Remix Comp: Witch Doktor by Armand Van Helden

Been a while since my last update as I've been on holidays and doing some SonicAcademy tutorials (they are great)!

This classic Strictly Rhythm track should be a dream to remix into almost any genre, looking forward to see how "out there" people can go.... go gabber!:p

Prizes include an official release, Beatport gift voucher and Traktor Duo.

http://www.beatportal.com/feed/item/beatport-presents-the-strictly-rhythm-remix-contest/

Beatport Remix Contest - Yello!!!

For those not in the know Yello are behind the infamous "Oh Yeah" track in Ferris Buellers day off, and now thanks to the samples being made available you can sample it to your hearts content.

The other track of theirs you can remix is Bostich, which I didnt recognise until the guy started yelling and remember hearing it on the Optimo Essential Mix

Yello - Bostich

Yello - Oh Yeah

Hands-on Ohm64

After seeig reviews in my regular magazine buys, I finally got a hands on go with the Ohm64. After 10minutes playing around I know I'm getting it. A bit more expensive than some other similar offerings but read the reviews and decide for yourself.

For me I need the ability to use it with other applications (APC40 and Launchpad only support Ableton) like Traktor Scratch Pro.

Also Ive been interested in seeing how VJing is and the controller comes with the companies full version VJing software.



Livid Instruments
Review between Ohm64, APC40 and Novation Launchpad

Remix Comp: Outlander - Vamp

New remix competition gives you the chance to remix a rave classic. I think the first time I heard this track was on a DJ Hell Essential mix and I remember it was so well placed and reminded me what makes ravey tunes so catchy.

TrackItDown via SonicAcademy

Abletoncourses.com - details and promo code

Loopmasters is promoting a new Ableton education site they are "powering."

From the site

This is what the deal has got in store for you:

Modular Format
Online Delivery
Custom Access 24/7/365
Certified Trainer
Course Notes for every Module
Certificate on completion
Ableton Live 8 compatible

Online forums for discussion
And that's a given. In addition to this modern classroom facility you get yer freebies as well:

Free Novation Bass Station Synth
Over 750 MB of free Royalty Free samples (yes, you've guessed it - from Loopmasters)

Coupon code is LM20 - which gives you a 20% discount off the £149 price

More info click here

SonicAcademy: I have taken the plunge

I recently became an Annual Subscriber to Sonic Academy. I'm going to let you know how well the training and videos go in the coming weeks.

One thing to note, it maybe because I'm in Sydney but the download speeds for the videos are pretty slow so it takes a while to download a course ready for personal viewing.

Currently I'm doing the Music Production Using Cubase and DJing With Ableton Live which I find very informative.

Probably going to upgrade my Ableton to Live 8 Studio in the coming months aswell which should make some things easier.

Tunetorials: Making Dubstep wobble in Ableton 8

Interesting site of Tutorials, worth a look just for the dubstep tutorial, but you can also find other videos and youtube users that create a lot of tutorial videos.



Tunetorials.com and Dubspot.com (US Based training facility)

Simple and to the point....

Interesting little piece... I am compiling a list of books and resources to help people that want to enter some of the remix competitions I've ben posting.

http://www.wikihow.com/Remix

Remix Comp: Serial Chillers - Back Again

New Remix comp for Serial Chillers upcoming EP. Find all the info and samples in the link below.


Via Oh Gosh They've taken Panoramix

Music Radar Tutorial: Making a Prodigy Breathe style bassline

This one is a little old but I found it on the related links to a fwe of the other tutorials I was looking at.


Breathe Tutorial link

Music Radar Tutorial: Chicago Bass sound

Great tutorial on how to make a Chicago Bass sound. Before you think its too loungy or not your thing hear a few of the sounds you can get out of the Synth they are using - TAL-U-No-62. Definately some chip tune or really analog basslines.

Music Radar Tutorial

Synth Site

MusicTech Focus: Native Instruemtns

I just got the Air Freight version and loving it!

If your wandering aimlessly around the super instruments of the industry this is a good helping hand.

Dave Smith Tetra released

The new Dave Smith Instrument has been reviewed on MusicRadar its a great read.

In action


Further info at Dave Smith Instruments

Ableton Launchpad

Just announced new controller for use with Ableton Live. Co-developed with Novation this 64 button would be a delight to use for live gigs as well as studio mash-ups. Available November 1.



For more info go to Ableton

MixedInKey Mix competition

There is two weeks left for a fantastic MixedInKey Mix competition. Submit a 10-15 minute set that inspires listeners to become fans of that genre, takes them on a journey and show cases innovative harmonic mixing.

Sounds hard when you really think about it, especially when the judges include Pete Tong, Markus Schultz and High Contrast. But the reward for top dog includes Komplete 6, Traktor Scratch Pro, a new laptop and lifetime updates to MixedInKey.

Entries close Oct 15th

http://contest.mixedinkey.com/

Tiesto Remix Competition

Beatport presents a remix competition for Tiesto's next track called "Knocked You Out"

More information here

Remix parts here


Via Houseplanet.dj

Remix Competition: Noob & Brondinski

Remix Competition comes from the Turbo household with their latest EP from Noob and Brodinski - Peanuts Club, winners get featured on the Turbo website with a post and an interview.

Competition closes 31st Oct, more info at HousePlanet.


Via Houseplanet.dj

Access Virus Ti2

As you may already know the original Access Virus Ti is an extremely popular hardware synth that is used by many big name artists in genres from Trance to Hip-hop.

With the addition of a new and improved Ti2 earlier this year many people were keen to find out how much better it was than the original monster? Hopefully these videos will give you reason to start saving...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zX-AZeFm-qs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSwiJcQNKxw

If anything the new product will bring the price of the Ti down so that it can be picked up for a bargain price.

Riva Starr Remix Competition

November 13 deadline

Get samples and more information at http://www.myspace.com/rivastarr and http://www.discobelle.net/2009/09/16/riva-starr-made-to-play-remix-competition/

Good Luck

DJ Stands from Melbourne

Pimp out your DJ area with these great stands from dexdjstands.com.au, available worldwide...

http://www.dexdjstands.com.au/dex-2tS-cdj.html

Nice VSTs and Soundbanks from DanceMidiSamples

Nice VSTs with specific genre Soundbanks aswell with a decent price tag, here are links to two of the ones I'm most interested in



More at http://www.dancemidisamples.com/

Game boy synths

I'm a big fan of that authentic Gameboy synth sound. Here are my best finds for getting the sounds for yourself.

http://www.littlesounddj.com/lsd/ - synth and sequencer for the Gameboy

http://www.lowgain-audio.com/ - bought his LSDJMC2 which works a charm, see below. Original design by www.firestarter-music.de/lsdj/



Similar to Low-gain's/Firestarters interface there are these two aswell http://www.komaku.com/e_index.html and http://beatshelter.com/Projects.html

Software emulators (via littlesounddj.com) - Gambatte, VisualBoyAdvance, and there are others.

Sidechaining in Cubase

Quick tutorial that shows you how to implement the ever popular technique sidechaining, to give your track that little extra punch.

Sander van Doorn Remix competition

Since I've only just started this Blog I'm still catching up on things that happened in recent time to make sure your informed.

Future Music mag has a remix competition for Sander Van Doorn running in conjunction with a Feature video on the DVD where Sander reveals some of his signature production techniques... including the synth wind (well thats the best I can describe it) effect he puts in many of his tracks just as the rhythm is about to drop (listen to Club Scene Investigators - Direct Dizko (Sander van Doorn Remix))

The closing date for the competition is 3rd of November. Go to http://www.futuremusic.co.uk/ for more information.

Musicradar.com: Reviews, Tuition and Interviews

Musicradar.com is the child of two of my favorite music production magazines: FutureMusic and ComputerMusic. I mentioned it briefly in a previous post but I believe it deserves a post of its own. It hosts videos, reviews and more on anything thats related to music. From where to find great cheap plugins to reviews of new and up and coming hardware and software.

I cannot recommend this site, and the two magazines, highly enough, they are a godsend for anyone who wants to stay a step ahead of the game.

Here are some of my favorite Articles
How to make a dubstep track with Rusko
How to make a Calvin Harris-style '80s lead synth sound
Ask MusicRadar: what's the best hardware synth available today?

NI Kore 2 Tutorial

Kore 2 is something I want to learn more about, considering NI calls it a "Super Synth." I'm interested to know just what is a "Super Synth?" The tutorial I put up before is a good starter but I really need a deeper look into how it works and what you can do with it, for now its just collecting dust until I work out the individual Synths in Komplete. Here are two online video tutorials I found that seem like the could be good enough to fill in some gaps.

Native Instruments 101: Core NI KORE
Native Instruments 102: Complete NI Komplete

Really hope the put some more Instrument tutorials up, then it might be worth the $25/month


Has anyone done these tutorials? Worth it?

Chip tune and 8 bit samples... with Mario Bros samples

I love the sounds that come out of the Chip tune scene. I eventually would like to make a track that uses a lot of the samples but keeps the standard house/electro feel to it. In case you don't know chip tune is a tune that uses old school gaming systems or samples to make music.

Super Mario Brothers Samples - awesome work by these guys
http://mirell.org/swf/smb_super_synth.swf

Sample CD companies have created specialist CDs for this scene... it obviously saves a lot of time
http://www.loopmasters.com/product/details/143
http://www.samplemagic.com/cd_nurave.htm - some of these samples are used in some harder chip tunes I've heard.

Has Gameboy, NES, C64, Atari and Apple II samples
http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/8bitweapon

Leon Boiler and Sied Van Reil Trance Tutorial

Using Cubase and Access Virus these guys have done a few tutorials that reveal a bit of their production tips. Shaky cam but quite funny to watch the two winding eachother up.

NI Kontakt 3 Tutorials

These official NI tutorials helped me a lot for geting a quick run down of what the app does and how you can use it beyond the normal preset instruments. There are 7 tutorials (in the Related videos section) convering sample slicing, zone envelopes, modulation and more. DanceTech is another author you want to watch.

NI Absynth 4 Walkthrough tutorials

Youtube user: vnknetwork have a tonne of tutorials for this Synth monster



The First Tutorial is here, also embedded above, the rest are in the playlist below the description

Audio Books from Amazon

I love looking through Amazon trying to find the ultimate handbook to creating the dance music I want with the Instruments and DAW I have chosen. While I still haven't found this mythical book I have found ones that would help in certain areas.

Dance Music Manual

Complete Guide Remixing Professional Dance Floor

Remixers Bible Build Better Beats

Building Through Digital Sampling Remixing


I'd be interested to hear any that have helped you.

NI Kore 2 Video

This is a promo video for Kore2 narrated by NI themselves, it also explains its features and what it does.

Link

Massive Tutorials at massive-blog.com

Check these guys out, doing a fantastic job collating a lot of information on Massive, with heaps of tutorials free on Youtube, HQ available for Members and store for patches.

http://www.massive-blog.com/

Youtube "Power" Review: FM8

Beatports Guide to Synthesis

I just added a blog on the blog list for Beatports' Guide to Synthesis. It deals directly with hardware and and software synthesis: what it is and how to use it.

Here are a few of the older ones but essential, hope they keep coming

Introduction to Synthesizer Programming Part 1 & Part 2

Some call it Analog: How Subtractive Synthesizers work

Understanding Envelopes Part 1 & Part 2

SonicAcademy.com teaser

I'm almost certain that I'm going to buy a years subscription to these guys, they seem really good and offer specialist courses that focus on getting a unique sound or the sound of a genre, which if you like 20 or so specialist genres, like me, makes learning and creating a lot more fun and straight forward if you are given the guide on how to achieve it.

Sonic Academy Teaser

Watch out the the poster for this video as it is SonicAcademy themselves

Here is a link to one of their Sounds like courses...
How To Sound Like Tech Trance
How To Sound Like Drum and Bass

Battery 3 upgrade + Tour Video

Native Instruments have an update for Battery bringing it up to 3.0.6, mainly bug fixes

The Tour video gives you a good understanding of what Battery is and how it can be used - Battery 3 Tour Video. Watch out for soundwavescience the poster of the above video as he has some greate videos, I'm still going through them

Iphone apps for making muisc

When I heard about rumours of synths coming for the iPhone, I was really excited, as I spend 3 hours a day commuting I could get so much work done on songs or atleast the skeleton of one.


I bought the 8Bitone app - which seemed like a pretty decent port of an old school synth to the iPhone. Played with it for two days and gave up, without a mouse and the screen size I found this Synth to be more gimmiky than a tool to create a decent track and with the Communist regime governing how you get things on and off your iPhone makes most music production apps seem .


I look forward to other apps such as Steinbergs Cubase iPhone app that instead of replacing the original monster app, it works with it. This is where I see the iPhone's music production future.


What are your thoughts?

Courses: Online, in-person or other

There are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of schools, courses and sites dedicated to teaching music in one form or another. Whether it is focused on a specific instrument or genre there is pretty much a course to suit your every need.

Searching for a good course to learn how to make good, underground dance music I came up with the following groups:



http://www.pointblanklondon.com/ or http://www.pointblankonline.net/ - £595 online, £1595 in person
Pro: Highly regarded and from the free content I've seen probably worth the money, specific courses for producers, DJs and sound designers
Dis: Very expensive
http://www.subbassdj.com/ - £1295

Pro: Highly regarded and specific courses in Music Production and DJing
Dis: No online option, quite expensive

http://sydney.sae.edu/en-gb/course/494/Electronic_Music_Production - AU$3950
Pro: Highly regarded, industry recognised, one course for all you need to know
Dis: Expensive, no online option

http://www.machinemusik.com/tuition/productioncourses.htm - AU$150 Beginners, $450 Intermediate, $750 Advanced
Pro: Cheap and focused course to get you started
Dis: 3 separate courses could get expensive if you need to do all three, courses focus only on DAW's with no alternative for Instruments/Synths/Beats, no online option

http://askvideo.com/ - US$39.99-49.99 per DVD, 3 or 4 DVDs to a course
Pro: Learn at your own pace, cheap
Dis: No chance to have things explained if you didn't understand a topic, no set structure to push you, usually doesn't have a focus on any genre leaving you to decide what you want to use

Magazines (FutureMusic, ComputerMusic, MusicTech,...) - around £5.99 per issue
Pro: Cheap, comes with demo software, industry knowledge and expert tips/guides
Dis: It can take a while to have a specific topic explained, may not discuss your specific product or DAW

http//www.youtube.com or http://www.musicradar.com/ - Free
Pro: Free, learn what you want, usually you can find the same topic explained in a few genres so you can instantly apply the method to your track
Dis: No set structure, no guarantee of finding the information you want


Leave comments on any personal experiences you've had when trying to learn a new bit of software, genre,...

Pioneer CDJ 2000

The recently announced CDJ is the "Dawn of a New Species" that will change the way you DJ. Hop on board the marketing train with these tutorial videos

http://www.mydjspace.com/cdj2000.html
http://www.pioneerdj.com/gear.aspx?product=CDJ-2000&cp=2
http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Products/ProDJ/TabletopPlayers/CD+Players/CDJ-2000

The suggested retail price is US$2150, but you probably wouldn't get too many people buying just the one so it could be a significant investment should you choose to go all in. Hopefully this will drive the price of the CDJ 1000 Mk3s down so that buying the two isn't as big a hit to your wallet.


You have to wonder whether Pioneer are worried about the popularity of Serarto and Traktor applications making the CDJ obsolete. Feel free to comment.

Hello World!

Hi all, welcome to my first blog.

I'm making this blog to help dance music fans, producers and DJ's create and DJ with dance music.

I want this to be a place where people can find information that would otherwise be spread over several sites and promote things that I have found useful on my way to creating great dance music.

Right now all I have is Cubase 4, Ableton Live 5, Native Instruments Komplete 5 and a very limited understanding of each. While it is more than a lot of people have when starting out I have a long way to go until I can call myself a dance music producer.