Saturday, October 10, 2009

Day 282: How to - Smack my Bitch up decompiled.

There are some clever boffins out there on the internets. I have seen videos like this before where they show you the samples used in popular tracks. There is a very interesting one on Daft Punk's One more time doing something similar.

This video focuses on the Prodigy's Smack my bitch up. What I like is that the guy who made it even went to all the effort of printing out the waveforms, and cutting them in the right places etc. That's the kinda attention to detail we like.

This is good also, cos I have always kinda avoided using sampled loops in my own stuff cos I always thought it was a bit "cheaty". However after watching this it reminded me that if you are just copy and pasting them, then maybe so, but if you use them creatively they can still be a valid tool just like anything else.

Check the video out here, and thanks for Matt for the quality find.



40/365

p&&l

bang!

Friday, October 9, 2009

Day 281: How to make a Deadmau5 Maus head!

Yeah man, you can keep your stupid "how to hack your router" tutorials, or how to make a footlong Twix, booooooooring.

What we need is the important stuff, namely how to make your very own Deadmaus style Mau5 head. The guide can be found here on instructibles, but I think it looks snazzy.

Whilst I remember, I heard Deadmau5 lost his new evil black mau5 head while touring. Check out this appearance of evil mau5 here, funny stuff!


40/365

p&&l

bang!

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Day 280: Vestax DJ controllers.

Old timers on the DJ scene will know that Vestax have been around as long as the hills. Originally they were one of the big names in mixers. In time they did make the move into making turntables too, in a bid to take on industry giant Technics head on.

Technics had been making mixers for sometime, so it's an eye for an eye really. To everyone's pleasant surprise what they came up with was actually very good competition for the 1200/10. Purists will have none of it... but that's purists for you. There very existence is based upon uninformed opinion and nostalgia.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaanyways. The point is, that fast forward to today and Vestax seem to have adapted quite well to the days music scene, and the needs of it's musician.

I present you the TR-1 DJ controller. It looks just like one of their good old mixers, with the same quality build... but it also serves as a controller for your favorite DJ software. Nice!

Not much info on it right now other than this list of features from the press blurb:

Features:

  • New soft push switches for tireless mixing.
  • Smooth 60mm slide input faders or high-precision mixing.
  • Selectable deck control (Max 4channels. A&C controlled by PGM1, B&D controlled by PGM2).
  • New SHIFT switch feature to customize deck control functions.
  • Adjustable LED light volume.
  • Can control up to more than 160 parameters of compatible software.
  • A compact, durable and easy-to-operate body design that ensures excellent reliability on tour .
  • Traditional Vestax white gold face plate and knobs.
  • Bundled software: Native Instruments Traktor LE.

Can't wait to hear amore about this bit of kit and the rest of their DJ line. So, anyone tell me what Technics are putting out these days?

40/365

p&&l

bang!

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Day 279: Win FREE tunes for YEAR!

Yes, the mother of all DJ prizes has landed!

So it breaks down like this, one of the worlds most well known DJ music stores online, has teamed up with one of the most well know manufacturer of DJ peripherals and music equipment.

Yus, Native Instruments and Beatport have united to bring you the chance to win FREE downloads for a YEAR.

Entry into the competition is simple, you just have to spend more than 20 £/$ or € in the month of October (easy peasy for most of us right!).

They say that no purchase is necessary, but I know if I want to take part, then no way am I leaving it to a free ticket, and anyway, I got a backlog of tunes I been meaning to buy for some time now...

Those clever Beatport swines!

For more information, and the complete set of rules head over to Beatportal. Good luck!


40/365

p&&l

bang!

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Day 278: Producing Beats...

Lots of talk recently about remix competitions etc, in fact I even touted a site that was dedicated specifically too them... well the same people have just launched a sister site called "Producing Beats" and, you guessed it... it's about Producing Beats.

This is most excellent news as the more resources the better. Even though they have literally just started, the good content is getting posted already. Check it out here and stick it in yer RSS reader.


Easy.


40/365

p&&l

bang!

Monday, October 5, 2009

Day 277: Gameboy synched with Ableton 8

Just a simple Gameboy/Ableton Live hack video for you today, it is Monday after all, we don't wanna think too hard!




40/365

p&&l

bang!

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Day 276: How Music Works

OK, big topic, probably more than I can cover in my usual witty daily dose of wisdom. However I did catch a 4 part series for the UK's Channel 4 the other day that did go a long way to explaining exactly how indeed music does work.

As someone who has had their head buried in Loops, Midi clips and subtractive synthesis for the last however long, it was actually very refreshing to see some good old classical music theory, and to better understand why music does what it does.

To that end, I truly recommend you try and dig this series out if you are in any way into music, and you certainly MUST watch it if you make music. Just watching the first episode I was itching to get back to making tunes after my brain started realising what new things I could try with this different look at how music worked.

It's so easy these days to fire up the sequencer, plug in a 4/4 beat, start keying in a lead riff etc. Watching this however you realise that there is a wonderful spectrum of possibility, and all of a sudden creativity seems to come crashing towards you.

Originally the series was on Channel 4, but if you were to point your favorite Bit Torrent site at "How Music Works" you might just be lucky enough to find the 4 programs available.

Just sayin...



40/365

p&&l

bang!