On a snowy, cold day in Toronto, what better way to pass the time than working on a new track. This time, a down tempo, chill-out vibe ... perhaps inspired by the dreary conditions outside, and the dream of warm outdoor evenings that surely must only be months away.
2 Hour Project
Sat down on a dreary Toronto morning and gave myself a 2 hour window to deliver something end-end. This track leverages the excellent Drop Squad Expansion Pack for Maschine.
I gave myself a bit of a head start with the "Back To Dub Roots" sample project. The rest was played in on Maschine Studio, and my tiny CME xKey travelling keyboard. Track was mastered on-line with LANDR.
Despite having used Bigwig for a number of months now, getting back to Maschine was a breeze thanks to the workflow of Machine Studio.
Physically Playing Virtual Instruments
One of the frustrations with using keyboards as the predominant way in which to encode digital music is that they are a poor input device for capturing the nuances of wind and bowed instruments. Well, that's all about to change, as Hagai Davidoff illustrates in this video.
By using a Leap Motion controller, and the Reaktor "Ensemble Serenade III", he is able to mimic the motion of a bow on strings, and generate a richly textured set of outputs.
If you are interested in experimenting with the Leap Motion controller for making music, you need to check out the Geco Midi Controller (http://uwyn.com/geco/) as can be seen in the video below:
Mobile is Eating the World
Benedict Evans, who is now a partner at Andreessen Horowitz, is a must watch.
For more insights, you should check out his blog at http://ben-evans.com.
Latest Remix: Hypnotize (End of Evening Remix)
More flights, more remix projects. This one, a late night, somewhat moody remix of Wellenrausch's Hypnotize. Pulled together from a Traktor Remix Deck, with Strings and Voices (courtesy of Native Instruments Komplete Library) played in on the keyboard.
Latest Remix: I am Your Shadow
Spent some more time crossing back and forth across the Atlantic last week, took some much needed downtime to work on a new remix. This one a is a bit more moody ... that's what staring out into a dark sky at 35,000 feet in the middle of nowhere will do to you ... call this a "late night feel".
Latest Mix: Elevation (Dancefloor Mix)
Had the pleasure of seeing Erasure in concert in Toronto a few weeks ago, and was inspired to remix Elevation on one of my many recent international flights. Pulled apart the track using Traktor, then re-assembled using Bigwig Studio, augmented with some third party loops.
Downtime Matters - Make Time For It.
As an entrepreneur, there never seems to be enough time to do it all ... work, travel, spend time with family, sleep, exercise, eat well, explore your passions ... dare I say just have fun.
As entrepreneurs we get a great deal of enjoyment from our work, but it's important that you leave time for a rich and stimulating life outside of work ... in doing so, you will be healthier, you will be a more effective leader and you will gain both valuable perspective and improve your ability to innovate.
Work hard, yes. But remember that life is a marathon, not a sprint. Take the time to explore and celebrate the other parts of yourself, and your life. Heck, just leave time for fun. You will likely accomplish far more that way.
Get out there ... and have fun.
Latest Remix: Live from 34,000 Feet
Making music is truly the best way to pass time on transatlantic flights, although you so sometimes get strange looks depending on the setup you are using at the time :-)
This time I leveraged a Traktor remix deck (faster then cutting up the track yourself), double checked the timing in Traktor, then imported the deck into Bitwig Studio (which is rapidly becoming my fave DAW). The first pass of the remix was then done using a Launchpad S, much to the amusement of the flight crew, who kept stopping by to see what I was doing.
The mobile setup.
Latest Remix: Live From Heathrow
Was sitting in the BA lounge high above Heathrow terminal 5 waiting for a flight to South Africa, playing with Bitwig Studio and remixing Alpha 9's Come Home ... all the time wondering what a Heathrow Dance Party would be like :-)