Electro Cinema

As taken from their sites description:"Come see the Battle of the Buttons! The Akai APC40 and the Novation Launchpad are two of the most innovative MIDI controllers ever built for Ableton Live. Get the chance to see these two inspired controllers head-to-head and find out how they can make producing and performing with Ableton Live even more fun."

Register here and find out more!

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After talking to a few people about what low budget condenser mic to obtain, I went with the Rode NT1-A, purchasing it online from Sweetwater.com. I enjoy working with sweetwater's sales reps, they are very resourceful and non-pushy, which makes me comfortable purchasing from them.

What I need for my voice is a microphone that pics up the subtle nuances, since I have a quiet voice. My vocal treatment is more a la' blonde redhead, so vox recording for me has always been a task.

This microphone, with a pop filter, and plugged directly into my Mbox Mini is exactly what I need right now to record tracks for my EP. I also plan to record a violin player using the same setup. Lets see how that goes! I feel I will have more problems writing out the music for her than actually capturing the audio.

FUN!

I posted a link below to Amazon's site which has the same product, and is sold by several different suppliers, as well as has a few used ones. BTW, I am an Amazon.com affiliate, but feel free to browse other reviews and purchase it from wherever you choose!

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So I have gotten pretty comfortable in arrangement view, but I realize when I want to move chuncks around it is really difficult to line them up beat by beat, I must be doing something wrong! This is really difficult and time consuming.

I am going to try to cut and paste them into the other view, and re-copy them over...Anyone have similar problems in ableton, and if so how do they work around it>

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I've been busy working on songs for the EP, so I haven't updated much, since I have been really going back and fourth on the arrangement on a few songs, pushing what I can do, and making at least one mistake to every success. A really great reference for me as of late has been the book I linked above, ableton live 7 power.

I am a 'big picture' person -- They type of personality that doesn't really like to hit instruction manuals unless they want to do a certain thing or know of a certain problem. Self taught I think is the best way to learn. Make songs, break songs, and fixx. Also, late night tweaking after going to clubs/bar, when you are a bit sympathetic and mellow after a few drinks, also helps, lol.  But what do you do when you want to technically achieve something in a song and you can't ask anyone at 4 am? I am not one to wait...I need a reference.

So, after a few months of tinkering in Ableton I want to be able to do more with envelopes, effects, beats, tricks, ect. I bought this book, and its both interesting, teaching me more about the different panels of ableton clips and arrangment views, while every now and them talking about stuff like swing 16 (which I first heard from by a guy that made house music in the early '90's).  I am not finished with the book yet, but I already feel its been a reference for the new stuff I am working on, and also getting the tracks in better shape to hand over to others.

As I apply stuff I have learned in the book I am breaking my comfort zone. I admit, sometimes I have to go back to a few versions back from a song I have been tweaking, and decide if my changes are good/bad -- but again, what I am going for is a selfish experience, haha.  It just matters If I feel I am getting what I want from it, hardy har har.

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Here is a section of a song featuring vocals from Anastasia (from Cruel Black Dove) -- I just started to tweak the vocals, this is an idea for the chorus:

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I got back here mid week, but haven't had the chance to blog because I've been running around town, catching shows and other social things. Attended The Stone to see J.G Thirwell's Manorexia, which was purely inspirational and a delight, and have also been meeting up with old friends I hadn't seen since last year. There are many people I thought of while I was out of town, and realized I dearly missed them, so I made it a point to come back and reconnect...

While in Dallas, I also got a great critique of my current work and understood the idea that I need to push my songwriting abilities futher, and with the advice of Paul Slocum (member of treewave and was also recently featured in Artforum), I plan on releasing a Cocteau Twins cover with the EP that is in progress.

The trip to Dallas was a breath of fresh air -- It let me step back from music enough so I can come back to it with a more critical ear.

I feel there is a great disconnect that happens when you work on music by yourself -- you forget about what is occurring around you, and everything becomes about what 'you' like, which is fine if you want that, but I personally want to grow as a songwriter, and most often times hearing what doesn't work is better than hearing 'that's cool, man'...

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Two confirmed tracks that are in the works for the RoaR/rr project is one with vocals by Anastasia from Cruel Black Dove, and a collaboration track with glitchy/synthy artist talk.

Im going to be running around in May, between NYC and Texas, wish me luck (hate airplanes)! I'm leaving the Nano Keys in Texas, lol.

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A midi controller -- heh. I thought I could go without one, but it's really difficult to program in ableton with laptop keys...

So I am off to guitar center later today to buy a little tiny korg nano keys, since I am currently in Dallas, there should be at least 5 of them in the metro area, lol. I saw Throbbing gristle play and I think they had a korg nano keys onstage (not 100 percent sure) but i saw it and I kept wondering what it was until i saw a picture of the nano. Its really small so its perfect for my backpack. I do miss my home setup though! A basement and cold is really rather perfect to write sad music, where I am now its too happy, haha -- so it may take some time to adjust.

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When I come here (not that often) I like to try and make it to the Lizard Lounge for the goth night called 'The Church', which is on Sundays...

I will try and make it out -- I like the goth scene here, its totally different than NYC's different sub-genre themed nights (Cybertron, Necromatic, Pyramid).

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I made a myspace page for RoaR/rr. Is this retro? lol.

http://www.myspace.com/roarslasher

tehee...

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