Hip Hop - Don't Stop - 5 Classics

A random collection of my fav Hip Hop tracks for your pleasure and comment...





Jeru The Damaja - Da Bichez

Righteous rasta Jeru meets DJ Premier for shimmering ode to ermmm...bitches. Whatever you think of the sentiments Jeru has a cool lopsided flow but it's Premier's narcotic sleazy backing, based on a snippet of The Crusaders sauntering "Whispering Pines", that steals the show, I love the shimmering cymbals. The main sample is at 1.12 but the subtler shivery verse sample is at 2.49.







Pete Rock & CL Smooth - The Basement

Named after the dank cellar Pete Rock used as his studio this really does sound like an off the cuff funky jam but is in fact the usual intricate mixture of clashing ambient sounds Rock is know for during this period. Heavy D steals the show with his angular but swinging rant. Riff sampled a classic ragga song below.






Da Lench Mob - Freedom got an A.K

Ice Cube found the perfect mix between punk rock piss taking and massively funky disco in this monster production for the Mob. He also wrote most of the lyrics so after this career peak i suppose Anaconda was just around the corner...Check out the original groove from Jimmy "Bo" Horne's "Dance Across The Floor".





Jungle Brothers - Jimbrowski

This quirky non to subtle track about a giant penis is one of the simple unsung pleasures on the Jungle Brothers excellent first album. Related to De La Soul but sparser and more zany its lasted better than the better known 3 Feet High and Rising. Based on the massive drum riff from a cool Funkadelic track.







Cannibal Ox - Scream Phoenix


Prog Rap? These guys were reasonable rappers but it was the eery futuristic backing which put them over the top. Along with Philip Glass these guys also sampled Yes and made it work, no small achievement.














"Hip Hop - Don't Stop - 5 Classics" > read the full post

Logic 9.1.2

So, it's out , and wow, that's a lot of bug fixes! Just run Software Update....

About the Logic Pro 9.1.2 update

This update improves overall stability, provides numerous fixes and improvements, and is recommended for all users of Logic Pro 9.

Some issues addressed in this update include but are not limited to:

Performance and Stability

Logic’s performance while playing movies at larger than 300% native size in 64-bit mode has been improved.
Resolves an issue that could cause the warning dialog “Memory Getting Low” to appear when simultaneously recording multiple tracks in 32-bit mode.
Resolves an issue that could cause the warning dialog “Specified volume doesn’t exist -35” to appear when simultaneously recording multiple tracks in 32-bit mode.
Using the Undo command after a "Bounce in Place" command now correctly reinserts used plug-ins on the channel strip.
Performing Undo after using the "Bounce - Replace All Tracks" command now correctly restores all automation.
Resolves an issue that sometimes caused Logic to stop responding when loading a setting for a mono plug-in in a multi-mono surround configuration.
Compatibility

Improves compatibility with 6- and 12-core Mac Pro systems.
Supports iOS control surface apps that utilize the OSC protocol.
Supports REX files when running in 64-bit mode.
Improves compatibility with select Audio Unit plug-ins.
The expanded System Performance window now accurately reflects the number of available real cores on all supported computers.
Logic no longer inadvertently reloads the content for third-party sampler plug-ins such as Native Instrument’s Kontakt after tracks are deleted, or after some other edits are performed.
Resolves an issue introduced in Logic 9.1.1 that could cause the spacebar to incorrectly trigger playback in Logic while the Melodyne plug-in window had focus.
Logic Control or Mackie Control hardware control surfaces no longer switch to plug-in edit view when a plug-in on slots 8-15 is removed.
MIDI Editing

Resolves an issue introduced in Logic 9.1 where using the Marquee tool to trim the end of a MIDI region could extend the number of loops for regions earlier in the same track.
The Piano Roll now updates as expected to show the currently selected MIDI take.
Resolves an issue in Logic 9.1.1 which could cause the Score to not display all notes from a region that had been split with the Scissors tool.
The appearance of downward slurs and ties has been improved in the Score window.
When pasting MIDI events into the Arrange area, the playhead no longer jumps unexpectedly to a position far to the right of the end of the pasted content.
Instruments and Effects

Amp Designer now reliably maintains saved non-default EQ settings when a project is reloaded.
The Wah Wah stompbox now responds more reliably to expression pedal input.
EXS24 loads and plays back instruments that use short AAC or ALAC audio files when Virtual Memory is disabled.
Corrects an issue that could cause the “Next Plug-in Setting or EXS Instrument” key command to change settings on the wrong plug-in.
It is possible again to copy and paste sequences between Voices within an Ultrabeat pattern.
A Software Instrument with a Send set to Post Pan no longer loses audio output when the Aux it sends to is soloed, and the Software Instrument’s pan is adjusted.
Software Instrument tracks with the AUNetReceive plug-in no longer exhibit excessive latency.
The Noise Gate no longer creates audible clicks while processing audio with the plug-in GUI open.
Double-clicking an insert slot will close the associated plug-in if it is open and set to Link Mode.
In the EXS Editor, a mouse roll over of an audio file name now displays the full path for the file.
The EXS Editor now properly displays all Groups even those that have the same name.
File Handling and Management

Resolves an issue which sometimes caused the text after a period in a plug-in setting name to be lost on the first save of the setting.
Resolves an issue from Logic 9.1.1 which forced exported MIDI files to have a .logic extension rather than the .mid extension.
Import of folder tracks from other projects now works reliably.
Bank and Patch names in Multi-instruments now import correctly when using the Track Import feature.
Resolves an issue which could cause the Track Import window to become non-functional in certain rare cases.
Import of stereo Input Channel Strips from other projects now works reliably.
It is again possible to drag split stereo audio files from the Finder into the Arrange window.
The mute status is now maintained for tracks imported from other projects using Selective Track Import.
The “Export Region as Audio File” and “Export Track as Audio file” functions now add tempo information to the exported files.
The EXS24 now automatically locates samples stored in a folder inside the Project Folder that have any of the following names: “Samples,” “Sampler Files,” “Sampler Instruments,” or “Audio Files.”
When a project is opened from a project folder that has been copied, EXS24 now loads samples from the copied location instead of the original.
It is now possible to drag and drop an AIFF audio file copied from a CD into the Audio Bin in the Media area of the Arrange window.
The project name is no longer truncated if a period is added to the project name when performing a Save As for the project.
General Issues

Resolves an issue where applying a crossfade with the crossfade tool might affect existing crossfades on the same track.
A marker is no longer created unexpectedly when the Open Marker Text command is used.
The relative movement of the mouse when editing multiple automation nodes has been improved.
The mouse pointer no longer incorrectly shows the Freeze pointer when editing volume, pan, send, mute or solo automation on frozen tracks.
Help tags for the Marquee Strip now show the correct range.
Soloing an Auxiliary channel strip whose source is a Bus from another Auxiliary channel strip now works as expected.
Copying a MIDI region on a ReWire track no longer creates an unexpected new track.
Cutting a region at a point earlier than the anchor at high zoom levels no longer causes the region to move unexpectedly.
Plug-ins now open with Link mode enabled when they are invoked by entering Plug-in edit mode on a remote control surface.
When a channel strip is muted, pre-fader sends on the channel strip are now muted as expected.
Reordering multiple Control Surface objects in the Control Surface Setup window now behaves more reliably.
Performing comp edits while recording will no longer create graphic artifacts in the Take Folder.
The behavior of the key commands to adjust Marquee selection borders based on transients has been improved. See this article for details.
There is no longer audible stepping with automated volume changes at low fader levels.
Touch automation mode now works correctly with Sculpture's Object Position 2 parameter.
Quantize parameters are now correctly maintained when a region is divided.
The vertical position guide when moving/copying a flexed region is now correctly positioned at the left edge of the region in projects that start earlier than position 1 1 1 1.
The Optimize file(s) command now properly affects both channels of a split stereo file.
Delete now works properly on selected regions within undisclosed groups in the Audio Bin.
Resolves an issue introduced in Logic 9.1.1 that could cause channel strips with default names to display incorrectly on EuCon control surfaces.
The “Reset All I/O Labels” command once again works as expected.
Regions dragged from the Audio Bin to tracks within folders in the Arrange window are now correctly positioned.
Contextual menus now appear as expected when Control- or right-clicking entries in the Audio Bin in the Media area of the Arrange window.
Performing Undo after adding tempo events to a project no longer inadvertently modifies the selections for the active comp in a take folder.
Regions with a negative value set for Delay in the Region Inspector are now rendered properly with Bounce Region in Place.
Bounce Regions in Place now works properly on record-enabled audio tracks.
The current scroll position in the Audio Bin will not jump unexpectedly after renaming an audio file.
The color and icon assigned to a track are now properly maintained when tracks are imported using Selective Track Import.
Using the Backspace to remove all characters in the File Browser’s search field no longer causes it to lose key focus.
Imported linked stereo files will now load with all other audio files in a Project without sometimes displaying a dialog that states "Unequal Stereo Regions Corrected."
The MIDI channel number is now appended to the channel strip name when new tracks are created using the “New Track with Next MIDI Channel” menu option.

"Logic 9.1.2" > read the full post

Nothing to do with audio....

Click here...

Use the arrow keys to move around, and the spacebar to shoot.... Perfect for Dirty Singh to remove all the Counterfieter posts!

(Also works on most other web sites - right-click to copy link, go to your website of choice, paste into the browser and press Enter)

For the curious...

javascript:var s = document.createElement('script');s.type='text/javascript';document.body.appendChild(s);s.src='http://erkie.github.com/asteroids.min.js';void(0);

"Nothing to do with audio...." > read the full post

Free Public Lecture - Robin Millar on Producing Vocals

The artofrecordproduction.com are holding a free public lecture by Robin Millar (Google him - seriously!). Read on for details........

The London College of Music Research Centre presents...

Making Records Lecture Series

Robin Millar talks about Producing Vocals

Thursday October 28th at 6.30p.m. in TC102
London College of Music, TVU.
St. Mary’s Road. Ealing W5 5RF

Recording a singer is often the toughest part of making a record. Grammy and Brit Award winning producer Robin Millar has over 150 platinum, gold and silver records to his name and has recorded 44 number one hits including Sade’s Diamond Life album. In this free public lecture Robin talks about his strategies and techniques for getting the right performance from a singer and the best ways to record it. Drawing on his huge experience from an extraordinary career, Robin will use examples from his own productions to deliver a lecture that will be invaluable to aspiring producers, sound recordists and performers alike.

Entry Is Free, Just Come Along…

How to get there.
(Part of the Faculty of the Arts’ Creative Practice Research Project)



"Free Public Lecture - Robin Millar on Producing Vocals" > read the full post

The Jam

The LSS jam night is back in effect...




A small clip of the latest jam session in studio 2, featuring some guest players from the groovy Bambus City Strut and the inimitable "Wolfman"...




maningrey




"The Jam" > read the full post

The Vestax Pad-One MIDI Controller

The Vestax Pad-One is a new MIDI pad controller that can be used to control any kind of MIDI device, including syntehsizers, samplers, drum machines, and electronic drums.

Pricing and availability are TBA. Read on for more details, and to watch the demo..........

Features include:

• 12 velocity & pressure sensitive LED backlit pads
• Individual LED colour for each bank
• MIDI message for each pad can be selected with the Pad-One
• Real time control XY touch pad
• Solid aluminium die-casted robust chassis
• Full control of ROLL button tempo with the TAP button
• MIDI cable connection for control over various effect and sampler devices
• USB plug & play
• Excellent portability

"The Vestax Pad-One MIDI Controller" > read the full post

Free Drum Samples

MrTheBigMan has released a new free drum sample library, E|Drums 2.0, which features "drums, drums and more drums dedicated to all types of electronic music."

The library features 318 free drum samples altogether, divided between two different sound sets: foley (110 samples), and synthesised drum sounds (208 samples). You can download it from MrTheBigMan's site in different formats.



"Free Drum Samples" > read the full post

Space Designer Manager for Logic

3R Audio has introduced the first version of Space Designer Manager - an add-on designed to extend the usability of Logic Pro's Space Designer impulse reverb plugin....

Space Designer Manager consists of 2 parts:

• On the left side, you find the Generator which batch generates setting files for Space Designer compatible impulse responses. You can process single impulse response files, folders or multiple selections as you wish by drag and drop or the open file dialog. The program will process all files in folders and folders in folders with the format aif, wav, sd2 and sdir.

• On the right side, you have the Relinker, which relinks setting files with the impulse responses they were originally pointing to by selecting a setting folder and the according impulse response folder. Relinker lets you choose the right file if there should be any files with the same name.

Space Designer Manager uses Keyfile protection. Its Preferences Drawer lets you set various options for the pst setting file generation. You can decide if you want to use volume and latency compensation or not, and also set the wet/dry levels. The Help Drawer gives you instant information with a single click without having to open a help menu or separate help file. Check the 3R Audio site for more details, and a demo version.

Space Designer Manager is available now for 29 Euros (about £25) until January 1, 2011.

Minimum system requirements: Apple Intel based Mac computer running MacOS 10.6, 1Gb RAM, Apple Logic.



"Space Designer Manager for Logic" > read the full post

Seaquence - "an experimental musical petri-dish"

Adopting a biological metaphor, Seaquence lets you create and combine "musical lifeforms" to create compositions. This is a short demo showing how it works:



Project by Ryan Alexander, Gabriel Dunne, and Daniel Massey.

So addictive! Try it out here.





"Seaquence - "an experimental musical petri-dish"" > read the full post

Free Drum Machine for Windows

AREX 2011 is a free VSTi drum module, based on a hardware drum machine from the early 80’s......

Features:

• 16 pads
• 29 embedded drum samples of RX11
• 12 individual/group outputs
• individual volume, pan, accent
• assignable MIDI note within 36 – 99 range
• VST automation
• MIDI automation of essential controls
• 16 part multitimbral MIDI Out flow
• can be used as a MIDI controller of sorts
• bundled with RX11 MIDI swing templates and 55 demonstrational patterns

Download it from the Bayan site by clicking on the drum machine image.


"Free Drum Machine for Windows" > read the full post

Zoom for Audio

While browsing round on boingboing.net, I spotted this - a new system called AudioScope, that uses an array of 300 time-aligned microphones to zoom into any area of a sports arena....

Not much more in the way of details, but check out this vid!

"Zoom for Audio" > read the full post

%$@& OFF

People are annoying, as anyone caught in Monday's tube strike can attest, however one type stands like a colossus over all other beings when it comes to getting on ones goat..THE MUSICIAN!





Below is a list of things all musical people do which cause mental pain for us normals. "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone"...OK then:


Other members of a band who are not the singer mouthing the words to songs as they play.


Playing covers on London Underground to "entertain" commuters who look like they want to stab them.


Using words like "passionate' and "spiritual" when they talk about music.


Arriving late.


Saying they have no interest in money before selling all the tracks from their concept album about the Holocaust to advertise Special K.


Saying that "every other studio they have been in" lets them run over time without charging extra, eat flaky pasties over the mixer and order everybody about like they are their personal slaves...well fuck off to those studios then!


Having tattoos and torn clothing despite being neither a sailor or poor.


Playing expensive instruments despite being unable to strum an A chord.


Customising said expensive instruments to make them look older and more played..just play it doosh bag.


Testing out guitars in shops.


Saying they like "all music".


Saying their music is "hard to describe", it isn't, it sounds like Coldplay.


Saying they sound a bit like "Jamiroquai", like that's a good thing.


Pretending to be interested in politics and other people.


Pretending to be younger than they are.


Going on and on and on about how much they worship Bob Dylan, Bob Marley, Bobby Womack and if American, Bob Smith (The Cure).


Jamming in E.


Saying "what's wrong with a heavy blues jam?"


Saying music is "not about the technique but the feeling..maaan".


Conversely sending you videos of someone playing Mozart's Requiem on a triple neck sitar at 500 bpm like this is anything to do with music.


Having dreadlocks or saying "aks" when they are not black, street or in anyway rasta.


When successful appearing on Jools Holland.


"Discovering" someone you have listen to for years and droning on about them in the NME.


Being Damon Albarn.


Having hair and glasses like Morrissey.


Saying that music is "a universal language".


Closing their eyes when playing or singing.


Saying they have "connections" or "contacts" in the industry...they don't.


Saying they will produce you if you give them the publishing for all your songs.


Asking how to make their music "louder like on records".


Covering classic deathless songs so badly you wish to stick a screw driver in your ears every time you subsequently hear the original.


Wearing Misfits T-Shirts when they don't like the Misfits..who does?


Telling engineers to make their guitar "sound more purple".


Indie musicians who start listening to jazz and classical music and let this "influence" their "new direction".


Inviting you to their gigs.


Asking you what you thought of their gigs.


Making terrible music no one wants to hear, while the world slides towards capitalist totalitarian world government and the planet dies screaming.




maningrey



"%$@& OFF" > read the full post

Mixxx - free, open source DJ software

If DJing is your thing, it might be worth checking this out.....

Mixxx is free, cross-platform DJ mixing software. It works with most standard DJ controllers, including the Hercules DJ Console MK2, RMX, and Stanton SCS.3d, but also has a MIDI learn feature, allowing you to use almost anything you like.

It also has support for Traktor Scratch, and FinalScratch vinyl, as well as Serato CD for control from CDJ units.

All in all, looks pretty promising. Head here to check out the rest of its features and to download..

"Mixxx - free, open source DJ software" > read the full post

SonicWORX Isolate

Interesting find this - sonicWORX have released their Isolate software, that can extract the vocals from a mix.....

There's a few vids of this in action on YouTube - here's one at Musik Messe from last year, which shows them separating Peter Gabriel (but making him sound oddly like he's vocoding a pan pipe)..

But this shows them using the software to remove vocals....

Interested? Head to their website and try out the demo...

"SonicWORX Isolate" > read the full post

LAConvolver Impulse Response plugin (free!)

While hunting round on the Gearslutz forums, I found a very cool impulse response AU plugin (thanks to "imagineaudio" for his post)....

LAConvolver from Learnvall Audio convolves your input signal with your impulse response:

VERY TECHNICAL BIT

An impulse, or "spike" is a short transient, that contains all frequencies (similar to a short burst of while noise). The Impulse Response is a recording of the behavior of the room/device when an impulse is played through it (in practice, a true impulse is impossible to create, so a starter pistol shot is used, or a tone sweep, which is then "deconvolved" to calculate the effect an impulse would have had).

The Impulse response and the plugin input signals are passed through FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) algorithms. The resultant spectra are multiplied with each other, and the product run through an IFFT (Inverse Fast Fourier Transform) algorithm, which makes the signal sound as if it had run through the same room/device the impulse response was recorded through.

What does that mean? Well, if you can get hold of impulse response recordings of, for example, a mic'ed up guitar cab, you can make your signal sound as if it also ran through the same setup - in fact, why not click here for some very cool guitar cab impulses! (GuitarHack IRs).

Have fun!

"LAConvolver Impulse Response plugin (free!)" > read the full post

Loads more free plugins for you

SoundMagic Spectral is a set of 23 AU plugins, that apparently use real time spectral processing of sound. Not figured out what that means yet, but they're pretty interesting.....

In the bundle you get:

Spectral Averaging • Spectral Bin Shift • Spectral Blurring • Spectral DroneMaker

Spectral Emergence • Spectral Filterbank • Spectral Freezing • Spectral Gate and Hold

Spectral Gliding Filters • Spectral Granulation • Spectral Harmonizer • Spectral Partial Glide

Spectral Pitch Shift • Spectral Pulsing • Spectral Shimmer • Spectral Shuffle

Spectral Stretch • Spectral Tracing

Chorus • Comb Filter Bank • Grain Streamer • Idee Fixer • Mr Filterbank

Head here to download and check out some examples.

"Loads more free plugins for you" > read the full post

New Music Strategies - free ebook

Just been doing some random reading in between work... and found an interesting resource. It's a free e-book about the music industry by A. Dubber.

Download New Music Strategies.





"New Music Strategies - free ebook" > read the full post

Can you tell your hard drive from your jet aircraft?

Have a go at this quiz over at Boing Boing...

No cheating now!

"Can you tell your hard drive from your jet aircraft?" > read the full post

Master Tracks - from demo to finished product in a day.....

Just discovered this site this morning. Master Tracks gives a band a day to take a track from demo to finished product in a day.....

Producer Moe Berg (the singer from The Pursuit Of Happiness) and engineer Laurence Currie (who's worked with loads of bands, but to be honest, none I've ever heard of) take the band into Metalworks Studios in Ontario, Canada, and each episode shows you the song go through all the stages to final mix.

Definitely worth a watch.

"Master Tracks - from demo to finished product in a day....." > read the full post

New MBox range officially announced

As we predicted, the new range of MBoxes are out, with a few interesting features....

The MBox Mini doesn't seem like any huge leap,

but the MBox is now offering 96kHz sampling rates, the same soft-clip limiter found in the HD interfaces, a built in guitar tuner, and a "multi' button (we were wondering what that was going to be with the earlier leaked screen shots, but it can be assigned to any Pro Tools control (e.g. tap tempo, play/start etc.) ).

A built-in reverb will make input monitoring easier too.

The MBox Pro supports up to 192kHz sampling rates (though Pro Tools LE only goes up to 96kHz - a sign of things to come? Rumours have already started of more Pro Tools announcements coming in November, and a 004 in January).

Head to Avid's site for a few more details, but to be honest, there's not much more there yet.

"New MBox range officially announced" > read the full post

Beavis and Butt-head return!

Yes! Yes! YESSSSSSS! I AM CORNHOLIO!....... heh heh, huh huh huh...

Accordin to the New York Post, Mike Judge has confirmed they're making new episodes. Just as a taster, here's a trailer for his film from last year, staring everybody's favourite frog baseball players.

"Beavis and Butt-head return!" > read the full post

Drum machine or click track?

Was put onto this a couple of days ago. Want to know if a click track or drum machine was used?......

Head to In Search of the Click Track, put in the band and track title, and it'll give you a plot of timing fluctuation...

A score above 90% probably means a click track was used. It's got some pretty obscure stuff in there, and gets a little confused at times, but it's worth a few minutes of your time.

"Drum machine or click track?" > read the full post

MBox 3 is on the way!

We'd seen the signs that this was coming, but with a little bit of sleuthing, I've found it!

Read on for pictures....

Very sleek and black, so it'll match the new line of HD systems we saw recently, with instrument inputs on the front, and a huge volume pot.

What's quite interesting is what looks like soft limiting on the inputs.

Price is looking to be around $550, but we'll know more after the release date.

"MBox 3 is on the way!" > read the full post

Native Instruments Komplete 7 Players - for free!

Native Instruments are giving away Kontakt Player, Guitar Rig 4 Player, Reaktor 5 Player and Kore 2 Player for free.......

Just head here to start your download.

They're obviously all cut down from the full versions (e.g. Guitar Rig 4 Player only has one amp and one cab), but you can't complain at this price!

Their server seems to be having a few difficulties at the moment, so it might take a while to get through, but keep on trying, it'll be worth it.....

"Native Instruments Komplete 7 Players - for free!" > read the full post

Korg M01 Music Workstation sequencer for the DS

Though it's not the first music sequencer for a hand-held gaming console (I remember spending hours playing with Pocket Music for the Game Boy Advance - with real Eminem samples!), but the Korg M01 Music Workstation looks like something special....

Check out the vid to see it in action.
The specs include:

300 original M1 PCM Sounds

8x multi timbral

8 track 16 step sequencer

1 sequence max 64 pattern,

max polyphonic sound 12

master reverb, delay effect

track overview, sound browser, sequence edit, mixer and keyboard.

Simple and functional display

notes/chords,/drum input mode by touch control

data exchange by wireless transmit

drag & drop transpose

sustained notes

No UK release date, (it's an amazon.jp exclusive at the moment), but we can hope!

"Korg M01 Music Workstation sequencer for the DS" > read the full post

Free Commodore 64 Synth (Windows only)

De La Mancha created Basic 64: a free software synth inspired by the 8-bit sounds of the classic Commodore 64. It's available as a free VST download for Windows. No Mac version, so I haven't tried it yet... but if you do, feel free to comment! Read on for details.




Features include:

• 6, 8, or 16 bit sound quality
• 3 oscillators, with individual ADSR envelopes
• Oscillators can be sync'd and ring-modulated by each other
• Pitch envelope modulation
• Pitch wobble option
• 2 tempo-sync LFOs to modulate pitch, cut-off and pulse width
• LFOs have attack/release curves
• Tempo-sync arpeggiator
• Flexible routing to state variable filter (LP, HP, BP)
• Envelopes can be reset or continuous at retrigger
• Monophonic / polyphonic option
• MIDI learn / MIDI CC support
• 128 presets by sinkmusic & WhiskeyPriest

Get Basic 64 here.

"Free Commodore 64 Synth (Windows only)" > read the full post

Free loops and samples

In an effort to give people a "Try Before You Buy" option, Peace Love Productions has released a free 1GB "taster" collection of audio loops and samples in a range of genres, including Hip Hop, Rock, Trance, Chillout, Electro House, Deep House, DJ Scratches, Techno, Ambient, and more.

You need to sign up and verify your email address, before they send you the download link --> PLP Taster



"Free loops and samples" > read the full post

Who Ya Gonna Call?

You've probably heard all the fuss about the use of Autotune on X-Factor. Here's LSS lecturer Ben Wood on Channel 4 News last night.....

"Who Ya Gonna Call?" > read the full post

Online Music Mixing

Mixing & mastering: get a pro in, or do it yourself?

It's one of those dilemmas.

In recent years, several online mastering services have emerged (including the famous Abbey Road Studios'), but now a team of professionals takes things one step further (or back), offering a complete mix-down service, and all handled remotely......read on.

The team behind Online Music Mixing are four sound engineers whose credits range from The Libertines and Kasabian, Orbital and The Prodigy to Girls Aloud and The Ting Tings. The idea is that, while the likes of GarageBand and Live have led to ever more people making music at home, not everyone can be a great songwriter or musician and a great producer - so the OMM team are there to help.

Prices range from £175 to £450 per track, depending on your choice of engineer. And it's not just a case of firing off a bunch of files and hoping, either: "Effective information exchange is critical," says co-founder Daniel Hulme. "Our aim is to create a one-to-one dialogue between client and engineer, even though it's all done remotely."

If you decide to try OMM's service, please leave a comment with your thoughts!



"Online Music Mixing" > read the full post

Live Beat Series Europe tour

After several successful events in the USA earlier this year and an appearance at the Midsummer Music Conference in Portugal, Ableton & Novation are bringing their Live Beats series to Europe this September, with 14 events across 8 countries........read on.

The Live Beats events are designed for musicians and producers of all skill levels to learn more about using Ableton Live and Novation hardware. They provide an opportunity to receive training from demonstrator Thavius Beck, who will mainly focus on the hands-on music making potential of Live and Launchpad, but will also be showing off other Novation hardware and demonstrating how Automap - the control software that comes with Novation's controllers - can be used to take your Ableton Live sessions to the next level.

At each event, Thavius and local Ableton & Novation demonstrators will be on hand to answer questions, as well as offer tips and tricks on how to get the most out of your software and hardware. There will also be a chance to win a Novation Launchpad and Ableton Live 8 at each event.

Dates & times for Live Beats events:

• Tuesday 7th September, Production Room, Leeds, UK, 18:30
• Thursday 9th September, Digital Village Clapham, London, UK, 18:30
• Saturday 11th September, Teach Music, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 19:00
• Monday 13th September, Just Studio Kulturbrauerei, Berlin, Germany, 18:30
• Tuesday 14th September, Just Music, Hamburg, Germany, 19:15
• Wednesday 15th September, Hard Rock Cafe, Cologne, Germany, 19:00
• Saturday 18th September, Just Music, Munich, Germany, 16:00
• Monday 20th September, microFusa, Madrid, Spain, 19:00
• Tuesday 21st September, microFusa, Barcelona, Spain, 19:00
• Thursday 23rd September, SAE Institute, Milan, Italy, 18:00
• Friday 24th September, Percorsi Audio, Acquapendente (VT), Italy, 18:00
• Monday 27th September, Rytmus Aula, Stockholm, Sweden, 18:30
• Wednesday 29th September, ProLyd AS, Oslo, Norway, Time TBC

"Live Beat Series Europe tour" > read the full post

Noise Annoys: A Taste of DNA...And Other No Wave Delights

I just re-bought a CD by DNA, avant garde punk titans, and it opened up a world of unlistenable New York "No Wave" bands whose only mission statement was to annoy...






In the early 80's a group of bands sprang up who thought punk was growing soft, if indeed it had ever been that tough to begin with. With a foot planted in both the art and the music world these artists blended the two disciplines until music and performance were intrinsically linked in their presentations, as much influenced by Andy Warhol and Jasper Johns as The Ramones and Television. If this sounds all very pretentious it is worth remembering that they all produced an invigoratingly unholy racket as well as talking bollocks...Most considered such punk icons as Patti Smith to be as boring as the mainstream bands that early CBGB's punk was meant to replace such as The Eagles. The No Wave acts consumed drugs, partied and rocked as hard as Led Zeppelin, it's just their music was about a primitive NOW rather than goblins and wizards.

Egg headed pretention-meister Brian Eno picked up on the emergent scene and decided to document it in the epical album "No New York" which gathered together four of the most original groups and spread the nihilistic message. It was originally going to feature 10 acts but featured artist James Chance persuaded Eno that his band and friends were the only people worth featuring proving that rock star egomania thrived even in this defiantly "non rock" environment...

Below are a few of the best No Wave bands, "best" is a loose term, most of them are equally irritating and one of our tutors said DNA should be renamed DNR (Do Not Resuscitate). A good place to get an idea of the world that spawned this underground phenomenon is the film Downtown 81. This is a rambling mildly fictionalised day in the life of graffiti artist Jean Michel Basquiat who wonders about spray painting, looking stoned and running into gigs and rehearsals featuring a selection of No Wave acts including DNA, James Chance, members of Blondie pretending to be a No Wave band, Debbie Harry as a fairy godmother and oddly Kid Creole....

The live clips below are mainly from this film and give you an idea of the quirky energy of No Wave.

DNA



James Chance and the Blacks



Mars



Teenage Jesus and the Jerks




A compilation was released by Soul Jazz called New York Noise which gives a good round up of the main players if you want to investigate further...

maningrey



"Noise Annoys: A Taste of DNA...And Other No Wave Delights" > read the full post

lisztomania!

All anybody does is make lists these days, not like when I were a lad and you were happy with a piece of coal for amusement, we feel the need to rate everything even in the purely subjective territory of music...so never wishing to be out of the loop I took a straw poll of one and created a few lists of my own...







Best use of a leotard in rock:

Winner: Kate Bush





Runners up:

2) Mick Jagger
3) Freddie Mercury


Best band hair of all time:

Winner: Steel Pulse




Runners up:

2) A Flock of Seagulls
3) Johnny Thunders


Worst album cover of all time

Winner: Mansun - Six




Runners up:

2) Coldplay - X&Y
3) U2 - No Line on the Horizon


Worst video of all time

Winner: David Bowie & Mick Jagger - Dancing In The Street



Runners up:

2)The Pretenders - 2000 Miles
3)Anything by Tool


Worst performance at Live Aid

Winner: Bob Dylan



Runners up:

2) Duran Duran
3) Ultra Vox


Dumbest rockstar face

Winner: Paul McCartney



Runners up:

2) Chris Martin
3) Adolf Hitler


Worst voice of all time

Winner: Jemini



Runners up:

2) Alanis Morissette
3) Billy Corgan


Best music documentary

Winner: The Decline of Western Civilisation Part 2, The Metal Years




Runners up
2) The Devil and Daniel Johnston
3) Dig


Best front man

Winner: G.G. Allin



Joint runners up:

Daphne & Celeste


Best songwriter

Winner: G.G. Allin




Runners up:

2) Burt Bacharach
3) Diane Warren


Biggest penis in rock

Winner: Gene Simmons



Runners up:

2) Jim Kerr
3) Robert Plant


Sexiest punk girl on Youtube

Winner: Girl With A Giant Tongue



Runners up:
None as I stumbled on it while looking for Gene Simmons clip...



Best list sites when bored

Winner: Oddee



Runners up:

2) Best Gore
3) Mr Skin


Maningrey - If you get the music related pun of the picture at the start of the post email info@londonschoolofsound.co.uk for a mystery prize....









"lisztomania!" > read the full post

Free Reverb plugin

DUY are giving their Z-Room reverb plugin away for free. Very nice of them....

It's nice sounding, and very controllable - from their site:

• High quality density and diffusion provide an unparallelled sound quality.

• Total control over parameters which had never been available to the user before, with a friendly and intuitive user interface.

• Three modes: Deluxe, Economy and Earlies. The second allows to free processing time, and the third focuses the strength of the algorithm on the processing of Early Reflections.

• An exclusive Rehearsal Mode allows you to set the parameters while hearing the real impulse response of the reverb. This is one of the finest tools to evaluate the quality of the reverb.

• You can choose between several room responses (reverse, gate, hall, room, stage...). All these values can be modified with the Stretch and Pre-delay parameters.

• Processing time is freed when you choose not to include Early Reflections.

• Internal 64-bit processing.

• Independent mixing controls for each of the three selectable bands, as well as for the Direct, Early Reflections and Reverb signals.

• Total control over the iteration depth, with six levels of calculation.

• Over 50 presets are included.

• Z-Room is the only reverb that allows you to control the time base of the reverb's algorithm.

• Visualization of the Direct, Early Reflections and Reverb signals in the time domain.

Head to here to register, and they'll send you the download link. It comes in RTAS, VST, AU and MAS for the Mac, as well as VST for the PC users among you. Enjoy!

"Free Reverb plugin" > read the full post

Pay what you want, for Planet Earth

Camel Audio has released Planet Earth: a new sample library featuring sounds for electronica, ambient, and dance music producers. Until the end of August you can choose what you want to pay for it - as little as £1! By default, the amount paid is split equally between Friends of the Earth charity, and Camel Audio - but you can tweak the split any way you like.

You get 150 sounds + Alchemy Player VST/AU instrument offering a further 150 sounds.

For audio samples and details, visit Camel Audio.









"Pay what you want, for Planet Earth" > read the full post

Max Fuel, the First

Puremagnetik has released Max Fuel, the First, a bundle of ten highly refined Max For Live devices, created to work in Live for production & performance, bringing the deeper potential of Max For Live to the end-user without the need to learn Max. The devices fall into three categories: Software Instruments, Audio Effects, and Control Devices. Presets, devices racks, and clip examples are all included in the package.

Retails for $38 (£24).

To learn more, and watch the introductory video, go here.




"Max Fuel, the First" > read the full post

The Metal Militia

Nice nipple plates Missy, you truly are a Heavy Metal goddess....Maningrey has been shaking out the dandruff to a selection of classic metal, here are my current faves...and some disappointments...





For some reason I have found myself downloading a load of old metal albums, this is not a genre I have had much experience with but having almost exhausted all the other types of music out there from D n'B, Dubstep, Best of Eurovision ballads and Bag Pipe Dreams play the Moody Blues, I decided to see what all the tattooed 'alternative" hoards find in this racket. I was surprised at how many had stood the test of time and the ones that proved a damp squib.

Metallica - Kill Em' All

Am I the only person who finds later day Metallica either idiotic ("Of Wolf and Man") or dull as two ditches ("The Thing That Should Not Be")? While it was Alchoholica's ability to add new textures to thrash that soon put them streets ahead commercially of the Anvils of this world, it also made them a little tepid. Heavy metal is only exciting when it is completely unaware of its own idiocy or the band are young enough to get away with lyrics such as " No life till leather, We are gonna kick some ass tonight" and sing it with conviction. This blazing debut is rough around the edges with a wasp in a coal mine production but pound for pound it is the most rocking set they ever produced, no acoustic ballads about war, no southern rock boogie, just 9 rifftastic tunes about leather, phantom lords and more leather..Like Judas Priest in no way gay..This little beaut takes no prisoners and in "Seek and Destroy" features two of the best riffs of all time...Motorbreath is still shit however....




Slayer - Reign in Blood

This albums has everything wrong about metal, lyrics about goblins and wizards (sleeves?),no tunes, hundreds of solos and bad hair...but it all works! The best way to describe this album is simply to list the best bits, like a classic comedy it has moments that are constantly quotable...One to embalm and keep!

The cover is awesome, combining the worst bits of Bosch and Bruegel this is a Hell that makes you want to run to your mummy and swear you will never ever be bad again. Also features two giant penises which nobody noticed at the time due to all the gore...

The opening scream like a cat caught in a dishwasher or balls in a zipper.

The opening lyrics to "Necrophobic":"strangulation, mutilation, cancer of the brain, limb dissection, amputation, from a mind deranged!"

The way Tom Araya growls "Enter to the realm of Satan!" in "Altar of Sacrifice" and manages to make it sound scary rather than cheesy. His shouting through out the whole album basically invented the Death Metal "grunt", much more fun than all that Axl Rose style wimpy falsetto.

The way he sings "leave you ripped and torn" in "Reborn".

The rain at the beginning of the final track "Raining Blood".

The two best metal riffs of all time in "Raining Blood" intro and "Angel of Death" middle section.




Soundgarden - Superunknown

After wading through lots of grunge "classics", including the holy scripture that is "Nevermind", I found that only "Superunknown" was actually still any good. Nirvana sound like Bryan Adams, Alice in Chains are always out of tune, Pearl Jam were always shite and Mudhoney, well I just didn't even bother to download any...Everything else Soundgarden did was poor but for some reason the planets aligned and their freaky mixture of Sabbath, psychedelia, unusual scales and colossal vocals were hung onto actual songs and riffs you can whistle as you deliver the milk. Everything is so murky and layered that strange cool bits keep popping out of the mix at unexpected moments like the the squiggly bass riff in the middle of "My Wave". While technically proficient players they use their skills to investigate interesting avenues rather than just showing off, songs are in odd meters with alternative tunings and possibly due to Kim Thayil's Indian heritage the riffs and solos are sitar like with disorientating effects. In fact its only due to Chris Cornell's viking wail that people got this album, everything else sounds like its was destined for cult bargain bin obscurity.




Faith No More - Angel Dust

Faith No more have a lot to answer for; funk metal, baggy shorts, synths in rock and nu metal...But "Angel Dust" is a genuinely weird album on reappraisal. Following on from the huge hit "Epic" which wedged their whiteboy funk, operatic vocals and pomp rock keyboard sound into the top ten of every frat hour beer bust in the US forever, Mike Patton seized control of the band and took the newly christened (by me) "Paedophilia Rock" to the charts. "Paedophilia Rock" is a combination of singing songs in as many styles as possible while avoiding a melody and making you think of old Amish kiddy fiddlers, surrounding this with musical accompaniment from a haunted circus, making every lyric about how depressed and useless Americans are but somehow making it all rock!

All the bands that tried to follow this approach were horrible, Korn, Incubus, Limp Bizkit so yet another crime is added to the list above but in its way this album is more progressive than Kid A as it made experimental music something teenagers wanted to jump around to while Kid A was bought by people who read the Wire..



Megadeth - Rust in Peace

Megadeth were always seen as Metallica's wannabe idiot brothers, mainly because Dave Mustaine was booted out of the first line up of Metallica and his voice was even more grossly unpleasant than even Jemini at Eurovision. But I have to say if you like your songs massively long and complex with lashings of twiddling guitar solos and lyrics bashing politicians, evil wizards and organised religion then this could be the album for you! The solos just keep on acomin' kids, each more technically perfect and more Middle Eastern sounding than the last, oddly reminding me of punk legend's(and kings of alternative cred) Television. It's interesting how some bands fly under the radar of "cool" (admittedly having a grinning skull man on your album covers does not help) while producing music genuinely without boundaries while ultimately dull musical semi literates like Beck gain critical hosannas. The almost Public Image post punk meets King Crimson prog after reading "The Sheltering Sky" racket of "Hangar 18" is the best example...




Pantera - The Great Southern Trend Kill

This is just a raging bracing blast of hate, that makes the Tube journey to and from work entertaining. The singer looks like an extra from "Oz" (best TV series eva my friends), the guitar player is a mountain troll and they played in front of a southern flag like a KKK convention but Pantera made the long slow trudge from awful glam metalers to marginally less awful south rawk thrashers to textured metal gods, best shown on the creepy song below...




System of a Down - Toxicity

Rabble rousing Armenian Americans these guys avoid the sophism of so many alternative metalers (stand up Korn) and plunge headfirst into agitprop finger pointing. Merrily ignoring the ironies of being corporate slaves while bitching about their White Collar American paymasters, a paradox that other "political" bands such as The Clash and Rage Against the Machine never resolved, SOAD take pot shots at all and sundry while never forgetting they are entertainers first and foremost and there to open up teenagers minds not burn cars. Weirdly reminiscent of some of Zappa's more poppy outings this album is lean and wiry where Soundgarden are thick and sludgy, just one guitar a fistful of crazy time changes and strange chords sprinkled with a voice that says "NO" in a really catchy way.

When this was No1 in the States during September 11th it was perfect cultural symmetry.




Here are two "classic" albums that did not make the cut...

Rage Against the Machine - Rage Against the Machine

I know I know, hard to believe! But for such an influential album apart from the obvious classic singles it drags like a stone. Stiff rather than funky every riff sounds like a rip of "The Ocean" by Led Zeppelin, the guitar solos that we all raved about are in fact really annoying, why not just get a turntables rather than making your guitar sound like one? The killer blows to this albums status are the vague lyrics and terrible rapping, Zac De La Rocha makes Mike Patton sound like Slick Rick and compared with the razor sharp poetry of System of a Down it comes across as rather ill informed and juvenile.

Guns and Roes - Appetite for Destruction

First of all "Welcome to the Jungle" does rock and I even enjoyed "Paradise City" (apart from the 'orible synth part) but the rest?? Boring boogie woogie rock like an Aerosmith tribute act, nasty misogynistic lyrics and of course that ear splitting fires alarm screech. Slash does play some fancy solos but you can't help thinking of the ridiculous self parody he is now. Ultimately this is not a million miles away from such tripe as Poison or Motley Crue, G n'R just happened to be better musicians so you get drawn in to their murky world, but take a step back and its a little depressing.

maningrey




"The Metal Militia" > read the full post

SeeSaw

Not really audio based, but pretty cool all the same. SeeSaw is kind of Spotify for TV, with a stack of free and rental programs.

In Beta at the mo', so get in early and register before they go invite only.

Anyway, back to catching up with classic episodes of the Young Ones....

"SeeSaw" > read the full post

iVoxel Singing Vocoder for iPhone and iPad

Here's the rather cool singing vocoder from VirSin. It comes with a stack of samples, with the ability to record your own. Instant Daft Punk vocals!

Pretty awesome, but I so wish this was available as a plug-in!

"iVoxel Singing Vocoder for iPhone and iPad" > read the full post

Awesome touch-screen for Traktor

Yeah, take all those iPads, Lemurs, and any other piece of crap they have been trying to pass for a touch-controller until now and throw them all away.

This is the future.

Or rather, maybe not, but it sure should be.
In fact what it should be is just like this, except without a touch surface but just projected in thin air and then waving your hands through the projection (I have seen demos of something like that before, but I couldn't find links to that now).

Anyway, I am digressing. Watch this video but don't keep the volume of your computer too high or you will miss the sound of your jaw dropping.





Finished? Good. Now join the club of those asking how much will it cost and where do I get one. It's a very popular club, we're there too.

Some details can be found on this website, and immediately things start sounding less exciting than we hoped. Some guy developed this technology to work as an interface between you and a dj software. It's a few dollars per year to buy (or lease?) the licence to turn any windows powered touch-screen laptop in to a stupid controller for Traktor. So you need a laptop with touch-screen and it will only act as a controller for one specific application, but not on Macs. Which is rubbish already, and it gets worse where no more details are provided of this gorgeous screen being used in the demo. This apparently is a prototype and not planned for production.

So ok, it aint' gonna happen this year, maybe not even next year. Still, watch this movie again and ask yourself what it would be like to have this interface. Think about how a regular powerpoint presentation about sales this quarter or health and safety on the workplace would still make you look like a demi-god.
Please, someobody, somewhere, make this happen. And then let's talk about an installment plan. I am starting to save money now.



"Awesome touch-screen for Traktor" > read the full post