vitaminman
IllMuzik Staff
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 1
Hey,
You guys are gonna hate me...
I've been into music all my life, my first tape was Frontiers by Journey back in '83 when I was in the 3rd grade. I picked up the sax in the 5th grade and have been making music ever since.
In '91 I went to visit some friends in France, we went clubbing in Belgium and I heard techno for the first time, it was the most amazing thing seeing everyone off their heads dancing to harder beats than what I had heard in the States (I know now that techno originated in the US, I had just never heard it before).
After that I was on a constant search for cool techno music, which at the time was very difficult...instead of wasting my time in the record shops, I picked up the bass guitar and played in a few bands.
In '94 I went back to Europe and spent nearly $2000 on techno cd's and vinyls, came back to the states and moved to Phoenix where there was a budding techno scene, and got my turntables and mixer. Every week I took my paycheck to the record store and bought about 10 new vinyls and figured out how to beat match and arrange good sets.
After the whole Chemical Brothers/Prodigy/Daft Punk thing died in '97, people weren't into listening to electronic dance music as much, so I saved up and decided to get my first synth, the Roland MC-303. It had horrible sounds and a difficult sequencer, but it was a great tool to start with.
At university a friend introduced me to computer sequencing; from that moment on I decided that I would never use a hardware sequencer again, you cannot beat the power of a mouse, keyboard and monitor for programming tracks.
In '98 I got my first softsynth (Rebirth), sequencer (Cubase 3.5) and 'real' synth (Roland JP-8000), followed by a Roland MKS-50 and Roland JV-2080. My craft got more and more complex, and I started submitting demos to record labels in America and France/Belgium. Nothing was accepted.
In '99 I made the switch from Mac to PC because it was equally as powerful and about 1/4th of the price, and friend showed me how to build and configure a PC and my first DAW was born. That summer I submitted more demos to labels, Plastik Records in Tempe picked up my first track Le Sentiment and released it with a remix.
In one of my French classes I gave a presentation on new music technologies (in French!), we discussed the latest trend in compression, MP3's...the rest is history!
I moved to France and shopped my record to some labels there, Bio Records in Lille licenced it and released it on a Sony France Compilation, Techno Nations 2, after Christmas and sold out all 50,000 copies in the France/Benelux area.
In 2000 my second track Sale Bete was released on Plastik on the This Is Plastik Records EP...the label's investors got into financial trouble with the state DA and was forced to close their doors, they packed their bags and moved to London.
Since then I've been into making hip hop tracks with a friend who loves it, he writes and arranges the tracks, I create the sounds and mix them in my studio. My 'influences' are older late '80's artists like Eric B./Rakim, Ice T, NWA, etc. when the music was fresh and innovative, plus all the electronic stuff that got me interested in synths in the first place.
Most recent accomplishment: we made a station ID for a local hip hop station, it gets played out every weekend on Dj Mikey Mike's live mix show, we're hoping to get requests for more...a remix of my second record Sale Bete made it onto another compilation in England on Eve Records, I have yet to receive any money for it...
As for gear...
Roland:
JP-8000
JV-2080
MKS-50 x2 w/ PG300
MKS-70 w/PG800
XV-5050
EMU:
Proteus 2000
e6400 Ultra
Yamaha:
FS1R
Kawai:
K5000s
PIII workstation w/ dual monitors
Cubase VST 5.0 and SX sequencers
Cool Edit Pro 2.0 wave editor
Sound Diver synth editor
ReCycle 2.0
Reaktor 3.0 soft synth
Mackie 1402 mixer
Delta 1010 soundcard
Yamaha DSP Factory soundcard
Midisport 8x8 MIDI interface
Hundreds of Future Music, Computer Music, Electronic Musician and Sound on Sound magazines
At my job I work with audio and MIDI software all day long and get paid.... : )
Take care,
Nick
You guys are gonna hate me...
I've been into music all my life, my first tape was Frontiers by Journey back in '83 when I was in the 3rd grade. I picked up the sax in the 5th grade and have been making music ever since.
In '91 I went to visit some friends in France, we went clubbing in Belgium and I heard techno for the first time, it was the most amazing thing seeing everyone off their heads dancing to harder beats than what I had heard in the States (I know now that techno originated in the US, I had just never heard it before).
After that I was on a constant search for cool techno music, which at the time was very difficult...instead of wasting my time in the record shops, I picked up the bass guitar and played in a few bands.
In '94 I went back to Europe and spent nearly $2000 on techno cd's and vinyls, came back to the states and moved to Phoenix where there was a budding techno scene, and got my turntables and mixer. Every week I took my paycheck to the record store and bought about 10 new vinyls and figured out how to beat match and arrange good sets.
After the whole Chemical Brothers/Prodigy/Daft Punk thing died in '97, people weren't into listening to electronic dance music as much, so I saved up and decided to get my first synth, the Roland MC-303. It had horrible sounds and a difficult sequencer, but it was a great tool to start with.
At university a friend introduced me to computer sequencing; from that moment on I decided that I would never use a hardware sequencer again, you cannot beat the power of a mouse, keyboard and monitor for programming tracks.
In '98 I got my first softsynth (Rebirth), sequencer (Cubase 3.5) and 'real' synth (Roland JP-8000), followed by a Roland MKS-50 and Roland JV-2080. My craft got more and more complex, and I started submitting demos to record labels in America and France/Belgium. Nothing was accepted.
In '99 I made the switch from Mac to PC because it was equally as powerful and about 1/4th of the price, and friend showed me how to build and configure a PC and my first DAW was born. That summer I submitted more demos to labels, Plastik Records in Tempe picked up my first track Le Sentiment and released it with a remix.
In one of my French classes I gave a presentation on new music technologies (in French!), we discussed the latest trend in compression, MP3's...the rest is history!
I moved to France and shopped my record to some labels there, Bio Records in Lille licenced it and released it on a Sony France Compilation, Techno Nations 2, after Christmas and sold out all 50,000 copies in the France/Benelux area.
In 2000 my second track Sale Bete was released on Plastik on the This Is Plastik Records EP...the label's investors got into financial trouble with the state DA and was forced to close their doors, they packed their bags and moved to London.
Since then I've been into making hip hop tracks with a friend who loves it, he writes and arranges the tracks, I create the sounds and mix them in my studio. My 'influences' are older late '80's artists like Eric B./Rakim, Ice T, NWA, etc. when the music was fresh and innovative, plus all the electronic stuff that got me interested in synths in the first place.
Most recent accomplishment: we made a station ID for a local hip hop station, it gets played out every weekend on Dj Mikey Mike's live mix show, we're hoping to get requests for more...a remix of my second record Sale Bete made it onto another compilation in England on Eve Records, I have yet to receive any money for it...
As for gear...
Roland:
JP-8000
JV-2080
MKS-50 x2 w/ PG300
MKS-70 w/PG800
XV-5050
EMU:
Proteus 2000
e6400 Ultra
Yamaha:
FS1R
Kawai:
K5000s
PIII workstation w/ dual monitors
Cubase VST 5.0 and SX sequencers
Cool Edit Pro 2.0 wave editor
Sound Diver synth editor
ReCycle 2.0
Reaktor 3.0 soft synth
Mackie 1402 mixer
Delta 1010 soundcard
Yamaha DSP Factory soundcard
Midisport 8x8 MIDI interface
Hundreds of Future Music, Computer Music, Electronic Musician and Sound on Sound magazines
At my job I work with audio and MIDI software all day long and get paid.... : )
Take care,
Nick
