If there’s one bit of solid advice I got in 2012 that I would like to share with you in 2013, is that you don’t have to chase dreams to be happy doing what you do. The advice was given in a comic by Maaike Hartjes (she makes great comics by the way, check out [...]
In October 2010 I posted about Mid-Town’s Rotterdam shop closing on my personal blog. Last week however, the curtain dropped permanently for what was left of Mid-Town (the labels and webshop). They went bankrupt. What’s kind of interesting to see from the official papers, is that with Mid-Town some infamous labels also cease to exist: [...]
Never fool yourself into thinking that extra, expensive high-tech production tools are a necessity to make a great music. Or worse that when you use these tools, a song is therefore great. I’ve personally seen musicians blowing money and obsess over recording and fine-tuning a certain guitar-section to its optimal sound quality, while the arrangement [...]
YES! Kirby Ferguson finally released the final part (part 4) of his excellent series Everything is a Remix about how advances are made through copying, modifying and combining and current copyright and patent laws are starting to work against the flow. You can watch part 4 here, but if you haven’t seen the series yet, [...]
It’s time to take Rotterdam back.
Even though I hail from the South-West of the Netherlands, I was willing to travel all the way to the East of the country to go to a conference organised in Deventer by Nieuwe Electronische Waar (New Electronic Goods) next weekend. Master-classes in making electronic music, that sounds too perfect to be true. I didn’t [...]
On NPR an awesome article (with sound) about the Oramics machine by Daphne Oram. Daphne Oram was a composer and innovative electronic musician who worked at BBC Radiophonic Workshop (which among others worked on the sounds for Doctor Who) and later started her own workshop. One of the devices she created was the Oramics machine, [...]
The text on the left is from a t-shirt that can be purchased here. I have seen it going round on the internet among my many creative friends. And rightfully so. I know many of them have a hard time making ends meet doing what they love and what they do best. But there is [...]
The Word posted an excellent list of 40 Noises That Built Pop. Essentially it backs up the argument made in Everything is a Remix I talked about last week: some genres lean heavily on the same noises. Though strictly speaking it’s not sampling, how could you ever hear a dubstep song without that distinct wubwubwub, [...]
For people who liked RiP: a Remix Manifesto, I can also recommend Kirby Ferguson’s 4-part documentary Everything is a Remix. You can see part 1, part 2 and part 3 on Vimeo. Part 4 is scheduled for Autumn. If you watch them, wait till after the credits. And if you like it, make a donation. [...]
