Differeance Engine (that's me) will be spinning a genre defying set of grooves from 8-10pm tonight at Pixel 107.5 Dryden Rd. Ithaca, NY

The Electronic Music Collective is holding a DJ Demonstration/Open Decks Session for all those either interested in learning about what a DJ does, the technology, or those interested in getting their feet wet deejaying themselves.

Starts at 9 PM and goes until however late people stay.

We're going to be in my home studio, at 110 Heights Ct. #7. 

We'll probably have a really chill crowd there just hanging out and listening to good music while messing around with ridiculous audio equipment.  It should be a good time.  There will probably be 'refreshments' as well.

(Just remember, don't drink and deejay)

The equipment we'll be looking at is:

2X Technics SL1200 Vinyl turntables
2X Pioneer CDJ1000 CD Decks
Pioneer DJM500 DJ Mixer
Ableton Live as a DJ tool using MIDI Control
various other programs

 

Hope to see some of you there!

 

A note from Professor John Scott, Television-Radio Department, Roy H. Park School of Communications, Ithaca College:

I am teaching courses with advanced students who are completing substantial video projects this semester.  I am seeking ways to contact interested musicians or sound-designers who may benefit from interacting with my students as they begin to consider working with a composer or sound-designer for their soundtrack.

I have a course reserved for seniors who are doing final projects in a workshop environment.  There are 2 documentaries and 5 fictional narratives being produced.  One documentary is likely to be quite long (20-30 minutes) and has been shooting for over a year now.  One narrative script looks like it will be in the 15-20 minute range. Everything else is in the 5 to 12 minute range.

I also have four documentaries being shot in an advanced documentary class and four fictional narratives being shot in an intermediate fiction class.  Each of these will likely be in the 5 to 12 minute range.

Topics range from dogsledding, a maverick space capsule inventor, sex education in schools on the doc side to a crime scene drama, teen runaway drama and multiple comedies on the fiction side.

All of the projects need to be screened at a big auditorium here on IC campus on either Friday, Saturday or Sunday May 4,5 or 6.

If you are interested in scoring or sound design please contact me (jdscott@ithaca.edu) with some info about your expertise and preferences and I will put the info into the hands of relevant students and then let you all figure it out from there, (no obligation for either side.)

Read the original page here.

The Harmonic Table is arranged so that starting from any note, each axis (and any direction) gives notes of a specific musical interval. Starting from any note on a natural keyboard (the middle of the diagram), the next note up-to-the-left is a minor third above the starting note. The next note directly above is a fifth above the starting note, and the next note up-to-the-right is a major third above the starting note. In this arrangement, a minor triad (three note chord) has the shape of a left-facing triangle, and a major triad has the shape of a right-facing triangle. The Harmonic Table pattern can be extended in all directions, and all intervals, chords and scales have the same shape in any key. See some chord shapes.

BENEFITS

On a piano keyboard there are twelve ways to finger a major scale (depending on your starting note). For example C-major scale, start with your thumb on C: although this won't do for C# which is a black note and requires a finger not a thumb. On a natural keyboard the fingering for C-major is exactly the same for C#-major, and indeed all major scales. The same consistency is true for any scale or chord. This makes a natural keyboard easy to learn and use.

On a natural keyboard you can;

•     Play a scale, chord, or melody the same way in any key,
•     Find harmony notes easily,
•     Play any three adjacent notes with one finger for a triad,
•     Play rich sounding chords easily,
•     Play low and high notes with both hands and without crossing hands,
•     Span four or five octaves with one hand and learn a great way to envisage and compose.

The Harmonic Table helps you get to grips with music. All twelve notes of our Western scale fit into a logical pattern in a 2-dimensional surface.

Thursday, February 8, 7:00, Willard Straight Hall

Former Ithaca resident and recipient of a Cornell Council for the Arts Emerging Artist award, Ritsu Katsumata is a classically trained violinist who has been performing since she was ten. She has played acoustic violin in Carnegie Hall, the Philadelphia Academy of Music, and the Smithsonian Institution. She composed and performed the scores for the two films screening tonight: Yasin (Betty Lee Kim, 13 mins, www.yasinmovie.com), a narrative short about a young boy in California whose Jordanian-born father is arrested and accused of being a terrorist, and Heroes (Lynn Estomin, 22 mins), a documentary short featuring the mother of a fallen soldier and an Iraq War Veteran who is speaking out against the War. Ritsu will talk about her work on these films and then perform a 45 minute set of music. Watch clips of Ritsu on YouTube from a recent show at NYC's Flea Theatre -- the program, curated by Kathleen Supove, included Joshua Fried, performing on old shoe and a steering wheel, as well as Nick Didkovsky composing computer music with audience participation:

Performance on You Tube.

color, 1 hour 30 minutes

Hi,

Just a reminder that the EMC, in conjunction with the Ithaca College Electronic Music Guild, is throwing down a huge party tonight at IC.

DJs Andrew Garcia, Adam Vana, Orlin, & Petko Nikolov

Lineup is going to be Petko Nikolov, Orlin, Adam Vana, and Andrew Garcia.  Andrew and I will be doing a tag team set for a while as well.

I will be mixing video live and projecting it in the space.  We have rented out a large sound rig and lighting rack, and there will be fog as well.  Expect this event to be massive and wild.   The earlier DJs will be playing housier house, I will be playing more progressive house and dark tribal, some trance and minimal techno, and Andrew Garcia will be  playing  straight up trance and harder techno.

Emerson Hall Lounge, 3rd Floor
Ithaca College
9 PM - 3 AM
Bring your own 'refreshments'.  There will be a constant complimentary supply of water and food available. 
Address is 953 Danby Rd, Ithaca College, Ithaca, NY 14850

Hope to see you there, we are expecting big things from this one!

-adam

 

Map here: The building is labeled 'R' in the lower left corner.  Parking is available in the lot just east of the building.  You will be guided into the party by door attendants.

Once again The Bodies will perform two hours of original electronic music during their regular weekly time slot from 8-10 on fridays at the Pixel Lounge (107.5 Dryden Rd. in Collegetown).  As usual, this Friday we will introduce some brand new material as of yet unheard by the public!  Info and mp3's can be found at www.myspace.com/daveandmisha or www.thebodiesmusic.com.  Please Enjoy!!  -Misha

As promised, here is the mix I played on the EMC Essential Mix earlier tonight.

This is a mix very close to my heart. I love this sound and had wanted to do a mix like this for some time. It's deep, dark tribal and tech house, at times bordering on trance. It ranges from sensitive and atmospheric sounds to raging tribal dance beats and trance-inducing minimal melodies and rhythms. As heard on EMC's Essential Mix last Sunday.  This is music for the body, the mind, and the soul.

This might seem like a lot of gibberish to those of you not familiar with electronic dance music, but let's just say this is the modern descendent of dancing around a fire in loincloths in tribal ritual.  I encourage you to listen especially if you are unfamiliar with this kind of music; I guarantee it will make you reconsider what you think dance music sounds like.

Download link: (192kbps MP3) Streaming Audio (VBR MP3) Running Time: 116:38

Tracklist is on my previous post - I don't wish to clutter the blog.  Alternatively you can access the tracklist here.

For those of you wondering, this mix was recorded live from Ableton Live 6.0 hooked into a midi controller that I have set up as a DJ mixer.  You will hear the capabilities of ableton as a DJ tool in this mix, where I make use of its looping features, transposition, of course track warping, slight use of effects (effects are quite easy with ableton, but I question their musical usefulness except for specific occasions).  You will here a lot of samples weaved into the mix, also on-the-fly editing of tracks and some live mashups.    I hope you enjoy it as much as I did compiling it and recording it. 

Feedback much appreciated