Hello world!
Posted by admin in Uncategorized on May 12th, 2011
Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!
Witch Doktor remix – finalists announced
Posted by admin in Cubase Lessons, Tips & Tutorials on March 26th, 2010
Ben wants to personally thank those who voted for his Witch Doktor remix (Armand Van Helden, Strictly Rhythm), your votes helped him to become a finalist…not bad since it’s the first remix contest he’s entered…! here’s the link:
www.beatportal.com/feed/item/strictly-rhythm-remix-contest-runners-up
Latest Tokash Remix – Please Vote now!
Posted by admin in Cubase Lessons, Tips & Tutorials on February 16th, 2010
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Witch Doktor TOKASH REMIX
Posted by admin in Competitions on January 11th, 2010
VOTE NOW It’s a contest…
And thanks everybody for the spins so far!
Ben is almost in the TOP 10, but still needs to get 2 places up in the list.
Listen & Vote for the Tokash ‘Rain Stick Mix’ of ‘Witch Doktor’
(a classic house track by Armand Van Helden in the 90′s) here: http://www.beatportal.com/remix/detail/witch-…doktor-rain-stick-mix/ this is a remix contest. You need to subscribe to Beatport but its a short form. The vote button is called ‘Spin’ – cheers xxx
Propellerhead Record – New Audio Sequencer
Posted by admin in Reason Lessons, Tips & Tutorials on August 8th, 2009
- Record’s Console
Propellerhead’s Reason software has long enjoyed being a MIDI based leader in music production, though with the new Record software, they now appear to be taking on the live band / musician markets as well.
I am following with due respect to what Propellerhead have been establishing here: an exclusive sequencer akin to what Reason users are already used to, along with a high-end audio engine and mixing console to suit all, not just MIDI Musicians but bands and songwriters in general… So what’s different about Record?
Vari Audio Rocks
Posted by admin in Cubase 5, Cubase Lessons, Tips & Tutorials, Music Production Tips, Steinberg on June 30th, 2009
On closer inspection Vari-Audio in Cubase 5 really rocks. I’ve been utilizing it for a few weeks now in some vocal tracks and it’s got a usability thing about it that is so intuitive that you hardly know you’re tweaking some-body’s..ahem..poorly sung vocals. The way it works ensures that perfect pitch can be achieved without sounding in the least bit artificial. Or, it can sound as Cher as you like…or should I say T Pain?
Fixing or warping a vocal take is as easy as double clicking an audio part and while the editor is open just activating one of the blue switches in the Vari Audio menu to the left. This will take the analysis of the part and break it into segments that look so sweet you could eat them like a sort of vocal candy necklace. That does sound rather tasty, I think I’ll just go grab another vocal…
The vocal candy blocks are represented musically, going up an down the notes of a keyboard or ‘piano roll’ as it’s known in geek terms. This representation is similar to working in MIDI and although not exactly the same as, it’s intuitive and allows you to get the repairs / T Pain customizations down to a T in no time. The best bit is that it’s integral to Cubase 5 (rather than being a third-party plugin) so it’s stable to the core.Cubase 5, Vari Audio, Variaudio, daft punk vocal technique, autotune,
The way it goes from smooth to sharp transitions is also very easy to pick up, and is as simple as just lengthening or shortening the candy blocks in the audio editor.
Cubase 5: Vari Audio Pitch Correct Plugin (VST3)
Posted by admin in Cubase Lessons, Tips & Tutorials on May 27th, 2009
Vari Audio
is a completely new development in audio editing that ‘Solves notation and timing problems’, according to Steinberg.
It allows you to manipulate vocal tuning in a traditional way via dragging the audio blocks within a MIDI piano roll window. The interface is stunning to look at and highly intuitive. Steinberg’s new pitch-shift / time-stretch algorithms make it possible to manually alter and tailor the tuning / timing of vocals without any audible artifacts, which was a common problem associated with most time and pitch stretching technologies in the past.
Pitch Correct Plugin (VST3)
This is based on the Yamaha Pitch-Fix texchnology, and constantly detects the pitch of the imput sound, then modifies it according to a value specified by the user (translation: you can easily re-tune the signal of a vocal into a new key and Cubase does it all automatically) . This can be used and abused in any musical genre, working best on lead instruments and vocals.
It can produce some amazing vocalization effects, like a distant cousin of Autotune.
DBeat fom Openlabs: All-in-one portable Studio
Posted by admin in Electronic music production, Hardware Reviews on May 11th, 2009
All Hands on Deck…
Manufacturer’s website: http://www.openlabs.com
DBeat by Openlabs
Is it a PC?… Is it a Controller?… Is it an Interface ?…
YES! In fact it’s everything. Well. One thing it’s not is a Mac 
In one the first posts on this blog I mentioned my beginnings in music production and how I’ve long been a fan of hardware sequencing above all.
The reason being that hardware encourages creativity (especially with hands-on control) in a different way to software. Well, DBeat looks like it can succesfully pull the two together.
Hot-off-the-press reviews demonstrate this – check Zac Baird’s appraisal (Zac works live on tour with Korn) and other appraisals on http://www.openlabs.com/DBeat-videos.html and you’ll get a full idea of the worth of such a machine.
Although we haven’t yet laid hands on the Akai APC-40 (designed exclusively to control Ableton Live), initial reviews have been really good stating that the APC-40 becomes a complete hardware version of Ableton.
However, it’s not married to your computer in such a way as the Dbeat.
Dbeat is really interesting because it is a PC nested inside a portable studio, and the overall size isn’t massive either. That to me spells C.O.O.L – and if Ableton’s not your absolute DAW of choice then you’re not confined to that alone. Consider this the cruise-ship of Grooveboxes, the one with absolutely everything you need to survive in the (music) ocean.
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Anyone who’s had the [pleasure] of lugging a controller , interface/soundcard, laptop and all the associated cables to their gigswill know that it just gets confusing and cumbersome, even if it is ‘portable’. I’ve hankered after an all-in-one solution for a while now and this looks set to be (if not a rather pricey solution) exactly the sort of thing I mean. Talking of pricey, this one is in the range of $3,999. I’ll just get that 0% credit card, won’t be long…
Of course, if you’re a producer / DJ / Performer just looking to tour with your laptop and Ableton Live with a controller, the Akai APC-40 is just £399 or thereabouts (see here and here for examples). That’s exactly 1/10th the price…