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