There's Been a Murder (FM) on SONAR X1

Friday, April 8 – Dallas, TX

“Deep in the Heart of Texas,” a song you most likely will not hear at a Murder FM show, but it is a location where you will find the band pounding out amazing material using SONAR X1.  In terms of work ethic and sheer determination, one will rarely find a band more in tune with what it takes to be a successful organization.

Based out of Dallas, TX, Murder FM (comprised of Norman Matthew, J6, Matt X3r0, and Brandon Arpin) has been performing sold out shows from coast to coast in the The United States while sharing the stage with some other notable bands such as Korn, The Used, Dope, Sick Puppies, Cavo, Red, Domain, 69 Eyes, The Birthday Massacre and Trapt amongst others.  Lead singer/guitarist (and producer) Norman Mathew has been relentless in the past recent years setting up and maintaining the bands success.  “It’s a real balancing act nowadays,” Norman says.  “It’s a lot different than it used to be where you could just work on your music and let things fall into place.  Now it’s a matter of working on your music just as hard, but on top of that you have to be on your promotional and business game as well.  That’s why I have been so stoked on SONAR for my career because it really allows me to zoom in quickly and efficiently on my creativity.” Continue reading “There's Been a Murder (FM) on SONAR X1”

A Wicked Good Time for MusiCares Foundation

For those of you who couldn’t make it out to our first annual Cakewalk fundraiser, you missed a great night. Throughout the evening, Cakewalk employees took the stage at the Lansdowne Pub (right next door to historic Fenway Park) to show off their talents.

    Mike FM

Boston’s 93.7 Mike FM was the MC for the night, bringing with them a bundle of awesome prizes for the raffle and giving away free stickers and tees. One lucky raffle winner won the grand prize featuring Cakewalk’s V-Studio 100 portable music studio, a Fender Stratocaster™ with a face plate signed by Blink 182, and Shure headphones. Here’s a brief rundown of the night:

    magnolia

Magnolia killed the opening set as Cakewalk Graphic Designer Dan Kaplan rocked out with his six-piece and bandana. With influences ranging from traditional folk music and Americana to the more contemporary indie rock and pop – Magnolia has a refreshing, unique sound of their own. Be sure to check out their virtual CD release party on June 11, 2010.

    baby made rebel

Cakewalk Quality Assurance Rep Josh Langberg’s band, Baby Made Rebel really turned up the volume in the next set, delivering a stellar performance. Cakewalk Tech Support Rep David Guerette also made a cameo appearance on the tenor sax for a few songs.

    Los Sugar Kings

Los Sugar Kings with Cakewalk Director of Education Dan Abreu had everyone in the crowd clapping along to their Latin inspired beats. They also gave free dance lessons! Dan showed off his amazing musicianship, switching between sax and keyboards, during the set.

    lunchbox2

Even with a man down, the cover band Lunchbox couldn’t be stopped. Cakewalk Account Manager Zac Kenney took on guitar parts intended for 2, played them blindfolded with his hands behind his back, and still made it look cool. Cakewalk International Account Manager Matt Koelsch wowed everyone with his vocals throughout the set; he even managed to out-Zeppelin Robert Plant when they covered “Good Times Bad Times.” 

    DJ Scotty Steel

DJ Scotty Steel kept us all energized through 1:00am spinning hits from the 80’s, 90’s and more.

    DJ Josh

DJ Josh closed it up with a chest pounding mix of electro, IDM, and EBM to keep the glow sticks moving until the lights started flashing and the bartenders finally kicked us out.

All joking aside, it was an amazing night with plenty of great tunes and whole lot of fun!

In total we earned over $800 for the MusiCares Foundation.

The money which will go towards their first annual Grassroots Giving Campaign and it’ll provide critical care and services to musicians worldwide.  Here’s how a few dollars donated to MusiCares could help musicians in need:

$25 Buys groceries for an elderly or disabled artist on a fixed income
$50 Pays part of a gas bill for a client recovering from carpal tunnel syndrome
$100 Pays for a month of medication for an uninsured diabetic client
$150 Provides a basic dental exam, cleaning and X-rays for a horn player without insurance
$500 Provides a vocal examination and rehabilitative treatment for a singer with polyps on her vocal folds

Thank you to all who helped make this event a huge success! We hope to see you next year.

Cakewalk Rocks for MusiCares Foundation

Save the Date! Two weeks from Sunday, Cakewalk hosts it’s 1st annual fundraising event for the MusiCares Foundation. Throughout the event, Cakewalk employees will show off their talents, performing in a diverse line up of bands and DJ’s. A charity raffle will be held with a chance to win a Cakewalk V-Studio 100-powered Recording Bundle featuring a Cakewalk V-Studio 100 portable music production studio, a Fender Stratocaster with a face plate signed by Blink 182, and Shure headphones.

CakewalkRocks_blog

One hundred percent of the proceeds raised at this event will be donated to the MusiCares Foundation.

Join us at the Lansdowne Pub (next to Fenway Park) in Boston, MA. A $5.00 cover will be charged at the door and Boston’s 93.7 Mike FM will MC the event, all for a great cause!

Visit our MusiCares Event page for more information on the night’s set list and raffle prizes.

Doing Heavenly Work With the V-Studio 100

Dale Ramsey - Great GatheringDale “Rambro” Ramsey is one of the most respected producers and engineers in the business.  His RamTrax Entertainment studio in Atlanta has worked on projects for some of the biggest names in music, from Justin Timberlake to Stevie Wonder to P. Diddy.  His client list reads like a Who’s Who of musical talent, and it keeps Dale hopping.

But sometimes he has a client with a somewhat ‘higher calling.’

Early this month, Dale traveled to Columbia, SC with his V-Studio 100 to record a major religious event called “The Great Gathering.”  For the first time in more than 45 years, the three major Methodist denominations within the African-American community met collectively, holding a three-day conference to discuss and address some of the major issues currently plaguing our nation.

From March 1-3, congregations from the African Methodist Episcopal (AME), African Methodist Episcopal Zion (AME Zion) and Christian Methodist Episcopal (CME) Churches met at the Carolina Coliseum with the goal of “Focusing on solutions. Change through the heart for the earth and humanity.”

“I was working in my studio with Dr. Greg McPherson, the music director for the opening day of the conference,” Dale explained, “and he mentioned a three-day event that might take place the following week up in Columbia.  He said he might be able to use my help in recording an orchestra on the first day.  I didn’t have a lot of details and it wasn’t set in stone at that point, but I said I’d help if he needed me.”

Continue reading “Doing Heavenly Work With the V-Studio 100”

Have Gig Bag, Will Travel or Where in the World is Carmen Rizzo?

hht back stage perm 1Carmen Rizzo checks his cell phone one last time as he boards the plane at LAX.  This is the first of several flights that will take him half way around the world over the next 24 hours – from Los Angeles to Perm, Russia .  He’s got a text message from the people he’ll be performing with in Perm; they want him to come back in 10 days for another show, and they need his commitment immediately.  He’s taken slightly aback – he’s not exactly sure what he’ll be doing onstage when he arrives this time – but he agrees to make the return trip, figuring that as long as he has the right assemblage of tools, he’ll be able to handle whatever situation is thrown at him.

This is typical for a road warrior like Rizzo.  The Los Angeles-based producer, DJ, record label owner, and radio show host is a rapidly-rising global brand, sought after for his wide range of skills that have earned him two GRAMMY nominations.   He’s worked with the likes of Seal, Coldplay, Paul Oakenfold, Ryuichi Sakamoto and Alanis Morissette.  He’s a member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS).  He also DJs a radio set heard by 14 million listeners each month on the highly influential KEXP 90.3 FM in Seattle.  With so many irons in the fire, he’s become extraordinarily flexible, yet fastidious in his preparation, maintaining a strict work ethic that sees him keeping regular hours in his home studio during the week and, whenever possible, not working weekends to spend time with his children.  But this last-minute request is not unusual for Rizzo.  He’ll just roll with it.

Continue reading “Have Gig Bag, Will Travel or Where in the World is Carmen Rizzo?”

NAMM 2010: Creative Tools for Independent Minds

NAMMJet-lagged and exhausted, the Cakewalk crew is slowly recovering from a monumental Thursday through Saturday at the NAMM Show. The weather was beautiful, the show floor was packed and the Cakewalk booth was the place to be.

Each year, the National Association of Music Merchants hosts an industry-wide tradeshow at the colossal Anaheim Convention Center.  If you’ve never been to the NAMM Show, it’s a musician’s paradise, with thousands of exhibitors, live product demos, impromptu jam sessions, and celebrity sightings galore.

The theme for our booth was ‘Creative Tools for Independent Minds.’  As our product line continues to grow from recording software to complete studio solutions, we encourage musicians on every level to take production into their own hands and have fun making music.

Cakewalk Artist Relations Manager, Jimmy Landry put together an all-star roster of artists who appeared and performed in our booth while demonstrating how they use our products on the road and in the studio.

    Cori Yarckin Acoustic Performance

One of Rolling Stone’s Top 5 Up & Coming Female Artists, Cori Yarckin, acoustically performed her hit single, Everything You Said, and recorded a vocal track in SONAR with the V-Studio 100. Cakewalk’s Brandon Ryan showed the audience how to use the VX-64 Vocal Strip to process her vocals as well as the Matrix view to creatively remix her track.

Continue reading “NAMM 2010: Creative Tools for Independent Minds”

Artist Appearances at NAMM 2010

NAMMVisit with Cakewalk at The NAMM Show 2010 from January 14 through January 17 in Anaheim, California! Stop by our new booth location (Hall A, #6700) to see live demonstrations on SONAR 8.5, the V-Studio 100 and the V-Studio 700. Be sure to grab an official Cakewalk Passport then take a short tour of our booth, to win a free t-shirt and be eligible to win a V-Studio 100!

Also, Cakewalk will be hosting a series of special artist presentations and performances throughout the show. Our confirmed artist appearances (dates and times) are as follows:

Thursday, Jan. 14, 2010
2:00-2:45 Justin Lassen
4:00-4:45 Javier Colon

Friday, Jan. 15, 2010
11:00-11:45 Steven Slate
1:00-1:45 Cori Yarckin
3:00-3:45 Casey McPherson of Alpha Rev
4:00-4:45 Norman Matthew
5:00-5:45 Justin Lassen

Saturday, Jan. 16, 2010
11:00-11:45 Norman Matthew
12:00-12:45 Steven Slate
1:05-1:45 The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
2:00-2:45 Shifty and the Big Shots
3:00-3:45 Cori Yarckin
4:00-4:45 Javier Colon

Visit our Special Event page for more information: http://www.cakewalk.com/events/namm2010/

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”

TUAW.com, the Unofficial Apple Weblog, Explores the Versatility of V-Studio 100

Mac+VS100_v1Josh Carr, a reporter for the unofficial Apple weblog, TUAW.com, is slowly migrating from his analog mixer to the world of digital audio workstations. In studio, Josh uses Logic Pro for his music production needs. During the past two weeks, he has managed to learn the ins and outs of the V-Studio 100 as a DAW Controller and SD Recorder. In his review, Josh comments on how versatile the unit really is:

“When you toss in the SD card of your choosing, you’re able to record individual tracks for later synchronization… set it up at your latest show and record it for critiquing or a low budget live album… you can even toss an already-produced track from your computer onto the SD Card and use if for live playback… if you’re a one man band like me.”

Keeping the holiday season in mind, Josh recommends the V-Studio 100 as a great gift for the musician making the jump from analog mixer to DAW controller and for someone setting up a home studio on a budget.

Read Josh’s full review of Cakewalk’s V-Studio 100 at TUAW.com

An Affordable Alternative for Mobile Recording

VS-100-Multiple_Screenshots_Black_BGRecording your music, whether on the road or in studio, can be a costly venture. Expenses for instruments, equipment, session time and sound engineers can land you in serious debt. Many of today’s musicians take the DIY approach, either hiring friends in the biz or building their own home studios, to save time, money and resources.

Cakewalk’s V-Studio 100 is a perfect companion for the ‘new age’ musician. An all in one portable music studio, the V-Studio 100 is a high quality audio and MIDI interface, DAW controller, digital mixer and SD Recorder. You can take the unit to a live gig, plug in your instruments, and record the entire show with an SD card. With it’s on-board effects (Reverb, EQ, Compression), the V-Studio 100 doubles as a digital mixer during your live performance. Prefer to record in your home studio? The V-Studio 100 is also Mackie-control friendly, compatible with both Mac and PC DAWs.

As described in the latest issue of Tape Op, the V-Studio 100 is a “very cost-effective package for recording.” The reviewer, Alan Tubbs, goes on to say, “I’m sure you could rig up a similar system out of various components, but it wouldn’t be as compact and would most likely cost more.”

Pick up the latest issue of Tape Op magazine to learn how Cakewalk’s V-Studio 100 can save you more than just a few dollars.