For those in the know, I have been busy working on the Fans of the Don Geronimo Show site. For those who didn’t, now you know 
If you get a chance, check it out. You can also check out the FansDGS feed on Facebook and Twitter.
The Don Geronimo Show is aired daily from 6:00-10:00 am PST on CBS Sports Radio AM 1140 KHTK in Sacramento, CA and CBS Sports Radio FM 96.1 KBZZ in Reno, NV.
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2013 As summer comes to an end here in Michigan, it’s time to focus my attention to a variety of new “indoor” projects and ideas I have been developing over the past few months. In particular, I am working on some parody songs for the Don Geronimo Show (my comedy outlet), new artist development, and revamping my live DJ sets.
My first parody song is almost finished, just cutting vocals. I am also working on tracking vocals for a new female artist on her first album. Good stuff; can’t wait to hear the finished product.
In addition, I am still testing Traktor’s new remix decks before dropping cash on the new Traktor Kontrol F1. So far this latest creative tool by Native Instruments appears to be promising for freshening up my live DJ sets and creating a more dynamic mix. Moreover, after realizing the F1 could double as a soundboard/sampler, I should be able to replace the bulkier Maschine and its software and to work exclusively within Traktor Pro 2 when working on live theatre productions. More to come…
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2012 Here we go again! I have created another “mixup” of metalstep (heavy metal + dubstep) and Don Geronimo sound bites entitiled “Iron Don Geronimo” (FREE Download). Don Geronimo can be heard on the air at station KHTK 1140 AM in Sacramento, CA and KBZZ 96.1 FM/1270 AM in Reno, NV.
The underlying tune is an edited version of Celldweller‘s klash-up (a Klayton mashup) entitled “Disposable War Pigs” (FREE Download). If you get a chance, go check out his work.
Like my last mixup, I did all my edits in Pro Tools 10 quickly on my Macbook Pro, and did the mixdown in my home studio. When finished, I simply exported my internally printed 320kbps mp3 file to SoundCloud.
My next project is already in the works so stay tuned!
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Just for kicks I decided to create a fun “mixup” of electronic rock, 80′s retro dance, movie sound clips, and Don Geronimo (radio host) samples and came up with this conglomeration I call, “Don Geronimo’s Buffalo Birthright“.
The underlying tune is Blue Stahli‘s remix of Celldweller‘s song “Birthright.” If you get a chance, go check out their work, you won’t be disappointed! You have probably heard their music in movie trailers, TV shows, video games, and elsewhere and didn’t even know it. For no apparent reason, I mashed in Neneh Cherry’s song “Buffalo Stance,” and added just a dash of my own stuff. While listening to the Don Geronimo show podcast I decided to fire up Pro Tools 10 and begin importing shows for editing. And well, the rest, they say, is history.
I first came across “Donny G” as part of the Don and Mike Show on station WAVA (before moving to WJFK 106.7) in Arlington, VA in 1989 while I was stationed at HQ USMC. I have yet to find a more entertaining radio personality than Don Geronimo (a.k.a. Michael Sorce.) Donny G can still be heard on the air at station KHTK 1140 AM in Sacramento, CA and KBZZ 96.1 FM/1270 AM in Reno, NV.
Any who, if you enjoy action packed music, booty shaking floor shakers, and silly one liners, this mixup deserves a once over. Enjoy!
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I first purchased Pro Tools 8 M-Powered (herein PT8 MP) shortly after it was released. My version of PT8 MP included the M-Audio Fast Track Pro interface which was required to operate PT8. The Digidesign hardware requirement to run Pro Tools was eventually removed with the release of Pro Tools 9. Unfortunately for me, I upgraded my iMac and MacBook Pro to OSX Lion which was no longer compatible with PT8. On the other hand, I have been working with my licensed copy of Ableton Live and mainly using PT8 for mixing & mastering. After working with Ableton exclusively for quite some time now, I really missed Pro Tools for a variety of reasons (I love the mix and edit windows, included plugins, powerful editing tools, and more.) Although Ableton is great for quickly piecing together musical elements for quick edits, mashups, and remixing, I felt that the audio quality was not comparable to Pro Tools. Just my taste, I guess, as there are many people online that argue the opposite.
When I DJ live, I find that I have enough specialized software to do what I need for just about any task. For example, I use Traktor Scratch Pro 2 for mixing tunes and NI Maschine for triggering samples and playing live beats. If I need to do a quick “radio edit” to cut out profanity (I keep my sets clean for all audiences), I would quickly open Ableton, do the edit, export, and drop the tune into Traktor. Although you can DJ live with Ableton Live (hence “Live”), I prefer Traktor hands down.
Enter Pro Tools 10. All I can say is WOW, what a huge difference from PT8. I am currently using the PT10 30 day demo until mid March just to be sure, but as of today, I am extremely impressed with the upgrades and enhancements from PT8. Not only is the software responsive, but I can quickly edit and export as fast as I did in Ableton. No extra hardware required, although I do have to plug in my iLok authorization USB drive (the same one from PT8 works with PT10) into one of my 4 available USB ports. If I was planning on streaming with PT10, I would probably run my sessions from my external OWC Firewire 800 drive to free up my MacBook Pro drive and to reduce or eliminate the inevitable hardware buffer size error that pops up when the hard drive is taxed. Although I have pushed my laptop’s internal drive to initiate this error, PT10 has yet to crash because of it. Just click on OK to acknowledge the error and keep on trucking.
As a matter of fact, I am so impressed with PT10 that I am conjuring up a series of podcasts dedicated to Pro Tools. Although I subscribe to multiple sites specializing in PT tutorials and news (I especially enjoy Russ from Pro Tools Expert at http://www.pro-tools-expert.com, formerly the Air Users Blog), I feel compelled to address another PT niche, although I’m not quite sure what that niche is yet. Anyways, stay tuned for more on this topic.
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2012 In Part 1, we introduced the importance of using a remix template. To summarize, the primary reason for using a remix template is to spend less time recreating the repetitive technical parts of a remix, and spend more time being creative. In Part 2, we will examine Ableton’s factory default template and how to create a new template from an existing session.
By default, when opening Ableton Live, a blank session is created containing an empty audio and midi track, two return channels, and a master channel. Like Ableton, most DAWs allow you to start with a fresh session, although the terminology, track/channel types, and other elements may vary. If you are creating a remix, you are certainly going to need at a minimum one audio track and a master channel to start. Although I cover remixing in depth in another series (stay tuned for my upcoming Smart Remixing tutorial series), I normally begin by importing the original song into an audio track at its original BPM (beats-per-minute) for warping and manipulating later. Typically for house music, tracks are imported at 128 BPM, although you may want to increase or decrease (“warp”) the tempo later based on your project. In order to listen to the audio track, you typically use a master channel for routing sound from the audio track to your system’s internal or external soundcard and eventually out to your headphones or speakers.
After you build a customized template, you have the option to save your settings as the default template when opening up Ableton or creating a new set. To do this, go into Live’s Preferences, click on the File/Folder tab (left side, fourth tab down), and at the top you will see the ‘Save Current Set as Default’ option. Just click on ‘Save’, confirm ‘Overwrite the Template Set’, and your new template is saved. Depending on your DAW, I actually recommend leaving the default template alone so your DAW opens up cleanly and quickly. As a DJ while in a live setting, I often open Ableton to quickly warp or edit tracks for immediate use in Traktor Scratch Pro. In this scenario, speed, low CPU usage, and minimal disk activity is a priority. As you will see, a large, feature-packed template can take some time to load and can really tax your system.
A cool option exists in Ableton if you decide that you want to revert back to Ableton’s factory default template. Just open up a new session while holding down the [shift] key. Then just follow the instructions described above to ‘Save Current Set as Default’. Warning: Once you save your new template, your old template will be deleted. Knowing this, you may want to save your old template as a session prior to reverting back to Ableton’s factory default template. This way, you can easily just open up any one of your saved sessions and ‘Save Current Set as Default’ to save your favorite session as the new default template.
In Part 3, we will begin building our remix template by analyzing the template I currently use to start a new remix.
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If you enjoy local music, come on out to the Tuesday Night Live (TNL) concert venue in Waterford, MI on Friday, Jan. 13th, 2012 at 6:30 pm to support local talent and to check out my latest DJ set. Just go to the TNL Facebook Page for the latest announcements.
Although most events were originally scheduled on Tuesday nights (hence the name TNL), recent and future events have been moved to Friday nights by popular demand. TNL is promoted and managed by Jamal Craft. If you would like to play the event, contact Jamal via email at jamal.craft@gmail.com.
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2012 According to Wikipedia, a remix is defined as an alternative version of a recorded song, made from an original version. Likewise, a remixer is defined as someone who uses audio mixing to compose an alternate master recording of a song, adding or subtracting elements, or simply changing the equalization, dynamics, pitch, tempo, playing time, or almost any other aspect of the various musical components.
For anyone who has dabbled in music editing, mixing, remixing, and the like, you may already be familiar with templates. A remix template as defined in this article is nothing more than a customized session template you create in your Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) that contains your most commonly used audio, midi, and return tracks, plug-ins, and other favorite settings.
Why do you need a remix template? Your goal is to avoid re-inventing the wheel every time you start a new remix project. Of course, creating a template is not necessary if you enjoy starting every new remix project from scratch. On the other hand, if you want to emulate professional remixers and producers who actually earn real money every now and again (hence the term professional), then start creating and using templates on a regular basis.
In a nutshell, the primary reason for using a remix template is to spend less time recreating the repetitive technical parts of a remix, and spend more time being creative. A smooth, uninterrupted workflow is important when remixing, especially if you decide to join a remix contest. Remix contests are a great way to gain valuable, free experience developing your skills and getting constructive feedback in the process. In addition, remix contests give you a chance to showcase your skills and gain recognition for all your hard work. Look for more on remix contests in a future article.
Some of today’s popular DAWs include Garage Band (included free with Mac), Ableton Live 8 ($337), Avid Pro Tools 10 ($599), Apple Logic Pro 9 ($199), Propellerhead Reason 6 ($399), Steinberg Cubase 6 ($499), and FL Studio Producer 10 ($199.) Although choosing a digital audio workstation is a matter of taste, I chose Ableton Live 8 for its speed, fluid workflow design, and ease of use. Likewise, if you use multiple DAWs for each project, you can create one or more templates in each DAW quickly and easily.
For example, I normally use a remix template in Ableton for editing and mixing, and I use a separate template in Pro Tools for mastering. [Note: I recently switched to Ableton for mastering, as my version of Pro Tools M-Powered 8 is not compatible with the latest version of Mac OSX Lion.] If you are new to remixing then you need to do yourself a favor and start building remix templates now, rather than later. Today’s top remixers all use one or more remix templates in their projects, so why wouldn’t you?
In Part 2, we will examine Ableton’s factory default template and how to create a new remix template from an existing session. As you will see, your new remix template will be a continual “work in progress,” as remix templates grow and evolve over time. As you pick up new tools and techniques, you will inevitably make changes to your remix template(s) and create multiple templates for different tasks.
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UPDATE 3/27/12: I will remixing my remix in Pro Tools 10 to fix some quality issues. Stay tuned!
My final remix can be heard below, and is live on the Fixt Remix website under my artist page or on the contest page. I was able to finish just ahead of schedule thanks to some new techniques and tools. I will be creating a few videos on my process which involved editing and initial mixing in Ableton Live on my Apple Macbook Pro laptop and Shure studio headphones before switching to my 27″ Apple iMac and Yamaha HS50M studio monitors for final mixing and mastering.
Unlike my other trashed remixes, I exclusively used Native Instruments Maschine to create my beat and undelying melody. The beauty of Maschine is you can create all your beat variations (four-on-the-floor, prechorus, chorus, verses, etc.), apply effects and such (eq, compression, etc.) and export each loop easily by simply holding down the mouse and dragging/dropping each loop into Ableton Live. Easy as pie. The only kicker (no pun intended) is I will need to create one “sidechain” audio channel containing a clean four-on-the-floor kick that matches the kick timing in my cluttered Maschine channel. This way, I can use a clean, uncluttered kick for all my sidechaining and ducking needs. More on all this later.
With my mastered wave file in hand, I drop the wave file in Apple iTunes, convert the wave file to a 320 kbps mp3 file, and I drop the mp3 file it into Mixed in Key to confirm my remix as a whole is still in the original key of A Minor (code 8A, more on this later.) I then open the mp3 file in Traktor Scratch Pro 2, lock the bpm at 128 which Traktor detected properly, set a few cue points and loops, and I then attempt to create a quick mashup with another genre related tune in key A Minor (8A) to ensure everything sounds good and is “DJ ready,” so to speak. This time around I got lucky and everything fell into place nicely. Of course, this was only possible due to trial-and-error experience, some preparation, and creating my edits while keeping the DJ in mind throughout the entire process. More on all this later as well.
So if you get a chance, go check out my remix, along with the 53 or so remixes and feel free to vote. I actually have a few favorites that I will be voting on soon. Although I will give my own remix a 5/5 star rating (duh), I am certainly man enough to rate other remixes 5/5 stars as well and comment appropriately. Although I have no desire to win the fabulous cash and prizes, I do enjoy the whole process of setting a goal and eventually whipping out a piece of crap music by a set deadline.
Download NOW: Live the Life (DJ Luke Stevens Remix)
UPDATE 3/27/12: I will remixing my remix in Pro Tools 10 to fix some quality issues. Stay tuned!
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011-2012 If you enjoy local music, come on out to the Tuesday Night Live (TNL) concert venue in Waterford, MI to support local talent and to check out my latest DJ sets. Just go to the TNL Facebook Page to for the latest announcements. Although most events were originally scheduled on Tuesday nights (hence the name TNL), recent and future events have been moved to Friday nights by popular demand.
TNL is promoted and managed by Jamal Craft. Jamal was recently interviewed and featured in Ambassador Magazine. If you would like to play the event, contact Jamal via email at jamal.craft@gmail.com.
During the last two shows on 12/9/11 and 12/2/11, I was approached by multiple people with questions about my DJ set, mostly about where they could get a list of the songs I was playing and such. Good news, I was able to compile the list here: TNL Playlist 12/9/11. Also for those listeners who asked, I am currently using Traktor Scratch Pro 2. A complete list of my gear can be found on my About Page.
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