New Orleans, LA. Source: Carr Wilkerson
The vision for Modulations at CCRMA was similar: break out of the ivory tower of academia, and connect with the community at large. CCRMA holds many concerts throughout the year, open to the public and usually well-attended, but always on campus either at the program’s building (which, to be fair, is pretty killer) or at the new Bing Auditorium. Modulations is the only event thrown by CCRMA in San Francisco, a city whose music technology community is rapidly growing in many directions.
This was the first year that Modulations ran for 2 nights, April 6 and 7 at Broadway Studios in North Beach, San Francisco. Previously it was held at CELLspace in the Mission District, as well as the Compound and SOMArts. CELLspace recently closed its doors but will reopen as Inner Mission SF.
Both Saturday and Sunday were structured to flow from more ambient, avant-garde computer music to modern live electronica. Kurt James Werner’s piece “First Cyclical Redundancy Check” explored glitches both visual and auditory. He used a technique I call “meta-Jittering” to produce his visual effects, using Jitter functions on the Max patch and MATLAB script GUIs themselves.
Kurt James Werner plays his MATLAB + Max/MSP + Jitter creation. Source: Gina Collecchia
He played on a home-brewed circuit bent Yamaha PSS-270 with some samples from his 2012 album Schism Method.
RVNG artist and PhD candidate Holly Herndon performed with a huge range of live vocal processing techniques for her set, featuring works from her new album, Movement.
Holly Herndon performs with live vocals at Modulations.
Luke Dahl played a live set alongside industrial animations by Mary Franck.
monolake closed the night both Saturday and Sunday, performing Ghosts. He played a large part in prescribing the speaker configuration at Modulations, featuring a large, 4-channel Meyer sound system for the front of house, an 8.6-channel circular configuration of speakers hanging above the stage (adding spatialization via Ambisonics), and 2 monitors on stage. He used an iPad running Lemur and 2 Doepfer MIDI faders to perform Ghosts live.
Downstairs, student projects from the CCRMA class Music 250B were installed throughout the room. These installations were experiments in reverberation, many using transducers to create amplifiers out of the unexpected.
A phone was wired up to a sink to route sound.
Transducers on metal flowers create unique timbres.
Jeffrey Rowell’s “pendulum guitar” magnetically induced amplitude modulation.
“Room in a room” by Romain Michon suspended springs in a hand-welded cart and processed the signal with a Raspberry Pi.
Other artists who presented were Jennifer Hsu, Locky, Fernando Lopez-Lezcano, Mike Gao, Myles Borins, Tim O’Brien, Eoin Callery, Colin Sullivan, Alexandra Hay, and Luke Iannini. SF-based artists Wobbly and Sutekh played at Modulations in 2011. Christina Chatfield and Tarik Barri headlined in 2012.
Robert Henke performs his new work Stanford Dust on May 23 and 24 in Bing Studio on campus, and again with his Sound, Structure, and Machines class at the CCRMA Spring Concert on May 28, at the same venue. Tickets: May 23 ($10), May 24 ($10), May 28 (FREE).
Rudimental haben es mit “Waiting All Night” tatsächlich geschafft zwei Drum & Bass Singles auf Platz Eins der britischen Charts zu platzieren. Jetzt hat ihr Album “Home” innerhalb von nur 10 Tagen nach Veröffentlichung Goldstatus für mehr als 100.000 Verkäufe in Großbritannien erreicht.
Hier das Video zu “Waiting All Night”, das die wahre Geschichte des BMX-Profi und Schauspielers Kurt Yaeger erzählt, dem vor sieben Jahren sein linker Unterschenkel nach einem schweren Motorradunfall amputiert werden musste.
Light shows can get the best of us if you’re partying hard. The new music video “Buzzcut” by Bingo Players brings every raver boys fantasy to life. What happens when a hot girl loses her shit over the combination of … Continue reading
Neosignal goes Electro! Phace und Misanthrop schicken die erste Single für ihr kommendes Album “Raum und Zeit” ins Rennen. Zusammen mit dem genial passenden Video könnte “Planet Online” tatsächlich einschlagen wie eine Bombe und verbreitet sich gerade schon wie ein Virus über die sozialen Netzwerke.
Was haltet ihr von Neosignals Electro-Ausflug?
The 25 year old British-Japanese Producer/DJ, Maya Jane Coles, has dropped off the official video for her single Everything today! Besides being an awesome deep house jam, the song is paired with visuals which compliment the creepiness, which I’m totally diggin’. It’s wonderful to see an artist stay true to what they love; in this case a dark and eery feel, which seems to be the aura Maya usual goes for! Definitely a quality set of music and visuals, look below to purchase the official single!
Purchase: Maya Jane Coles Feat. Karin Park – Everything
The post Maya Jane Coles Feat. Karin Park – “Everything” (Official Video) appeared first on PB&J.
Without fail, there is always a moment during a Boiler Room set where you have to tell your friends about “this dumb DJ going way to hard” or pointing out that “cray chick.” Thankfully, someone had the right sense of mind to compile some of the best of these moments. It covers a lot of sets and hilariousness, but I’m gonna have to say that one clip in particular was left out; Skream giving away the CDJs was the number one Boiler Room event that got people talking.
The post [Compilation] Boiler Room Moments appeared first on PB&J.
Canadian Col. Chris Hadfield, aboard the International Space Station, has done what you would probably want to do if aboard the high-flying orbital outpost: make a music video for David Bowie’s “Space Oddity.” And he works “Soyuz” into the lyrics. (Thankfully, he refrains from making it “Colonel Chris.” The only complaint: a shame it can’t cut between the ISS and Mission Control.)
Colonel Hadfield, if you can hear us and have a moment, we’d love to hear how you produced the recording. Not that zero-g means too much for sound production – though I imagine keeping the mic steady becomes a new concern.
Update – David Bowie band veteran Emm Gryner worked on the track’s production, and she explains a bit of how it came about on her blog:
The task was in front of me. I came up with a piano part. i then enlisted my friend, producer and fellow Canadian Joe Corcoran to take my piano idea and Chris’ vocal and blow it up into a fully produced song. Drums! mellotrons! fuzz bass! We also incorporated into the track ambient space station noises which Chris had put on his Soundcloud. I was mostly blown away by how pure and earnest Chris’ singing is on this track. Like weightlessness and his voice agreed to agree.
May 12, 2013: Space Oddity in Space
Description:
A revised version of David Bowie’s Space Oddity, recorded by Commander Chris Hadfield on board the International Space Station.
With thanks to Emm Gryner, Joe Corcoran, Andrew Tidby and Evan Hadfield for all their hard work.
Find out more:
Twitter: twitter.com/Cmdr_Hadfield
Facebook: www.facebook.com/AstronautChrisHadfield?fref=ts
Google+: plus.google.com/113978637743265603454/posts/p/pub
The astronaut himself also writes his own music, and performed a touching duet with Canadian artists back on the ground, including a bunch of kids and the Barenaked Ladies. It’s especially nice to hear him put in song his feelings about seeing his homeland and getting to work on a space project driven by cooperating nations, rather than competing ones:
Watch the video above as astronaut Chris Hadfield, from aboard the International Space Station, performs “I.S.S. (Is Somebody Singing)” with Ed Robertson, the rest of the Barenaked Ladies and the Wexford Gleeks from Wexford Collegiate School for the Arts, who were all at the CBC studios in Toronto.
The song, which was written by Hadfield and Robertson in partnership with Music Monday, CBC Music and the Canadian Space Agency, explores what it’s like to look down on the Earth from outer space. It will also be the official song for the 2013 edition of Music Monday, which takes place on May 6.
Whether in orbit or on the ground, I hope we remain in a music community that still believes in the future, that Space is the Place.
Kaskade has gone back to his deepest roots and DAMN are we excited about this progressive regression! Many people were caught off guard last Friday night when Kaskade played a tracklist that was barely recognizable to the single-minded audience. The It’s You It’s Me Redux Tour has gone off without a hitch for Ryan Raddon, but the fans might be feeling otherwise if they were expecting a similar experience to last year’s Freaks of Nature Tour.
As many experts are predicting, this is the next wave of EDM to take over, so get excited as PB&J™ leads you forth from the front!
The post [Live Set] Kaskade in San Diego (05.03.13) appeared first on PB&J.
Marc Houle, 1/3 owner of Items & Things, collaborates with Miss Kittin to bring us an EP that will make our heads spin. Houle has been known to take minimal techno and really chauffeur it to the weirder side of things, using live equipment that gives his productions a certain pizzazz – this EP is set to be no different. Miss Kittin leaves a trail of techno legacy with her as well – starting her career off in the early 90′s and helping shape it with her projected use of heavily-accented, demonic voices over bass heavy techno beats. As if this EP could get any bigger, it will be containing remixes from the likes of Dubfire, The Maths and John Foxx!
As the anxiety continues, mark your calendar – May 24th!
The post Marc Houle & Miss Kittin – Where Is Kittin? EP (Official Video Teaser) appeared first on PB&J.
We’re constantly being asked by Serato DJs who have recently discovered Traktor and want to give it a shot about the best way to easily move their library across without having to start all over with cue points, BPM information, and so on. The good… Read more
This month’s episode of Klosmania starts out strong with “Bad Guy,” Gregori Klosman’s latest collaboration with Tony Romera. The new track features a drop classic of the Dirty-Dutch Parisian. The rest of the track selection features new songs from a multitude of big names out there including John Dahlback, Knife Party, Michael Brun, and even the legend himself, Cirez D. Klosman has a knack for finding heavy electro tracks including “Show,” a track by fellow Frenchmen, Dim Chris, out now on Mutant Records via Beatport.
Give this new mix a listen, and if you like what you hear be sure not to miss Gregori Klosman live Thursday, May 16th at Cielo in NYC, brought to you by Dance.Here.Now.
PLAYLIST
1. Gregori Klosman & Tony Romera – Bad Guy
2. Chuckie vs Dzeko & Torres – Down To This
3. John Dahlback – Nuke
4. Dim Chris – Show
5. Knife Party – EDM Death Machine
6. Joey Suki – Kitchen
7. Sebjak & Marcus Schossow – Liceu
8. Delayers & Acti – Fusion
9. Dirty South feat. Joe Gil – Your Heart (Michael Brun Remix)
10. Burns – Limitless (Arno Cost Remix)
11. Dannic – Viper
12. Cirez D – In The Deep
13. Alesso vs One Republic – If I Lose Myself
The post Gregori Klosman presents KLOSMANIA n°23 appeared first on PB&J.
This video provides a small glimpse into what is supposed to drive the dance music scene. NOT THE MDMA. NOT THE NEON FASHION. NOT THE LIGHT SHOWS. THE DANCING IS WHAT IT’S ALL ABOUT. Toyboy and Robin deserve a proper big-up for keeping it real and serving up such an awesome little tribute to dance music along with seriously smooth house track.
Uk flavor in tow, the track has nice vocals that build up to a damn good second bass line. Watch the video, take some notes, and go get your jump style or shuffle together for the summer!
Purchase the track here: Toyboy & Robin – Jaded (Original Mix)
Shout out to Toyboy and Robin!
The post Toyboy & Robin – Jaded [OFFICIAL VIDEO] appeared first on PB&J.
Creator Paul Vo shows off his instrument. From a distance, it looks like a conventional guitar. But it does things a guitar definitely can’t do. Image courtesy Chris Stack.
It’s been a long time since we had a new hit like the electric guitar. Amidst the wonderful explosion of innovations in electronic instruments – digital and analog – the sound possibilities of acoustic and electro-acoustic instruments seem to have gone largely dormant.
This is the guitar that hopes to change that. In fact, its creators don’t even call it a guitar, preferring instead “Acoustic Synthesizer.” Asheville, North Carolina’s Paul Vo, he of the Moog Guitar and Moog Lap Steel, wants to give guitarists unprecedented control over the timbres they play, both experimental and traditional, vastly expanding the range of what a guitar can produce.
And with just days remaining in the crowd-funding for the project, it’s the perfect time to look at this instrument. The Vo-96, dubbed with a name that sounds more like a Russian rocket designation than a guitar, really does open new chances to shape the sound of the vibrating string. But it’s much easier to watch and see what that means than talk about it. So, the project backers have aided CDM with a massive set of documentation in video for you to ogle.
We could use a few words. Chris Stack of ExperimentalSynth.com, co-organizer of the crowd-funding campaign, sends us a description that gets to the meat of what the Vo-96 can do with sound:
There are 6 presets – two using all string harmonics, two using only the even harmonics, and two using only the odd harmonics. There are 5 different modulations you can apply: 3 harmonic arpeggios, acoustic tremolo, and an evolving random harmonic motion. Each preset, and each modulator within each preset, is adjustable for intensity, speed, rate or duration. and harmonic balance, which is a slider between low harmonics and high harmonics.
All of these sounds are shaped by what a physical guitar string can produce – because it’s the actual vibration of the string being changed by the Vo-96 that makes the different sounds. For this reason, all the sounds inherit the character of the guitar the Vo-96 is attached to. So it depends on your reference point: If you are comparing to any other acoustic guitar, there are reams of interesting and useful timbres.
The sounds are only one aspect of it, and are not meant to compete with keyboard synthesizers. The real reason for owning and playing a Vo-96 equipped guitar is in the realism of the experience. The synthesizer sounds are real – they are just as acoustic as any sounds the strings of a guitar have ever produced. What you feel at your fingertips and with the guitar against your body is the same sound you hear in your ears from the instrument.
That’s the key to it, the thing that makes it a completely unique experience compared to anything else really: The Vo-96 creates an acoustic instrument having definable and modulate-able timbres. You play it for the same reason you play an acoustic guitar instead of an acoustic guitar patch on a keyboard synth: It’s real.
Debuting first on CDM, here’s a video that looks at that power: “Andre Cholmondeley (performing artist [Project/Object, Delicious] and guitar tech Adrian Belew, Al Di Meola, Steve Howe, Greg Lake) explores modulating harmonics on the Vo-96 Acoustic Synthesizer.”
Futuristic instruments tend to be dependent on amplification and power sockets. Not so here. Vincent Crow busking in Asheville with the Vo-96, completely unplugged. Thank the optional battery.
But let’s go all out here. With Chris’ help, we’ve got a 360-degree look at all this thing can do. Starting at the beginning, here are the videos that launched the instrument and its Kickstarter crowd funding campaign:
Specs:
12 physical sensoriactuator channels, 2 per string
96 virtual channels of harmonic control, 16 per string
Capacitive touch interface with LED status indication and lock-out
Power, harmonic blend and note duration touch-sliders
Adjustable modulation effects with instant preset save/recall
6 quick-change presets in 3 sets of 2 using odd, even and all harmonics
3 harmonic arpeggios unique to six presets independently triggered on 6 strings
Hex random harmonic modulation with average rate and amplitude adjust
Hex Tremolo with separate triggers per string and rate touch-slider
Bluetooth Wireless connectivity for firmware updates and TBD advanced features
No moving parts – built to last as long as your guitar
Attaches and removes without marring your guitar
Designed to run on optional internal battery power or external power adaptor
Optional 4/hr advanced LiFePo4 battery with integral charging
Hardware platform has large uncommitted resources for firmware expansion
And videos answer still more questions.
Why does this matter, historically speaking?
What’s it like when you first pick it up? (Al Petteway, Richard Smith and Vincent Crow answer that with their first hands-on impressions.)
Tyler Ramsey, guitarist for Band Of Horses, also gives it a play:
How is it different from just playing a guitar – or a keyboard? Answer: it opens up new hybrid playing techniques, containing elements traditionally associated with either a keyboard instrument or string instrument, but not normally both at once. Here, Chris shows off an improvisation with a “musical setting with piano arpeggio, guitar recorded through its built-in piezo pickup and processed with a digital delay synced to piano arpeggio.”
There’s still time to get onboard the crowd funding campaign.
The Vo-96 Acoustic Synthesizer by Paul Vo
Got questions for Paul you’d like answered – from the specific to deeper questions about instrument design? Let us know.
More videos go into greater details. First up, an extensive demo by the designer himself:
And, just for kicks, a quick iPhone video showing harmonic arpeggiation:
And because you kids love it so much, a Vine video:
When it comes to iconic DJs, Tiesto is definitely at the top of that list. It seems every brand wants his face and legacy attached to their product, and understandably so. The latest company to make a deal with the superstar artist is Acer, who recently premiered their latest TV spot which features Tiesto in it.
The commercial shows Tiesto’s assistant Vernon using the Ultrabook to organize the schedule for Tiesto during work hours, but then Tiesto uses it during his show. Wait a minute… Doesn’t every cool DJ use a Mac?! My entire life is a lie!
The post Tiesto Makes Cameo in Acer TV Ad appeared first on ElectroJams.
Some epic fan videos from Dash Berlin’s Washington, DC debut at Glow at Echostage.
What is trap music? For everyone that just got introduced to trap, heard it for the first time, thugged out to it at the club unknowingly and maybe just chilled to it… WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?
If you are searching and wondering where the hype came from, and what all this “Damn Son, Where’d you find this” business is, Certified Trap is just the documentary for you. Produced by Clubtapes, it is a documentary outlining the newly fused EDM branch of bass music. Trap uses its dirty south origins and gives it a new electronic twist, which proves its reaction in many studios.
Reason 7 works better with the outside world, thanks to mix groups, much-welcome external MIDI support, and audio slicing, among other improvements. Image courtesy Propellerhead.
Reason 7 is available now, in the full version, upgrades, and entry-level Essentials editions. You can download the new release right away – including, intelligently enough, as a torrent for downloads even if Reason users get overexcited. (Cough, Ableton. Hope you’re paying attention.)
There are lots of improvements, but the banner features are clearly integrated slicing and external MIDI sequencing.
Those features have been a long time coming. The ability to sequence external MIDI gear seems a no-brainer for a tool with so many great sequencing tools and robust MIDI input control support. And integrated audio slicing is, oddly enough, something Propellerhead was instrumental in advancing through their REX format and ReCycle product. What you get in Reason 7, though, in exchange for the wait, is an implementation that only Propellerhead could pull off.
Reason 7′s external MIDI support, for instance, has extensive integration with the slick modular capabilities integrated in Reason. We covered that in depth with Propellerhead in a preview:
When Reason Met MIDI Out: How MIDI, Virtual CV Work in the New Reason 7 [Pictures, Details]
I’m covering the slicing workflow today:
Reason 7′s New Tools for Slicing, Stretching, Retiming Audio: Q&A, Tutorial Vid
The other good news is that Reason 7 works with any Rack Extensions you’re adding. After all, Propellerhead promised that Rack Extensions would provide deep integration but forwards compatibility – so when you update Reason, all the extras you’ve added work, too. Propellerhead tells CDM that all currently-available Rack Extensions do indeed work with the new release.
Third-party developers are saying the same thing. Producer and developer Peff posted via his Facebook page that he’s happy with compatibility with the new release:
Buffre and Directre are both running stable in Reason 7. No code updates required = Propellerheads are awesome!
Rack Extension forward compatibility appears to deliver, as you’d hope. Legendary developer Peff posts visual proof of Buffre and Directre working in the new release.
What else is new:
New visual EQ.
Pricing:
$449/€405 for the full Reason 7 release; $129/€120 for Essentials. Essentials owners get the new release free. Reason users can upgrade to 7 for $129/€120.
Obligatory videos.
Human experience is weird; it’s full of wonder – and it’s also full of fear. The sounds, for me, should also evoke that.
Jad Abumrad
From reading online, electronic music as a scene seems in a nasty sort of malaise, ranging from existential angst over everything from genre popularity to gender issue crises and pessimistic views of any new technologies. Maybe it’s time to return to why you’d want to make weird noises in the first place.
This is just a teaser for The Pleasure of Sound, a forthcoming documentary that follows Jad Abumrad and Matthew Dear for two days of music making. But the couple of quotes here for me speak to why we’re involved in this field. Jad Abumrad, the Tennessee-born composer and journalist known best for his work on WNYC’s adventurous Radiolab program, says it best, above.
(I may be biased, reviewing Jad’s bio. I was also born in the south – Kentucky – and I’m also of Lebanese-American descent and the son of two doctorates. I even had my first introduction to electronic music at Oberlin College. Funny how these things can go in parallel. I can be a Radiolab fanboy, though.)
I thought back to Abumrad’s quote last night, listening to stellar live shows by NHK’Koyxen, Holly Herndon, and Laurel Halo. Each of these three artists manipulated sounds into the dream worlds Dear and Abumrad describe in the teaser, even against the frame of danceable rhythms and drum machine conventions. Somehow, in those odder and otherworldly timbres and compositions, I hear something that I can’t express any other way – not in words, not even in my head, deeper feelings that only music can turn into sense.
When music and sound give you pleasure in ways that nothing else can, then you know why you’re doing it. I can’t wait to see the film.
From WDET Detroit, which also has an amazing-looking series on the connections between Berlin and the Motor City.
In this video tutorial, Mo Volans covers the subject of mastering. He approaches the topic from a different angle to his popular 2010 post, How to Master a Track in 15 Minutes or Less, showing one way he approaches the mastering process.
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In this tutorial we will look at a free sample plugin called Shortcircuit, and how we can use this plugin with shaker samples to build a multilayered shaker patch. We will look at cutting up samples and setting up the plugin in Reaper, but these techniques will work with any DAW that supports VST plugs.
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Noah Lennox, also known as Animal Collective’s Panda Bear, stars in the fifth installment of The Collaborators, which chronicles the creation of Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories. Lennox details his experience of finally working with Daft Punk and his unique … Continue reading
Record lovers are salivating at this image. For the rest of you, it’s RoughTrade’s storefront. (CC-BY-SA) Ewan Munro.
If someone were to buy you a shopping spree, letting you roam free to stash anything you wanted in your cart, you could do worse than winding up with Schneiders Buero, the Berlin-based music gear boutique. And for records, the wonderful RoughTrade in London would easily be a top pick.
Let’s combine them.
That’s what happens in a new series of Schneiders Buero videos, as the man Mr. Schneider himself takes to the aisles of one of the world’s best-known record shops – and his own in-store corner full of musical creations.
Getting on to some specific gear demos, we see the futuristic, retro, and everything in between.
The VXXY DCM8 is a new 8-bit “chip music” drum machine, recalling Nintendo and FM sound chips of the past. The London-based creator gives us a look. I have to say, even with all the gear out there at the moment, this may be one of the more desirable boutique drum machines on the horizon; we’ll be on the lookout for its final release.
The young lads of AlphaSphere are back with their big orb of pads, looking like something from the set of Doctor Who:
We’re in England, but that doesn’t stop some major Berliners from showing up. Legendary musician Wolfgang Seidel stops by for an interview to talk about doing live performance with an array of cassettes. (This is not just dull press-play business – think Ableton Live, as made in the 70s with tape decks.)
The Volkstrautonium is a newly-invented remake of the classic Trautonium. I was fawning over this at Musikmesse; it’s a beautiful instrument to play. It comes along for the London trip, and we get a closer look at this 30s-era imagination of an electronic instrument for the home. As Moog once said about his instrument, and as is often said of the Theremin, part of the idea is making vocal-style sounds:
I hope this is a regular feature at Rough Trade. Time to hit the easyJet website and see you fine folks soon.
Record Store Day is over and done with, but, really, that can be every day, no? And it’s nice to see synths and records come together, the physical manifestations of the music we love. The Internet is great (hello, Internet), but sometimes, there’s no substitute.
Alexander Chen is turning into Google’s resident composer. In his latest experiment, he uses the controversial-but-buzzed-about Google Glass wearable tech as a video source for making music. Layering together a series of loops of his solo viola playing, he weaves a contemplative, modal composition. It’s a sort of overdubbed chamber ensemble in video. (The spare, parallel writing is to me reminiscent of a Copland string quartet.)
There’s nothing here that couldn’t be done with a head-mounted camera, but perhaps that’s the lesson. In our camera sensor-filled lives, a big part of the design statement Glass makes is the vision of a point-of-view video, seeing the world digitally as if through our own eyes. And there’s something a bit intimate about seeing the instrument, as his kid wanders around the room.
Thanks, Alex.
http://work.chenalexander.com/
Previously:
Bach Cello Suite No. 1, Visualized in Sweeping Arcs, and the Math Beneath
At Music Hack Day, Amidst Listening Interfaces, Novel Performance Control a Winner
Music Made with NYC Subway Schedules; HTML5+Flash, Q+A with Artist-Developer
In this video we will look at some tips and tricks for mixing live sound. We will look at managing the low end as well as utilizing tools to help clean up a bumpin’ mix.
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Trippy video for a trippy song. Smokey Robotic falls close to the land of farfetched, especially when it comes to their overall presence. Consisted of group members Seer, Father Dude, Illmind and Konrad Old Money. The quartet gives thier tune Gandhi a psychidelic twist on the visual aspect, and on the auditory side… simply give it a listen.
In celebration of the Pretty Lights announcement, we have decided to throw up a music video to fill the PL void. Slated to drop on July 2nd, the album will be titled “A Color Map of the Sun” and will be available… FOR FREE! Oh you gotta love Pretty Lights for that.
Dont miss out on the merch/swag sale. Amazing deals for a package of PL stuff that accompanies the album launch.
Forthcoming off of Bibio‘s album, “You” presents to us a really smooth, yet tastefully cut up tune that sent me to my “Summer Happy Place” for the duration of the song. Referring back to the album snippet we featured a few weeks back, “Silver Wilkinson” is shaping up to be one bad-ass album, this song speaks for itself!
Forthcoming off of Bibio‘s album, “You” presents to us a really smooth, yet tastefully cut up tune that sent me to my “Summer Happy Place” for the duration of the song. Referring back to the album snippet we featured a few weeks back, “Silver Wilkinson” is shaping up to be one bad-ass album, this song speaks for itself!
Forthcoming off of Bibio‘s album, “You” presents to us a really smooth, yet tastefully cut up tune that sent me to my “Summer Happy Place” for the duration of the song. Referring back to the album snippet we featured a few weeks back, “Silver Wilkinson” is shaping up to be one bad-ass album, this song speaks for itself!
Forthcoming off of Bibio‘s album, “You” presents to us a really smooth, yet tastefully cut up tune that sent me to my “Summer Happy Place” for the duration of the song. Referring back to the album snippet we featured a few weeks back, “Silver Wilkinson” is shaping up to be one bad-ass album, this song speaks for itself!
Forthcoming off of Bibio‘s album, “You” presents to us a really smooth, yet tastefully cut up tune that sent me to my “Summer Happy Place” for the duration of the song. Referring back to the album snippet we featured a few weeks back, “Silver Wilkinson” is shaping up to be one bad-ass album, this song speaks for itself!
The long awaited announcement from Pretty Lights has finally come — Derek ‘Pretty Lights’ Smith finally announced the release of his latest album, A Color Map Of The Sun. Excitement does not come close to the emotions of Pretty Lights fans … Continue reading
From the good ol’ days of hardstyle, Showtek was (and probably still is) known to be a dutch duo that literally is a force NOT to test. Having played a series of some of the most influential events in the dutch “hard” scene, most notable “Sensation Black“. Showtek have revived their sound to the ever so shifting eletronic music scene… also known as EDM if you are fresh on the scene. These boys dont rest… take a gander through their Qlimax videos.
With a fresh take on music, the Showtek sound has slowed down to a more comfortable 130 bpm range, which still incorporates their saucy anthem leads and heavy hitting quirky breaks. HEY! is a prime example of such a production. Now its time to let the masses judge, and from the momentum… it seems that there are no problems. HEY!
This is part of a series of quick tips on mixing and mastering. They work regardless of the style of music and DAW you are working with. In this tip, we look at how you can quickly improve your kick using layering and frequency-dependent sidechaining.
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Have you ever wanted to mix in a greater variety of tempos into a set but were to afraid to screw up the mix? That is the case for many DJs, new and experienced alike. Dropping songs of different styles and tempos can be scary territory but potentially rich with reward. Now with digital technology we have a wide variety of tools. many of which can help bridge the gap between songs of various tempos while keeping the blend smooth and natural. In today’s article I will cover 5 mix techniques that will help you do just that!
Today’s article was inspired by a readers letter:
I have a friend that asked me if I would DJ a fashion show for her….Upon receiving the playlist the first thing I saw was that the BPM’s were all over the map! Songs went from 125 to 94 to 78 back to 100 and so on. Aside from completely reworking the songs in Ableton or just doing a quick fade I’m at a bit of a loss as to what else I can do to make these transitions somewhat natural. Any suggestions?
Phil
Thanks for the email Phil! It inspired me to put this video together and share 5 of my favorite tricks for blending hard songs together. Do you have a DJ challenge you are facing? Tell me in the comments and perhaps that will be the next video.
From the DJTT interview vault, we’ve got an interview with the Russian-German producer behind last year’s album “Clarity”, Zedd. We used our time with him to talk about how he approaches song writing and production – watch the full thing inside!
Zedd’s album “Clarity” was a huge success last year, and with continued collaborations with some of the biggest names in electronic music he’s likely to see continued success. If you enjoyed some of the tracks in the video, they’re available for download on Beatport:
Want to reach out to Zedd directly and ask your own questions? Holler at him on Twitter, @Zedd
What if you could do more than just consume music as a passive listener?
It’s a question that has fascinated musicians ever since the dawn of digital technology. Now, a very big label is releasing an app that provides an answer to that question. Ninja Tune – and, crucially, founder Matt Black of Coldcut – are going to mobile platforms with an app that does far more than simple remixing. It can let you radically transform some of Ninja’s artists, even going in a direction that might be considered instrumentalism. CDM contributor Matt Earp has been quiet in these parts in the last months partly because he was contributing to the project. He and the developers give us an exclusive look inside the process of making this app and what it means.
And don’t miss the making-of video; the final app as it ships is built in OpenFrameworks and libpd.
Venerable independent UK electronic music label Ninja Tune have launched Ninja Jamm, their first music remix app, in collaboration with London-based arts and technology firm Seeper. It’s been created (for now) for iOS and it’s filled with tunes and loops from Ninja artists. Seeper have produced the “making of” video above that tells the app’s story, and both organizations answered some of CDMs questions below. It’s live in the app store as you read this and free to download, so grab it while you finish the article!
Ninja Jamm is basically a smart but simple remix sequencer that users can load up with “tunepacks” from Ninja’s catalog – all purchasable through the app. These tunepacks are tracks broken apart into a 4×8 matrix of clips, 8 each for drums, bass, and two more (melody, keys, vox, FX) depending on the tune. Most clips come from the original tunes, but some extras have been added to round out the bill. Users can turn instruments on and off, swap between clips, glitch them out, add effects like reverb and crush in a number of different ways, trigger the “Coldcutter” for beat-repeat action, trigger and pitch-bend stabs and one-off samples, and even change the tempo of the track. “Jammers” can record what they’re doing as they mix and instantly upload the whole thing to SoundCloud when they’re done. It packs a fairly dizzying array of sonic options into a small screen, but you’d expect nothing less from creative director Matt Black, one half of Coldcut – Coldcut did give the world “Beats and Pieces” and are synonymous with the cut and paste aesthetic of large swaths of electronic music spanning their 25+ year career.
Matt Black and Romin Aliabadi‘s video takes us through the various functions of the app
It’s an ambitious project for a record label to make something this complex, and while Black is familiar with writing a line or two of code, he’s far from a iOS developer, and Ninja Tune is far from a software development house. Enter Evan Grant and Seeper – he and his team have done multi-touch interface, projection mapping, and interactive design for some of the biggest names in the world – BBC, MTV, Ted, Xbox – It seemed like a natural fit, but there were challenges. Grant: “We’ve worked with major music labels before and put sound design and music at the core of all our installation and event projects. We develop hardware and software all the time, but this is the first time we’ve released a public mobile app.” Apple’s design specs are rigorous even for the most experienced team. A video of a prototype of the app in the hands of Amon Tobin surfaced last summer, but concerns about stability and a desire to keep making it even better kept it from launching then. Still, hard work and a relentless desire to fix a bug list a mile long prevailed, and the team received approval from Apple a few weeks ago.
Matt Black on the app’s inception and what’s under the hood:
“The concept’s genesis is in software created for [Coldcut's] 90s projects such as Tonetrakker, DJamm and the Let Us Play software. For the 1997 ‘Let Us Play’ album, Coldcut and Hex released a free CD-ROM including our first mixing software ideas like My Little Funkit and Playtime. These let the user swap between loops, fire samples, and randomly cut them up. In 1998 we made a more controllable 4 channel loop glitching engine for our live shows, called DJamm. We got a deal with Steinberg to release it, but we never finished it – though we did release the glitching shuffle algorithm as the Coldcutter VST plugin.
When we met Seeper I was just getting into creating software again, and the App Store/iPhone were changing the whole software business, opening it up to independent operators. Evan already knew the space well and Seeper seemed like great partners to collaborate with to do something. So I knocked up a demo using Ableton and a Launchpad for a mixer app, and at the same time long time Seeper collaborator Christian Curtis had created a MaxMSP patch which cut up loops and also had a brilliant waveform interaction mode. So we mixed those two together as the prototype. However, Max wasn’t the right choice for the final implementation, and eventually we found Ed Kelly, who heroically converted it to a PD patch, itself a work of art.”
“There were other contributors in there as well – Ariel Elkin of Arivibes lent a hand building out the store, which was surprisingly tricky. The lion’s share of the non-audio code was written Chris Bradley and Andy Wallen, the main hackers at Seeper, and they deserve special commendation for their unflagging efforts.”
Black and Grant gave CDM a run down on some of the app’s essential details:
When’s the launch?
Today! April 11th, 2013
How much is the app?
It’s free to download and comes with 1 free tunepack (Beats and Pieces 3). You can purchase single tunepacks for a launch price of £0.69/$0.99, or “EPs” of 4 tunepacks for £1.99.
What tunes and artists will be included at launch?
Will there be new music released for the app after launch?
Yes, new tunepacks coming every 1-2 weeks. An exclusive track from Luke Vibert is in the works as well as the mighty “Witness” from Roots Manuva, and tunes from Emika, Mixmaster Morris, Slugabed, Raffertie, Lapalux, Shuttle, Toddla T and many more Ninjas. Possibilities for themed packs and artists from beyond the Ninja fold are also on the horizon.
Do artists receive any royalty from the downloads?
Yes, artist receive a cut when jammers buy the tunepacks.
What’s the audio format?
44k 16 bit for ultra high quality sound.
Can users export or share the jamms they create?
Yes, they can upload to SoundCloud at the touch of a button, then share on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, or wherever else they can think of!
How did the Seeper/Ninja Tune partnership come about?
Evan Grant: We’re all Ninja fans at Seeper so when Matt and I started talking about a collaboration it was really exciting. It was clear we shared a passion for innovating with interactive sound and vision, and we agreed there was a need for a next generation jamming app.
Why launch on iOS, and are their plans to release on the Android platform?
Matt Black: You have to hand it to Apple, their introduction of touchscreen mobile computers has been a real game changer. iOS is the most mature development environment and Apples App Store system helps get us and the artists paid. We do love multiculturalism and will support Android as soon as we can earn a few bucks to pay for the conversion.
What were some of the major technical hurdles you faced, and how did you overcome them?
EG: The audio engine is built in ‘PureData’ and run’s on mobile courtesy of ‘libpd’. The user interface is built in C++ using Openframeworks with the store developed in device native Objective-C”. The downside of this approach initially was performance. Using open source libraries results in a overhead, a lot of time went into resource and speed optimization throughout the app.
MB: Yes, the choice to use PD was at least partially inspired by the enthusiasm the CDM community has shown for it. Using open software like OpenFrameworks is inline with everything we stand for. Unfortunately, whilst PD is a fine and useful construction kit, it’s not that efficient as code, so Ed had to work very hard to get the PD core audio engine to handle the playing and processing of 4 stereo channels with fx. PD uses 32 bit audio so it takes double the memory of 16 bit samples, again not very efficient.
Did working with Lossless / high quality audio present any problems?
MB: Yes, many apps use mp3s or 22k audio. Being DJs and music heads, we knew we didn’t want to compromise with the sound quality, so we held out for 44k 16 bit uncompressed. This means content takes longer to download than an mp3, but the end result is far higher quality, and you can actually play Ninja Jamm in a club on a big sound system and hear your work properly.
What are the plans for the project after launch? Forthcoming features you hope to see in future releases?
EG: We’re working with Ninja Tune to align with new releases, so lots of cool new content will be available. We see this as the start of a genre of ‘jammboard’ apps using the ‘tunepack’ format.
MB: Yeah, we have a feature list a coupla metres long already. The no.1 feature for us and everyone else is the ability to load your own samples, but this could conflict with the business model which is centered on saleable Tunepacks, so right now we’re thinking about it. Sync between different copies of the app would be fun. Vol controls for each channel should be possible. If we can get a decent community of jammers who get what we are doing and buy enough packs to support future dev, we vow to keep on with maximum effort and never surrender.
Where can users go for info on updates?
ninjajamm.com will be our main hub – It will feature charts of mixes created by Ninja Jammers that have been uploaded to SoundCloud, as we expect the community and competitive aspects of NJ to be important. Also the Facebook page and Twitter feed should keep you up-to-date on all the news.
Following our preview of Korg’s upcoming Nintendo eShop synth, here’s the one and only, incomparable CardiacTrance all the way from Japan to show it off.
Trying to tell someone there’s a Korg M1 for the Nintendo handheld doesn’t really do this justice – or even make intuitive sense. But it is actually good news. Somehow, the combination of sequencing features, transforming the game system into a workstation, with the silly-small design makes the result more than the sum of its parts. And in the hands of a producer/musician, they become a lot more. Modern gaming, game music aesthetics, and some re-conceived retro ingredients turn into something new. I can tell you that running across this amidst the world’s biggest music industry show is refreshing – it’s something other than what the rest of the industry is doing. Gonzo hipster Messe coverage continues as this week goes on… (insert hashtag hipster Messe here…)
This is part of a series of quick tips on mixing and mastering. They work regardless of the style of music and DAW you are working with. In this tip, we look at how you can quickly improve your kick using multiband parallel processing.
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It’s only been a few hours since Youtube sensation, Jack Conte, uploaded his newest video and already its attracted a metric ass-ton of acclaim…and he deserves every bit of it. Using just a Launchpad laid atop a flatscreen TV, the San Francisco-native, who is one half of indie music duo Pomplamoose, masterfully mashes up tracks from two of the biggest names in electronic music; Daft Punk‘s “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” and Skrillex‘s “Rock N’ Roll (Will Take You To The Mountain)”. As if having the balls to even attempt something like that wasn’t enough (let alone completely knocking it out of the park), he adds even more wow-factor by showcasing some of his other talents with synched-up visual sequencing across both the TV and the controller. The whole thing is just an amazing display of creativity and skill. Check it out and be sure to go watch some of the other awesome videos on his Youtube channel. (Especially his remix of Thrift Shop, which features a Launchpad-playing robot.)
The post Jack Conte Mashes Up Skrillex/Daft Punk & The Results Are Incredible appeared first on ElectroJams | Electronic Dance Music Blog.
Daft Punk’s mini series, The Collaborators, surrounding the highly anticipated release of Random Access Memories, has debuted its second episode featuring sample maestro Todd Edwards. Edwards explains the West Coast vibe the French duo has elected to channel in their … Continue reading
For all video game enthusiasts and occasional console players, this video from “Francis” (Youtube user: boogie2988) gets an Aerialnoise 5 out of 5 chainsaws award for verbal damage. With the content being non music related, it is still worth the watch nonetheless. Playstation 4 – all the way baby!!
Straight the fuck up. That is all one could say when they hear the sounds from Dope D.O.D // “Millennium Falcon” is the second song taken from the forthcoming album, ‘Da Roach’ by Dope D.O.D. The video was shot in different locations around the world and references different movie styles. Set in the past present and future the video is another example of why the Dutch Hip Hop collective are taking the Hip Hop world by storm.
The video reminds me of space set video games fused mad scientist gore horror films with a splash of Skyrim… on some “heavy bass soundtrack ish”
On top of that, their upcoming album “Da Roach” packs quite a punch. 18 mind rattling tracks with the production likes of Noisia, and Maztek. Collaboration artists enlist an all-star roster starting with Onyx, Sean P, Goldminerz, Kool Keith and the world famous Redman!
Ultra released their very special “Thank You” video in honor of their 15th festival celebration. This year, Ultra was viewed by over 10 million people! Pretty incredible right? If you didn’t get a chance to take part in the live … Continue reading
“I don’t usually have a preconceived theme for an album before I start making one, to do so would perhaps feel like a restriction further down the line, one that might inhibit natural creative flow and get in the way of new ideas” – Bibio on Silver Wilkinson
With that said, we truly believe Bibio’s “Silver Wilkinson” album will be an essential summer listen. The album is due to come out May 14th on Warp Records. Upon taking a quick listen to the sampler, we discovered that Bibio truly encompasses an array of musical genres. Juggling styles, and even engineering techniques to which your ear can can wrap its self around, this album leans towards a truly enjoyable listening experience.
Silver Wilkinson Tracklist:
01. The First Daffodils
02. Dye the Water Green
03. Wulf
04. Mirroring All
05. À tout à l’heure
06. Sycamore Silhouetting
07. You
08. Raincoat
09. Look at Orion!
10. Business Park
11. You Won’t Remember…
We’ve been waiting for an expert demo video of Traktor DJ that really shows off the performance capabilities that the app offers, and it looks like Native Instruments has found the perfect man for it. DJ Shiftee, who has shown his chops in scores of Traktor and Maschine videos in the past, takes the app on the road to perform around town, on a train, and even in a club as a third deck in his Traktor Scratch Pro setup.
In particular, watch out for some clever uses of freeze mode and multi-touch effects – it’s inspiration to anyone who feels like DJ applications can sometimes feel stale and formulaic.
For more info about Traktor DJ, watch Ean Golden’s review or learn more on the iTunes App Store
