The hidden art of sampling

Remember Prodigy’s Smack My Bitch Up? (Spotify link) The video of this track from 1997 was so violent it was banned from day time television and even MTV had to play it only at night time.

The times have gone by, the video itself has got a cult status, but the track keeps living a life of it’s own still being remembered in night clubs all around the world.

Prodigy’s lead man (that usually keeps everything low key) Liam Howlett is known for his sampling. Some music enthuastics have been spotting various samples from Prodigy tracks. Now in the era of YouTube the stuff gets some videos.

In the summer 2009 a very creative video of how to recreate Smack My Bitch Up was posted to YouTube. The spotting of samples was spot on and the way how the data was presented, indeed top notch.

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Open mic: Electronic music decade sum up

A decade has soon passed. We’ve gone from glowsticks and the commercial breakthrough of electronic dance music, to a digital revolution with producers in every bedroom. The electronic music industry has evolved, but what has made the change?

Which releases or producers/dj’s has had the biggest impact on EDM?

What technology or gadget has had the strongest influence on the scene?

And what has been typical 00ies when we look back at the last ten years of EDM?

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Originality and superstardom

Though being active in this scene for a while now, sometimes I still feel like a newbie. My career as an artist is just beginning. Though being a DJ for years, my network expanded vastly after I started at Finity. Working for Finity, and now for Subtraxx, have given me credibility in international level. Credibility is something people have to work for years in the business at the moment.

Producing is relatively easy these days. Software is cheap (if not free) and easy to use. I’m using 100% software myself and started producing just 3,5 years ago so I should know.

Anyone can these days get the best plugins (legally or illegally, I’m not going there this time) and start producing. Everybody has a computer powerful enough these days. Heck, even I do my music on a laptop.

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5 great iPhone apps for music production and inspiration

A small device like the Apple iPhone may not replace your computer and DAW, but it’s perfect for excercising your musical creativity!

We’ll have a look at three more or less complete music creation tools, one app for melody making and one for inspiration.

Here are five apps you should try if you’re a producer or like to play around with music.

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The good old days – With LEGEND David Vorhaus

Yesterday I came over this video-interview with Analogue LEGEND David Vorhaus. One word: AMAZING!

While my initial thought is “Wow, we’ve come a long way (baby)” in regards of the evolution of equipment, I would also love to get my hands on that gear!

Will the Vestax VCM 600 kill the Akai APC40?

So, it havent been long time since the Akai APC40 was introduced to the market with full support from the Ableton developers. But now it seems like we have a new gadget which takes the step further (atleast for me) with the new Vestax VCM 600 comming into the market. Sure, many may argue that how could it possible beat the Akai APC40…

I think that the VCM 600 got a better overview, less messy trigger/button organization and it gives you a better overview of what actually is goin on. The VCM 600 is abit more expensive (around 700 euro) though and it doesnt have the smart play triggers like the APC 40 has… I wish someone could combine these two into one solid piece of midi performance gear!

Rise of superstar producers

Why is everybody talking about producing instead of composing these days?

Even media is talking about producers, Timbaland being the one mentioned the most. Now that even the normal radio listener can spot the “Timbaland sound”, It’s fair to say we have seen the rise of superstar producers.

How can this be seen in EDM? Now there’s loads of youngsters (or more established producers) mimicking other producers, Deadmau5 and Sean Tyas are the prime examples of this.

Deadmau5 sound is really easy to spot – and to (re)produce – that should be the reason the sound can be now heard in every DJ’s sets playing around 130 bpm.

The other sound is pounding energetic Sean Tyas’ trance sound. The sound has developed from Paul Van Dyk’s pounding trance style, evolved on PVD’s Vandit label and John Askew’s Discover label and now – championed by Sean Tyas.

Now I can hear the subtle hints of trance/progressive/techno blending to each other with a hint of house in it. Producers like Jaytech and Joonas Hahmo are taking this style further by every release and remix. Are track’s being overproduced these days? Are producers concentrating on melodies enough these days?

What do you think? Leave a comment!

Ohm 64 – Yet Another MIDI Spaceship?

It’s not to long ago Livid Instruments launched their new MIDI controller Ohm 64, lets have a look at it!

The first thing that catches my eye is the trigger pattern in the middle of it, will it be 100% synced to Ableton Live or do you have to programe it yourself and can it handle more then more then just 8 Samples of in 8 tracks ? A question I really can’t find any answer on on the official website, although I dont see any screen roll trigger on it or a scene changer in the pattern itself which is more or less why the Akai APC 40 is what it is today.

Although the Ohm 64 comes with its own midi-editor and I’m pretty sure you can set that up if you are really skilled and have the knowledge about programming MIDI OUT from Ableton. But okay, Livid doesnt claim its a 100% Ableton Live suited. But we are not a VJ blog, so lets focus on the music performance side of this little cool gadget!

The little trigger buttons all have program able LEDs which makes this thing abit more cool, but is it useful?

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