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Post by zapan on Jan 25, 2004 20:47:18 GMT -5
yeah, in portland they had a big digital clock displayed on the wall... can we enlist your help in getting something like that for the next one, dave?
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syzygy
New Member
laptop thug
Posts: 14
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Post by syzygy on Jan 25, 2004 20:58:48 GMT -5
In reply to Maniactrucker...
"And where do I begin with syzygy??!!!!! The guy got up there and played looped mp3s! How many artists did he rip off? There was no skill whatsoever involved in his sets..... has anyone ever heard of plageurism?! what doesn't the guy invest in turntables instead of a laptop if all he can really wants to do anyway is beat juggle? Which brings me to my final point: Not every rich white boy who can afford a laptop can necessarily make good beats. I'm sorry everyone. Not everyone has talent and most of you if not all of you do not. Not everyone deserves to get on stage and perform and have the nerve to charge a bunch of friends $10 to listen to their unmastered mp3s that they could listen to at home."
Thank you for your passionate response to my performance. I'm very much looking forward to hearing what you bring out in the next laptop battle. Perhaps you can teach me a thing or two about stage performance and working a crowd. I am sorry that you felt that my 9 minutes on stage ruined the whole evening for you but I would hope that the masterful audio alchemy of my fellow competiors would have provided some of the validation for your $10 spent, that apparently I could not provide for you. I think its really wonderful that so many people came out representing so many different styles and I praise the judges for owning the responsibility of making such difficult decisions in so many close competitions which were at times like choosing between apples and oranges. I also admire the bravery of my fellow contestants for travelling from far away to present their hard forged artwork to a crowd of hundreds. Its easy to criticize but its much more difficult to put something out there for criticism. Yes I did sample very heavily in my sets. I'd be happy to make a bibliography of my samples for you if it would ease your concerns about plagurism. I'm not sure how familiar you are with production but Ableton Live is a SAMPLE based sequencer and I chose to create and sample from music that I really liked as did many others in the battle. Much of what you heard by my colleagues was created from loop librarys. I created my own samples and loops from my favorite music. I don't think that their sampling or my sampling in any way decreases the quality of the efforts we've put into our creations. I've always thought that the end result was more important than the process. If the crowd is going nuts to whats coming out of the soundsystem then you've been successful regardless of the production process. I also feel that I would not have gotten as far as I did in the battle had I just pressed play in WinAmp with no live composition aspect to my performance. So you know, I worked with three programs primarially, Cool Edit Pro, Ableton Live and MixMeister. I've been working as a consultant for MixMeister Technologies off and on for the last year and a half and I'm proud to be representing their sound in my performance. Some of my goals for the Laptop DJ battle were to bring out all the elements of my favorite music and present them in a way that was fun to dance to, fun to watch, and made the audience listen to familiar music in a whole new way. In that regard I've never felt more successful.
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Post by dangerdave on Jan 25, 2004 21:02:48 GMT -5
Zapan, I'm happy to offer my technical serivices/abilities for all upcoming battles. Just let me know what you're thinking...
...speaking of which, when is the next battle? I'm already pumped for it!
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umami
New Member
Posts: 8
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Post by umami on Jan 25, 2004 22:42:50 GMT -5
that was a fcking great time! it was a pleasure and honor to meet and compete with such a talented group. thanks to zapan and fourthcity for putting the show together. you guys rock!
next time--taller tables with either dedicated or pre-assigned locations for every artist, a clock, and shorter opening-round set times would make the whole thing flow better.
and like i always say: FEEBISH PLIZLARKAMBIRAZZLE!
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Post by onedayistopped on Jan 26, 2004 4:06:58 GMT -5
Here's a new perspective, I hope.
I don't know anything about laptop music. Not a damn thing. I play a guitar... through distortion pedals ... power chords. That's what I know.
But I came out to the battle because it sounded like a cool time, and because the technology intrigues me.
I had a good time. A really good time.
Apparently 10 bucks wasn't too much because the place was packed.
And I think - even to someone like me who knows nothing - that it was apparent that some of the ..um, what are we calling them? soundians? .. some of the soundians were more performer than musician. And that was cool. Some were more samplers than creators. And that was cool too. The variety made it interesting.
A lot of the suggestions are spot-on - the timer, the better explanation of what judges are looking at, the catergories, perhaps.
But I'll tell you, if the goal is to get people involved with this kind of music, it worked. I'm interested. I will definitely attend the next battle. And I want to know more about how I can mesh my Gateway with my Fender and do something new.
So, in re: to that, what's Step 1 to getting my laptop to do some of this stuff? Anybody?
Thanks!
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umami
New Member
Posts: 8
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Post by umami on Jan 26, 2004 16:32:44 GMT -5
"But I'll tell you, if the goal is to get people involved with this kind of sound, it worked." tou-fcking-che. re: laptop setup--go check out www.em411.com. lots of discussions on this very subject, with a huge archive of information on how to do it. do a little research there and if you don't find your answer, post a thread.
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umami
New Member
Posts: 8
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Post by umami on Jan 26, 2004 16:35:08 GMT -5
DOCTOR POOPIE!!!! FEEBISH PLIZLARKAMBIRAZZLE!
lol. weird.
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syzygy
New Member
laptop thug
Posts: 14
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Post by syzygy on Jan 26, 2004 18:16:42 GMT -5
In Reply to onedayisstopped... "I want to know more about how I can mesh my Gateway with my Fender and do something new. So, in re: to that, what's Step 1 to getting my laptop to do some of this stuff? Anybody?" It's great to hear that you have been so inspired by the show. Since you asked about getting more involved with turning your laptop into a musical instrument let me point you to a couple things. Thing one, www.dbfestival.com. Sean Horton (AKA Nordic Soul) has pulled together a LARGE group of people working on creating the first giant electronic music festival in Seattle. We are having our first benefit show "Convergence" this Saturday the 31st at The Hall. You need to be there. We are flying in Monolake from Germany. Well who is Monolake you ask? Monolake designed and programmed Ableton Live which was the software 80% of the Laptop DJs were using Friday. To make it even cooler, Monolake is hosting a workshop/clinic on his software at 7pm right before he rocks the house. You can meet the guy, ask him questions and hear him explain his damn cool piece of software in a thick German accent. We are always looking for people to help out with the Decibel festival this September. Our goal is to help more people like yourself get inspired to create more music. We will also be bringing out many major hardware and software companies at the DBFestival to give tutorials to beginners and seasoned vets on how to do more with electronic music. Thing two. Also check out these programs, Native Instrument's Traktor, MixMeister, Final Scratch, Reason and Fruity Loops. All can be used for live performance though they are all different and there are many more out there with capabilities that consistantly blow my mind. See you at the show! Syzygy
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Post by zapan on Jan 27, 2004 17:48:06 GMT -5
c_rizzle, you got the job!!! can't pay you much, but, umm, uhh, we'll work something out...
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Post by dkdjfeighsl on Jan 28, 2004 11:56:03 GMT -5
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Post by coji on Feb 15, 2004 6:45:50 GMT -5
? hm, what's going on here? entries with no words...? c_rizzle?
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