New Season of Off Centre DJ Classes coming up...

Posted By: Shagz
Date:

It's starting to feel like summer out there, and things are heating up the Off Centre DJ School!

We had a great March Break Camp this year and are very excited to announce a warmer version of our 1 week intensive classes with: Our 2nd annual Summer Camp. Still some spaces left for July, but early registration (and savings) ends June 1st...

When: July & August
How Long: 5 day sessions 1 - 4pm (Monday - Friday)
Who: The absolute beginner with little to no experience OR the Intermediate DJ ready to carve out their identity.
The Focus: Developing hand skills with VINYL, basic music theory, and experimenting with different ways of playing with sound on the turntables.

Full course schedule posted at: www.steptonemusic.com/OCcamp.html

For those that don't have time during the day, our regular course schedule continues with a fresh batch beginning at the end of May. We keep our class sizes small, which equals proper teacher focus, but spaces are also limited! For start times and details, visit http://www.steptonemusic.com/OClessons.html

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DJ Hero

Posted By: Shagz
Date:

I knew it was coming...but somehow I think I had convinced myself that it would never happen. It was just too silly. And yet here we are: DJ Hero comes out Fall 2009 from Activision.

If it's true that Guitar Hero/Rock Band teach you nothing about playing a real guitar, it is ten fold and twenty score *more* for DJ Hero. Just look at that controller!

All the same...I feel kinda sorry for the kids in the school band. No one's going to be releasing French Horn Hero any time soon.

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DVD Commentary...for albums?

Posted By: Shagz
Date:

DVD commentary...now for albums? Breaks/Electro dj/producer Adam Freeland tries an alternative to liner notes by recording commentary tracks for some of the songs on his new electro-rock (rocktro?) album, "Cope". It's basically 2 min clips of the songs plus Mr. Freeland providing some insight.

This could have been way more interesting, but it's more promo than info. He does talk a bit about what him and the band were trying to accomplish with each track, but I would have liked to hear more. The explanations feel...hmmm, facile? Some technical info (tools, recording process) or personality (stupid things that happened while making the track) would have nice.

Regardless, some pretty interesting sounds esp. Strange Things; has my attention piqued.

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Scratchin' without a Turntable

Posted By: Shagz
Date:

What happens you put a marker on a vinyl record, aim a camera and a computer at it, and set up the computer to track the marker and modify some audio accordingly? You get scratching in 3d space.

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Twitter + Traktor + DJs?

Posted By: Shagz
Date:

So Ritchie Hawtin announced today the release (well, maybe not the release, but the "existence of") a Twitter app that ties into his favourite digital dj system, Traktor Pro.

The short of it is that Traktor will spit out tweets to Ritchie's Twitter account, so you'll see live, in real time, just what he's spinning, whether you're at the club or on the other side of the planet.

Kind of neat...but is it really anything more than a toy?

There are definite pros and cons, and Beatportal beat (ha) me to the punch with a great summary that I can't really add much to, except that I'm not really sure this is going to "change everything", with the exception of squeezing the heck out of the "hype circle" as they call it and promoting piracy. That one I definitely see being a problem.

But that Ritchie Hawtin guy, what a jerk. 17,000 followers and he follows nobody? But I guess that's the point, our man is a leader. :)

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