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Andrew Duke column001 14July2006

"Rap is like the polio vaccine. At first, no one believed in it. Then, once they knew it worked, everyone wanted it." ( Grandmaster Flash )

Howdy, folks!

Column number one in a new series from me after a long break from being a columnist, so I thought I'd start off with a general intro about myself and give you an idea about what future columns will involve. (Past columns--in VICE, Streetsound, the Dalhousie Gazette, and on Cognition--have been focused on music reviews and news and artist interviews; this one will delve into these areas at times, but also get into new things).

The first record I ever bought was Human League's Dare in 1981; first hip hop record I bought was Public Enemy's "Public Enemy No. 1' 12" in 1987. My most prized records in my collection are my original jazz recordings on Verve and Clef Records , along with my fave old school disco, funk, R & B, rock, electro, freestyle, and hip hop vinyl.

Back in the mid-eighties I would do pause-button edits of songs I taped off the radio on my double cassette player/recorder, then in 1987 I started DJing with turntables and making my first music with a borrowed Casio SK-1 keyboard that had just 1.4 seconds of sampling time. The first (and only) rapping I did was on an uptempo hip hop song I produced in 1989 called "Free Your Mind" that used Paris' "unless you don't give a fuck to be free" from his The Devil Made Me Do It LP and 12"; the chorus: "You can free your mind of negativity/ 'unless you don't give a fuck to be free'". Fast forward to today and I produce all kinds of different styles of music, design sounds and compose music for a variety of international companies, teach sound design and music production, and write about music technology for a variety of magazines. Enough about me, though.

What's this column going to be about?
Basically, I'm going to try to share the knowledge and experience I have in a variety of areas'from producing and recording to promoting and performing'-plus provide info and reviews on the new and upcoming gear, software, and other things that might be of interest to the producers and DJs reading out there.

Software news:
Two weeks ago I was writing a piece for the GCFC (Guild of Canadian Film Composers) magazine, Spotting Notes, on the pros and cons of Ableton's music software program Live. If you're not yet familiar with it, here's the scoop: Live was introduced in October 2001 and pioneered (at the time) the ability to drag and drop any audio on your computer into the program and'in real-time'match it to a master-tempo and mangle it in a variety of ways. Not only did this mean you could quickly jam with ideas and come up with beats and songs faster, but it could be used for live performances (hence the name of the program) to do things that before hadn't been possible. Previous to buying Live, I had had to use a demo of Sonic Foundry's (since bought by Sony) ACID Pro (on version 1 back then) for live performances; "live" sets would have to be pre-planned because all you could do during the performance was mute and unmute tracks and change the tempo. When Live appeared, it was like a gift straight from music technology heaven. Thanks to Live's unique audio-warping engine, now you could perform starting with a clean slate (no more pre-planning) and throw loops and hits into the mix as you thought of them; change the tempo and arrangement on the fly, and really perform live for the first time. Plus, you could record your live performance (or your jamming in the studio) while it happened, and then go back and edit and tweak the results. Over the years since, MIDI capabilities and instruments (a drum machine, a sampler, and a synth) have been added along with MIDI and audio effects (more with each updated version), and many other improvements. I love this program so much that it has become my sequencer/DAW of choice and I have taught group and individual sessions on using it across Canada, plus more recently at the NSCC (Nova Scotia Community College). However, one thing was always missing from Live that caused me concern: video support. Whenever I worked on a movie score or the audio for a TV advertisement or PSA (Public Service Announcement), it was a chore trying to line up the audio I was working on in Live with the accompanying QuickTime file.

At last!
Good news arrived in my inbox today while finishing up this column. Top of the list of improvements forthcoming in the new version of the program is QuickTime video support. Hooray! This will make synching music to visuals a snap. Live 6 will start the beta testing phase later this month and if all goes well it should be commercially available in late September. I'll post my feedback on Live 6 here as soon as I get my hands on it.

Acid anyone?
Speaking of which, I received a review copy of the newest version of Sony's Acid Pro (now at number 6) a while back but I haven't yet had a chance to install it (you know you're busy when!). Next column I'll aim to give you my impressions of Sony Acid Pro 6.

In the meantime, if you're a DJ looking to take things to the next level, looking to do mashups, or producing beats and songs, you should download the free demo of Ableton Live 5 from their website: http://www.ableton.com

Cracks are wack:
One thing I'd like to make perfectly clear is my stance on the use of cracked software and sharing serial numbers. Plain and simple, when you use software fraudulently, you're ripping off people and companies who have invested vast amounts of time and energy developing tools to make your producing and DJing easier. Do they really deserve to be slapped in the face, financially and metaphorically, like that? I have many friends that work in the music software industry'from creating it to selling it'and I can tell you unequivocally they work their fucking asses off! The use of cracks is a huge problem that is a result of what I call the Just Because You Can Doesn't Mean You Should syndrome. In other words, just because cracks and serial numbers are out there doesn't justify your use of them.

Some will argue that because they aren't yet making money (or very much money) from producing or DJing that it is OK for them to not pay for the software they use. Well, does your landlord give you free rent when you're unemployed? Did the music equipment store rent you those Techics 1200s free of charge when you DJed for free? You can't download free groceries, or gas for your car, or power for your lights and heat, so I'm assuming you pay for those. Why would it be OK for you to pay for everything except software? If you're not yet registered with SOCAN (Society of Composers, Authors, and Music Publishers of Canada; or your country's'-for those reading from outside Canada'-recording society), you're missing out on the easiest source of income if you produce beats or songs: radio royalties. (More about this in a future column). Maybe you've never sent a CDR out to a radio station? Well, if you've got an artist page up on myspace.com with your songs, someone could easily record 'em, play 'em on a station, and there's some royalties you're missing out on if you've not registered those songs--don't look a gift money horse in the mouth!

If you feel you're too poor to afford music software, use a demo version until you have the money to buy. There's also tons of great freeware and shareware out there (I'll get to this in another column). And there's lots of common sense workarounds: For a recent sound design contract, I had to deliver content in Apple Loops format. To save to this format, you'll need a Mac computer and a program like Garage Band neither of which I had. I found a friend who had a Mac and Garage Band, went over to his house, and paid him some money (a la studio time) to use his system to do the file formatting.

For those who've contacted me about upcoming sound design and music production courses at the NSCC here in Halifax at the Institute Of Technology Campus on Leeds Street, next class starts September 19 (registration deadline is September 12). You can get more info about the course and registration details here: http://andrew-duke.com/course.html
For those outside the HRM, an online version of the course is forthcoming.

Got any topics you'd like me to cover in a future column, comments, or criticism? andrew@andrew-duke.com

recommended website:
I'll leave you with a tip on some listening material to dip your ears into. If you're a fan of old school electro and hip hop, you owe it to yourself to check out http://www.raveric.com
Reason #1: Eric has an extensive vinyl collection and he knows what to do with it; recently he's started a series of downloads whereby he'll make available one of his favorite tracks for a limited time. You can go to his site now (as of this writing) and hear a full track from MC Shan. Produced by Marley Marl, the song is taken from Shan's classic Down By Law album that came out in 1987 on New York's Cold Chillin' label.
Reason #2: Do you like to hear tight mixing, old school style megamixes, and editing a la Mantronix, the late great Jose "Chep" Nunez, and the Latin Rascals ' One of my favorite mixes from 2005 was Eric's Journey to Planet Electro; click on downloads for a super solid 60 minute mad mix of grade A material from the likes of World Class Wreckin' Cru (where a young Dr. Dre first made his mark), Afrika Bambaataa, Jonzun Crew, Hashim, and more. Full tracklist on the site.
Reason #3: Earlier this month Eric unleashed the follow-up to last year's mix: Return To Planet Electro (again, available in the downloads section). Rather than go for the hits, he's sliced and diced rare recordings, quality B-sides, and album tracks, along with a few tracks you'll know straight off. There's no tracklisting available on the site yet, but I'll give you the goods:

DJ Raveric'Return To Planet Electro

01 DJ Raveric--The Return Begins
02 The Beat Club--Security
03 Afrika Bambaataa & The Soul Sonic Force--Looking For The Perfect Beat
04 C.O.D.--The Bottle
05 Two Sisters--B-Boys Beware
06 Kurtis Blow--Under Fire
07 Loleatta Holloway--Crash Goes Love
08 Chaka Khan--My Love Is Alive
09 Freestylers feat. The Soul Sonic Force--We Rock Hard
10 Freestyle--It's Automatic
11 Man Parrish--Man Made
12 The Egyptian Lover--The Lover
13 Maggotron--Bass Invaders
14 Hashim--Chateau Vie (Castle Life)
15 Arthur Baker--Breaker's Revenge
16 Information Society--Running
17 Information Society--Think
18 Lydia Lee Love--Don't Take Your Love Away
19 Newcleus--Jam On It
20 Captain Rock--Return Of Captain Rock
21 Sir Mix-A-Lot--Square Dance Rap
22 Divine Sounds--What People Do For Money
23 Kraftwerk--The Model
24 Trinere--Alone At Last
25 Meg--Lover Girl
26 Two Sisters--Scratch This
27 The Egyptian Lover--You're So Fine
28 Kraftwerk--It's More Fun To Compute
29 Two Sisters--Hot Hot Sound
30 Kurtis Mantronik--Trickstyle Theme
31 DJ Raveric--The Vinyl Ending

Some of the drop-ins and samples used:

Aleem--Get Loose
Cover Girls--Because Of You
Dynamic Duo--Knights Of The Turntables
Dynamic II--Techno Bass
Dynamic II--II Evolve
Jamie Jupitor--Computer Power
Kraftwerk--Boing Boom Tschak
Kraftwerk--Musique Non Stop
Kraftwerk--Numbers
Kurtis Blow--A.J. Scratch
Kurtis Mantronik--Original Electro
Meg--Party Time
Meg--Nite Life
Monet--My Heart Gets All The Breaks
New Order--Confusion
Sir Mix-A-Lot--Rippn'
Visage--Pleasure Boys