J-Live and The Chicharones (Sleep and Josh Martinez) will be at The Fox Theater in Boulder Tuesday July 12, 2010. I’m a fan of both of them. If you haven’t heard their music, visit their sites.
Novation and Serato just released the Dicer MIDI control to supplement your decks with Serato or other MIDI assignable DJ software.
This control makes it a lot easier to control your software, cue points, loops, etc., so you don’t have to mess around with your laptop keyboard to navigate these features.
Universe Juice is one of Denver’s largest hip hop events featuring everything from live music, B-Boy battles, DJ battles, Freestyle battles, live mural painting and everything in between. This is a HUGE two day event Saturday through Sunday, June 5-6 at the Exdo Event Center located at 3500 Walnut street, Denver, CO. A full two blocks of live music, dance, murals and more! Cash prizes for the champs and hosted by Denver’s own Dent.
I’ll be thrown down the beats for Path One on Sunday during his live performance, so be sure to roll through and enjoy a whole weekend of hip hop and creative art!
This was the first time I have seen him live and I’m glad I did. He threw out his classics like Lac-ville ’79 to some new tracks that I haven’t heard before. Definitely a sick show with old school flava’ and energy. DD’s vocal scratches and effects are dope and pretty convincing.
Devin and his massive crew on stage delivering to Denver!
Check this video of TouchOSC acting as a MIDI controller over WiFi MIDI. He has set up a 16 pad (MPC style) controller with Record and transport controls to navigate the sequencer. Also uses a slider to control velocity sensitivity, which is a great solution for a multi-touch surface, but does alter the experience from the traditional tactile approach. He also notes near the end of the video that is has some small latency, but hardly noticeable.
I could definitely imagine using this in my studio and on stage without the need to bring or set up every controller I own.
I also like the simple UI that TouchOSC has provided. The UI serves the user with enough visaul indications and treatments to accomplish the tasks without limiting or distracting the user with detailed visuals and/or metaphors that could be outdated easily.
Legendary MC from Gang Starr and founder of Jazzmatazz, passed away at age 48, April 10, 2010 due to cancer related issues. Guru definitely had an unmistakable voice and style which made him a one of the BEST MC’s of all time.
I just saw him a couple years ago in Denver for an Akomplice fashion show, unfortunately the sound sucked and he called it quits after a couple songs.
The previous show I attended was his masterful Jazzmatazz project, where he crossed jazz and hip hop styles to form a very unique collective of highly talented musicians to produce an awesome sub-set of hip hop music.
RJD2 rolled into Denver and threw down for the sold out crowd at The Bluebird. An amazing producer, DJ, and all around musician, he definitely represented “entertainment!” From his 3 tables, 2 mixers, and 2 production controllers and some Donkey Kong melodies, to the live band he had backing him up, the guitar playing and singing, the visuals, and of course, his amazing “Crotch Machine.” (you had to be there for that one)
RJD2 demonstrated how versatile and talented he really is, be it in the studio, or on stage in front of a sell-out crowd.
Sorry for the quality of this pic, but it does show how most intoxicated people probably saw the show.
(If you look closely, you can see his suit & welding helmet from the future with the magic crotch machine)
Copyright Criminals is a documentary that traces the roots of Hip Hop back to the streets of New York where sampling was just part of the game. Now, it is the game for many in the multi-billion dollar industry of music.
It provides perspectives from both those who sample and from those who have been sampled from. The growth of music in a variety of genres has strong roots in sampling.
In this day and age where technology is easily accessible, sharing info & content across the various channels has become easier than ever, but more importantly, the demand to obtain info & content has also risen. There are a couple facets of copyright infringement that are widely spreading as a result; illegal duplication and distribution of music, and the age-old sampling of others’ music to create new tracks. Emerging tools within the music industry, both hardware and software, are making it easier to remix, sample, cut, mash-up a multitude of music into new productions.
This documentary takes a look into this art form to review the source, process, politics, and art of sampling. It features foudning figures of hip hop such as Public Enemy, De La Soul, and Digital Underground—while also featuring emerging hip-hop artists from record labels Definitive Jux, Rhymesayers (Atmosphere, P.O.S.), Ninja Tune, and more.
From the other side, sampled artists such as Clyde Stubblefield (James Brown’s drummer and the world’s most sampled musician), as well as commentary by another highly sampled musician, the original funk legend George Clinton.
(by the way, I sampled some of these snippets from the Copyright Criminals website, modified and re-purposed it for this post – thanks www.copyrightcriminals.com)
Copyright Criminals
“A look at sampling, in which snippets of old songs are reused in new productions, featuring remarks from hip-hop and electronica artists as well as George Clinton and ex-James Brown drummer Clyde Stubblefield, whose beats have been heavily recycled.”
duration: 60 min
There are several dates this will air, but here is the next date for the Denver area is: Saturday, January 23 — 11:00pm Channel 0006 – KRMA
or HD Channel 0658 – Digital/HD Rocky Mountain PBS
For additional show times and more info visit PBS:
The world of DJ’ing is constantly moving towards the digital world for sometime now. With the introduction of CD DJ controllers several years ago, to Turntable interface integrations such as Serato Scratch, and to the latest popular USB/MIDI controllers.
If you are going digital for convenience, expense or just because you love using your laptop over traditional devices, it is becoming a lot easier and a lot more prevalent to see a laptop on stage or in the DJ booth.
Don’t get me wrong, I love vinyl, and I prefer to use Serato Scratch as my primary channel of DJ’ing along with traditional vinyl, but the tools offered today are making the opportunity to DJ with a library of thousands of songs within the convenience of your own backpack very tempting. And I’m not just talking about pushing play on iTunes and sending it through the coffee house speakers.
Vestax just released a new controller named Spin.
These controllers are nothing new, as Vestax has several of these including the VCI-100 ($399) and VCI-300 ($899), Numark has a device, and Hercules ($329) has a really solid one with a sound card, but they all range well above $330 – $900+.
The Vestax Spin on the other hand, is only $250 and it has a built-in sound card for audio input like a mic!
Now the old saying, “you get what you pay for” is aways true, but Vestax is known to put out solid product. I will say that this is a price point device and has plastic controllers and faders, so it’s not professional grade, but for $250, the platters look solid, the functionality is there, you get an audio input, MIDI control, and it doesn’t matter if you’re a beginner who wants to DJ their iTunes library for fun, begin messing with DJ’ing, or a pro looking for a quick inexpensive portable set up, then this might be the answer.
This set up also comes with a basic DJ application called DJay3. This was a freeware app several years ago that allowed you tap into your iTunes library and digitally mix on your computer. They have now improved upon it and added many more features to pair up with the Vestax Spin.
Since the device is USB/MIDI, but I still have yet to verify if you can use it with other applications such as Serato Itch or Tracktor.
Even though tools like this are becoming a lot more accessible, please keep in mind that DJ’ing has various levels. Don’t think you’re going to get a set up like this and it’s going to make you an instant Mix Master Mike or Digweed. Dj’ing is an art form that takes time to master, I myself, am and always will be a disciple of the art.
As tools get less expensive and readily available, more complex and feature rich, then the opportunity for someone to get into DJ’ing is becoming a real possibility, but there is still the human factor of DJ’ing. That aspect is creating the experience and reading your environment and audience to know what to play, when to play it, and how to mix it in. No piece of technology will ever replace that.
I have yet to experience the Vestax Spin in person, but here is some more info Scratchworx.com:
