Showing posts with label produce. Show all posts
Showing posts with label produce. Show all posts

Thursday, March 30, 2017

Skyscraper Remix Contest

This contest ended on November 15th, 2017.  We've picked an entry by Ozsone (United States) as the winner of the contest, and a remix by Dark Matter (United Kingdom) as the runner-up.  Here are SoundCloud links so you can listen to and download these two remixes:







These two remixes on SoundCloud are 320kbps MP3 versions.  You can also find uncompressed full-quality WAV versions in my public Dropbox folder.



Here are the original details from the contest.  The complete original Ableton project files are still available online for anyone to download.


Urban Francis and I recently produced another techno track together, which we've called "Skyscraper."  We're sponsoring a Remix Contest for this track (it can be any style, not necessarily techno), and you'll be able to see the details further down this page.

Most importantly, for the producers, we've shared our entire Ableton Live project files.  Producers can download the full project, see how we put the track together, do your own remixes (which we highly encourage), or even use the project as a template for your own future projects.  All that we ask in return is that you spread the word about our track and video!  Here's our most recent version of the track:






The files that you'll need for remixing (either the Ableton project or the audio Stems collection) are now available from my public Dropbox account.  Just look in the "Bolivia's Remix Projects" folder.  My Dropbox also includes a lot of other stuff that people might be interested in.  Here's the link:



The RAR and ZIP versions are different compression types, but the same archives.  ZIP files are universally compatible but larger than RAR.  RAR will be a smaller and faster download, but are only native to Windows.  If you're using a Mac, download a free app such as "The Unarchiver" or "UnRarX" to unpack them.

If you're interested in the stems, you'll be able to use them in pretty much any DAW or audio editor.  They're in WAV format, at 48000/24-bit.  If you're going for the Ableton project, you must have Ableton Live Suite version 9.7 in order to be able to open the project.  The only plug-in used in the project that isn't native to Ableton Live is Dadalife's Sausage Fattener.


Videos:


Here's an eight-minute video for the remixers, which covers an overview of how we have the project set up:




I'll be producing a music video for this track at some point in the next few weeks, and I'll post it here once it's online.



Remix Contest Details:

We're currently hosting a remix contest for this track.  I'm personally sponsoring the contest with a prize of $300 (in Canadian dollars) for the winning track.  That amount can be paid to the winner (in Canadian funds) as long as you have paypal.  If the winner is a Canadian resident, I'm also willing to mail a cheque if you don't use paypal.

In addition, a number of other randomly selected entries will be showcased on my website, in this blog post, on our SoundCloud accounts, and through other internet media, along with the contact info and/or a promo website for the producers of those remixes (if you want to share such info).  We also intend to publish the winning entry and perhaps a couple of other entries with a professional label release on Beatport and other sites.


1.  You may share your remixes freely on any internet sites, in any file type(s), both before and after the closing date of the contest, as long as you name your remix according to the following convention:  Urban Francis & Bolivia - Skyscraper (YOUR NAME Remix).

2.  You should not attempt to register your remix with a professional label or publisher (due to potential copyright content clashes, which I'll explain at the end of this post).  So if you share your remix with the world, you'll have to do it through your own personal publishing efforts.

3.  Your remix can be any genre at all, of your choosing.  Obviously, it will be easier to produce your remix in a style similar to the existing original, ie. some sort of techno derivative.  But feel free to be creative.

4.  You may submit up to two separate entries.

5.  There is no restriction on the length of your submission(s), although we expect that the majority of submissions will probably be between 4 and 8 minutes in length.  Having a submission that is shorter or longer than that range will not handicap you when it comes to judging.

6.  The deadline for entries is 11:59pm (Atlantic Standard Time Zone) on Wednesday night, November 15th, 2017.  All judging will take place and winners will be announced within this post by December 10th, 2017.

7.  This contest is open worldwide where permitted, to entrants who have reached the age of majority in their country of residence.  Persons under the age of majority who create a remix may submit their entry through a parent or legal guardian as proxy.

8.  Notwithstanding the above, this contest is void in jurisdictions where prohibited by law.

9.  The prize for the contest winner will be $300 in Canadian dollars.  The Canadian dollar is currently weak, and is worth less than the US dollar.  This amount can be paid to the winner as long as you have Paypal or Interac Email Transfer capabilities.  If the winner is a Canadian resident, I'm also willing to mail a cheque if you don't use Paypal or Interac Email Banking.  I will not send a cheque or use any other type of money transfer service to non-Canadian residents.  The recipient of the winning prize is solely responsible for reporting and submitting any relevant income taxes that might apply to your prize money in your country of residence.  Canadian residents will not enjoy any preference in judging.  We want this to be a global contest.  Having said this, we do expect a number of Canadian entrants, so it's possible that the winner could be a Canadian.  Just rest assured that we definitely won't discriminate against non-Canadians!  The majority of the winners of our past remix contests have been non-Canadians.

10.  Judging will be done by a panel of judges including Urban Francis and other associate producer friends.  The judges' decision will be based upon the quality of music, production values used in making the remix, and possibly also on how innovative the remix is.  The judges' decision will be final, and the judges will not provide feedback on why they chose the specific winning track above any other specific track.

11.  You may share your remix publicly before the contest is over.  However, the popularity of any shared remixes will not influence the judges' decision.  The winner will be decided based upon the judges' perception of the quality of the submissions, not based upon a popularity contest.

12.  Your remix is permitted to include any additional vocal/sample material that you generate, although don't take this as a suggestion that we'd prefer that.  In other words, you may produce an instrumental version if you want, or you can add new vocal/sample material of your own.  You may also include new sounds/instrumentation of your own.  However, please do not include ANY samples or vocals that have been copyrighted elsewhere by another artist.  Any entries containing someone else's copyrighted content will be disqualified.  Any new samples, loops, or other audio materials incorporated into your remix must be royalty-free or exclusively designed by the remixer.

13.  Musicians or producers who are under an exclusive contract with a record label are ineligible.

14.  No purchase is necessary to enter or win this contest.  In fact, there is nothing that you can buy.  However, by entering this promotion contest, you agree that any costs that you incur in creating your remix are solely your own responsibility.

15.  Any potential copyright or other intellectual property rights that may potentially vest in your remix will be granted to Bolivia (Jonathan Clark) and Urban Francis (Francis Cormier).

16.  It is expressly agreed that no payment is due to the participants for the production of your remixes, even if any remixes are released professionally for resale or redistribution on any third-party labels.  Only one winner will receive a monetary prize.

17.  By providing your entry details to us, you confirm that you would like to enter the promotion contest and that you agree to be bound by these rules, terms, and conditions, ethics rules applicable on the internet, applicable laws and regulations, and all legislation applicable in your jurisdiction of residence.

18.  Your remix must not contain any illegal, obscene, racist, defamatory, or sexual material, or any material likely to offend any person or any material likely to infringe upon any person's rights of privacy.  The judges reserve the right to disqualify any entries based upon these or any other criteria.  Entrants represent and warrant that their comments or public publishing do not contain any harmful, offensive, or inappropriate content, or any other communications which might defame, disparage or reflect adversely upon the promoters or our goods/services.

19.  We reserve the right to disqualify any submissions that we believe to be the work of other producers.

20.  The winning prize is non-transferable.

21.  We accept no responsibility for entries lost, damaged or delayed, or for any inability to submit entries as a result of computer services, systems, software and/or server failure, error, interruption, defect or delay or any other technical malfunction, including problems with internet connectivity and/or filtering or content by any social media platform.  Entries which are late, incomplete, corrupt, garbled, inaccessible/blocked, bulk, automated, ineligible, suspected as fraudulent, do not comply with the rules & terms & conditions, or which in our sole discretion affect the validity or operation of this promotion contest will not be accepted and are void. 

22.  Except to the extent that they may not be excluded by law, no representations, warranties, terms or conditions that are not expressly stated in these rules & terms & conditions apply to this promotion contest.  We share no liability for any injuries, loss, or damage of any kind arising from or in connection with participation in this promotion (including any damage to entrants' or to any other persons' computer relating to or resulting from participation in, or downloading of any materials or software in connection with this promotion contest), or acceptance, use, misuse, or non-use of any prizes.

23.  We reserve the right to edit and/or augment the rules & terms & conditions at any point throughout the duration of this contest, in case we think of something that we forgot to mention.

24.  Your remix must not include any unauthorized samples or audio which have a copyright belonging to any other artist or entity.


Phew.  That was exhausting.


To Enter:

1.  Send a link to your track via email to Urban Francis in an uncompressed audio format, ie. WAV or AIFF format.  The best way to do this is probably to put it into a Dropbox account (you can get one for free if you don't already have one) and share the link to the file with Urban Francis.  If this isn't possible, you can find other services that would allow you to host and share your file.  But to be honest, Dropbox is probably the best and easiest by far.  An alternative would be to get a free Soundcloud account (if you don't already have one) and upload the file there, and enable downloads, then send that link to Urban Francis.

2.  You should not send your project/session files.

3.  You can produce your remix in the DAW or Audio Editor of your choice.  We'd like to know which DAW you used, but that's mostly just out of curiousity.  Also, although we haven't decided this yet, we might pick a couple of especially good entries to feature in our public dropbox (your entire project files) IF you're willing to do that.  But you don't have to, and that won't affect how we judge the entries.  Again, don't send us your full project/session files.  For now, just tell us which editor you used.

4.  We must have the following information:
     - Your full name.
     - Your producer alias, if you have one.
     - What country you're from.
     - Your email address (if unspecified, we'll assume that it's the one that you use to enter).

5.  You can optionally include a photo with your entry.  This is not mandatory, and won't affect your chances of winning.  We'll only use this if you're the winner and if you happen to want a photo published.

6.  In the event that your submission is randomly selected to be shared by us to a wider distribution, it would be helpful for you to tell us (when you enter) whether or not you want to share any promotional details with your remix.  Details must be limited to one email address and/or up to four website links (soundcloud, facebook, etc.).

7.  Urban Francis will reply to all submissions to confirm that they have been received.  If you don't get a submission confirmation email, please send a second email which is TEXT ONLY to specify that you sent a submission.  That way, if your original email (with links and/or attachments) got redirected to spam/trash, we can look for it.

8.  The email address to send entries to is:  
fcormier27@gmail.com

Good luck with your remixing.  And if you can think of any remix or production-oriented message boards where you could share the link to this post, I'd appreciate it.  Thanks!


Note:  We have copyrighted and registered the original work with SOCAN, the Canadian music licensing agency.  Although we are not pursuing copyright claims if the content is posted online, you should be careful if you do a remix and give it to a label that tries to enforce copyright claims on your own remix.  Since we've already registered the work, we'd be able to prove that we hold the original copyright.  In other words, make sure you don't get into a situation where you sell your remix to a label who then tries to use content-matching algorithms at services such as YouTube and Soundcloud to monetize remixes of your remix.  If such a content-match occurred with our original track (which is on both of those services, and other services) then you'd have a lot of hassle trying to remove your track from the system.  However, this shouldn't be an issue if you share your own mixes freely on YouTube, Soundcloud, and other platforms.  It would only be if you tried to share through a label that was trying to collect publishing royalties that you'd run into an issue.




Don't forget to follow Francis on his SoundCloud account, because he posts free tracks a lot more frequently than I do!  Here's the link:

www.soundcloud.com/urban_francis


Also, if any labels out there are interested in additional tracks similar in style to this one, let us know.  We have a few unreleased tracks that we might be willing to place with labels, although we would not be willing to sign an exclusive or long-term contract with any one label.  We'll do track-by-track one-off placements only.



Previous Contests

Here are links to pages with information about previous remix contests that we've hosted.  You might find some of the video tutorials on these pages to be useful, because they go into some of our recurring production techniques in a lot of extensive detail:






Thanks for stopping by.  Don't forget to bookmark this post, and come back shortly for more updates!  We'll be posting a number of the remix contest entries here throughout September.







I'm Jonathan Clark, known online as DJ Bolivia.  Do you want to learn more about DJ'ing and music production?  If so, visit:



If you happen to enjoy techno tracks, most of my tracks are available as free downloads from this link:



Thanks so much for visit, and for your support!  I really appreciate the fan base that I've been able to build up over the years.

Also, if you want to visit any of my other sites, here are a few links:
    YouTube:  youtube.com/djbolivia
    SoundCloud:  soundcloud.com/djbolivia
    Blogger:  djbolivia.blogspot.com
    Main Site:  www.djbolivia.ca

Sunday, January 8, 2017

Hijack (Techno Track, and Remix Contest)

Congratulations to Dom3n, from Slovenia, who was the winner of our Hijack remix contest!  Here's his winning entry:







Here are a few of the many other notable entries for the Hijack contest. We'll be slowly releasing additional remix entries over the coming months.















Here is the Original Post that we made about this remix contest:

Urban Francis and I just did another track together.  This time, the style is techno.  We've made the mastered final track available as a free download, we've created a music video on YouTube, and we're sponsoring a Remix Contest (details below).

Most importantly, for the producers, we've shared our entire Ableton Live project files!  Producers can download the full project, see how we put the track together, do your own remixes (which we highly encourage), or even use the project as a template for your own future projects.  All that we ask in return is that you spread the word about our track and video!  Here's the original:




The files that you'll need for remixing (either the Ableton project or the audio Stems collection) are now available from my public Dropbox account.  Just look in the "Bolivia's Remix Projects" folder. My Dropbox also includes a lot of other stuff that people might be interested in.  Here's the link:

The RAR and ZIP versions are different compression types, but the same archives.  ZIP files are universally compatible but larger than RAR.  RAR will be a significantly smaller and faster download, but are only native to Windows.  If you're using a Mac, download a free app such as "The Unarchiver" or "UnRarX" to unpack them.

If you're interested in the stems, you'll be able to use them in pretty much any DAW or audio editor.  They're in WAV format, at 48000/24-bit.  If you're going for the Ableton project, you must have Ableton Live Suite version 9.7 in order to be able to open the project.  Only three resources external to Ableton were used, as detailed in the notes included in the folder.  One external plug-in is a free download (Voxengo's Span), one is cheap (Dadalife's Sausage Fattener), and the last (Absynth 5) is more expensive, but can be replaced with a different VSTi of your choice if you don't have it.


Here's the music video that we produced for this track.  Thanks for sharing it around :)




Remix Contest Details:

We're currently hosting a remix contest for this track.  I'm personally sponsoring the contest with a prize of $300 (in Canadian dollars) for the winning track.  That amount can be paid to the winner (in Canadian funds) as long as you have paypal.  If the winner is a Canadian resident, I'm also willing to mail a cheque if you don't use paypal.

In addition, a number of other randomly selected entries will be showcased on my website, in this blog post, on our SoundCloud accounts, and through other internet media, along with the contact info and/or a promo website for the producers of those remixes (if you want to share such info).


1.  You may share your remixes freely on any internet sites, in any file type(s), both before and after the closing date of the contest, as long as you name your remix according to the following convention:  Urban Francis & Bolivia - Hijack (YOUR NAME Remix).

2.  You should not attempt to register your remix with a professional label or publisher (due to potential copyright content clashes, which I'll explain at the end of this post).  So if you share your remix with the world, you'll have to do it through your own personal publishing efforts.

3.  Your remix can be any genre at all, of your choosing.  Obviously, it will be easier to produce your remix in a style similar to the existing original, ie. some sort of techno derivative.  But feel free to be creative.

4.  You may submit up to two separate entries.

5.  There is no restriction on the length of your submission(s), although we expect that the majority of submissions will probably be between 4 and 8 minutes in length.  Having a submission that is shorter or longer than that range will not handicap you when it comes to judging.

6.  The deadline for entries is 11:59pm (Atlantic Standard Time Zone) on Sunday night, February 26th, 2017.  All judging will take place and winners will be announced within this post by March 15th, 2017.

7.  This contest is open worldwide where permitted, to entrants who have reached the age of majority in their country of residence.  Persons under the age of majority who create a remix may submit their entry through a parent or legal guardian as proxy.

8.  Notwithstanding the above, this contest is void in jurisdictions where prohibited by law.

9.  The prize for the contest winner will be $300 in Canadian dollars.  The Canadian dollar is currently weak, and is worth less than the US dollar.  This amount can be paid to the winner as long as you have Paypal or Interac Email Transfer capabilities.  If the winner is a Canadian resident, I'm also willing to mail a cheque if you don't use Paypal or Interac Email Banking.  I will not send a cheque or use any other type of money transfer service to non-Canadian residents.  The recipient of the winning prize is solely responsible for reporting and submitting any relevant income taxes that might apply to your prize money in your country of residence.  Canadian residents will not enjoy any preference in judging.  We want this to be a global contest.  Having said this, we do expect a number of Canadian entrants, so it's possible that the winner could be a Canadian.  Just rest assured that we definitely won't discriminate against non-Canadians!  The majority of the winners of our past remix contests have been non-Canadians.

10.  Judging will be done by a panel of judges including Urban Francis and other associate producer friends.  The judges' decision will be based upon the quality of music, production values used in making the remix, and possibly also on how innovative the remix is.  The judges' decision will be final, and the judges will not provide feedback on why they chose the specific winning track above any other specific track.

11.  You may share your remix publicly before the contest is over.  However, the popularity of any shared remixes will not influence the judges' decision.  The winner will be decided based upon the judges' perception of the quality of the submissions, not based upon a popularity contest.

12.  Your remix is permitted to include any additional vocal/sample material that you generate, although don't take this as a suggestion that we'd prefer that.  In other words, you may produce an instrumental version if you want, or you can add new vocal/sample material of your own.  You may also include new sounds/instrumentation of your own.  However, please do not include ANY samples or vocals that have been copyrighted elsewhere by another artist.  Any entries containing someone else's copyrighted content will be disqualified.  Any new samples, loops, or other audio materials incorporated into your remix must be royalty-free or exclusively designed by the remixer.

13.  Musicians or producers who are under an exclusive contract with a record label are ineligible.

14.  No purchase is necessary to enter or win this contest.  In fact, there is nothing that you can buy.  However, by entering this promotion contest, you agree that any costs that you incur in creating your remix are solely your own responsibility.

15.  Any potential copyright or other intellectual property rights that may potentially vest in your remix will be granted to Bolivia (Jonathan Clark) and Urban Francis (Francis Cormier).  Note that this is simply to avoid legal complications, and we do not intend to attempt to sell copies of your remixes.

16.  It is expressly agreed that no payment is due to the participants for the production of your remixes.  Only one winner will receive a monetary prize.

17.  By providing your entry details to us, you confirm that you would like to enter the promotion contest and that you agree to be bound by these rules, terms, and conditions, ethics rules applicable on the internet, applicable laws and regulations, and all legislation applicable in your jurisdiction of residence.

18.  Your remix must not contain any illegal, obscene, racist, defamatory, or sexual material, or any material likely to offend any person or any material likely to infringe upon any person's rights of privacy.  The judges reserve the right to disqualify any entries based upon these or any other criteria.  Entrants represent and warrant that their comments or public publishing do not contain any harmful, offensive, or inappropriate content, or any other communications which might defame, disparage or reflect adversely upon the promoters or our goods/services.

19.  We reserve the right to disqualify any submissions that we believe to be the work of other producers.

20.  The winning prize is non-transferable.

21.  We accept no responsibility for entries lost, damaged or delayed, or for any inability to submit entries as a result of computer services, systems, software and/or server failure, error, interruption, defect or delay or any other technical malfunction, including problems with internet connectivity and/or filtering or content by any social media platform.  Entries which are late, incomplete, corrupt, garbled, inaccessible/blocked, bulk, automated, ineligible, suspected as fraudulent, do not comply with the rules & terms & conditions, or which in our sole discretion affect the validity or operation of this promotion contest will not be accepted and are void. 

22.  Except to the extent that they may not be excluded by law, no representations, warranties, terms or conditions that are not expressly stated in these rules & terms & conditions apply to this promotion contest.  We share no liability for any injuries, loss, or damage of any kind arising from or in connection with participation in this promotion (including any damage to entrants' or to any other persons' computer relating to or resulting from participation in, or downloading of any materials or software in connection with this promotion contest), or acceptance, use, misuse, or non-use of any prizes.

23.  We reserve the right to edit and/or augment the rules & terms & conditions at any point throughout the duration of this contest, in case we think of something that we forgot to mention.

24.  Your remix must not include any unauthorized samples or audio which have a copyright belonging to any other artist or entity.


Phew.  That was exhausting.


To Enter:

1.  Send a link to your track via email to Urban Francis in an uncompressed audio format, ie. WAV or AIFF format.  The best way to do this is probably to put it into a Dropbox account (you can get one for free if you don't already have one) and share the link to the file with Urban Francis.  If this isn't possible, you can find other services that would allow you to host and share your file.  But to be honest, Dropbox is probably the best and easiest by far.  An alternative would be to get a free Soundcloud account (if you don't already have one) and upload the file there, and enable downloads, then send that link to Urban Francis.

2.  You should not send your project/session files.

3.  You can produce your remix in the DAW or Audio Editor of your choice.  We'd like to know which DAW you used, but that's mostly just out of curiousity.  Also, although we haven't decided this yet, we might pick a couple of especially good entries to feature in our public dropbox (your entire project files) IF you're willing to do that.  But you don't have to, and that won't affect how we judge the entries.  Again, don't send us your full project/session files.  For now, just tell us which editor you used.

4.  We must have the following information:
     - Your full name.
     - Your producer alias, if you have one.
     - What country you're from.
     - Your email address (if unspecified, we'll assume that it's the one that you use to enter).

5.  You can optionally include a photo with your entry.  This is not mandatory, and won't affect your chances of winning.  We'll only use this if you're the winner and if you happen to want a photo published.

6.  In the event that your submission is randomly selected to be shared by us to a wider distribution, it would be helpful for you to tell us (when you enter) whether or not you want to share any promotional details with your remix.  Details must be limited to one email address and/or up to four website links (soundcloud, facebook, etc.).

7.  Urban Francis will reply to all submissions to confirm that they have been received.  If you don't get a submission confirmation email, please send a second email which is TEXT ONLY to specify that you sent a submission.  That way, if your original email (with links and/or attachments) got redirected to spam/trash, we can look for it.

8.  The email address to send entries to is:  
fcormier27@gmail.com

Good luck with your remixing.  And if you can think of any remix or production-oriented message boards where you could share the link to this post, I'd appreciate it.  Thanks!


Note:  We have copyrighted and registered the original work with SOCAN, the Canadian music licensing agency.  Although we are not pursuing copyright claims if the content is posted online, you should be careful if you do a remix and give it to a label that tries to enforce copyright claims on your own remix.  Since we've already registered the work, we'd be able to prove that we hold the original copyright.  In other words, make sure you don't get into a situation where you sell your remix to a label who then tries to use content-matching algorithms at services such as YouTube and Soundcloud to monetize remixes of your remix.  If such a content-match occurred with our original track (which is on both of those services, and other services) then you'd have a lot of hassle trying to remove your track from the system.  However, this shouldn't be an issue if you share your own mixes freely on YouTube, Soundcloud, and other platforms.  It would only be if you tried to share through a label that was trying to collect publishing royalties that you'd run into an issue.




Don't forget to follow Francis on his SoundCloud account, because he posts free tracks a lot more frequently than I do!  Here's the link:

www.soundcloud.com/urban_francis

Also, if any labels out there are interested in additional tracks similar in style to this one, let us know.  We have a few unreleased tracks that we might be willing to place with labels, although we would not be willing to sign an exclusive or long-term contract with any one label.  We'll do track-by-track one-off placements only.


We've recorded a series of seven separate YouTube videos that will help explain how we put together various parts of this project.  The videos are aimed at intermediate and advanced Ableton producers.  Here they are:

























For results from an older 2016 remix contest of a progressive house track called "Courage" that Urban Francis and I produced together, which also has the Ableton project available in my public Dropbox, visit this link:







Thanks for stopping by.  Don't forget to bookmark this post, and come back shortly for more updates!  We'll be posting a number of the remix contest entries here throughout March.






I'm Jonathan Clark, known online as DJ Bolivia.  Do you want to learn more about DJ'ing and music production?  If so, visit:



If you happen to enjoy techno tracks, most of my tracks are available as free downloads from this link:



Thanks so much for visit, and for your support!  I really appreciate the fan base that I've been able to build up over the years.

Also, if you want to visit any of my other sites, here are a few links:
    YouTube:  youtube.com/djbolivia
    SoundCloud:  soundcloud.com/djbolivia
    Blogger:  djbolivia.blogspot.com
    Main Site:  www.djbolivia.ca

Thursday, January 28, 2016

Learn to Produce Music - "Courage" Progressive House Tutorial Series (Ableton Live)

I recently did a collaboration with Urban Francis to create a comprehensive video tutorial series about the production of a progressive house track. The track is called "Courage." We've made the entire project file available for everyone as a free download! We're encouraging producers to remix and share our track freely. To find more information about the music production in Ableton, go to this link:



For the "Courage" track, I'm going to start by providing an index of clickable links to all of the content in the five videos, so you can find certain sections faster if you're referring back to the videos for additional review.
 
 



Here is the clickable index. Click on the timing numbers down the left side, and it will open the relevant video at the correct starting time.


Part 1 of 5 - General Overview of the "Courage" Progressive House Track

00:00 - Introduction. What's this about?
04:13 - Overview of the scope of the project.
10:40 - Introduction to Urban Francis.
14:58 - Permission to remix and share the track.
21:59 - Technical notes: OS, DAW, plug-ins.
26:43 - Making elements stand out within your mix.
34:26 - Overview of the track in Ableton's arrangement view.


Part 2 of 5 - The Rhythm Section: Kicks, Snares/Claps, Hi Hats

00:00 - Introduction.
02:02 - Play through of full track.
09:54 - Overall overview of all drum instruments.
18:47 - The importance of variety in your track. Make it evolve.
21:25 - Overview of kick drum group.
26:00 - Effects chains and processing of kicks.
38:32 - Overview of snares/claps group.
41:32 - Effects chains and processing of snares/claps.
43:12 - Overview of hi hats group.
49:51 - Effects chains and processing of hi hats.


Part 3 of 5 - The Bass Tracks, Pianos, and Guitars

00:00 - Introduction.
01:46 - Overview of the bass lines.
08:55 - Effects chains and processing of the bass.
17:58 - How to resample a part.
32:51 - Examination of the piano/keys.
39:36 - Overview of the guitars.
43:45 - Effects chains and processing of the guitars.
46:50 - Audio effect racks and key mapping.
49:36 - Recording automation in real time.
50:55 - Editing automation by hand.


Part 4 of 5 - Chords, Melody, Pads, Vocals, and Effects

00:00 - Introduction.
01:45 - Overview of the chords/melody group.
09:14 - Effects chains and processing of the chords/melody.
12:33 - Adding a "track delay" timing offset.
17:26 - Overview of the pads and effects.
23:06 - Effects chains and processing of the chords/melody.
30:11 - Overview of the vocals.
38:55 - Automation inside a clip vs. on a track/channel.
40:16 - Slicing a sample to MIDI notes.


Part 5 of 5 - The Send/Returns, Master Track, and Tips for Producers

00:00 - Introduction.
01:35 - Details about all of the sends/returns.
17:58 - Overview of the master track.
23:22 - Exporting a final mixed-down audio track.
27:25 - Tips for producers.
32:52 - Using group folders for project volume control.
38:47 - Five subjects that upcoming producers must understand.
46:52 - Final thoughts.
49:14 - Contacting Urban Francis about collaborations.



Here are links to various versions of the track on SoundCloud. All may be downloaded and shared freely:








The full project files for this track, along with a comprehensive stems & samples folder and other material for producers/remixers, can be downloaded from my DropBox account at: djbolivia.ca/dropbox

If you remix a version of this track, we hereby give you permission to share it freely (in a non-commercial sense) on all of your social media and other websites, with no restrictions, as long as you name and share the track using the following filename format:

Bolivia & Urban Francis - Courage (YOUR NAME remix)


For commercial applications (ie. release on commercial CD compilations, placement in television/film), please contact us to arrange licensing. For release of your remixes on paid sites such as Beatport, Amazon, we'll probably allow you to earn the money off your remixes, but we'd like to be contacted about it first to confirm this, so we know which labels are distributing remixes and what the remixes sound like.



If you find these tutorials to be useful, we'd really appreciate if you could please share this post with other producers, or share my full list of tutorial and other music-related videos from djbolivia.ca/videos. Thanks for watching!











I'm Jonathan Clark, known online as DJ Bolivia.  Do you want to learn more about DJ'ing and music production?  If so, visit:



If you happen to enjoy techno tracks, most of my tracks are available as free downloads from this link:



Thanks so much for visit, and for your support!  I really appreciate the fan base that I've been able to build up over the years.

Also, if you want to visit any of my other sites, here are a few links:
    YouTube:  youtube.com/djbolivia
    SoundCloud:  soundcloud.com/djbolivia
    Blogger:  djbolivia.blogspot.com
    Main Site:  www.djbolivia.ca

Sunday, January 17, 2016

Collaborating with Remote Artists

In today's world of bedroom studios and global collaboration, it's not uncommon to find musicians working with friends who are based in other towns or cities, or even in distant countries.

If you're a producer who has a friend in another location, and you'd like them to record some instrument or vocal tracks for one of your projects, the process is not that difficult.  However, it can be intimidating for a musician who has never tried it before.  This video should help.

In the video, I've tried to explain how a musician with a basic (but good quality) portable audio recorder can lay down some tracks for a producer, check on a laptop that the recording levels were appropriate (using free software called Audacity), and then share the audio files with a producer using Dropbox or a similar service.

The target audience for this video is producers who need to coach musicians through the process of creating and sharing such a recording, and for musicians who want to record their instrumental or vocal performances to be used in professional-sounding music.  Total run-time on the video is about forty minutes.








I'm Jonathan Clark, known online as DJ Bolivia.  To see the rest of the tutorials in my Audio Recording series, visit:




Thanks so much for visit, and for your support!  I really appreciate the fan base that I've been able to build up over the years.

Also, if you want to visit any of my other sites, here are a few links:
    YouTube:  youtube.com/djbolivia
    SoundCloud:  soundcloud.com/djbolivia
    Blogger:  djbolivia.blogspot.com
    Main Site:  www.djbolivia.ca

Friday, February 21, 2014

Review of M-Audio's Oxygen 25 MIDI Keyboard Controller


I'm about to hit the road for another eight or nine months, away from my home and studio, so I just picked up a small portable MIDI controller to use when I'm doing production work on the road. I bought the Oxygen 25 controller that is produced by M-Audio. It's very similar to the Oxygen 49 and Oxygen 61 controllers, but more portable.

 



M-Audio Oxygen 25 MIDI Keyboard Controller Review

In this video, I talked a bit about the controller specs that I researched online before I bought it, then I opened up the package to see what the Oxygen 25 looks and feels like. I played with it for a bit and gave a final opinion, which was positive.





Learning the Basics about MIDI Controllers

If you aren't already aware of what a MIDI controller is, or what it is used for, this basic video will give you the background that you need. For instance, you need to know that a keyboard controller does NOT produce sounds! A synth produces sounds. A MIDI controller can produce sounds if you route its MIDI output through some sort of module (or a computer program) that produces sounds (ie. through a hardware synth module or through a virtual instrument).





Some of the key points that I noted in the Oxygen 25 review video were:

- This unit is "class compliant," which means that you can use it directly on your Mac or Windows computer without having to install drivers.
- Having said that, there are more advanced windows drivers available on the M-Audio website that are necessary if you want to use this device simultaneously on multiple DAW's or apps, or if you want to hook up more than one class-compliant device to your computer simultaneously.
- This has non-volatile memory, which means that it saves presets and controller/channel assignments when powering down. To reset to the factory defaults, hold the "-" and the "+" keys simultaneously.
- M-Audio has software patches that you can download for free which let you use the Oxygen controllers with pre-determined patches that interface well with certain DAW's, specifically with versions available for Cubase, Pro Tools, Reason, Record, Ableton, Garageband, and Logic.
- You can use a standard sustain pedal with this. I tried using my Roland pedal with it, and it worked well.
- There's a spot for a Kensington security cable, if you're worried about using one of those.
- You can set your own velocity curves for key responsiveness. There are four curves available in the menu for touch-responsiveness, and three curves which actually output fixed velocities of 64, 100, or 127.
- If you have a good understanding of MIDI and want to dig further, you should check out the manual (which you can find online pretty easily). There are about twenty pages of very useful and detailed MIDI information in the manual.
- The 25 and 49 and 61 are all quite similar, although the 25 has a couple minor deficiencies compared to the two longer controllers. For instance, the 25 only has one control fader, whereas the other two models have nine each.
- The 25 is currently priced at $99 in Canada from Amazon, while the 49 is $149 and the 61 is $199. Those are probably the same approximate prices that you'd find in the US, since our dollar is pretty close to parity.
- You can use a Device ID function on the 49 and 61 only. So for example, if you want to own three of these keyboards and use them simultaneously in a live performance, that's possible with the 49 and 61, but the 25 cannot have a unique identified in the MIDI system.
- This unit is USB 2.0 compatible, and backwards compatible to 1.1. I presume it works on USB 3.0 ports, but you won't see any performance improvements by using a 3.0 port. However, none are needed.


Here are the basic specs on the Oxygen 25:

- MIDI data from variable controllers
- MIDI control number
- RPN/NRPN
- Program, bank LSB, bank MSB
- Pitch bend
- GM/GM2/XG SysEx messages
- MIDI Data from buttons/switches
- Note on
- Note on/off toggle
- MIDI CC on/Off toggle
- Program, Bank LSB, Bank MSB presets
- MIDI Machine Control functions
- GM/GM2/XG SysEx messages
- 3.7" H x 9.4" W x 16.2" D
- Weight: 3.8 lb.


I'm Jonathan Clark, known online as DJ Bolivia.  Do you want to learn more about DJ'ing and music production?  If so, visit:



If you happen to enjoy techno tracks, most of my tracks are available as free downloads from this link:



Thanks so much for visit, and for your support!  I really appreciate the fan base that I've been able to build up over the years.

Also, if you want to visit any of my other sites, here are a few links:
    YouTube:  youtube.com/djbolivia
    SoundCloud:  soundcloud.com/djbolivia
    Blogger:  djbolivia.blogspot.com
    Main Site:  www.djbolivia.ca

Sunday, February 9, 2014

Ableton Q&A Videos related to DJ'ing

Here's a collection of some additional Ableton Live tutorial videos that I've put together for people doing DJ'ing and studio work, based on YouTube viewer questions and feedback.  You can find a complete collection of my Ableton tutorials here:








Intermediate Warping Techniques in Ableton Live

Most of the tracks that I warped in my initial "Warping Tracks in Ableton Live" video were pretty simple to warp. In this video, I picked five EDM tracks of intermediate difficulty to warp, and gave some extra tips and tricks.





Using the Loop, Start, and End Indicators

Looping sections of existing tracks during a real-time DJ performance can add a lot of strength to your performance, and gives you the ability to be more versatile than simply playing other peoples' tracks back from start to finish. This video covers the Loop Indicators and when they can be useful, and also touches on the Start and End Indicators. The practice of looping through the use of the loop indicators should not be confused with a separate but similar-sounding practice in Ableton, namely that of importing and using "looped" audio clips.





DJ'ing with Songs in Non-Electronic Genres

I've had lots of questions about how to include tracks of significantly diverse tempos in your sets, such as hip hop, indie pop, and classic rock. This video explains my own approach to tracks in these genres.





Inserting a New Track in the Middle of Arrangement View

This one is pretty simple, to be honest. How do you insert a new track into the middle of an already-complete production in the arrangement view? This video is pretty short.





Automating Global Tempo in a Studio Production

Here's another short one, based on numerous viewer questions. Once you have a studio-produced DJ Mix set up in the arrangement view, you may want to vary the tempo as the mix plays back. This video shows you how.





Cutting Breakdowns out of Dance Music Tracks

Another very short video. If you've got a track with a quiet breakdown and you don't want your dance floor to lose energy and interest, it might be smart to use Ableton to just remove that breakdown from the song. It's very easy. However, having said that, you should also watch the next video in this post which shows you an alternative to cutting out a breakdown, namely, to keep it and enhance it.





Enhancing EDM Breakdowns with Simple Editing Techniques

As you probably expect, this video teaches you how to spice up an existing track by adding things like extra drums, extra bass notes, etc. This is a medium-length video, but I hope it opens your eyes to all sorts of production capabilities that you might want to start digging into.





Clarifying Warping and Global Tempo:

Many people didn't entirely understand how warped tracks would synchronize together, so this is a short video that aims simply to clarify how warped tracks are treated by Ableton, and how they are tied to the global tempo.






I'm Jonathan Clark, known online as DJ Bolivia.  Do you want to learn more about DJ'ing and music production?  If so, visit:



If you happen to enjoy techno tracks, most of my tracks are available as free downloads from this link:



Thanks so much for visit, and for your support!  I really appreciate the fan base that I've been able to build up over the years.

Also, if you want to visit any of my other sites, here are a few links:
    YouTube:  youtube.com/djbolivia
    SoundCloud:  soundcloud.com/djbolivia
    Blogger:  djbolivia.blogspot.com
    Main Site:  www.djbolivia.ca

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Audio Recording tutorial #07: Basic MIDI Recording


I just uploaded part seven of my Audio Recording tutorial series (and I have some additional study notes further down in this post). This series is more related to home studio work than it is to DJ'ing, although I'm still covering the very basics of audio engineering and production work.

If you're just discovering these tutorials and want to start at the beginning, visit:  djbolivia.ca/audiorecording  


Audio Recording Tutorial #07: Basic MIDI Recording

In this video, we start exploring basic MIDI recording. I start off with a very brief overview of MIDI, then move into a practical, hands-on tutorial where I play a song on an electronic piano keyboard and record it into Pro Tools. I then do a couple of very basic edits, so you understand how note data can be edited.





If you want to download the audio files that I was using in this video, to better hear the audio (or experiment with it) in your own home studio setup, here’s a link to a zipped folder containing the relevant files. Remember that this is TINY compared to the download files for previous videos. MIDI data takes up almost no space. This file is only 27 kilobytes, compared to the audio files for tutorials two through five which were about a thousand times larger:

www.djbolivia.ca/tutorials/audiorecording07.rar



Links about MIDI:




I'm Jonathan Clark, known online as DJ Bolivia.  Do you want to learn more about DJ'ing and music production?  If so, visit:



If you happen to enjoy techno tracks, most of my tracks are available as free downloads from this link:



Thanks so much for visit, and for your support!  I really appreciate the fan base that I've been able to build up over the years.

Also, if you want to visit any of my other sites, here are a few links:
    YouTube:  youtube.com/djbolivia
    SoundCloud:  soundcloud.com/djbolivia
    Blogger:  djbolivia.blogspot.com
    Main Site:  www.djbolivia.ca

Saturday, April 6, 2013

Audio Recording Tutorials #03 to #05 - Layered Multi-Track Recording


Videos #03 through #05 of my Audio Recording tutorial series are now online (and I have some additional study notes further down in this post). These three particular videos explain how to go about making a multi-track recording when you must record the tracks one after another in layers, rather than being able to perform everything simultaneously.

If you're just discovering this series and want to start at the beginning, visit:  djbolivia.ca/audiorecording



Audio Recording Tutorial #03: Layered Multitracking part 1

In this video, we use Adobe's Audition software to record the tracks that we're going to be working with on this project. I recorded a Neil Young song (After The Gold Rush) with four parts: piano, strings, bass, and acoustic guitar. This video described the process of setting up the session, setting up individual tracks and arming them, recording the audio, and making sure the project was ready for editing.








Audio Recording Tutorial #04: Layered Multitracking part 2

In this video, I started to explain basic editing tasks such as using the razor/slice tool to cut a track up into clips, making changes to track volumes and panning, and adding volume and panning automation to individual clips. I also talked about Signal-To-Noise Ratios, the use of subtractive EQ'ing to give your instruments more space in a mix, and archiving.








Audio Recording Tutorial #05: Layered Multitracking part 3

We finished editing the individual tracks, I talked about snapping and zero crossings and cross-fade techniques, and then we bounced the edited tracks, did some EQ'ing, added reverb, and adjusted panning and volumes again. Finally, we bounced all the tracks to a single audio files, did some additional reverb and hard limiting/amplification work on it, and saved the final result to disk.








The Final Product: the song that was recorded

This is a very short video, just over three minutes long. It's the final edited copy of the song that I recorded, "After The Gold Rush." This song was originally written by Neil Young, and was the title track to his third album, released in 1970.








If you want to download the audio files that I was using in these videos, to better hear the audio (or experiment with it) in your own home studio setup, here’s a link to the two zipped folders containing the relevant files:

www.djbolivia.ca/tutorials/audiorecording03.rar

www.djbolivia.ca/tutorials/audiorecording04and05.rar


Once you've watched the two videos above, I'd recommend that you spend some time learning a bit more about a few of the things that I covered in this video:


Computer Technology: SSD's vs HDD's:


Fundamentals and Harmonics:


Zero Crossings & Snapping:





To see the rest of the tutorials in this Audio Recording series, visit:




Thanks so much for visit, and for your support!  I really appreciate the fan base that I've been able to build up over the years.

Also, if you want to visit any of my other sites, here are a few links:
    YouTube:  youtube.com/djbolivia
    SoundCloud:  soundcloud.com/djbolivia
    Blogger:  djbolivia.blogspot.com
    Main Site:  www.djbolivia.ca