If you read this blog you would believe I’m a Ableton Live fanatic. That is true however I once loved another. After my early days with Dr. T’s KCS on Ataris and Amigas I went Mac and Cubase VST. Cubase VST was the biggest revolution in music tech that mattered to me personally. It enabled me to start recording vocals direct to hard drive. It’s the reason in 1996 I start my own record label Things to Come Records. With VST (Virtual Studio Technology) I was able to create what I thought was fairly new and unique at the time: techno electronic mixed with 80s style New Wave and EBM.
Enter the 00s and Cubase became too buggy for me to use. It got to the point I was hitting save after each change I made. I was also rendering “safety” versions of songs in case project files would stop loading. Once Ableton Live came out it was over for my friend from Hamburg. That all said, I have friends that use Cubase today and they tell me it’s more stable. I also give credit where do and Steinberg brought so many innovations to the space it’s really amazing. Most importantly I wrote mountains of music using Cubase.
Steinberg has put up an interesting website called Steinberg Museum where you can see the history of the company. There are some tasty flashbacks in the building. Screenshots, interviews and old adverts are all fun for sequencer geeks like me. Check it out now: http://museum.steinberg.net
“Come in and tour this virtual museum which documents the story of Steinberg from its beginnings in the early 1980s.” – museum.steinberg.net
Are you or were you ever a Cubase user?
This entry was written by , posted on February 7, 2010 at 6:16 am, filed under interviews, political and tagged Cubase, Cubase VST, Hamburg, museum, Steinberg. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exFWurXtsU4
Something was really lost when the mixtape died. You see once upon a time a boy could make a mixtape for a girl. I personally took part in that exact ritual. The music on the tape represented how cool I was and the lyrics on each song were specific planned out messages. I took pride in knowing I had to coolest music. I walked the streets of NYC going from record store to record to be sure of just that fact. It’s a shame every tune in now just one click away. I wonder what teenage boys are giving girls these days.
““Mixtape”, a wonderful short film by Luke Snellin brings back the memories for those of us who used to spend hours making music mixes on cassette tape.” – Scott Beale
This entry was written by , posted on February 6, 2010 at 6:39 am, filed under music, political and tagged cassette, mixtape, romantic. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
This is not an advertisement for music retailer Sweetwater it’s just something I discovered on their website I thought I would share. I don’t know how long they have been offering to sell you products in this exact way but it sure makes noise toys LOOK affordable. Simply put, for a lot of items they will split the cost of the product into three payments. There is a $10 “processing” fee for doing things this way. Here’s and example: A Waldorf Blofeld is $699. You pay $243.33 today, $233.33 in 30 days and $233.33 in 60 days. Add to the fact there is free shipping and it’s definitely an evil temptation device. I’m good with not buying things until I have the entire amount in cash and never built up any kind of debt. I hope I didn’t just cause someone without good funds to buy something they can’t really afford. Musicians have a unique way of justifying gear purchases. It’s easy to spend money on your art and passion.
“Sweetwater’s Flexible Payment Plan is a convenient, interest-free way to buy gear now and stretch your purchase across three budget-friendly payments. Simply choose the “3 Easy Payments” option in your cart, and we’ll divide your purchase amount into three budget-friendly payments, billed to your current MasterCard, Visa, Discover, or American Express card. There is a $10 processing fee for using this service. It’s just another way we make shopping at Sweetwater easy and convenient!” – sweetwater.com
Do they still include candy with every shippment?
For more info: sweetwater.com
This entry was written by , posted on February 2, 2010 at 5:43 am, filed under hardware, political and tagged shopping, Sweetwater. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYTlN6wjcvQ
Ethan Winer from RealTraps grabs a panel of knowledgeable people at AES to show you what you think you hear may not be reality. Ethan makes some respected sound treatment products in Connecticut. You can download the non-YouTube compressed audio files to go along with this video here: www.ethanwiner.com/aes
“This is a video version of my Audio Myths workshop from the October 2009 AES show in New York City. In this video you will hear what phase shift sounds like, compare high- and low-end converters, learn about proper test methods, understand why hearing is not as reliable as test gear, and much more.” – EthanWiner
So what do you think? Is it real or is it Memorex?
via Miro Pajic
This entry was written by , posted on January 23, 2010 at 7:22 am, filed under interviews, political, video and tagged AES, Ethan Winer, myths, RealTraps. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37wR_TWdVy0
My boss at Energy Management Solutions never procrastinates. Anytime I think of an idea he hands me the phone and tells me to do it. I’ve never met anyone quite like that. I like to get things done but I’d say I do my share of fiddling and pondering. Sometimes when you sit down to make a song it’s way too easy to procrastinate. You have a playground of sounds and tools you can play with. Heck it all starts with a loop. A loop! Better stop listening to loops and get to the arrangement.
“Procrastination is making a cup of tea.” – John Kelly
via Laughing Squid
This entry was written by , posted on November 21, 2009 at 5:48 am, filed under business, political and tagged Procrastination. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GA8z7f7a2Pk
Here’s a great video from the Sasquatch Music Festival 2009 (watch until the end for the good stuff). James over at Synthtopia titled this video, “If You’re Doing A Live Show, Make Sure You Invite This Guy.”. I agree 100%. This reminds me of the movie Defending Your Life. The basic moral of the movie is that you only live once so stop worrying what other people think of you. I’m such a tightly wound person I think of think of this stuff a lot. I’m always trying to remember that most people are just concerned with their own lives, no one really cares what the hell you are doing so enjoy your time without shame.
“Yuppie Daniel Miller is killed in a car accident and goes to Judgment City, a waiting room for the afterlife. During the day, he must prove in a courtroom-style process that he successfully overcame his fears (a hard task, given the pitiful life we are shown)” – Defending Your Life, IMDB.com
via Synthtopia
This entry was written by , posted on November 12, 2009 at 6:09 am, filed under political and tagged dancing, fun, video. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
True and totally applies to making music these days. What do you think? Do you make music for profit and fame or just “because”? I guess getting girls is far more important than cash and crowds. Ah never mind it’s all the same thing.
“i am 97.2% certain this is written on a bathroom wall somewhere in every single city in the world. …and i kinda love that, in the lamest of ways.” – Fernando
via filthyphil
This entry was written by , posted on October 19, 2009 at 4:53 pm, filed under political and tagged bathroom, fame, fun, profit. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
I just got back from a live show I performed in Denver, Colorado. I played the second day of a three day EBM, PowerNoise, Goth type Festival. Some of the other acts included Hocico, Phyclon Nine, Rome and Terrorfakt. I’ve never been to Denver before and overall it was a good experience. Denver is called the mile high city because it’s exactly one mile higher than sea level. It has more sun than L.A. and the driving from the airport Denver looks like a desert with the giant Rocky Mountains off in the distance. The city’s old area looks a bit like a cowboy town mixed with a Long Island N.Y. strip mall.
I decided to go early to the club (The Bar Standard) and hear some music. I was a bit disappointed. The bands and DJs before I played were all competent. Songs had beginnings, middles and ends. The live shows had scarred keyboard stands in front of patent leathered heavily made up freaks. The showman ship was there. They bands ran back and forth in front of the audience and the audience yelled on command. So what was the problem? It was all derivative, watered down, copy cat music. Each song had some elements of a once great song. The message was, “We sound like…” instead of “We are…!”.
I know it’s not just the EBM/goth scene that is suffering from this phenomena. One could argue all art is going through a similar type of troubled these days. All I can plead is for artists to find their own real voice based on their own real life actions. Don’t try and be interesting. Be interesting and then afterward tell us about it. Those are the only stories, songs, paintings I want to hear!
For more info: www.myspace.com/vendettafestival
photo credit: quinn.anya
This entry was written by , posted on September 28, 2009 at 6:03 am, filed under political, song writing and tagged Denver, songwriting, The Bar Standard. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
Let me start this post by stating I really like the band Fischerspooner. Their album titled “#1” (iTunes link) was not only brilliant but it arrived on the scene at the exact right time. The lyrics were smart and the production was wicked creative. All that said it was clear to everyone I knew that this was going to be a one album band. I know they have released other material but the concensus of my friends was, “Once they live in the hyped zone a bit they won’t be able to do anything else all that worthwhile music wise.”. You know how it goes right? The followup album is always the most difficult to write. Add drugs and sex into the deal (the other ingredients to Rock n Roll) who has time to sit in the studio?
“Do you know them? They were a gay performance band from New York and they were the hottest thing of the time and a bidding war erupted around them, which was taken to ridiculous levels by an East Coast Jewish American lawyer…” – James Palumbo
What amazes me is that Ministry of Sound’s cofounder James Palumbo was so blind. Apparently they decided to plunk down 2 million to get the exclusive on Fischerspooner. My friend, UK music journalist Jonty Skrufff (skrufff.com) has a juicy interview with Palumbo well worth reading just for the laugh. Check it out: click here
Is that quote above by James a bit offensive? My favorite FS song? Their Wire cover of The 15th: iTunes
photo credit: José Goulão
This entry was written by , posted on July 22, 2009 at 4:35 am, filed under business, political and tagged Fischerspooner, Ministry of Sound, Skrufff. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
Here’s an interesting tip I don’t recommend actually trying: Use iTunes and Tunecore to launder money! Apparently the Times Online (UK) says that’s exactly what happened using stolen credit cards.
“The Metropolitan Police and the FBI have caught an international criminal gang said to have made tens of thousands of pounds by buying their own records from Apple iTunes and Amazon with stolen credit cards. The gang are alleged to have created several songs that they provided to an online American company (Tunecore), which uploaded them to be sold on the two internet sites. It is believed that over four months from September last year the gang used 1,500 stolen or cloned British and American credit cards to buy songs worth $750,000 (£469,000). Amazon and iTunes, which were unaware of the fraud, paid $300,000 in royalties. Six men and three women were arrested yesterday by 60 officers at addresses in London, Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Kent. A man in his forties, was arrested later… It is believed that one of the gang is a DJ and that he created the songs that were then bought…” – timesonline.co.uk
This seems like a stupid crime because of the trail it leaves. I wonder if they had to actually download all the songs they bought. I guess this is one way to get onto the charts!
photo credit: maury.mccown
This entry was written by , posted on June 12, 2009 at 10:16 am, filed under apple, business, political and tagged apple, crime, iTunes, Tunecore. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink and follow any comments with the RSS feed for this post.
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