In the almost imminent release of the album celebrating the 15th anniversary of their success, The Prodigy have included some dubstep remixes of Smack My Bitch Up (by the dutch Noisia) and Breathe (by Zeds Dead).
The remix made by Noisia has hitted the first position on the BeatPort dubstep top 100 that’s why I am writing about it.
I am not a fan of dubstep music, but it’s funny to see that this relatively new genre has been so prolific that Skrillex – a.k.a the king of the dubstep scene – has dubbed a soundtrack for a Disney’s featured movie (Wreck-it Ralph); The Prodigy – hands up – have started including featured tracks in their album, and many other genres increasingly include dubstep-like taste to their tunes.
I have released a new track with a vocal from Jacinda Espinosa I have sampled from ccMixter.
I have to say that I was working on the track from a few months already, but when I listen her vocal I tuned the final version of the mix in order to accomodate the samples.
It added a bright improvement to the overall feeling of the track although it dramatically changed the scope – which I think is a bit more techno-ish – but instead turned out to be more trance-ish…
I don’t care.. the final mix is so groovy that I enjoyed it so much that I even produced a video.. OK a cut-n-paste video of some Creative Commons video I found on Archive.org but hey… I bit of self-promotion is never that bad 🙂
well well well… after almost 4 months of complete absence (I had a bit of troubled period) I am back with some news…
I have switched to a more interesting dj-setup which is far from being professional but gives me at least a clue on how to practice beat-matching and mixing.
I had a journey in Cash Converters (www.cashconverters.be) to look for a pair of used CDJ and fortunately I found a pair of CDJ-100s for 150 euros.
Then I needed a mixer but unfortunately it is not that easy to find a good used mixer for less than 200 euros so I went for a Stanton m.203 a small but powerful mixer for entry level djs like me.
I decided to swith to a physical “tangible” console as I see that Traktor consoles are not that easy to find in clubs and if I want to play in a club one of these days I have to know how to practive beat-matching without automatic sync feature (sigh!).
I have done some practice but so far I can tell that is not very easy although the more I practice the more I “listen” new improvements.
Now I have 2 consoles: 1 midi-controlled with my Vestax VCI-100 *which the guy at Orbit said that I should sell as soon as possible as the new MKII is coming out and its price is falling* and these new bloody old CDJ 100+Stanton mixer which I will never get rid of.
Now the only thing I need would be a new headphone set, probably one AKG or SONY ?
In a recent article published by MusicRadar (and confirmed by Apple here) seems that the iPad 2 will start a new generation of digital audio workstations and I couldn’t imagine a better future for the music production industry.
It is not only portable, but it is compatible with Apple Logic, wow!!!
I am sure I am not going to buy new bulky hardware like synths, mixers and vinyl or CD decks when I can have a clean, easy maintainance touch-screen which I can even customize as best suits my likes.
Mobility is everywhere and digitization is unavoidable: more and more laptops and midi-controllers are used in gigs (Traktor or Ableton Live are the most famous) and vinyls and CDs are going make the same end as as music cassettes.
Now is the turn of synthetizers (as it has been the case with Korg iMS-20 and Electribe) and finally DAW…
Techno music is a new creation. The genre came into being in the early 1980s. The foundation for its birth came from a century of technology evolving into the machines that make creating techno music possible. Couple that with philosophical musings about that technology and how humankind would be affected by it, and a counterculture is begun.
To many, the first experience with techno music is a lesson in listening to noise. Techno music is created using computers, drum machines, synthesizers, and sometimes, acoustical instruments (which are usually modified digitally). Techno is fast paced, from 120 –160 BPMs (beats per minute), with a heavy emphasis on bass drums, ethereal sounding synthesized melodies, and computer generated (or manipulated) samples. Often these samples come from popular experiences such as TV shows, movies, and even pop songs. Some forms of techno emphasize even faster BPMs, such as Gabber music, which usually sustains BPMs of 200.
One thing that separates techno music from other genres of popular music is its vehicle for exposure. Most forms of music that hit national popularity are given airtime on the radio, show time on MTV, and expensive advertising campaigns in retail music stores. Only recently has techno music begun to be incorporated into mainstream media. Techno can be heard on the soundtracks to many recent video games. One example is Wipeout3, a Sony Playstation game created by Psygnosis. A commercial for Surge soda featured a ‘big band’ techno song in its background (DeSalvo, 24).
Another thing separating techno from mainstream culture is the individualism and independence involved. The ideology of techno is: do it yourself (Collin). If what you need or want doesn’t exist, create it. This attitude pervades the making and distributing of techno music, the clothing, the gathering (raves), and the communications.
The vector for techno, the DJ and dance floor, are most commonly found at events called ‘raves’. Techno’s marriage to the rave scene came about in 1991 when the rave phenomenon crossed the Atlantic and, much like the Beatles did in 1964, invaded North America (Sicko,117). Up to that point, most parties were small and club oriented. Since then the party scene has become one of the hugest non-mainstream avenues for music in the world. Raves usually take place in large warehouses, convention centers, or in large outdoor spaces. It is not unusual for two to three thousand people to attend. A variety of music is played, at different times throughout the rave, or in different areas. Within that structure, techno music, and its sub-genres, pervades the sounds and rhythms chosen for play.
The DJ is a type of shaman, a guide within the realm of fast paced beats, discordant mechanical sounds, and computer generated sounds. Ask any dancer at a rave why they are still awake at 5am (without the assistance of chemical stimulants) and they will give you an answer similar to that which runners claim, of a ‘natural high’. Their energy is the music, fueled by the DJ’s manipulation of the music. Part of the appeal in going to raves and listening to the music is that it is seamless. The DJ uses two (sometimes three) direct drive turntables with pitch controls on them, and a mixer to blend the records together. Direct drive turntables can be stopped instantly and spun backwards without damaging the equipment (unlike belt-driven turntables, which have belts that wear out easily from such abuse). New tracks are added as others are taken out. The high, mid and low level frequencies being transmitted through a very sensitive stylus (needle) to the receiver and speakers can be increased or decreased to add dimensions to the music that the artist never intended. The end result is a completely unique sound, one that will probably never be created or heard again. In a world of mass production and consumption, experiencing something truly unique is appealing.
The people who congregate at raves and clubs to hear techno music and dance tend to be young, under thirty and have assimilated technology into as many areas of their lives as possible. The rise of electronic communications parallels the growing number of parties that happened in the early 1990s. List-serves and news groups provided a venue for advertising events and giving directions to get there. The side effect of not using mainstream publicity was that the general public never knew what was going on, and all the people who attended the events were of the same mind, and were isolated from mainstream influences.
I have to say that in these recent times I have seen a lot of movies especially related to the world of dj-ing and music in general.
I need to write it down: the coolest movie I have ever seen about music and DJ is “It’s all gone – Pete Tong”, the history of a star Ibiza DJ turned deaf. The history seems also to be based on a true story and this makes it even more attractive.
Here’s the official trailer. A must see for everyone who loves DJ and disco.
zerointeractive 