I’m back in New York after I performed at two fun European summer festivals. Defqon.1 in a giant event (40,000 people) on the beach about an hour outside of Amsterdam in The Netherlands. It was a daytime festival and it was hot & humid as expected. Since the early 90’s I’ve played in Holland often so each one of these large events it’s a bit of a reunion. I had time to speak to french DJ Manu le Malin, UK producer Surgeon (Anthony Child) and Dutch hardcore producer Gizmo. Even without a soundcheck the show went off without a glitch. My equipment, especially my cases and bags did get throuoully sandy though. The show went from 3-4 in the afternoon so by the time I got back to the hotel it was time for a quick bite and then off to Spain.

The Spanish gig at the Montagood Festival was also quite large. The stage was built high above the audience which I don’t actually like. I really need to get close to people and make some eye contact. My set time was 5-6 in the morning so keep in mind I basically played in Amsterdam and 12 hours later without a real pit stop I’m setting up near Barcelona. Everything would have been perfect with the exception that it started to rain a bit about 10 minutes before my set began. The issue was this was an outdoor event and the only thing above me was open sky! As you know from a few posts ago I just had my Macbook Pro repaired so the last thing I wanted to do was give it a shower. The promoter jumped on stage and put a few garbage bag type tarps over my equipment. The show ended up great and I did a fair amount of jumping down about 20 feet to the crowd and back up again. I know it was about 20 feet high by the 2 foot bruises all over my legs from banging into the speakers I was climbing. The black and blue’s were well worth it because Spain is a country you want to spend time in and a good show will get you invited back.

The only complaint I really have about the weekend was the trip back. In retrospect the situation is hilarious and it speaks volumes about Karma. Long story short, a Dutch group called Angerfist also performed in Spain and they were in my van to the airport. They decided to drink a bottle of vodka straight right before the trip started. Needless to say we had to make a few pit stops so they could puke. God has an ironic way of punishing me.

While I clean the sand and water damage off my stuff check out a few photos…

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

Last Friday morning at around 7:00AM before I left for work I was checking email on my Macbook Pro. I shut the lid but then realized I forgot to check the weather so I quickly lifted the screen open again. The screen didn’t come back on which does happen sometimes if you open and close the thing too quickly. This time however I realized how late it was getting so instead of closing the lid, waiting for the computer to properly go to sleep and open it again I just shut it again and ran out. About nine hours later I came home and opened the computer. The screen was still black and the computer was very hot. I held the power button down for a few seconds to force the machine off. I waited a bit and turned it back on. Unfortunately I couldn’t get it wake up. I tried a few different things as recommended at Apple.com/support but nothing worked. Since I own an iPhone I didn’t really freak out too much because I knew I could check email if I had to leave my computer for a few days for repair. I went to the local Apple store and met with someone at the Genius Bar. In fact, because this specific Apple store (Palisades, NY) was about to be renovated they would ship my computer to Apple and then have Apple ship it direct to me when it’s repaired. I have AppleCare so hey all in all not a big deal.

Well… Monday rolls around and I’m at work at my partner Charlie O’ Donnell asks me if I am still making music in my free time. I tell him of course and then something horrible dawned on me. I’m booked to playing two shows in Europe this coming weekend and I have no computer! I know Apple is pretty quick with repairs but I started to sweat. As soon as I got home I checked the online repair status and it didn’t even show up in their system. I called Apple and they told me they just received the computer and the system would update itself shortly.

I decided I needed a backup plan just in case my computer doesn’t arrive in time. Luckily I have a friend Leslie who doesn’t need her computer as much as a supergeek like yours truly. She lent me her white Macbook which has a Firewire port (phew!) ready for my M-Audio Firewire 410. I created a user account for myself and plugged in my Time Machine backup drive. I didn’t know what to expect because I never had to go to this drive before. I was very happily surprised to see that you can simply click and open folders on the drive just as if it were a clone of my machine. I grabbed my Ableton live show files (and videos), downloaded M-Audio drivers and Ableton Live 8. Everything loaded up without a glitch! Win one for Apple.

So without any disaster looming I decided to call Apple and just see if there was any chance my own computer would arrive on time. I didn’t have to wait at all when calling the support line and spoke to a very friendly employee. He told me the computer was still in the process of being repaired. I told him I had a flight to Europe and it would be great if I had my own computer with me. I blabbed a bit about how I’d be onstage in Amsterdam and Barcelona and I really didn’t want to scratch up Leslie’s nice new Macbook. He put me on hold for a minute and told me he expedited the process and asked me to look at the online repair status. To my happy shock it said the computer would arrive by FedEx before 10:30AM this morning. I know it would have been a better scenario if my computer didn’t break in the first place but Apple deserves a pat on the back for making it so easy to grab files from a Time Machine backup drive and for superb service.

Catch me live this weekend at Defqon 2009 in Amsterdam and the Montagood Festival, Spain.

photo credit: wZa HK

I like drum kits made from analog synths. A band from Sweden called the Steelberry Clones have posted a drum kit created solely with a Minimoog Voyager. They wrapped the kit up neatly into a Drum Rack for Ableton Live 8.

“Unlike many classic analog drum machines, the Voyager with its dual filters can create wonderful stereo imagery.  I’ve taken the time to program detailed percussive patches & from these i’m creating sample sets.” – steelberryclones.wordpress.com

Go to the full post to download the set: click here Audio demo: click here

photo credit: allert

I’ve always complained to my Beatport rep that I really want to be able to customize the embedable player to fit my label’s website. I mean lime green and dark blue isn’t exacly what you would call a neutral color scheme. I still have not recieved my wish however today they released some nice looking banner generators.

Introducing the Beatport Banner Generator

Beatport has created a new tool to provide graphic assistance for the promotion of your new music. The dynamic banners created by the generator will update automatically with links to your current releases. Here’s the URL and easy instructions:

http://promote.beatport.com

Step 1. Pick whether you’d like to promote releases by Label or by Artist

Step 2. Choose one of four color schemes

Step 3. Choose from the eleven different banner sizes and get the code to embed to your website, Myspace, Facebook, email signature, or online newsletters.

You don’t have to be a Beatport label partner to access the generator so if you want to help your favorite artist out grab a banner and promote away.

I pretty much love all things Google. I use Gmail, Google Docs and Google Reader daily. Considering I have two computers and an iPhone it just seems life in the cloud is the way to go. Have you heard the mountain of hype from the geek world about Google Wave yet? It’s basically real time email, instant messaging, media collaboration and Twitter (follow me) all on crack. I say crack because everything is in real time. Real time as in as one types each letter or does anything at all everyone in your Wave (group) see’s it. To top it all off Google has made Wave an open platform so developers can have a go at it. I immediately thought that this will finally bring real time music collaboration to the masses in a meaningful way. Let’s hope some smart German music software developers think so too.

More info: http://wave.google.com

It turns out Phil Spector was an avid Twitterer. Another weird fact to add to his gravestone: He only followed Yoko Ono.

“If the average man is made in God’s image, then Mozart was plainly superior to God.”

“The dread of loneliness is greater than the fear of bondage, so we get married.”

“As if it wasn’t bad enough I got locked up for 19 years, the bastards even confiscated my wig.”

“It’s comforting to know that mental health doesn’t always mean being happy. If it did, nobody would qualify.”

“One positive thing about old age is that you can remember everything that happened, even if it didn’t happen.”

Read more here: Phil Spector: The fascinating tweets of a murderer. (CNet)

photo credit: cgkinla

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj-x9ygQEGA

This must have actually taken quite a lot of work to put together. I have to say this is far funnier than any Weird Al Yankovic.

Ever wish songs just sang what was happening in the music video? Well now they do, in my sixth take on Dusto McNeato’s “literal video” concept! Lyrics: DASjr / Singing: PersephoneMaewyn & DASj – dascottjr

Related post: From happy to dark the music tells the story.

via Vain & Vapid

When I first starting blogging I kept my eye on other blogs that had tips and tricks for bloggers. One tip that came up consistantly was to never make a post stating, “It’s been a while since my last post.” or “Sorry for the lack of updates lately.”. The basic idea is that while some people do come directly to your site daily more than half read your site through an RSS reader or by finding a post via search result. If your reading by either of the latter two methods apology posts aren’t necacessary.

All that said I thought it was time to chime in with a site update. For the first nineteen months this blog was up I posted at least once a day. Since I got my new job at Energy Management Solutions my posts have been cut in half. I don’t think a post every other day is too bad but I do want to make those posts mostly original content. My new job has me in Manhattan at different job sites. An eight hour day plus travel is fairly time consuming. I can tell you I never washed my hands so often! The last two weeks they have been certifying me to be an official Building Analyst (check out BPI.org). I welcome all free training and learning but I was not prepared for the amount I have to learn in such a short time. The course which is approved by NYSerda (New York State Energy Research and Development Authority) is well full of math and each day the class has been crazy hours such as 2pm-10pm. The photo above is an example of an inefficient steam heat system in a 5th avenue high rise. They are paying over $400,000 a year to ConEd to supply them with the steam. I’ll be working to figure out a way to replace that system. The building is 49 stories and houses the Girl Scouts of America and part of the Rockafeller Group. This isn’t the kind of project you want to get wrong. So for now school has to be top priority.

While I’m starting to find my new job more and more interesting I have to say music is keeping me sane. I few slams of detuned madness on my Electrocomp-101 each night really helps the right side of my brain from committing suicide. My plan is once school is over and I pass the test (fingers crossed) I will redesign Wire to the Ear and get back to a regular posting routing. My plan is a new faster loading theme with less ads, a better commenting system and more video.

By the way some of those pro-blogging tips and tricks sites include: ProBlogger and Weblog Tools Collection

Update: I passed my BPI certification test!

yr3wk48 moog & tonematrix from longcat on Vimeo.

A few posts back I compared Retro vs Future audio producing technique videos. Today’s video shows old and new working together. The Moog Opus 3 was released in 1980. Vintage Synth Explorer has the Opus Manual available for download: click here ToneMatrix, Andre Michelle’s Tenori-on software clone is pure 2009: http://lab.andre-michelle.com/tonematrix

“With the ever wonderful moog opus 3, and the insanely addictive tone matrix from andre michelle… it’s freely usable so long as you have the most recent flash update, it reminds me of early software drum machines like hammerhead… it seems he is creating a whole reason-ish music creation world online all run with flash, it’s quite heavy on the CPU but very interesting x lab.andre-michelle.com/tonematrix the moog is still missing it’s string sound, but one of it’s faults allows me to just have the filter with no sound underneath which you hear at the beginning… i love this synth x” – longcat

Thanks for Robbie Knight for this video. Isn’t time shifting on a rainy (in NYC at least) Friday nice?

Related post: Thoughts and photos from the Tenori-on Berlin event.