Cakewalk Pro User Spotlight: Hollywood Undead

Hollywood UndeadFresh off a sold-out tour in Europe, Hollywood Undead (A&M / Octone Records) is tearing up the music scene with their latest album, ‘Desperate Measures’. Charlie Scene, Da Kurlzz, Deuce, Funny Man, J-Dog and Johnny 3 Tears started performing in 2005. Their first album, Swan Songs, hit #22 on the Billboard 200 in it’s first week, selling 21,000 copies. Their songs can be heard in today’s hottest video games including Madden NFL 09, UFC 2009; Undisputed, Rock Band 2 and Velvet Assasin.

Cakewalk’s Jimmy Landry met up with group in Sacramento, California to talk about recording on the road with the V-Studio 100.

Last Minute Shopping? Grab a Cakewalk Gift Card!

MC5_GiftCardAttention Last Minute Shoppers: Cakewalk’s Download Gift Card are perfect last minute gifts or stocking stuffers for the up-and-coming rock star and guitar hero in your life! Simply, purchase a Download Gift Card from the Cakewalk e-store. Print it out or email it to your favorite musician.

Geared for novice recording musicians, these products make creating music on the PC more fun! Just point and click and you’re making music. Music Creator 5 guides you through the initial set-up, making it easy for you to plug in your instrument or microphone and immediately start recording. Get professional sounding results using Music Creator’s powerful tools, instruments and effects. Can’t play bass, drums, piano, or violin? Let Cakewalk’s Studio Instruments be your band! It has a full suite of instruments for you to play with and includes hundreds of pre-recorded patterns (played by ace session musicians) so you can build sections for your songs, practice, or just have fun jamming along!

Stop by the Cakewalk e-store to purchase a Cakewalk Download Gift Card. There’s no better gift than sharing the love of music this holiday season.

Cakewalk's V-Studio 100 Tops 'Sound Guys' Holiday Wishlist

V-Studio 100The Ask A Sound Guy bloggers, Ben and Sanjay, were first introduced to Cakewalk’s V-Studio series last winter at the NAMM Show. The smaller of the two units, the V-Studio 100, impressed them so much that they included the unit in their 2009 Holiday Wishlist.

When they later got hold of a unit to review, they put the portable music studio through its paces. Ben began by recording vocals and electric guitar remotely using the V-Studio 100’s built-in XLR inputs (with phantom power). “The preamps were exactly what you would be looking for in an interface like this,” he exclaimed. “They’re quiet, transparent, and boost the signal accordingly.”

To track the project live, Ben used the V-Studio 100’s on-board EQ and Compression. And to edit and mix the project, Ben integrated the V-Studio 100 with his own DAW. “I set it up to be used inside Logic and Live, and it worked well both times. The 100mm touch-sensitive motorized fader was a really nice feature to have. It’s probably more of a personal thing, but I enjoy seeing a fader move when its reading back automation inside my DAW of choice.”

Lastly, in hopes of pushing the envelope of the V-Studio 100, Ben recorded a full band (drums, bass, guitar and vocals) in a rehearsal space situation. He placed “two mics on the drums, a SM57 on the guitar cab, condenser on the bass cab, and vocals directly into the V-Studio.” Although it was live and “sloppy rock and roll,” Ben reported that the band was pleased with the final recording.

In all, Ben recommends the V-Studio 100 to producers, engineers and musicians on a budget, looking for an “all in one” solution for music production.

Visit Ask A Sound Guy to read the full review.

Cakewalk Pro User Spotlight: Comic Book Heroes

CBH Photo PlainAfter starting a band at 11 years old, five years ago, and with hundreds of shows from coast to coast under their belts, Comic Book Heroes is finding national success on their own terms.

This hard working suburban rock band’s recent successes include: “Catch Me If You Can” their Top 15 single on Radio Disney and an iTunes Discovery Download (earning 161,500 downloads), selection for Taco Bell’s Feed The Beat tour (2010), featured music & videos for ESPN / NASCAR Season (2010), top ranking artist on Radio Disney for “Next Big Thing” (2008 / 2009), “Catch Me If You Can” in heavy rotation on AOL Pop Radio (2M weekly listeners), a music video in rotation on the Disney XD channel, and additionally a featured music video on FUSE TV.

Visit Comic Book Heroes MySpace page to their music!

Composing & Arranging with SONAR 8.5

The new version of Cakewalk’s digital audio workstation, SONAR 8.5, includes a wealth of features designed to help composers create the best possible productions.

Whether you’re composing hip-hop, rock, heavy metal or classical music, SONAR 8.5 offers all the tools you need with these fun and exciting new features. Check out the videos to see the Matrix View, Step Sequencer, Arpeggiator & Session Drummer in action:

Matrix View

Step Sequencer 2.0

Continue reading “Composing & Arranging with SONAR 8.5”

Cakewalk Pro User Spotlight: Sparks the Rescue

In an ongoing effort to support and promote all the amazingly talented artists and producers that use our products, we are excited to announce the Cakewalk Pro User (CPU) Spotlight Series which will be posted here on a regular basis.

Right now, more than ever, aspiring artists are taking control of their music creation to capitalize on what will be known as the independent music age. These independent spirits are taking their money saved for studio time and investing in their own future by purchasing the studio tools themselves. With so many choices on the market, we salute the artists in this series who are capitalizing on SONAR’s unlimited track count, or the crystal clear sounds of Rapture, or the fat pre amps in the V-Studio 100 and the V-Studio 700, or the… well, you get the point.

Whether these CPU Spotlight artists are on a major or independent label, producing for labels, or simply doing their own thing, they all have three things in common: they’re all tremendously talented, they’re all doing their own thing and they all depend on the quality of Cakewalk products to achieve professional results.

CPU Spotlight #1: An interview with Sparks the Rescue at the famous Stone Pony in Asbury Park, New Jersey – Take one mic-swinging vocalist who throws himself to the floor, the crowd, the walls and into his band mates; add two guitarists providing vocals and an insane amount of movement; mix in a bassist with an impressive set of lungs providing screams and harmonies; and top it off with a rock-solid drummer holding it all down – this concoction renders Sparks the Rescue, a group of guys in their early 20’s from Portland, Maine.

Logging in over 200 shows throughout New England, Sparks the Rescue has shared the stage with Hawthorne Heights, Just Surrender, As Tall As Lions, Dave Melillo, Roses Are Red, A Change of Pace, Showbread, Chiodos, A Static Lullaby, Saosin, Boys Night Out, Stretch Arm Strong, Emanuel, The Static Age, Glory of This, and many others.

2007 saw the release of ‘The Secrets We Can’t Keep’ digital EP, preceding a full-length album on Fearless Records which is available now in stores and on ITunes.

Check out our first-ever Cakewalk Pro User Spotlight featuring Sparks the Rescue and stay tuned for more in the near future!

Cakewalk Sponsored Showcases At SXSW 2009

Although, we’re a little late in getting this up, we thought we’d share pictures and give you the skinny on our travels to this year’s SXSW Conference in Austin, Texas.

This year, was the first year Cakewalk made the trek to Austin to join in on the South by Southwest (SXSW) Music and Media Conference. We sponsored a series of live performances hosted by Music Gorilla and submitted our SONAR 8 Producer into a drawing. Here’s a few pictures from the event:

A little history on SXSW:

Established in 1987, SXSW’s original goal was to create an event that would act as a tool for creative people and the companies they work with, to develop their careers, to bring together people from a wide area to meet and share ideas. In 22 years, this music event has grown from 700 registrants to nearly 12,000 registrants.

Austin’s eclectic music scene goes back to the city’s early history (from Mexican, German and colonial origins) and encompasses a wide variety of music including country, folk, jazz, blues and rock. Central Austin boasts more original music nightclubs in a concentrated area than any other city in the world. SXSW was a way to reach out to the rest of the world, and bring them to Austin to do business. SXSW now has offices in Ireland, Germany, Australia and Japan who help bring SXSW registrants to Austin every March.

If you missed SXSW this year, you can catch up on the panels via podcast now until May 29 at http://sxsw.com/interactive.