Ski Oakenfull

The Azealia Banks '212' Tutorial video I made for Point Blank Online College was published recently in the DJ Mag Free online edition. You can check it out here: http://www.djmag.com/djweekly/ Its DJ Weekly 127.

I'm also attaching the offline version for you to download. You'll find the attachment underneath the picture..

You can also download the Native Instruments Massive Patch I created in the tutorial here.

Here's the accompanying text:

Although Lazy Jay is credited as a featured artist on this track, Azealia actually laid a vocal on his original instrumental, 'Float My Boat' which was released on Big & Dirty Records back in 2009. With her sleazy rap style perfectly complementing the beat, she transformed the track to become a massive hit in 2011.

For the analysis of this track I wanted to focus on the two main sections. The bulk of the song is centered around a swung beat with a distinctive Tom Tom pattern. Jay uses some great rising FX underneath to provide tension, as well as alternating various percussive elements. The other addition to this beat is the hooky synth line. Although I was working in Ableton, I decided to recreate it using Native Instrument's Massive, due to it's comprehensive range of Filters, Oscillators and overall fat sound. I assigned a Macro within the Synth to control the pitch of the Oscillators, which I was then able to record as Automation after recording a single note midi pattern into Ableton.

For the second section, the beat is filtered down, and some new synth parts are introduced. Azealia switches from a rap to a sung melody which copies the lead synth line. The melody uses quite an unconventional scale, which I was keen to investigate. Although I managed to identify the Key Signature as F# Minor, there were two notes not found in the F# Natural Minor Scale which were C Natural and D#. It is actually possible to play the Scale of C# Harmonic Minor over the F# Minor bass line to achieve all the correct notes!

Here are a couple of pics taken in Cafe Cox at the Amsterdam Dance Event last weekend by James Humby from Point Blank.

James & Ski are currently editing the videos of the 3 seminars, and will let you know as soon as they are up on YouTube..

The Maschine 1.8 (pt2) Vocal Timestretching Tutorial video I made for Point Blank Online College was published recently in the DJ Mag Free online edition.

You can check it out here: https://www.djmag.com/djweekly/. It's DJ Weekly 123.

I'm also attaching the offline version for you to download. You'll find the attachment underneath the picture..

The Maschine 1.8 (pt1) Conga Loop Timestretch Tutorial video I made for Point Blank Online College was published recently in the DJ Mag Free online edition.

You can check it out here: https://www.djmag.com/djweekly/. It's DJ Weekly 122.

I'm also attaching the offline version for you to download. You'll find the attachment underneath the picture..

Ski will be hosting 4 EMC based seminars at this year's Amsterdam Dance Event. They will take place at Cafe COX as part of the Akai Professional and Numark Playground. The dates are 18/19/20th October (Thursday to Saturday).

Hope to see you there!

UPDATE: Here's my schedule and topics for the seminars..

Thursday 18th
2-3pm : SBTRKT - Wildfire

Friday 19th
2-3pm : Mr Fingers - Can U Feel It

Saturday 20th
1:15-1:45pm : Mr Fingers - Can U Feel It (Revisit)
6-7pm : Justice vs Simian - We Are Your Friends

The Ableton Daft Punk's 'Around The World' Bass Line Tutorial video I made for Point Blank Online College was published recently in the DJ Mag Free online edition.

You can check it out here: https://www.djmag.com/djweekly/. It's DJ Weekly 120.

I'm also attaching the offline version for you to download. You'll find the attachment underneath the picture..

The Ableton Japanese Found Sound Article Tutorial video I made for Point Blank Online College was published recently in the DJ Mag Free online edition.

You can check it out here: https://www.djmag.com/djweekly/. It's DJ Weekly 114.

I'm also attaching the offline version for you to download. You'll find the attachment underneath the picture..

Ski will be delivering an EMC based seminar for Point Blank at the BPM DJ and Electronic music event in Birmingham on Saturday 6th October. He'll also be at the Point Blank stall all day jamming with DJ Ben Bristow.. Hope to see you there!

BPM is the world's largest event dedicated to DJing and electronic music production. Visitors include DJs, producers, performers, promoters, venue owners/managers, equipment retailers/installers, record label representatives, students and many others who simply have an interest in DJing or electronic music.

http://www.facebook.com/bpmshow

https://twitter.com/visitbpm

This is a project I was asked to do at my son's school in Hackney.
I asked the children in his class (7-8 year olds) to bring in a sound made either with an object or their body.
I recorded each sound individually in groups of 5 or 6 children, and then composed a short piece of music using these sounds.
I used examples such as John Cage and The KLF to explain how music can be thought of in lots of different ways, and also to how we should appreciate the sounds around us.
While we were recording in a separate room, the rest of the class listened to Holst's 'The Planets' and drew amazing coloured pictures in response to the music. They also drew a picture to represent each of their individual sounds.

Please check out the Facebook page to find out more: http://www.facebook.com/GrasmereSounds

Also check out this great John Cage resource at Artsy.net

You can have a listen to the five short pieces of music here: