We are so closing in on speedy production...

This is so promising. The track that we only 4 sessions ago started production on, a remix of a track called Bar Groove to be released on Tarantic Records, is now near completion. Four sessions?! That's what I would love to do everytime. For some reason, we cooked on this one. It has a bit of a progressive edge to it, but very deep and synthy. Not nearly as dubby as some of our others.

One thing that seems to help is that we have really nailed down some conventions to speed us up. We don't keep major effects as plug-ins within the track. If we set up a complex chain of effects on a sound, and we like it, we sign off on it, print it to a new track, and move on. It really keeps you from tweaking sounds until it's counterproductive. You like it? Cool, let's print it and move on. The more material you get down onto the timeline, the quicker the song progresses. If you decide later that you want to change or don't like something? You can deal with it then. And I've noticed that a lot of times, instead of trying to recreate, we'll wipe it out and try something completely new. Keeps it all fresh.

Looks like I might be grabbing one of them 30" widescreen Dell monitors within the next month or two. That things MASSIVE!!!! Can't wait for that.

BarGroove RMX

Three sessions with Ivan... Maybe 7 hours total, and we have a full track beginning to end that sounds pretty full already! This is by far our quickest yet, and so far, it's got a super deep layer of synths, punchy rhythm track, and dissonant but solid bass line. Loving the progress.

End of an era...

Whoa... how overstated is that subject? Really, all I mean is.. it's an end of an era for me... not necessarily anyone else. I've officially sold my last turntable in an effort to reallocate funds in my studio into things that will get more usage instead of gather dust.

Why? Well, I can't say that I didn't have a blast spinning records. It honestly was one of the most satisfying musical endeavors I've ever encountered. The problem? FREAKIN EXPENSIVE! I mean think about it. If you aren't a regularly gigging DJ, funding your record purchases with gig money, then you are basically spending nearly $100 a pop for new music that will get spun a handfuls of times, only to age and become unfashionable within the scene.

If I had it in me to pimp myself as a DJ then maybe I'd still be doing it all. But the business side of DJing (in a city like SF, no doubt) really detracted from the fun of the music itself. In the end, I'd buy records only to create a DJ mix (which was great in it's own right) to post on, well, this site... and give to my closest friends.

It was a hard decision. But when I really pondered it, I would look in the corner of my studio and see that lonely turntable sitting there, dust cover on, doing it's duty of repelling dust from entering inside the turntable... I kept it unplugged for gods sake! So what's the point?

Now I have mad amounts of Bay Area house records, European tech house, and some pretty bad techno records to figure out a solution for.

The production side continues. And I think that's what I learn from this too. In the record world, you spend the money on new music, it becomes old music, and it loses it's value. In the production world, you purchase new gear, and it continues to pay in dividends. And if you tire of the gear, it holds it's resell value extremely well. (especially in comparison to those records!)