Quite Nyce Records Beats On the Road with V-Studio 100

As one of the North East’s most prolific MCs in the game today, Quite Nyce has completed three world tours with legendary hip hop acts such as Das Efx, Onyx, Lords of the Underground and Afu-Ra. He continues to be successful and 2009 is perhaps the biggest year of his career. Nyce just released a hugely popular downloadable mixtape alongside MC Seek called ‘RADIx Mixtape’, launched a critically acclaimed collaboration album with Raydar Ellis entitled, ‘The Champs vs. The League’, and began recording his album with Geoff from Portishead. Today, Quite Nyce announces the release of his digital solo album, ‘Through My Eyes LP’.

Pegged as having one of the most recognizable voices and flows of hip-hop today, Quite Nyce uses his words to embody life through music. Watch the video below to see him, spitting his soulful lyrics in action, with the SONAR V-Studio 100!

Artist Impression: Recording Artist Javier Colon on V-Studio 100

Full of heart and soul, major label recording artist Javier Colon is set to release a new album and launch a new tour! No stranger to the stage, Javier founded a R&B acapella group while studying at the University of Hartford’s Hartt School of Music, performed as lead singer of the neo-funk group, EmCQ, wowed Soulive’s guitarist Eric Krasno during an opening set, and spent a few years on the road fronting the Derek Trucks Band. For his new release recorded in SONAR, Javier breaks away from his Urban, R&B mold and grabs his acoustic guitar to sing some soulful melodies over more contemporary and melodic chord changes. Javier is now currently touring the world with a whole new sound, opening for the likes of Joss Stone and Andy Hamilton while also playing solo acoustic shows at 100+ colleges. In this video, Javier talks about the upcoming tour and tells how a mobile recording unit, like the SONAR V-Studio 100, can benefit making music while on the road and on the stage.

Artist Impression: Javier Colon on SONAR V-Studio 100
Uploaded by CakewalkInc. – Explore more music videos

SONAR Pro-User Justin Lassen Featured in Intel's Visual Adrenaline Magazine

A master at his craft, Justin Lassen dominates a new realm of creativity, composing music to computer-generated graphic art. A one-of-a-kind producer, composer and re-mixer, Justin translates the inspiring yet hauntingly beautiful art he sees into his own musical masterpieces. With the help of his PCAudioLabs digital audio workstation with an Intel Core i7 processor, SONAR 8 and various media editing tools, Justin gives life to the one dimensional art forms.

Recently featured in Intel’s Visual Adrenaline Magazine for his work with computer technology, Justin states:

“Cakewalk’s SONAR 8 was one of the applications that were optimized and ready to take full advantage of the four cores and eight threads available with the Intel Core i7 processor.”

Among the many new features in SONAR 8 that Lassen appreciates are“the new compression, gating, and limiting as well as the tried-and-true Sonitus FX, which always find their way into all of my projects, since they don’t overload my CPU.”

Synaesthesia, a series of his latest works, has gained high acclaim throughout the fine art and technology industries. The series pairs his music with still images created by well-known graphic designers including Alex Ruiz (The Simpsons) and Nykolai Aleksander.

To view scenes from Synaesthesia and other works, visit Intel’s website and scroll through the August edition of Visual Adrenaline Magazine

Follow Justin through life in the digital world on his Live Journal

Artist Impression: Singer-Songwriter Cori Yarckin On the Road With V-Studio 100

One of Rolling Stones ‘Top 5 Up and Coming Female Artists’ and Cherry Lane Music Publishing Singer-Songwriter, Cori Yarckin, recently released her debut album, featuring the edgy new single, ‘Everything You Said’. Watch the video below to hear everything she had to say about writing and recording on the road with the SONAR V-Studio 100.

Cool Videos on Making Music for Video Games

Composing music for video games is a growing industry and an increasingly important part of our customer base. At NAMM 09′, we hosted a panel discussing this very topic with some of the best known composers around. Many of our customers, such as Stephen Hanson and Diwa Deleon, use SONAR for sequencing and recording music to their favorite video games. We recently came across their Youtube videos and thought you would get a kick out of their creativity:

Artist Impression: Joe Stokes Talks Post Production with V-Studio 700

Joe Stokes specializes in Post Production Sound and Video Editing. He worked for several years in theater as a production manager, in corporate television as a producer and later as a visual effects production manager for POP on films such as Independence Day, What Dreams May Come, and Star Trek: First Contact.

He is the founder of Stokes Audio, Recording & Post located in Tarzana, CA. Recently, Cakewalk’s Steve Thomas visited Stokes’ studio with the SONAR V-Studio 700 music production system. Joe shares some of his favorite features and a few production tips & tricks:


V-Studio 100 Featured In Keep Me Conscious' Music Video

A few weeks ago, SONAR users Keep Me Conscious shot a video with Producer Dave Brickley for their single, ‘Thicker Than Blood.’ Cakewalk’s Artist Relations Manager Jimmy Landry got a chance to get behind the scenes and watch the V-Studio 100 get infused into their video. Keep Me Conscious is a commercial rock band from the Boston area, currently touring nationally.

Watch highlights from the making of the ‘Thicker Than Blood’ music video below:

SONAR Illuminates the Sounds of a 'Blind X-perience'

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be somebody different? To walk the proverbial ‘mile’ in someone else’s shoes? One organization, based in Hong Kong, is giving visitors an experience they could have never imagined!

Four years ago, David Begbie (DJ by preference) and the CrossRoads Foundation began an interactive crusade to educate the well-off on the life challenges of the less fortunate by placing people in simulated ‘Life X-periences.’ With props and sound effects, Begbie recreates the plights of living in a third world country, battling a deadly disease, walking the streets as a prostitute, and more.

One X-perience in particular, guides visitors around darkened rooms where sound and touch are the only senses they can rely on. Aptly named, the ‘Blind X-perience’, the visitors feel for props and listen to sounds of an African village. At the center of these X-periences is Cakewalk’s audio sequencer SONAR, delivering a series of sound cues for the different scenes.

Take a look at Pro Audio-Central’s article on the CrossRoads Foundation’s Life X-periences to learn more about this enlightening exhibit.

Shawn Clement Scores 'Quantum Quest' Soundtrack

As reported by USA Today, SONAR user and award-winning composer for videogames, tv and film, Shawn Clement, will be promoting his new soundtrack at Comic-Con 2009 on Thursday, July 23 at the San Diego Convention Center.

Shawn scored the 3-D, computer generated, fully animated, feature length film, “Quantum Quest: A Cassini Space Odyssey,” with an 82-piece orchestra and real NASA-discovered space sounds. Shawn will sit on a special Quantum Quest panel at the conference with film directors, Dr. Harry Kloor and Dan St.Pierre. The movie is set to release this fall.

Quantum Quest takes viewers on an atomic solar safari through the universe as Dave, a photon living on the sun, tries to save his friends from the forces of good and evil. The Core (good) is a kind being, who lives inside the suns.  His children are protons, photons, and neutrinos, which are created inside each Star, and are sent out into the universe to bring life, light, and knowledge. The Void (bad) is that which existed before the big bang, he hates everything and everyone in the universe for invading his nothingness. Dave must find his way to Cassini Space Craft and save it from the forces of the Void before his friends and the universe are lost forever.

Click here to view exclusive pictures from the Quantum Quest scoring session

For more information, visit IMDb.com and be sure to catch the launch of the movie’s website!

Elliott & The Untouchables Serve Up Southern 'Stew'

This South Carolina blues band, Elliot and The Untouchables, spice up their vintage blues sound with the release of their latest album, Voodoo Stew (BluePoint Records).

Elliott New (vocals, guitar), Mike ‘Naz’ Nazarenko (harmonica), J.T. Anderson (bass), Sonny “D” Dickey (saxophone) and Jim Heidenreich (drums) showcase their blues fusion sound around the world, performing at various music festivals and opening for music legends such as Van Morrison at the Rhythm & Blues Festival in Ireland.

Their latest album features 12 original songs, recorded and produced in SONAR, and covers a variety of blues styles from jumpin’ swing to the gritty ‘Mississippi swamp’ blues. To incorporate the traditional bluesy sound with the new, Elliot started experimenting and building his own diddley bow, cigar-box guitars which the band uses in 4 tracks on the new CD.

Listed among the Top 5 Best Self-Produced CDs by the International Blues Challenge and Top 100 U.S. Blues Releases by Real Blues Magazine, ‘Voodoo Stew’ is the band’s 5th top-selling release under the BluePoint label. Suggested tracks include: Voodoo Stew (title track), Blues Came Callin’, A Girl Like You, and Toss n’ Turn.

To hear clips from the new album visit Elliot & The Untouchables official website