Music producer and teacher Robert DiFazio reaffirms that you can’t buy your way to good music. In this short clip from arthousemusic.org DiFazio explains the difference between tools and techniques and tells listeners why simply owning Pro Tools does not a recording engineer make.”Gear,” he says “is an after-thought.”
Ahh, the scent of styrofoam and fresh circuitry, after lengthy research I finally obtained the proper midi control for my needs - The Akai MPK49. It has twelve drum pads, note repeat, an arrpegiator, 49 semi-weighted keys and 8 knobs and sliders. It also comes packed with a dozen or so presets for you to jump right into an Ableton or Reason session.
The feel of this hefty midi beast brings out all my analogue fantasies. Enjoying the mouseless play, pumping out synth riffs, tapping drum pads while tweaking and knobbing, it’s easy to forget there is a midi cable at the end of it. Needless to say, I’ve had interest in little else besides getting intimate with my new AKAI. And while surfing for online info and tutorials, I came across these handy videos from Today’s Producers. (I swear to god You Tube has made music school obsolete). For straight up gear talk that rides just the edge of infomercial, Todays Beats.com, home of the The Hip Hop Sessions, provides some entertaining and educational videos focused on some toys you may want or have, as well as some tips on what to do with them once plugged into your audio station.
http://video.aol.com/video-detail/akai-mpk49-tutorials-akaimpk49-todaysbeatscom/3051111892
This youtube informational on the Amen break wraps up the last 25 years of electronic music in 18 minutes.
