Posted on

EDM Production – How To Create a Hip Hop Bass Kick with Z3TA+ 2

Introduction

Z3TA+ 2’s synth engine can generate sounds that stretch across multiple genres. By utilizing Z3TA+ 2’s advanced modulation matrix we can shape just about everything, even drums sounds.

 

Sine Wave Kick Drum

Start by initializing your patch. This will return the synth to all of it’s defaults so that you can start from scratch with the sound.

Kick Drums requires a lot of low end. Within Z3TA+ 2 you can produce this kind of controlled low end by using the Sine Waves that are available in the OSC section. We are going for a saturated low end, so make sure to add 3 Sine Waves.

Let’s split up the 3 Sine Waves into Middle, Right, and Left. In order to do this we must first activate the Filter Section, select the “Link” button and turn the Pan knobs on either filter. They will pan in opposite directions.

Afterwards, we can use the Filter Bus on each OSC section to pan the oscillators. Panning two opposing oscillators and then using the “Fine Tune” to slightly detune them will produce a nice wide stereo effect. Do this to both OSC 1 and OSC 2 and keep OSC 3 centered and not de-tuned.

We covered the value of this technique in – Creating a simple Bass Synth.

Continue reading “EDM Production – How To Create a Hip Hop Bass Kick with Z3TA+ 2”

Posted on

Cakewalk's Top 5 Live Performances of 2009

HOB BostonWith the return of U2, Madonna and AC/DC to the stage, 2009 was another successful year for performance venues nationwide. The Cakewalk staff had a busy year as well, attending all sorts of concerts and festivals. Continuing on our quest to name our favorites of 2009, here are our choices for the ‘Top 5 Live Performances’. You can see our picks for the Top 5 Singles of 2009 in a previous post.

Anthony Conte: Ben Folds with the Boston Pops, Aimee Mann, Pete Yorn, Matthew Sweet, Cake

Carl Jacobson: Oneal Armstrong @ The Middle East (Boston, MA), DJ Z-Trip & Chuck D at the Shepherd Fairy Exhibit Party @ ICA (Boston, MA), The Pat Martino Trio feat. Tony Monaco @ Scullers (Boston, MA), Kokayi @ CMJ Showcase (NY, NY), Some traditional Appalachian band from West Virginia on the streets in the Mission District of San Francisco in September 2009

Keith Albright: Third Day, Casting Crowns, and Natalie Grant @ SoulFest (Gunstock Mountain, NH), Michael W. Smith, Todd Agnew

Tara Zanett: Journey (and Heart!), No Doubt, AC/DC

Steve Cox: Stevie Wonder at the 25th Anniversary Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame Concert @ Madison Square Garden (NY, NY)

Josh Langberg: DJ Hell @ Resolute Warehouse (Brooklyn, NY), Skinny Puppy @ the Palladium (Worcester, MA), Raster-Noton, Alva Noto & Byetone @ Make It New (Middlesex Lounge – Cambridge, MA), Nitzer Ebb @ the Paradise (Boston, MA), Xanopticon @ The Armory (Somerville, MA)

Continue reading “Cakewalk's Top 5 Live Performances of 2009”

Posted on

Cakewalk's Top 5 Singles of 2009

kings of leonMore than half of Cakewalk’s employees are musicians, many of which record and perform on the side. They’ve come to Cakewalk from different musical backgrounds, sharing their experiences and tricks of the trade as they go. It’s no surprise that those behind the scenes at Cakewalk have a wide range of musical tastes from electronica to hip hop, punk to country.

We thought we’d share with you our choices for the ‘Top 5 of 2009’. In no particular order, here are our picks for the ‘Top 5 Singles’  released this year:

Anthony Conte (VP of Sales): Fireflies – Owl City, Meet Me At The Equinox – Death Cab for Cutie, I’m Throwing My Arms Around Paris – Morrissey, Empire State of Mind (feat. Alicia Keys) – Jay-Z, 1901 – Phoenix

Carl Jacobson (VP of Marketing): 1901 – Phoenix, Ancestor’s Call – Huun-Huur Tu / Carmen Rizzo, Scars (Featuring Kelis) – Basement Jaxx, Scumbag Blues – Them Crooked Vultures, Money (Feat. David Byrne, Chuck D, Ras Congo, Seu Jorge & Z-Trip) – N.A.S.A.

Keith Albright (Software Engineer): Heaven Is The Face – Steven Curtis Chapman, Until The Whole World Hears – Casting Crowns, He Is – Mark Schultz, Lo How A Rose E’er Blooming – Sting, Magnificent – U2

Tara Zanett (Event Coordinator): Love Story – Taylor Swift, That’s Not My Name – Ting Tings, Already Gone – Kelly Clarkson, Use Somebody – Kings of Leon, I Know You Want Me – Pitbull

Matt Koelsch (MI Accounts Manager – Worldwide): Use Somebody – Kings of Leon, Kids – MGMT, 1901 – Phoenix, Sleepyhead – Passion Pit, Hometown Glory – Adele

Dave Malaguti (QA Engineer): Zero – Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Nothing to Worry About – Peter Bjorn and John, The Wanting Comes in Waves – The Decemberists, While You Wait for the Others – Grizzly Bear, Oh No – Andrew Bird

Continue reading “Cakewalk's Top 5 Singles of 2009”

Posted on

Voting Now Open for Cakewalk's 'Your Music Anytime, Anyplace' Songwriting Contest

OurStage_420x229Inspiration can happen anytime, anyplace and we want to make it easier for you to capture those ideas as they happen. Cakewalk has come together with Intel  to provide some of the best songwriters and producers on the Ourstage circuit with an ultimate mobile studio!

Now through November 21, 2009,  log on to Ourstage.com and submit your original music to enter. The Top 20 submissions in the Rock and Urban genres will be selected by music fans. Out of those 20, six winners (three in each genre) will be chosen by our panel of industry professionals and will receive a complete mobile music production studio worth over $3,000 including:

• Intel Core i7 Mobile processor-powered laptop
• Cakewalk’s V-Studio 100 portable recording solution
• SONAR 8.5 Producer digital audio workstation
• Rapture virtual instrument
• Cakewalk MA-15D studio monitors

Continue reading “Voting Now Open for Cakewalk's 'Your Music Anytime, Anyplace' Songwriting Contest”

Posted on

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!

Posted on

Suave Wins One Stop Shop's V-Studio 100 Rap Battle

Congratulations to the winner of One Stop Shop’s SONAR V-Studio 100 Rap Battle!

He’s one half of the production team The Insurgenz and a quadruple threat when it comes to making a hit. His singing, rapping, songwriting and beat-making are second to none. Though he hasn’t found a major placement yet, he has all the tools to make an impact in the major leagues!

Suave has been part of multiple collaborations with independent artists such as SKS, C-One and X.O. VINO, just to name a few. In 2009, the 30 year old Miami native hopes to finally get the attention he deserves. Big Time Beats and a new marketing plan will catapult him to the top of the food chain. Winning our One Stop Shop Beat Battle is just the beginning!

“I was totally impressed with the V-Studio 100. Everything ran like clock work… and I used SONAR in the past. It’s a monster.”

Suave says, his only influence is ‘good music’, but some of his favorites are Michael Jackson, Outkast and T.I.

Watch the video below to see Suave and the finalists lay down some sick beats:

Posted on

Artist Impression: Producer Giovanni Loria Talks Recording With V-Studio 100

Giovanni “Gio” Loria is a Los Angeles-based professional music producer and musician (multi-instrumentalist) who wears many musical hats creating on a wide variety of musical stages. He is no stranger to pop, hip-hop, rock, orchestral and jazz as well as other genres. He has played, recorded and produced with artists such as The Black Eyes Peas, Jack Johnson and jazz phenomenon Brad Mehldau, to name a few. Overall, Giovanni had the rare ability to be at home in any musical situation, finding a way to support and shine as a leader.

Having traveled much of the world making music with SONAR, we thought Giovanni would be a perfect artist to give us some first impressions of the new SONAR V-Studio 100. Take a look at the video we taped, when we caught up with Gio in Los Angeles in between projects.

Posted on

Day 2: The Future Producers of Hip-Hop Battle It Out

Live From One Stop Shop Music Producers Conference Phoenix, Arizona, Day 2 (May 9th… 1am overlooking Phoenix city lights from a Jetblue red-eye to NYC)

Hope everyone had a Happy Mother’s Day! Day 2 technically starts at 12:00am from yesterday so I will pick it up from there. We found ourselves at Club PHX with Sha Money and many of the talented producers and artists who attended One Stop Shop. I have to admit, I had no idea that Phoenix was such an after-hours kind of town. The club was packed and as always when hanging with a bunch of musicians after midnight, the conversations flowed candidly about gear, projects and the state of the music industry.  Everyone I spoke with agreed that no matter how much turmoil the music industry is facing, it’s an amazing time for musicians who want to take control of their own music (and future) by empowering themselves with tools such as Cakewalk. As you will read later, this proved to be true from the OSS Beat Battle.

My wakeup call rang early. Seth Perlstein and I caffeinated up and prepared for what was to going to be a very busy day. The second day of the “V-100 Challenge” brought new talent early and with fury as MC’s jumped on the Cakewalk mic like it was nothing. I was amazed with some of these cats when I asked them if they wanted to hear the beat first…  or warm up… or something…  nope – these dudes would just step up to the mic and throw lyrics like they had been there all night practicing. Today we had some MC’s representing Boston, Phoenix, Florida, Dallas, Queens, Brooklyn and even Mississippi.  I’m glad I’m not the one deciding on who is walking away with SONAR 8 Producer. Thanks to all the cats that participated and please check Youtube this week for a V-100 video montage.

In between the action of the rap battles, we were pretty psyched to connect with some great producers in the game who stopped by to say hello and get a 1 on 1 taste of the new V-700, that is creating quite a buzz in the Hip Hop world. Neither Seth nor I had ever met Pete Rock and it was a pleasure to connect with him as well as Don Cannon, Just Blaze and Drumma Boy.  Throughout the day there were some pretty heavy panels going on as well.  Sway moderated a panel I caught in the afternoon with RZA, Just Blaze, Pete Rock, Steve Lobel, and many other pioneers in the game.  It was interesting to hear these guys comment on modern production and the state of the music industry.

Later on in the afternoon, we were approached by Microsoft Technical Evangelist, Arif Gursel, along with Sha Money who offered us an opportunity to demonstrate the V-700 right before dinner in front of all the conference goers.  It was a bit of work breaking down our booth and setting back up on stage but it was well worth it.  Seth Perlstein took the stage and did a great job going through some of the main features of the controller, interface, phantom synth and also fielded some questions from the crowd.

In the evening, I interviewed Lee Bannon who has been using SONAR and Project 5 on his recent project with Talib Kweli. Then we checked out the finals of the beat battle and it was crystal clear to me that we are in the middle of a music revolution.  Basically, any undiscovered producer could submit beats for this competition and it was ridiculous how crazy-good the final four contestants were.  Some of these new age producers are really thinking outside the box, that is outside the box with how they are constructing the beats, and the sounds were very refreshing to say the least.

Thanks again to Sha Money and I definitely recommend this conference to any up and coming Hip Hop producer for two main reasons:

1) It’s a great place to easily network with some name brand guys because the vibe is “we’re all in this together”.

2) It’s a great place to get your work out there if you really have an amazing talent.

Posted on

The Future of Hip-Hop At One Stop Shop

A big WHAT IS UP from Phoenix, AZ !!!

I have to say there’s a common thread of goodness here in Phoenix AZ this weekend; Sha Money (and staff), amazing weather, and great people all pooled together for one reason – the spirit and the state of Hip Hop and creating music.

My co-worker and Cakewalk Product Specialist Seth Perlstein and I rolled into town yesterday and we hit the ground running preparing our Cakewalk booth and demonstration area.  On a lighter note, we showed up at 7:30am and were well prepared for the day but there was one problem…  we failed to realize that we were on “Hip Hop time” and what was supposed to be a 10am start turned into a noon-time launch.  It’s all good? I utilized the time tapping into the wealth of SONAR knowledge that Seth has to offer.  That guy has more SONAR tricks than a magician has rabbits – thanks Seth!

What a great day we have had so far showing people the new V-Studio 100 as well as the V-Studio 700 and SONAR.  I’m getting a great response from artists who are digging the fact that you can throw the V-100 in your suitcase with a laptop and make a record when you land.

A few of our many friends and fans that have stopped by to say hello so far today include Che Vicious who is working on the new Dr. Dre record, Grammy winning producing team Play N Skillz, Q-tip, and Sha Money, but I think the show stealer was Che Vicious’s 6 year old son who logged about an hour of studio time with Seth, and then busted out a monstrous pose with the V-100 (I think we found a new spokesman).

On the plane ride into Phoenix I was thinking about ways to get people engaged with the new V-100.  So instead of just telling everyone how good the mic pre’s are I decided to trigger a way for them to hear it for themselves by having a weekend long contest called the “V-100 Challenge”.

Any willing, rap-battling street soldier can walk up to our booth and throw down a verse over a beat we created in SONAR.  When the weekend is over, we’ll (Cakewalk) take a listen back to all the tracks. The flow-fighter with the most convincing rap will have a shiny new copy of SONAR 8 Producer to make great music with.  So far, it’s been a blast and I think it’s going to be a tough decision.  We have heard some crazy talent step up to mic with representation from Hawaii all the way to Phili!

We were fortunate enough to get an invite to the conference party tonight at club PHX which should be a great time. A sincere Happy Mother’s Day to all from everyone at Cakewalk, and thanks for reading.

Jimmy Landry
Cakewalk Artist Relations

Posted on

Money Management Group's 'One Stop Shop' 2009

This year’s One Stop Shop Producers Conference in Phoenix, Arizona will be off the chain! Hosted by Money Management Group at the Hyatt Regency Hotel from May 9th – 10th, hundreds of hip-hop producers from around the world will be representing at workshops on music publishing, artist management, studio and sound equipment, production, and artist scouting.

If you’ve got skills, join in on an extensive two-day beat battle, where the contestant with the hottest beats receives surprise gifts, music placement, the latest technology, and more. Also, Cakewalk will be on hand laying down tracks and dropping beats with the SONAR V-Studio 700 & 100 music production systems. 

Founded by Sha “Money” XL in 2002, Money Management Group has boosted the careers of beat-makers and trend-setters worldwide including 50 Cent, Lloyd Banks, Tony Yayo, Young Buck, Hi-Tek, and Jake One. Every year, the group’s One Stop Shop Producer’s Conference pulls together 700+ artists and producers from around the world. 

What will it take to make it or break it in tomorrow’s hip-hop scene? Stop by the conference to find out.