Saturday, August 14, 2010
In 1988, a pair of British acid house DJs named Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty, variously known as The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu (The JAMs), The Timelords and The KLF, had an improbable number one hit with “Doctorin’ The Tardis.” The track isn’t so much a song as it is an early mashup. Aside [...]
Filed in music, tv
|
Also tagged book, dance, doctor who, eighties, mashups, memes, michael jackson, pop, production, recording, rick astley, songwriting, uk, whitney houston
|
I wrote a general post about what makes a hot beat hot. As a followup, here’s how to program some generic patterns and a few famous breakbeats. The basic unit of dance music is a sequence of sixteen eighth notes, two measures of four-four time. Drum machines like the Roland TR-808 represent the sixteen eighth [...]
Filed in music, software
|
Also tagged dance, drum machines, drumming, funky drummer, hip-hop, hone, honey drippers, james brown, led zeppelin, programming, rhythm, rock, time
|
I’ve had a lot of music teachers, formal and informal. The best one has been the computer. It mindlessly plays anything I tell it to, over and over. Hearing an idea played back on a continuous loop tells me quickly if it’s good or not. If the idea is bad, I immediately get annoyed, and [...]
Filed in music
|
Also tagged beatles, book, country, dance, electronica, fela kuti, hip-hop, jazz, memory, modules, recursion, remixes, rza, structure, symmetry, theodor adorno
|
Friday, February 26, 2010
The vast majority of music that I hear is recorded, and if you’re reading this the same is probably true of you. Most people don’t have a clear idea what the recording process is like, especially using computers. Here are my adventures in recording. I grew up in the eighties. Cassette recorders were just starting [...]
Filed in hardware, music, software
|
Also tagged analog, audio, audio editing, autotune, book, computers, electronica, hip-hop, improvisation, mashups, music, pro tools, recording, remixes, revival revival, sampling, sequencing, synths, tape, tape editing, visualization
|
This PBS Independent Lens documentary on sampling culture is a good one, and you can watch the whole thing on Youtube. Their resources and links page includes my Biz Markie blog post. Thanks Beautiful Decay for posting the videos. Part one:
Filed in movies, music, software, tv
|
Also tagged a tribe called quest, audio editing, beastie boys, biz markie, book, clyde stubblefield, computers, copyright, dance, dj, eighties, george clinton, hip-hop, improvisation, james brown, jeff chang, mashups, memes, michael jackson, music, pro tools, public enemy, recording, remixes, rock, sampling
|
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Boys And Dance Floors [Audio clip: view full post to listen] Revival Revival vs Janet Jackson mp3 download, ipod format download Right-click or option click the links to save the track to your computer. There are as many different ways of writing songs as there are songwriters. Barbara Singer and I have arrived at a [...]
Filed in autobio, music, software
|
Also tagged autotune, composing, improvisation, janet jackson, pro tools, production, reason, recording, remixes, revival revival, sampling, songwriting
|
Saturday, November 28, 2009
The current fetish for originality in music is partially an outgrowth of copyright law. If you write your own songs, you can make more money from the publishing rights in addition to your album sales. The influence of Bob Dylan and the Beatles further created the expectation that popular musicians would mostly be writing their [...]
Filed in autobio, computers, music
|
Also tagged arrangement, big band, book, chet baker, coltrane, copyright, count basie, duke ellington, frank sinatra, harmony, improvisation, jay-z, jazz, lego, memes, miles davis, modules, music, music theory, my favorite things, originality, reharmonization, remixes, sampling, swing, symmetry, the sound of music
|
Turntablists use record players to play records in ways they weren’t meant to be played. By speeding up, slowing down and reversing the record under the needle, a whole universe of new sounds becomes possible. The record player as musical instrument is still in its early stages of development. DJs already invented the instrumental sound [...]
Filed in music
|
Also tagged a tribe called quest, afrika bambaataa, apache, book, dj, dj premier, funky drummer, grand mixer dst, grandmaster flash, herbie hancock, hip-hop, improvisation, mashups, music notation, peter piper, rahzel, remixes, rhythm, rockit, run-dmc, sampling, scratch, turntablism, visualization, wu-tang
|
Before digital recording media, recording artists faced a tradeoff between spontaneity and perfection. Recording take after take until the performances are spotless can quickly suck the joy and energy out of the music. But the kind of sloppiness that goes unnoticed in a live performance can get on your nerves after many repeated listens. It’s [...]
Filed in music, software
|
Also tagged audio editing, beatles, book, composing, gnarls barkley, hip-hop, kind of blue, michael jackson, miles davis, music, pro tools, psychology, recording, thriller
|
Biz Markie. Who doesn’t love him? Our broken intellectual property system, that’s who.
Filed in music
|
Also tagged biz markie, book, christianity, copyright, criminal justice, fail, gilbert o'sullivan, hip-hop, memes, music, remixes, sampling
|
