We All Love Vintage Gear (New stuff is cool too !)

I started a record label a few years ago as an affiliation for me and my fellow DJ friends to spin under. Now I have taken things to the next level and know it's time to share that music with the world because the world deserves good music that is genuinely made to connect to you and make you feel good. So, obviously on this journey, many people try and talk me out of it and expect me to give them answers to questions that I'm not responisble for answering. Fact is this, I'm doing it and I'm happy doing it. There in lies the key to my success. I made a concious decision,i am taking constant ACTION, and I'm loving the process of building my studio, hypin' up my artists to be, etc . . . I realized a short while ago that what I really wanted initially was time and space to create. I received that very fast yet it took me a little bit of time to adjust to what was happening and what I was calling into my life. I can now prepare myself to make music rather than being forced to do it after dayjob hours. Life is simple. Sure we have lots of things and have created a complex civilization where paperwork abounds, but in actuality you can rule your life and live the life you choose. Start right now and never doubt yourself. Recognize that any doubt you have towards living you life passion/work probably stems from some other bonehead that had no interest in doing what you want to do. Be as sure of your success as you are sure that there will be oxygen for your next breath. You don't need to know how everything is going to go, just know your final goal and enjoy the ride ! Slow life down, take stock of the true makeup of the things and sights around you, and realize that the powers that be are hooking you up with whatever you want. Expect your success everywhere and visualize things going the way you want to go, maybe keeping in mind some moments where great things happened in the most unexpected place. Live on the energy level, the truth level, and add that truth to all your goals and dreams.

If you are an artist seeking inspiration, I suggest grabbing your favorite pair of closed back headphones and throwing on this vinyl for an invigorating and freeing experience. The creative freedom and fun in these songs will make you relax and the celebration of life that goes on will give you a good edge to work from in your sessions. There's a good clip on youtube of KRS-ONE talking about writing rhymes and compares the process to how our bodies and minds prepare to eat before we eat. He continues saying that you should allow the words to come to you rather than the mentality of sit down and go. I like the approach for music making as well and believe it worthwile. VIsualize that easy workflow of steady stream of ideas that will come to you while you work your magic. Feel that awesome feeling when your locking a huge jam that you just can't ait to share with others. We should prepare ourselves within all our senses to do what we want to do, rather than enter into it as a job and merely a mechanical procedure. Love the fact that under those keys theres all kinds of chips and oscillators and filters and you are their conductor. Many people find they have limited time to make music and have to 'turn on' at a certain time. The key is to settle into the moment, almost a though you can hear the gears of the universe turning, and in that vast peace, you can free yourself from the street level constraints of life.

Ok, back to the album . . . : )

This greatest hits compilation does not have a date on it and rightly so, this music is timeless. This time around I was really feeling "Everybody be a star" which is followed by " Stand !". The voices have such distinct character and cover a wide range. People worry alot about useless things and sometimes we need to realize how full of shit alot of it is and how what we all really want is to love life and really live life. The album artwork brings you in to close contact with the members of the group. The foldout image is a large shot them and allows your imagination to to be put to use rather than manipulated by a music video. Love it.

Here's the full tracklist on this release:

Side 1

I Want To Take You Higher (5:22)
Everybody Is A Star (3:00)
Stand! (3:08)
Life (2:58)
Fun (2:20)
You Can Make It If You Try (3:39)

Side 2

Dance To The Music (2:58)
Everyday People (2:20)
Hot Fun In The Summertime (2:37)
M'Lady (2:44)
Sing A Simple Song (4:47)
Thank You Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin (3:55)

The ELP Laser Turntable is manufactured by ELP Corporation in Japan. They claim it produces superb analog music with the added bonus of digital playback. The prices for the three models range from US $10,990 to US $14,990, the difference being the sizes of vinyl accepted and speed (rpm). Here is an excerpt from one cutomers testimonial that talks of some qualities and drawbacks:

"...speaking for sound, I feel that the LT 'transmits' the sound store in vinyl as opposed to a tonearm/cartridge 'transcribing' the sound. The laser doesn't change the sound in any way since it doesn't touch to groove. The light has consistency and constant reflective properties to extract sound that a stylus can never have. A stylus actually moves over the valleys and hills of the grooves, missing some musical information. The contact actually changes the sound to some extent. Some people are accustomed to this and prefer this. I definitely believe that the LT provides the truest sound. That's why I love the LT. The highs are very crisp and clear. (Violins and piano are astounding!) The lows are tight and will defined. (The bass lines in rock and roll don't seem muddled.) Singers no longer have a lisp (s and th sounds are clean).

Drawbacks. Dirty or damaged vinyl. Dirt can be conquered with a good cleaning. Since the light 'reads' the groove, it reads dust and dirt, too. I clean every side before playing, whether it looks clean or not. I use the standard VPI record cleaner and it takes about 50 to 60 seconds. It has merely become part of my record playing experience. It's quite easy after you get the hang of it.

As for damaged LP's, the LT plays warped or cracked records with great ease. If there are deep scratches, you will still here a 'click', but seldom will it skip. Older worn LP's can sound better since the laser usually will read above the point of contact where a stylus has caused damage. Not always, depending if the record was an inferior pressing or not. "

If you visit the ELP website, you can request a demo cd that demonstrates the difference between regular needles and a laser, and the advances that they made to the unit and its technology. The coolest bit of information I read on the website is in regards to the depth at which the laser picks up audio information in the groove. That information is 10 microns below the shoulder and as they say " . . . plays the virgin audio information on the groove without digitization. " It would be interesting to give it a comparison test as they say that the unit does not color the sound, as cartridges, magnets, and other parts have their bit of say. I wonder if once you take all that away what the experience is like, if the magic will have been lost or if new magic is just waiting to be discovered. Going to order a demo cd for the hell of it.

-----) http://www.elpj.com/

Colors affect us in ways that we might not always be aware of. Certain colors are soothing and promote relaxation and others bring more stimulation. I'm always keen on ways to make my studio workspace comfortable, clean, and favoring inspiration. Upon some research I've discovered that I am going to be looking to add some BLUES to my studio, as blue is said to be soothing and aid creativity and communication. On the other hand, maybe your music has high degrees of energy and you might enjoy REDS which is a stimulating color associated with energy. I have large pieces of art up from San Francisco artist David Garibaldi which add great life to my room, and I'm lucky to have such monster pieces that give off lots of energy of their own. To round out the colors and their effects, WHITES impart clarity and purity, YELLOWS are another stimulating color that promotes the good vibe of sunshine, GREENS are said to be uplifting yet at the same time relaxing, and gets associated with nature and love, and ORANGES relate to earth tones and add a sense of stability.

I will post up some pictures after I've added my next dose of color to the room and let you know how it feels.

With companies like Pioneer announcing the CDJ2000 that comes equipped with a 6.1 inch LCD and allows you to play music from SD cards and USB, my mind still revels in the simplicity of vinyl. With all those features one pays for on say a new cdj2000, one wonders about the real need to to play all those media forms and the distances at which companies go to emulate vinyl as though every turntable and knowledge of vinyl has ceased to exist. Not to mention the fact that the more buttons, lights, and screens, the more crap to fix when it goes down. I believe that this type of unit isn't responding to the demands of the buying public but are responding to the shortcomings of the technology itself. Many have given up carrying a case of vinyl because they would rather carry a cd case, and have dropped all respect for the artist and product concepts, usually because they get the music for free or so cheap that they don't give music the respect it deserves, and thus hoar the music out to their friends and forget about the songs when the next week arrives. Real Djs cherish their records (music) and are able to build strong playlists with more thought put into the process and with variety, not just the weeks top 10. People are willing to pay more money for something too that had already been invented long ago, in a more organic form. The technology is trying to catch up to the Technics 1200 turntable that is solid, reliable, and allows for full manipulation of the vinyl. Well fact is people need something to play all their free downloads on, and furthermore I will venture to say that most people use the BPM counter which was never needed before, and thus giving up on developing that ability to match the music by listening purely to the music, rather than matching the BPM counters visually. We have become a screen society, tv, computer, whatever it be, we like putting screens on things and calling them special. Really most screens and laptops in performances take a way from the performance and the connection between the artist and crowd. A screen commands attention, thus taking attention away from the people giving the energy back to you. You as DJ have a responsibility to get into it, too much staring at screens is going on and I find I lose interest in the DJ/artist because they emotion is unable to be communicated (some exceptions apply). Check out Longwalkshortdock, in his live shows he'll show you how you can still let loose while staring at a screen.

This guy rocks out ! http://www.longwalkshortdock.com

Till next time . . .

"Start & Run Your Own Record Label" is a great resource for leading you through the process of setting up a label and all the 'little' things that amount to success. According to the author, it is all those little things (and great music) that seperate the people who succeed from those who may miss the boat. Once your successful it is especially important to maintain that success by keeping strong your relationships with people at radio stations, magazines, clubs, and anywhere else you require an in. The book hammers home the idea that aside from having great music to begin with, it is creativity, passion, and persistence that will get you the reviews you desire, and the success you deserve. Furthermore, knowing how to properly communicate and approach people in the biz is important, and this book has alot of info on all the different ways to get in touch with people, with a focus on being professional at all times. The book has ample information on the present state of the music industry and talks positively about the opportunities today for indies. If you are feeling that record label startup bug as I am, then I suggest this book as a good point to start focusing your thoughts and getting you oriented towards that parallel universe where you have created ' a sound ' and an avenue for you and your friends to release music to the world in a more professional, yet creatively free way.

Published by Billboard Books, 2009

cost me $28.95CDN at Chapters

To make the most of your stereo real estate and to have a pleasant space for your elements to sit and breathe, keep in mind two things, panning and frequency. As you hear often, there are no rules in making music but some strong concepts never hurt. Balance your mid and high range elements by panning like range sounds to opposite sides. Moreover, you can split the EQ of one sound by making a copy of the track and spreading the frequency range across the two channels and then maybe doing the reverse with another similar range sound. Bandpass filters are very friendly, and will help you on your mission towards clean separation. Make sure your mix focuses on the vocals or bass, or whatever you feel is the 'president' of your mix. Vocals tend to be left in the center and likewise for the kick and bass because low frequencies tend to be fairly non directional. In the case of higher frequency sounds, you can play with them further out on both channels.

I picked up a used Korg DDD-1 for about $100 off ebay. They were produced in 1986 and 1987 and feature multi outs. One pad was defective of the 14 on mine, however not a problem since you can assign the 18 drum sounds to selected pads. Includes a flam/roll function good for retro production. The tuning of the drums has its own sort of quality and sound and provides a decent amount of tweaking. The DDD-1 had a sampling option with a limited sample time, can be found on ebay once in awhile. The DDD-1 also had cards with additional sounds, also can be found on good old ebay. I've used mine on retro eletronica work and the crunch that this machine delivers, works well. Blahzay Blahzay used it in his hip hop work from back in the day, check it out if your curious.

Released in 1999, house music was kicking ass at this time and the french house style was picking up mad steam. Here USAer Armand Van Helden hooks up with miami based Roland Clark in a memorable mixture of warm bass and happy vocals, If you are a house fanatic and have happened to miss this one, then head to your local record store or grab a copy off discogs. The track is nice and long and features a breakdown to vocal bliss, similar to 'You Dont Even Know me,' Van Heldens successful release also from 1999.

So they're hardly vintage, but I thought I would give a brief review of the Audio Technica headphones as I have recently purchased a set. I got them off Ebay for about $150US. They retail for $200US. These headphones are a soothing pleasure to wear on the ears and provide very good isolation from outside sources. What's more, there's a comfy cushion for your head. After a long night of editing a track that was completely done on my dynaudio BM5A monitors. The next morning I was curious to see the effect of my work from the headphone session and I was very pleased with the results. I was looking for headphones that would be great for vocal recording as I enjoy the isolation of headphones when recording especially since I live by a busy street. They feel well made and have a reliable looking metal band as opposed to a plastic one. The 1/4" adapter has a spring on the end before the connector to allow for more bending without breaking, though the cable is replaceable. As a side note, I've been Djing with them and found that you can place the pad on your forehead while your beatmatching your next record and use the pulse of the bass through the pad as your guide, just has an interesting clarity in its pulsing. Happy with the purchase so far, haven't yet used them for recording vocals so I will add that bit of info when I do.

I was inquiring with Roland Canada here in Vancouver, BC if they could fix my Juno 106 and the voice issue. Here is their reply to my email...
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Question:
Hi when is a good time to bring in my Juno for a check and repair ? Im in Vancouver

Answer :

Greetings / Salutations!,

Thank you for your inquiry.

You don't need an appointment to check in your Juno.
Please feel fee to come by Weekdays, 9:00-4:30

Our address is:
5480 Parkwood Way
Richmond BC
V6V 2M4
604-270-6626 ex183

Best Regards / Sincèrement vôtre,
Roland Canada