PixelVulture » Music

Digital Music Production 101

Matthew Arnold — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 07:40:27 +0000

Quite a few people have asked us lately about getting into music or video production that we thought it warranted a blog post. It’s actually a lot easier than you might think. Even though you might encounter one or two technological hurdles when you’re a total beginner, today’s software is so well designed that you’ll be up and running within minutes. The software available also means that you can create pretty professional looking and sounding videos and tracks on your PC in no time at all – even megastars like Rhianna are doing it! Yes, you read that right, Rhianna’s smash hit Umbrella which reached number one here in S.A and sold 6.6 million copies worldwide relies heavily on a slowed down version of a loop that comes with Apple’s GarageBand software (it’s called ‘Vintage Funk Kit 03’ – check it out for yourself). Whilst by no means the only option, GarageBand is a great tool for anyone looking to create their own music or podcasts – it can record and play back multiple tracks of audio, enhance tracks, correct pitch and even auto tune to a certain degree and now that it’s available in an app form for iPad, it’s pretty much like a portable recording studio. For those of you looking for music to add to video or a game you’ve produced, be careful, as the cost can be extremely high. There are a few good music production libraries out there, including Beatsuite.com, which offer high-quality royalty free music tracks. I mention Beatsuite specifically because they have one of the simplest download and licensing system out there, so it’s ideal for those of you who are just starting out on your digital creation journey. Even though they’re based in the UK, they’ve actually got a great section of traditional African music, available here. So what are you waiting for go on and start making some music!

CYBERPUNKERS Illegal Mix Vol. 2 – Electrotech

Dylan Robberts — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 07:04:07 +0000

Banger! Somebody needs to bring these dudes out to SA again! Electrotech madness! TRACKLIST: 1.) Q.G - Necronomicon 2.) Ftampa - Chaos 3.) Cold Blank ft. Blake Miller - Deception (Cyberpunkers Remix) 4.) Prodigy - Breathe (Zeds Dead Remix) 5.) BioBlitZ - Globe Warmer 6.) Proxy - Shut Up (Gtronic Remix) 7.) You Killing Me - All Night Long (Original Mix) 8.) Nero - Etude 9.) Feed Me - Gravel 10.) Flux Pavilion - Blow the Roof 11.) Pyramyth - Cowbell Rock (Original Mix) 12.) Datsik & Excision - Vindicate 13.) Whiiite - Houdini 14.) Aphex Twin - Bucephalus Bouncing Ball 15.) Skrillex - Bug Hunt (Noisia Remix) 16.) Cyberpunkers - Dungeon (Far Too Loud Remix) 17.) Pink is Punk & Benny Benassi - Perfect Storm (Clockwork Remix) 18.) Fedde Le Grand - Raw 19.) Boris DLugosch - Cycle (VNNR Remix)

Kleek a brand new music streaming service for Africa

Matthew Arnold — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 12:04:42 +0000

South Africa and Africa in general have had a hard time when it comes to streaming music with services such as Spotify not supporting the massive continent. However that's all about to change with the launch of Kleek. Universal Music Group, in partnership with Samsung, as well as African and international music labels and publishers, has launched a pan-African mobile music streaming service called the Kleek. Designed and built specifically for Africa, the Kleek will bring music lovers closer to their favourite artists, while also providing artists with valuable access to a wider pan-African audience. The Kleek was officially unveiled today at the Samsung Africa Forum in Cape Town, accompanied by a live performance from acclaimed singer-songwriter Zahara. The 25-year-old Eastern Cape artist performed songs from her nine times SAMA-winning debut album ‘Loliwe’.

“With the Kleek, we are not just delivering the best local and international music, we are providing all of Africa with a unique and bespoke user experience,” explained Randall Abrahams, Managing Director, Universal Music South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa. “The service will also help us focus on developing future stars from across the continent,” Abrahams added.

Universal Music has partnered with Samsung Electronics Africa, who will be the exclusive smartphone partner for the Kleek for the first two years. The Kleek, which has been optimised for Samsung smartphones, will initially be available free to users. Through the application users will have access to a massive range of content, including artist, genre and celebrity playlists; exclusive album previews; artist diaries and charts.

“Samsung smartphone devices are optimised for high quality sound, and are ideal for the Kleek,” said Thabiet Allie, Head of Content and Services at Samsung Electronics Africa. “Samsung recognises that the African market is very different to that of its European, Asian and American counterparts. We are thus, through our Built for Africa initiatives, focused on building services and partnering with the best local and international content owners and this partnership is testament to that,” concluded Allie.

SureThing & Peaches Present Ultra – Electro & House

Dylan Robberts — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 11:16:33 +0000

This coming Saturday, 9 March, Surething & Peaches bring you Ultra. This is set to be the biggest Surething event to date with 12 local DJ’s bringing a mixture of electro & house. I have been to a couple of these myself now & they NEVER disappoint. Check out all the detail below. 3 sets to look out for will be coming from Freshgang, Mao and Justin Miller. We have kindly sourced some of their sets for your listening pleasure below their bios. Freshgang 4 DJ’s with similar backgrounds, different styles of playing, but all with one common goal, to change the way people party. Roger Goode has endorsed this group as the BEE Swedish House Mafia. FreshGang is a music collective that consists of 4 Dj’s, two music producers, a hip hop dancer and an Editor/cinematographer. Mao Mao are a DJ/VJ duo that began in 2011. Daniel Ting Chong and Jarryd Kin are no strangers to the party scene, both having done visuals for Steve Aoki (The End is Nigh, 2010) as well as other international DJs. Now they are on the tearing up the party clubs themselves, having played at The Assembly (CT), Fiction (CT) and The Alex Theatre (JHB). Their exploding stage presence is unrelenting; with high energy visuals and crowd jumping sound, these two will have you dancing for days. Justin Miller Justin Miller has steadily seen a rise to the top of the local music industry and it started with him nurturing his tech/electro/ and funky sounds in some of the most exclusive clubs in London as well as the most respected and well renowned party haven of Ibiza. This overseas exposure has seen Justin playing in clubs such as the Ministry of Sound, Pacha, Brixton Academy, Eden, Es Paradis and Kanya Bar alongside the likes of Paul van Dyk, Eric Prydz, Sebastien Leger, Armin van Buuren, Axwell and Roger Sanchez just to name a few. DJ Line-Up: 6.30pm – 7.30pm – Super Sayen & The Prince of Persia 7.30pm – 8.30pm – Luds 8.30pm – 10.00pm – Micky G VS Keith 10.00pm – 11.00pm – Freshgang 11.00pm – 12.00pm – Justin Miller 12.00pm – 1.00am – Mao featuring live VJ set (Cape Town) 1.00am – 2.00am – Clint Details: When: Saturday 9 March 2013 Where: Café Culture (Fourways) Doors Open: 6:30pm Entrance fee Presold tickets: R60 – Email your name & surname to ultrapartysa@gmail.com you will then be sent bank details. Please make payment and email proof of payment to the same email address. You will need to show your ID at the door in order to correspond to your booking. Door: R80 Dress Code: Casual (No shorts, slops or caps) Venue limited to 600 people! Get booking! Café Culture offers you: Cash bar Limited food available *Café Culture is situated opposite Monte Casino in Pineslopes Shopping Centre (in the same hub as Billy the Bums), corner Witkoppen Road and The Straight Avenue. www.cafeculture.co.za Age limit: No under 21 ladies and 23 guys - Right of Admission Reserved No drugs or weapons allowed in the venue! Proudly brought to you by: SureThing Events and Peaches

Electro House Sessions : BEST ELECTRO HOUSE MIX OF 2012

Dylan Robberts — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 11:17:05 +0000

Last year was a great year for electro house music and EDM in general. Here is a set from DJ Epilson he reckons is the best mix of 2012 Electro House music. While we might not say it is the best set of 2012, it's pretty banging. Top tracks for the set are Porter Robinson ft. Amba Shepherd - Vandalism (Lazy Rich Remix) (20:26) and Far Too Loud - Firestorm (50:59). Crank it up and enjoy! Track list below :) 00:00 Contiez Feat. Treyy G - Trumpsta (Djuro Remix) [Safari Music] 02:15 J-Trick, Reece Low & Blissando - Higher Ground (Ropick Remix) 03:57 Mobin Master & Tate Strauss feat. Agent 9ine - Noise (Slice N Dice Remix) [SAFARI MUSIC] 06:27 Ray Toven - Best In The West (Slice N Dice Remix) [CLUB CARTEL RECORDS] 08:36 Charlie Darker - Bustah [Burn The Fire Records] 11:06 Rabbit Killer, Farleon - Jump And Shout (Lazy Rich Remix) [Big Fish Recordings] 13:05 Ali Nadem - Hardcore Motherfucker [Atomic Zoo Records] 15:11 Lazy Rich - Breakfast Of Champions 16:56 Al Bizzare - Ice Jump (Eric Farias Remix) 20:26 Porter Robinson, Amba Shepherd - Vandalism (Lazy Rich Remix) 25:30 Freakhouze - World In Your Eyes (Rocket Pimp Remix) [Big Fish Recordings] 29:14 Bruk feat. Marie L - Right Behind You [Dirty House Army] 31:54 Chrizz Luvly - Demon 32:54 Hirshee & Sue Cho - Hold On To Love (Eric Farias Remix) 37:20 Spencer Insomnia - Nocturnal 40:50 Ryan Riback & LowKiss - Work Money Party Bitches (Joel Fletcher & Deorro Remix) 43:07 Titus1 Feat. Kyle Jordan - Love Is Out There (Reece Low Remix) 45:20 J-Trick & Reece Low - I'm So Hot 47:06 Will Sparks - Okay 47:51 Anzo - Corridors [Burn The Fire Records] 50:59 Far Too Loud - Firestorm 55:06 Lucky Date - I Want You 57:36 Krewella - Can't Control Myself

Aoki’s House on Electric Area – Episode 54 – Electro House

Dylan Robberts — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 11:53:33 +0000

Kicking off this years electro house set series is non other than Steve Aoki. This was released just after we survived the apocalypses. It is our opinion that EDM saved the world lastyear! Track of the set kicks in at 9:15 and is called Singularity by the man himself. Plug in & enjoy :) Tracks 00:00 Felix Cartal - No Sleep 05:15 Dzeko & Torres - Check this out 09:15 Steve Aoki - Singularity 14:00 Botnek - Think I Feel It (Savage Skulls Remix) 18:45 IllSkillz - Birdz 24:00 Steve Aoki - Omega 29:15 Dzeko & Torres - Hey 33:15 John Dahlback - The Trip 38:00 Rob Roy - Axela (Newman Wolf Remix) 41:30 Steve Aoki - Transcend 47:00 Revolvr & Lea Luna - By Your Side 50:45 Dirtyphonics - Dirty (12th Planet Remix) 56:15 Rob Roy - Robert Raimon Roy

Porter Robinson for Tripple J – Electro – Set

Dylan Robberts — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 07:39:26 +0000

Just found this. A little untz untz untz for you this morning. A bit of a liquorice allsorts this mix, a little bit of all things electro. But we love electro so this makes us happy in pants. WARNING: There will be moments where the shirts will want to be ripped off.

OMGITM Supermix – Dirty Disco Youth (Electro House)

Dylan Robberts — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 10:31:07 +0000

The music section on PixelVulture has been sorely neglected of late. Time to change that. We will be curating some badass electro/electro house/rave/disco/trance/indie dance, or whatever else the kids are calling it these days, mixes/tracks for you people. We are also not going to try write verbose hipster style reviews on anything either. We will put something out there for you to listen to, you can make of it what you like. EDM is the future. Write that down! So first up is a Oh My God its Techno Music Supermix mixed by Dirty Disco Youth. It's a belter! Crank it up & pump your fist!

OMGITM SUPERMIX NOVEMBER 2012 - DIRTY DISCO YOUTH by Omgitm%U2122 on Mixcloud

Journey Soundtrack gets nominated for a Grammy

Matthew Arnold — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 13:34:21 +0000

The Grammy Awards are a big deal in the music industry, with the world's top artists and composers fighting it out to see who is the best. This year, for the first time in the history of the Grammy Award, a videogame soundtrack has been nominated. Journey has received a nomination in the Best Score Soundtrack For Visual Media category, alongside The Adventures of Tintin - The Secret of the Unicorn, The Artist, The Dark Knight Rises, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and Hugo. Such industry titans as John Williams, Hans Zimmer and Trent Reznor are among the composers nominated for the aforementioned projects. A pretty big achievement if you ask me. Here is the tweet from composer Austin Wintory when he found out he had been nominated: https://twitter.com/awintory/status/276540598587097088

PixelVulture » Music

Digital Music Production 101

CYBERPUNKERS Illegal Mix Vol. 2 – Electrotech

Kleek a brand new music streaming service for Africa

SureThing & Peaches Present Ultra – Electro & House

Electro House Sessions : BEST ELECTRO HOUSE MIX OF 2012

Aoki’s House on Electric Area – Episode 54 – Electro House

More Songs from Linkin Park Underground

Rolling In The Deep (Adele Cover - Live)

Across the line

Not Alone

So Far Away

#1 - Announcement Service Public

Asbestos

Blackbirds

YO (MTM Demo)

Slip (1998 Unreleased Hybrid Theory Demo)

Porter Robinson for Tripple J – Electro – Set

OMGITM Supermix – Dirty Disco Youth (Electro House)

Journey Soundtrack gets nominated for a Grammy