Making Beats with Marco Polo

Posted June 9, 2009 in production,videos by t

Found on Duck Down’s youtube channel:

In this week’s episode of “Double Barrel” Tuesdays, Marco Polo invites you into his world of production. Sit down with Marco Polo as he constructs a beat from start to finish. For all aspiring producers, listen to the detail that goes into his craft, as he searches beyond just looping samples from a single vinyl, and truly goes into the crates using the likes of six different songs, that have nothing to do with each other key wise, and makes them work harmoniously to create a final beat.

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DJ Schools Gaining Popularity

Posted June 8, 2009 in production by t

There’s an interesting new article in Time magazine, called Why Deejay Schools are Thriving in a Recession.  The article goes on to mention various DJ schools in the US, including DubSpot in NYC, DJ4LIFE Academy in San Francisco,  FAME DJ School in Central Florida, and DJ-Chicago in… Chicago.  The prices are also listed:

Rankin, for example, charges $600 for a month-long class in Chicago. A five-month intensive course at New York’s DubSpot goes for $1,695. Not cheap, but perhaps better than a $100,000 graduate school tab for a career that is evaporating.

The article surprisingly failed to mention DJ Qbert’s online Skratch University, which launched in May of 2009, and currently costs $60 for 3 months of video lessons.

Update: Also forgot all about Scratch DJ Academy, another amazing looking school for DJs, based in NYC, Miami and LA.

Check out the mentioned DJ Schools (and more) at the following links:

djschool-dj4life

djschool-dubspot

djschool-fame

djschool-qbert

djschool-scratch

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Vanilla Ice Apologizes

Posted in videos by t

Vanilla Ice saying sorry for… well… Being Vanilla Ice from Tech-Fader on Vimeo.

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Auto-Tune the News #4

Posted in videos by t

Auto-Tune the News is a series of videos using the popular Antares Auto-Tune plugin.  More videos after the break.

read the full article…

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8 Tips for Getting Your Music Heard (For Free)

Posted June 5, 2009 in production by t

Much like trying to get a unique domain name these days, getting an unused name for yourself/group is a bit more complicated that it once was. Even if you do have an original name, getting people to hear your music before you have any fans can seem almost impossible.  With some clever thinking and hard work, it can all be done without spending a dime.

So let’s get right to it – you want to upload your music, photo and bio to the internet, without being lost in a sea of obscurity. It’s understandable how it can happen to even the most talented artists. As mentioned before, it’s not necessary to spend any money in promotion to get great results.  It’s also not something that happens overnight.
read the full article…

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Ohm64 – Handmade USB MIDI Controller

Posted June 4, 2009 in production,reviews by t

Touted as competition to the APC40, Livid’s Ohm64 looks like something I needed, but wasn’t aware of that until just now. The preview over at Create Digital Music is pretty extensive:

64_comp2

Livid Ohm64:

  • Open source editor, partially open source firmware, open source patches to connect to whatever you want
  • Custom MIDI assignments, for use with whatever you want
  • MIDI for now, but the chipset supports open source solutions for OpenSoundControl (OSC) in the near future – and even DMX (for lighting) is a possibility
  • USB and standard MIDI jacks so you can sequence outboard gear
  • Bus power
  • 64 trigger buttons in a more logical 8×8 array
  • “Made in the USA by humans” – with a beautifully-crafted body
  • Free Cell DNA video software included

read the full article…

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