Tuesday 15 May 2012

Midi Controller Review Assignment

Akai APC40
The APC40 made by Akai is a midi controller which is designed for the Ableton Live software. Although it would be fine to use for music sequencing, the main purpose of this devise is to make live performance with this piece of equipment as easy and as fun as possible. Through personal preference I’d say this controller would be used to it’s highest potential in electronic music, although I’m sure it would work well when being used in performance for any sort of music. According to http://www.musicsoftwaretraining.com “Any Ableton user who wants to make the transition into professional DJing, Anyone who wants quick access to Ableton’s features in the studio without mouse clicks, Remixers and Producers looking for a more hand’s on & live approach to music making”  Would benefit from the APC40. 
The APC40 uses a midi to USB cable so you are able to just plug straight in to your MAC or PC and get going. This controller is compatible with both Mac and PC depending on which version of Ableton you have. 
You can buy an APC40 with a full version of Ableton Live 8 for around £500, which may seem quite expensive but you can buy just the controller for around £350, which when you consider the control and easy layout of this piece of kit, is not much to pay at all. 

Novation’s new Launchpad controller was the new partnership with Ableton. The Launchpad is approximately half the price of the APC40, a good deal more compact (measuring just 239mm square and 24mm deep, and weighing 717g), and leaves all control to the buttons. Most of the unit’s top panel is taken up by a 64-button, eight-by-eight grid. When activated, these buttons are illuminated in one of three colours: amber, green or red. A column of eight round buttons stands at the right-hand edge of the grid, and another row of eight sits along the top. All of the buttons are made from a thick, translucent, rubbery material that feels very durable. The buttons are a fairly snug fit in their housings and have a slightly ‘sticky’ feel when pressed, almost as if there was a ‘notch’ half-way down. This may improve as the unit is worn in, and will probably be less noticeable for more assertive button-pushers. This controller although it does not have as much specific control as the APC40, it is probably within the price range that most people can afford, and once you are used to the layout can do a lot of things with it, even if it's not as much as the APC40. I'd say that the Novation Launch pad is a good piece of equipment if you do not want to spend as much money. You can buy the launch pad for between £120-£140. 
 Below are two review videos from Youtube which give a brief explanation of how to use both controllers. 

Monday 7 November 2011

Marketing your music- websites

Now days there are lots of websites that can be used for musicians marketing their music. 
Below is a list of websites that can be used to show off your music: 
 www.ujam.com- You can use this to create your own music online, even if you’re not a skilled musician, which makes making music easy. 
www.mixlr.com- a website that allows people to do live mixes on the air and for people to listen to them. You can also connect with other DJs and artists 
http://burn-studios.audiotool.com- Online music creation. 
www.soundcloud.com- This allows you to upload your own music, mixes and comment on other peoples work. You can follow people and people can follow you on here. You can search by artist, track or genre with 1000s of genre specific groups and downloadable music.  
www.dropbox.com- Allows people to share files, which could include music files. 
www.soundation.com - Allows you to create music online, and share with others and listen to other peoples work. 
www.youtube.com- Probably the site that can get you the most views/hits but it takes time for people to watch what you’ve put up unless you’re already an established artists. The potential for this website to get you views is big, but as it’s not a totally music orientated website, it may time more time than if you posted your music elsewhere. 
www.vimeo.com- Basically just youtube but smaller, so the same applies for that. 
http://www.ustream.tv/- Another video sharing website. 
http://www.mixcloud.com/- Allows you to posy mixes you’ve done and listen to other people’s mixes. 
Social networking is  big part of music sharing these days, here is a list of websites people use: 
www.facebook.com- the biggest social networking sight, which allows people to post music on their ‘wall’ and to create fan pages for the artists. 

Friday 4 November 2011

Marketing your music

Marketing your music is an important aspekt of the music industry, the marketing makes sure your music is heard, and played by people.
Some interesting ideas have been used over the years to grab peoples attentions; for example, Carl Cox released an album on a USB stick, which was a new and unheard of way of marketing music. The USB stick contained his music and other things which fans would be interested in. The different approach to marketing this album was a genius idea that grabbed people's attention and essentially made Carl Cox money.
Publicity stunts are also a good way of grabbing people's attention when trying to market an idea, if people see something or hear about something, then your message is out there and people have heard of what you are trying to sell. Even if they do not buy your product, they have still seen/heard of it and may tell people who'll be interested and they might tell other people and so on. Another example of interesting marketing ideas was the release of In Rainbows by Radiohead in 2007, which was downloadable for whatever price you want. This idea, although it was not a money making scheme would have still raised awareness of the band and the album. You could also get a limited edition hardcopy of the album which, included a version on vinyl. This marketing idea must have worked, because it sold more than 3 million copies worldwide.

Monday 12 September 2011

WHAT I AM GOING TO DO FOR MY PROJECT

Track: Minimal Trunk (elephants)
Genre: Minimal/electro house
Video Ideas: shots of the sky and that and make it well psychedelic and tings.
Influences for the track: Felguk/Atomic Drop etc...
The Videos are some influential tracks.... AND the pic is something what is psychedelic which is how I want my video to look like. Wunnet.