Sonny's Sounds March 29 2012

Vancouver's School Of Remix

Here is a little blurb about Vancouver's School Of Remix:
DJ IS THE NEW ROCKSTAR: DISCOVER YOUR TALENT WITH THE SCHOOL OF REMIX VANCOUVER'S ONLY DJ SCHOOL GETS THEIR STUDENTS ON THE RIGHT TRACK Vancouver BC, February 27, 2012 - DJing has become an increasingly popular trend, now more than ever people are being inspired to learn and the only place in the Lower Mainlaind to provide the proper DJ education is The School of Remix. With critically acclaimed local DJs teaching you the “how to”, School of Remix is the perfect environment for spreading and inspiring local talent. Learning to DJ gives people a chance to express themselves, explore their creativity and find their unique talent. “We wanted to take a personalized approach on learning and help people realize their own goals as opposed to a rigid form of learning. We give people the freedom to discover their own personal style and learn from their individual work flow”, Tyler Hazelwood, Founder. Located in East Gastown in a developing creative and trendy neighbourhood, School of Remix opens its doors anyone who is willing to learn, from ages 9-99, it’s never too late to discover your talents. School of Remix provides an education that can resonate into various areas of development: personality, communication and self-esteem. Creativity is the expression of the self and School of Remix wants to help people discover that self, whoever that may be. For further information please contact: Lisa H. School Of Remix t// 604-681-5586 lisa@schoolofremix.com

Moombahton

Introduction

Moombahton is a sub-genre of electronic dance music and Reggaeton that was created by American DJ and producer Dave Sarnet Nada (aka Dave Villegas) in Washington, D.C., in the fall of 2010. Moombahton is essentially Dutch House or Electro House at a slower BPM (typically 110BPM) with heavy reggaeton influences--most notably new drums and percussion elements. Other features of moombahton are extended and enhanced build-ups.

Origins

Dave Nada agreed to play a "school-skipping party" for his younger cousin in the fall of 2010. When he arrived he realized the attendees were dancing to reggaeton and bachata, while he was planning on playing house and club music. He solved this predicament by slowing down the Afrojack remix of the Silvio Ecomo & DJ Chuckie song "Moombah" from 128BPM to 108BPM. The name of the sub-genre itself comes from the portmanteau of "moombah" and "reggaeton."

Between fall 2009 and spring 2010, Nada perfected his vision of the new sub-genre in the recording studio to create a five track extended play of newly-developed Moombahton tracks that was released in March 2010 with the promotional assistance and support of DJ Ayres and DJ Tittsworth at T & A Records

Although Dave Nada has been properly credited with the naming of the genre and beginning the movement known as Moombahton, the concept of combining reggae/dancehall/reggaeton percussion with electronic elements dates back much farther . Examples include Diplo, CTLGD, Dj Blass, which can be seen clearly with his track "Guayoteo", Luny Tunes, Jowell & Randy, witnessed in their composition "Esto Es Perreo", Dj Scuff, and many more Djs across the globe. Sam Kleefisch: "There was some electronic influence in both reggaeton and dancehall pre-moombahton, I would say some people who could definitely lay some claim to being legitimately ‘pre-moombahton’."

Moombahton is also heavily influenced by the dubstep movement.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moombahton

Upcoming Events

This week I got 2 events but they are both going to be nuts. The first is a "Shooter Party" at Rouge Nightclub in Moncton. This means lots of students and lots of booze. Last year's shooter party was a huge success. This years promises to be even better. Friday night I am performing at the Right To Play Red Ball Party at Oxygen Nightclub. This is one of my favourite events each year and is always sold out. The Right To Play group always bring the best vibes. If you feel like attending you had better there before 11 as it will be packed again this year. If you feel like donating to Right To Play, visit their website here: Right To Play. Easter weekend we got the Coors Light Easter Sunday Funday event at Oxygen Nightclub as well. It promises to be a great time. Don't miss it.

Free VST Pack from Blue Cat

Don't look a gift horse in the mouth:
All Blue Cat Audio freeware audio plug-ins gathered together in a single package: this bundle contains a wide range of premium modulation effects, a single and dual-channel equalizer, a unique midi-controllable gain suite, as well as a professional spectrum analyzer. This is the ideal package to get started with your favorite Digital Audio Workstation. All plug-ins are entirely free. All plug-ins are available for Mac and PC, in VST, RTAS, AAX, Audio Unit and DirectX plug-in formats, for both 32 and 64-bit architectures. http://www.bluecataudio.com/Products/Bundle_FreewarePack/

Chart

Deekline & Ed Solo :: Shake The Pressure :: Sony Music
Jarvis :: Disco Vortex :: Cable Recordings
Swedish House Mafia :: Greyhound :: EMI Music
Ivan Gough & Feenixpawl ft. Georgi Kay :: In My Mind :: Axtone
Starkillers & Dmitry KO :: Light It Up :: Defected Records
Cubetronix ft. Fenja :: Seein' Stars :: Rise Records
Tommy Vee, Nicola Fasano ,Steve Forest ,Luca Guerrieri :: Tell Me :: Jolly Roger - Sound of Pirates!
Marcus Collins :: Seven Nation Army :: RCA Records
Mr. Groove :: Chervilo :: Pure Funk & Pure Trax Records
Kevin Saunderson :: Future :: Defected Records

Sonny's Sounds March 19 2012

Supermarket Recordings

I have become a big fan of house/techno label Supermarket Records lately. I always take notice of their releases when they show up in the pool or in promo. Their aim is to get the music from up and coming producers into the hands of the world's top DJs, and so far they have been achieving just that with support from Roger Sanchez, Erick Morillo, Jesse Voorm, Stonebridge, Olav Basoski, Niko Di Luka, Federico Scavo, Joe T Vannelli, DJ Wady, Jewel Kid, Luca Ricci, Aga Heller, Danny Verde, Markus Schulz, Peter Gelderblom, Dj Chus, Jerry Ropero, and many more. Check out JJ Mullor, Coqui Selection, Dani Sbert and Rico Martinez, they are some of my faves from Supermarket. Check out all their releases on Beatport here: Supermarket Recordings.




Quartz Composer

Mac OS X comes bundled with some very cool developer tools that can be used to create stunning visuals. One of those developer tools is Quartz Composer. "Quartz Composer is a visual programming environment, included with Xcode, that allows you to quickly create sophisticated motion graphics compositions without having to write code. By simply connecting together building blocks of graphics processing functionality, you can rapidly design dynamic visualizations that, for example, combine images and real-time information over video feeds. After perfecting your composition, you can use Cocoa bindings to embed it into your application."  Quartz composer files make nice tight little files that you can drop into Mix Emergency, Serato Video SL, Resolume Avenue, Modul8, or whatever your favourite VJ program might be. Quartz composer files can react to sound or to midi and makes an awesome VJ tool. There are lots of tutorials on line and there are a lot of examples you can find on sites like http://quartzcomposer.com, http://www.quartzcompositions.com, and http://kineme.net. 

Saint Patrick's Day at Oxygen Nightclub

What a crazy weekend! Saint Patrick's Day fell on Saturday night. Matty Jay and I teamed up at Oxygen Nightclub with a 4 turntable set up with extra lights and extra sound in the club. With a university pub crawl filling up the place by 11:00pm it was set up to be an epic night. Matty and I threw funk, hip hop, and moombahton back and forth for the first hour, which helped set the tone for the night. When the room really started to get going we stepped it up and played some electro club bangers, some moombahcore and dubstep remixes, and some really fun mash-ups. DJ Oli even dropped in for a few tracks as he hyped the crowd on the mic. All in all, a super great night. If you're on the East Coast of Canada, Oxygen is definitely somewhere you will want to visit. You can check out their Facebook page here: Oxygen. See Pictures from the night here: Pics.    


Mix of the Week

This weeks mix comes to you from Moncton duo, Cyn L and Opus. Cyn L has helped shape the face of the Moncton DJ scene and deserves mad respect. Her love of music and DJing is absolute. She always delivers an awesome performance, choosing tracks that really mean something to her.  Wether it's straight up funkiness or charging electro, it's always got that Cyn L flavour. And Opus, aka Ryan Greene, is one of the few cats in Moncton who can keep up with my obsession with nerding out on technology. He is very talented musician and a very talented DJ. He's been a staple in the DJ scene for years and is now ready to showcase what he's got. Even his Fan Page describes him as a "new old school artist". Check out their latest mix of electro house and breaks. It's funky and fun and keeps the pace up throughout.  http://soundcloud.com/viralsounds-ca/cynl-opus-bangin-da-funk-2012


Bonus: As an added bonus we give an entire evening of music from Rouge Premiere Lounge in Moncton NB presented by yours truly, Sonny D. As great as big clubs and festivals can be, I really like the intimate setting that is Rouge. Their "no request" policy means that the crowd is there because they like what I like: lots of house music, electro, progressive, remixes and mash-ups. Thursdays I play with Mizz LeiYa, Fridays I host "Trust The DJ" and Saturdays are presented by Eric Dee: All Roads Lead to the Dance Floor. The following is a recording from last Thursday. I split it up into 3 neat and tidy parts that fit on 3 CDs.   http://sonnyd.podomatic.com/

Chart

Shake The Pressure Deekline & Ed Solo :: Sony Music
Echale Candela Dr. Kucho! & Zenbi :: Disc Doctor
Get To Know You Better Block & Crown :: Sobel Promotions
Disco Vortex Jarvis :: Cable Recordings
Take Me Higher Rogerseventytwo :: Sony Music Group
Future Kevin Saunderson :: Defected Records
Mujeres Romano & Sapienza :: Ipnotika Italy Mas Que Nada Richard Grey, Nari & Milani ft. Alexandra Prince :: Ego
Let's Get Together Marco Fratty & Stefano Burra :: Adaptor Recordings
Shmoke De Pancake Nathan C :: Big & Dirty Records

Sonny's Sounds March 12 2012

Funkagenda

Funkagenda has been one of my favorite progressive/tech/house producers for years delivering his ‘tough but melodic big room house sound’ – (quote - DJ Magazine). With releases on Positiva, Subliminal, Defected, Azuli and Big Love, Funkagenda now runs the Funk Farm label and is a key member of Toolroom Records with Mark Knight. His colab with Mark, The Man With The Red Face, won him the Ibiza DJ ‘Best Ibiza Track 2008’ and the Beatport ‘Best Tech House Track 2008’ award. He was nominated for "Best Pop Vocal Album" and Album of the Year for his work on the Black Eyed Peas album "The E.N.D." Check out his latest releases on Beatport here: Funkagenda on Beatport.

Controlling Lighting Software through Serato.

Today we will show you how to control your favorite lighting program from within the Serato interface by using Ableton and The Bridge. (Click here to learn more about: The Bridge.) We will assume that you have MyDMX or LightJockey (LJ) installed on another PC and that you have some scenes created for you to map. (Learn more about creating lighting scenes here: MyDMX or LightJockey) 

The first thing I like to do is open Ableton and create a list of MIDI notes. Open a MIDI track and double click in one of the slots. Scroll up the piano roll and start with note G8 at the top. Double click on the first slot next to the note on the piano roll. Right click the MIDI slot or hit "command" r to label this MIDI note. Label it so that it corresponds to a scene in MyDMX or LJ such as "blackout" or "intense strobe". Create as many MIDI notes as you would like to map in MyDMX or LJ. You are going to use these notes later to create MIDI lines or MIDI loops that you will trigger inside Serato. But for now we are going to use them to map to our scenes in MyDMX or LJ.

You will need to get MIDI signals from Ableton to MyDMX or LJ via a MIDI Interface such as M-Audio Midi Sport series of interfaces. Many MIDI controllers have midi output ports, such as the Korg padKONTROL. You will need 1 interface for your lighting PC and another for your computer that is running Serato/Ableton. Use a MIDI cable to connect the output from your Serato/Ableton computer into the MyDMX/LJ PC. Once you have your MIDI interfaces connected start MyDMX or LJ. In Ableton choose the MIDI interface in the output section of the MIDI channel you are using.

In your lighting software you will want to select the correct MIDI input as well. Select the interface in the drop down box under the "Set Up" tab in the MIDI in window in LightJockey.

Next you will want to choose whatever scene you wish to map in your lighting software. For MyDMX you will want to go to the "User" tab to see the list of MIDI mappable scenes.   Right click on the scene and click "Learn MIDI command". When "Waiting for MIDI command" appears click on the corresponding MIDI note in Ableton. Now when you click on that MIDI note it will trigger the scene in MyDMX. The same goes for Light Jockey. You open the sequence list, click on the corresponding sequence and select "Learn" in the "MIDI in" window under the "Sequences" tab. 

Now you can start to create MIDI lines that follow the progression of your track, or create some loops that you can trigger to run in time with the grid in Ableton. To create a MIDI loop select a MIDI note while in the Session View, hit the "tab"  key on your keyboard and drop the note into the MIDI line in Arrangement View. Select more MIDI notes from Session View and drop them in Arrangement View. Highlight all the MIDI notes and right click on the title bar for the notes and select "consolidate" or hit "command" j. Drag the newly created loop back to Session View to be able to trigger it with in Ableton.

You can then drop your loops or single notes in Arrangement View to follow the line of the track. I like to select "blackout" for breakdowns, slow or fast strobes for those snare roll buildups, and multi-colored loops for the chorus. 

Once you have all your loops or notes dropped in the entire length of your track, you can consolidate the entire thing by hightlighting the length of the midi line and hitting "command" j. Hit "Command r" to rename it.

Once you have consolidated and renamed your MIDI line you can export your MIDI line to a folder containing all your MIDI lines. Navigate to the folder in Ableton's browser and find the MIDI line that corresponds to the track you would like to play. Drag it into a MIDI slot in Session View. 

 

Drop all your midi lines in one channel and navigate  through the list of MIDI files using a MIDI controller like the APC 40 while still inside the Serato interface. You can then trigger the MIDI track from inside Serato via the Bridge. I usually loop the first bar of the track in Serato and when I am ready for my track to start I trigger the MIDI line at the same time I release the loop.

Be sure to sync up the corresponding deck to the grid in Ableton.  The lights will then follow the MIDI line in time with your track in Serato.  You can also trigger your lighting loops or one shots live while you play from inside the Serato/Ableton/Bridge interface. Don't forget to edit the grid of your track in Serato so that you have a nice tight sync with Ableton.

I use a Novation Launchpad to trigger my lighting cues. It gives me an 8x8 grid to use to trigger MIDI cues, drum loops, acapellas, and more.  We won't go deep into it but you can also map faders and buttons to faders or dials in Ableton and control the parameters of MyDMX or LJ from Ableton. You can also MIDI map directly to a controller. I like to map the X/Y axes of a a scanner or MAC to the X/Y pad on my PadKONTROL or NanoPAD.  Then I can control where I want the light to point making it a spotlight that I can control from the booth to highlight something on stage or in the crowd.

A Skillz Review

Last Friday we presented A.Skillz at the Oxygen Complex in Moncton. The opening act were locals Cyn L and Opus with Nayles as MC delivering a healthy dose of scratching over some serious Electro beats from the likes of Lazy Rich and Felguk to name a few. Then A.Skillz tore up the place with an amazing display of incredible turntablism. He lead the crowd through a fully funky blend of Hip Hop, House, Drum and Bass and Electro, mashing up acapellas and specially made samples designed to hype the crowd. He left the crowd sweaty and spent. The crowd was made up of a huge chunk of the Moncton old-school classics, some die hards from Saint John and Fredericton, and the serious DJ fans. Big thanks to A.Skillz for playing Moncton. 

Mix Of The Week

 This week we have a podcast from Jay Hamilton's Repercussions Radio. Jay is living in Toronto and has 4 remixes under his belt, most notably a dubstep remix for Wynter Gordon released on Atlantic Records under the moniker Dirty Triqs, with production partner JLR. Jay has put together a solid set ranging from disco house to tech house and back again, including tracks by one of my favourite Canadian producers of the moment, Jerome Robins, as well as Prock & Fitch, Danny Leblack, another amazing Canadian beatsmith Matteo DiMarr, the man with a midas touch Jay Lumen, NYC house maven Peter Bailey and a brand new disco tech house monster from the mighty D.Ramirez. March guests The B-Team  are a lot of fun to listen to because they really try to meld new school tech house flavours with the old school vibes of more classic house music. The pair have played at clubs and parties alongside such DJs and artists as Deadmau5, JFK, John Acquaviva, Hatiras, DJ Dan, Jojo Flores, Wynter Gordon, The Angry Kids, Robb G, Dekoze, Manzone & Strong and Jelo as well as performing at the 2011 BPM Festival in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico. Check out the mix here: http://soundcloud.com/jayhamilton/jay-hamilton-b-team .

Chart

Rawrberry ep Rawrberry :: Bug Eyed Records

Must be the Feeling Nero :: Mercury Records

The Flavor Saver EP Vol. 9 Various Artists :: Salted Music

Disco Vortex Jarvis :: Cable Recordings

Mas Que Nada Richard Grey, Nari & Milani ft. Alexandra Prince :: Ego

Get To Know You Better Block & Crown :: Sobel Promotions

Just Be EP Dj Reginald :: Supermarket Unlimited

Live Loud Hatiras & A-Divizion :: Hatrax Records

Lights Are Fading Jono Fernandez ft. Twin Atoms :: Sony Music Group

There And Back Wolfgang Gartner :: Ultra Records

Sonny's Sounds March 3 2012

Welcome to the second installment of Sonny's Sounds. Today we feature progressive house Producer Dezza, we are introduced to Ableton and Midi, we look at some of my events, present a mix from a DJ and showcase my favourite tracks from ZipDJ this week.

Dezza
From Halifax NS comes Derek Silvester: Dezza. His progressive sound is catching the attention of some heavy hitters including Sander Van Doorn and Tiesto. Dezza's first four singles with Oxygen/Spinnin' Records, "Hefty" "I Wonder" and "Allure" and "Seven71" quickly made it into the Top 20 Trance chart on the industry's leading digital store, beatport.com. You can check out Dezza on Beatport or on YouTube. If you really want to see what Dezza is about then be sure to check out Forever Friday, his weekly podcast full of upfront progressive house mixes. And to keep up with his latest productions follow him on Soundcloud.

Ableton Live/Midi Routing

MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is an industry specification for encoding, storing, synchronizing, and transmitting the musical performance and control data of electronic musical instruments (synthesizers, drum machines, computers) and other electronic equipment (MIDI controllers, sound cards, samplers). Wiki. MIDI can be used to communicate between programs on the same computer or even between computers.

While Ableton can send musical performance information to your synthesizer, drum machine, etc., it can also send information to VJ software or to your lighting programs. Midi notes can be sent to trigger lighting scenes in LightJockey or MYDMX. A few well placed midi notes that follow along with your track can trigger strobe lights when the song hits that crucial buildup, or blackout the lights entirely to create a moody vibe during that epic breakdown. Those same midi notes can trigger your visual software like Resolume Avenue or Modul8. Here is a great video explaining how to get Ableton to communicate with Resolume. 

Now keep in mind you can access the Ableton interface within Serato via The Bridge. With some creative Abletom templates and a controller like the Novation Launpad or even with the midi mappable buttons on the DJM 800 or 900 Nexus you can control your sound, your lighting, and your visuals all while mixing music using Serato vinyl. This can give you the performance capabilities of 3 people, the DJ, the lighting guy and the VJ. What's better is you can pre-program midi lines that follow the grid of your track allowing you to focus on the music or break loose and freestyle with the lights and visuals if you prefer. You can even sync your audio effects with your lighting and video effects so it all runs in the background while you mix your songs.

Events
March is a busy month for me. Aside from the incredible A.Skillz show later this week, we have the Right to Play fundraiser at Rouge. This event benefits the U De Moncton students' trip to Haiti to help rebuild after the devastating earthquake.
March 16 is a special event at Triangles Bar,
March 17 I will be presenting my video show at Oxygen Nightclub. You can catch me again at Oxygen on Wednesday March 21st for Student night.
Then it's Rouge Premiere Lounge Thursday March 22 and Friday March 23. I should have the new lighting system installed by then.
Then we head to Halifax for my monthly residency at Menz/Mollyz.
We end off the month with the U De M Red Ball Party to support Right To Play. This is always one of my favourite sold out events hosted by Right To Play following their incredible Ultimate Frisbee Tournament.

Mix Of The Week

Here is a mix from my old buddy Byrd from Halifax. Here is what he says about the mix: "Bangin, funky house. Reminiscent of the early to mid 2000's when guys like DJ Dan, Bad Boy Bill, John Acquaviva, Steve Angelo, Sebastian Ingrosso, Bryan Cox and Hatiras were filling up my record crate with that good, hard funky fun house music. Ive been searching and waiting and waiting and searching for these kinda tracks for years. Finally I have found them. Hope you like it :)"
http://soundcloud.com/byrd-is-his-name/byrd-its-like-that-feb2012

ZipDJ Chart

Must be the Feeling Nero :: Mercury Records
This is Love Hatiras :: Hatrax Records
There And Back Wolfgang Gartner :: Ultra Records
Play That Funky Coqui Selection & Jorge Montia :: Supermarket Records
LOVE Patrick Hagenaar :: Hed Kandi
Rio De janerio Maison and Dragen :: Armada Music
Pussylover Itaka :: Ipnotika Italy
Let's Start The Dance (Electronic Soul 2012 Remix) BOHANNON :: Deet Promotions
Lapoge Disfunktion :: Sirup Music
Honey Lisa Shaw :: Salted Music