Saturday, October 3, 2009

Day 275: Novation Launchpad. Hot new dedicated Ableton controller.

Not to be outdone by Akai's much acclaimed APC40, hardware manufacturer Novation (of legendary K-station fame) have released the 'Launchpad' (pictured below).

This is one sweet looking piece of kit. By the looks of it, it has all the scene launch, and mixer controlling features you'd expect, it also look small, light, and easy to use. Naturally it comes with an auto map feature to get you up and running right away, not a lot else you can ask for really.

I would like to see this road tested side by side with the APC40, but coming in at half the price of it's Akai counterpart it, what it lacks in expandability, it could easily make up for in size and economy.

Check the blazing video below that really does make it look a lot of fun!


40/365

p&&l

bang!

Friday, October 2, 2009

Day 274: Finally decent music applications for Pocket PC

So a while back we were whining about how the iPhone was getting all these cool music and DJ apps. What about non iPhone users huh? Well, it seems that someone has been working on that, and finally something interesting sees the day of light.

It's hard to tell the full potential of the app just from the video, but it looks like a fairly solid step sequencer with some built in samples and kits, which is certainly a good start for penning ideas out on the move.

Fingers crossed this is the first of many, and the iPhone crew can wipe that sum grin off their faces.


40/365

p&&l

bang!

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Day 273: How to beat juggle with the Legend Roc Raida

After the recent and tragic early departure of DJ Roc Raida(rip) and in continuation from yesterdays piece about Beat Juggling, I thought it fitting to see how it is done from one of the true grandmasters.

What better way to remember our heroes than to see them at their best, this guy was painfully good.

"It looks difficult, but it's simple". - Yeah course it is ;)




40/365

p&&l

bang!

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Day 272: History of Beat juggling.

Found this video the other day and thought it totally warranted a post of it's own. Basically it's a history of Beatjuggling, and a good look into what is one of the most historic and fundamental techniques of DJing.

Less common these days thanks to the digital age, but back in the day, this was born out of necessity. In a nut shell, if you were DJing at a party, and wanted to extend a section of a record, this was the way to do it. Two copies of the same track, a lot of practise and a good sense of rhythm.

Plus it's presented by the Scratch Perverts, who themselves are second generation turntablism legends.



40/365

p&&l

bang!

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Day 271: Tiesto remix competition.

Love him or hate him, this one is certainly gonna be huge. So huge in fact I'm not even sure I'm gonna enter! The Black Eyed Peas remix comp Beatport held recently had over 1000 entries legend has it. That is some serious competition!

However, for the brave (and the talented) the full details can be found here on Beatport's blog "Beatportal".

Good luck...

(P.S. It's a sucky one too where you have to buy the remix parts, anyone smell extra sales?)


40/365

p&&l

bang!

Monday, September 28, 2009

Day 270: Excellent Drum and Bass tutorial.

Staying on the tutorial tip, here is another fine fellow kind enough to impart their wisdom for our benefit.

What I like about these tutorials is not only that they touch on exactly the areas I like (Electro, Dubstep, Drum and Bass etc) but also that they are actually quality. Some of the tutorials you find on line either are light on the info, or, sad to say the track they are tutorialing is lame.

An added bonus to these tutorials is that they are peppered with good lil nuggets of musical theory which put it all into perspective.

Check out the rest of the site here at Boy in a band, and be sure to check out the rest of the videos, including the one of their brilliant performance on T4.

Mad professor indeed....


40/365

p&&l

bang!

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Day 269: Good Ableton Compression tutorial.

Compression, it's one of the boring, yet essential things. Boring cos we get in the realm of signal levels, ratios and audio peaks etc... however the effect it has on your track/mix is conversely quite exciting.

One of the first things I learnt was that adding compression to a track helps it sit better in the mix, and this it does, tho I never really understood how or why. This video goes a long way to explain that, and is combined with a real world example, which makes it much easier to understand.

Go compress yer heart out...



40/365

p&&l

bang!