The Spank! Records Blog

Red Bull Music Academy Info Night, Hyperdub Show & CD's

The next Red Bull Music Academy semester will be held in London from February 7 to March 12, 2010. Established in 1998 the Red Bull Music Academy draws 60 of the most promising, forward thinking music creators from across the globe and offers them the opportunity to refine their art in a series of lectures, recording sessions, live performances and master classes. The goal is to nurture and inform the next generation of music creators and enrich the quality of the art they create.

We have sampler CD's including tracks by previous students and information about applying for London in store. The Sydney information night will be held at on the 26th of June at Hermanns bar Sydney University (cnr City Rd & Butlin Ave, Darlington) and will feature talks by Kode 9 from Hyperdub and Sydney co-ordinator Lorna Clarkson. This will be followed by a Void & Hyperdub show featuring Kode 9 at the Civic Hotel.

Information about the Academy and dates for information nights/shows in other cities can be found at the Red Bull Academy websites.

See you there!

Thanks,
Matt
Spank! Records.

Numark NS7 available NOW at Spank!

Welcome to the future folks. Somewhere between a turntable and a Cylon, the Numark NS7 is Numarks first complete digital mixing platform. As the flagship consol for Seratos new Itch software platform, the NS7 is an all-in-one DJ system. Just add a laptop with your mp3 library and you’re away.

The NS7 offers a return to vinyl feel without sacrificing the perks of the latest in music mixing technology. Two direct drive motorized control platters with a 7” vinyl surface and adjustable torque provide hands on control of your digital music.  An integrated two channel mixer with premium knobs and faders, full EQ kills, 5 cue hot spots per deck, quantize or manual looping controls and strip search functions means you have all the latest and greatest features in midi control at your fingertips without unnecessary outboard gear.

NS7 contains a host of professional audio connectors and a multichannel, 24-bit USB digital-audio interface.

We currently have one NS7 available in stock with more available for order.

Thanks
Matt
Spank! Records.

Mark Dynamix's Long Distance Recordings now available

We've very excited to announce that we've just signed up Mark Dynamix's 'Long Distance Recordings' label to our digital roster, and to celebrate we have the newest release available EXCLUSIVELY right now. The official release date is not for another week.

The release is from newly signed artist Mortlock, and is called the Mortlock EP. We've known Michael (Mortlock) for years as a loyal Spank! customer, so we're thrilled to see his first release on such a great label - congratulations Michael!

The Mortlock EP has been garnering some really impressive feedback from DJs around the globe - check these out:

Mark Emerson
very very groovy! love it, will def be playing Taucherglocke
a lot

Deepchild
Mortlock is the perfect spearhead for the Long Distance sound - deep, 
well produced proggy-tech sounds. A top-notch export of the highest 
grade. Things will only be heating up for this boy in future...

Jeff Drake
quality underground dance music

DJ Mozaic
WOW. This is incredible....love the textures....some of the most 
interesting sounds I've heard in a while. Can't wait to hear more!

Kris Swales
'Taucherglocke' is deeeeeeeeep! Mortlock is a quality producer who 
seems to be getting better with each release. Great EP.

Robbie Lowe
Really nice deep / progressive tracks . Loving 'Nine' in-particular.

Adi Dumitra
I've been really keeping an eye open on Mortlock ever since I got that 
remix of his from you guys. Impressive package this one as well, very 
deep, dark and touchy EP , so im not even sure on which to pick as favorite. 
"Taucherglocke" and "Nine" should be though...loving the deep flow of 
"Treacherous Waters" too, will definitely play this out at both radio 
and live.thanks guys, and keep them goods coming!

Mike Kelly
Like the EP, but for me SNOWCAKE cetainly hits the spot. This is 
"echt fliegen muzik" (real flying music) and Extrawelt must smile 
hearing this surely. good tune, will hammer it. Taucherglocke is very 
cool too, and i think it will get some attention in Germany.

Jamie Stevens
What a brilliant EP! My favorite [LDR Release] so far! loving the vibe 
of all the tracks here but Taucherglocke and Treacherous Waters are two 
that I'll most likely be playing a lot of. Top work and thanks a lot!

Chopstick & Johnjon
Taucherglocke & Nine are going to be huge in Germany!

Rich Curtis
Mortlock's creations exceed the scope of typical electronic
music, especially when considering his young age and relative recent
entry into the production game. I've played each of his tracks in
sets the very day that they've been transmitted to me and they piece
very well into progressive, tech-house, and even techno sets
alongside those of worldwide top-notch experienced producers.

You can grab the Mortlock EP from here

And the entire Long Distance Recordings catalogue is here

Enjoy!

Ableton Live 8 - Offical Australian Launch Events

Ableton & Musiclink Australia are throwing some launch events in selected cities over the next couple of weeks. They'll be attended by Ableton endorsees, product specialists and certified trainers to demonstrate all the new features of Live 8 by way of clinics as well as live sets for some real-world application.

If you're thinking about getting into Live or upgrading from a previous version, I highly recommend you make your way to one of them if you're luck enough to be in either Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane on the dates below.

If you're in Sydney, we'll be heading along this weekend so we'll see you down there.

More information can be found here on Facebook

Event Dates

23rd May, 2009. Chinese Laundry, Sydney

3pm start

Clinic presentations by:

Anthony Garvin: Manager Studios 301
Damien Goundrie: SAE Liveschool
Neon Stereo: Ableton Alpha Tester
DIZZ1: Ableton Endorsee
Jono Fernandez: Ableton Endorsee

After Party Chinese Laundry 12th Birthday Celebrations featuring Ableton Endorsee Kid Kenobi, as well as Paolo Mojo, Don Rimini, Jaytech, MDX, and more.

28th May, 2009. Miss Libertine, Melbourne

7.30pm start

Clinic presentations by:

Tom Cosm: Ableton Endorsee
Beatnick: Musiclink Product specialist
Danny Bonnici: Ableton Endorsee
DIZZ1: Ableton Endorsee
Jono Fernandez: Ableton Endorsee

After Party featuring exclusive Live sets from Jono Fernandez, Danny Bonnici, Tom Cosm and Dizz1

6th June, 2009. Step Inn, Brisbane

6 pm start

Clinic presentations by:

Craig McCullough: Ableton Certified Trainer, Brisbane Ableton Collective, Ableton Alpha Tester
Tom Hall: Brisbane: Ableton Collective
Paddy Free: Pitch Black, Ableton Alpha tester

After Party featuring Pitch Black (NZ).

Free Kore Electronic Experience download available with Kore 2

The Kore 2 interface is an ideal workflow enhancement for the modern home production set-up. Kore 2 can be used to consolidate and organize all of your soft-synth presets and parameters into one easy to navigate interface. Kore 2 can run multiple plug-in instances in all the industry leading DAWs, making it a one stop application for accessing your sounds, including those from non-Native Instruments products.

Up until the 30th of June, Native Instruments are offering you a feast of free sound-banks to go with any purchase of a complete Kore 2 setup. The Electronic Experience sound-banks include:

-KORE PLAYER - powerful software instrument and effects unit

-FM8 TRANSIENT ATTACKS – 200 new, cutting-edge FM8 sounds

-MASSIVE EXPANSION VOL. 1 – 200 fat and dirty synth sounds

-BEST OF ABSYNTH - 200 organic and evolving textures, pads and keys

-BEST OF REAKTOR VOL. 1 - 200 supremely tweakable REAKTOR sounds

-SYNTHETIC DRUMS RELOADED - premium electronic drums DEEP TRANSFORMATIONS - 150 highly unconventional multi-effects

So not only to you get the benefits of having a Kore 2, you now get a massive selection of new sounds to add to your arsenal.

Thanks,

Matt
Spank! Records.

Novation SL MK II available for order now

 

Continuing with an ethos of making the experience of creating digital music as painless and user-friendly as possible, the Novation SL MKIIs in conjunction with a recently updated Automap 3 software improve on the rock solid foundation set by the original SL’s to deliver a truly professional MIDI control solution.

The SL MKII’s come in Zero, 25, 37 or 49 key models depending on your needs and have 8 x infinite rotation encoders, 8 x 270 degree rotation pots, 8x Faders, 8 x Buttons, 8 x improved soft-feel trigger pads, X-pression pad and stick, backlit LED parameter strip and speed dial.

Those familiar with the original series will find a number of much-wanted updates in the MKIIs. The new soft feel drum pads are a major plus, giving a more natural response than the smaller, firmer pads found in the original series. All the buttons are now illuminated and touch-sensitive, ideal for precision adjustments in dark environments. The Zeros now feature a cross-fader, honing in on its use as a primary Ableton controller.

The Novation Remote SL MKIIs are available for order in store or online now.

Thanks,

Matt

Spank! Records.

Optimise your PC with Game Booster

I was just doing the rounds of all my tech-feeds and came across this bit of software called Game Booster:

Essentially it's designed to optimise your gaming experience (on a PC only, no OS X version) by shutting down various background processes, cleaning up your RAM and other bits of technical wizardry. The idea is that you run it before you start up a processor-intensive game so that you get the best possible experience.

Wait a minute - shutting down background processes, optimising, cleaning up the RAM - isn't that exactly what we recommended for digital DJs before they start up their software?

The software used by digital DJs is pretty demanding. There's a lot of work going on under the hood - processing audio, computing effects, keeping things in time. The more resources your computer has available to do all this work the better, and that's where optimising comes in.

We always let our customers know that a bit of optimisation goes a long way. Shutting down your wireless network adapter, turning off anti-virus programs, screensavers - you may not realise it, but all of these things are quietly working away in the background. And that means they're using up your precious computing power and memory (RAM). If you're mixing away in your bedroom then this can avoid some annoying glitches. If you're actually playing out in public, then it's pretty much a non-negotiable. The last thing you want to happen is have your software crash on you in the middle of a set, and the more you can do to help prevent this crushingly embarrassing situation the better.

So while the abovementioned software's intended use is for gamers, there's no real reason I can see not to try this out if you mix on a PC. It's a much easier way to do a whole lot of manual tinkering - one click of a button in fact - and a quick Google shows that a lot of people have been using it with favourable results.

A word of warning - try the software at home a few times BEFORE you try it out in the club. You'll want to be sure it does the job for you before you risk a meltdown in front of a packed room.

The software is completely FREE and you can nab it from here:

http://www.iobit.com/gamebooster.html

Let us know if you use it and if it does the trick or not.

Thanks,

Chris

Arturia Minimoog V 2.0 upgrade out now

Arturia's soft-synth models provide loving reproductions of classic & hard to find synthesizers straight to your PC for convenient integration into your recording DAW or live laptop rig. I personally use the Mini-Moog V in my home studio and find it to be indispensable tool, almost every track has a place for the warm rich bass sounds and famous Moog attack this software is able to provide quickly and easily.

A free upgrade for the Mini-Moog V is now available from Arturia for all registered owners of previous versions. Version 2.0 includes a visual sound-map for streamlined approach to creating and morphing sounds; a vocal filter option for replicating old fashioned synthetic voice models; circuitry improvements and module configuration adjustments allowing pan and vocal filter modules to be used as destinations and internal automation control is now available over four parameters in real time.

The Mini-Moog V and other classic Arturia soft-synth models are available in-store or online from Spank! Records. The update is available from the Arturia website.

Thanks,
Matt
Spank! Records.

More Damn Arms Than An Octopus!

We received more than 150 remixes for the Damn Arms remix competition and the Bang Gang boys are feverishly going through them to come up with a winner.

The boys have asked for more time and we think it's important to make sure all are listened to and all be given every chance to win.

Hopefully we will have a decision by the weekend and the winner will be announced no later than Tuesday next week.

Sorry for any inconvenience but we really had no idea how many quality remixes we would get back.

Join up to our hardware newsletter to get the results first.

Thanks everyone who entered. It's been overwhelming.

Spank!

Ableton Live 8 FREE with Korg Zeros

  

The Korg Zero mixers are all-in-one MIDI/audio control stations designed for DJ's; live performance artists; remix producers and serious computer musicians. The Korg Zero series can simultaneously act as a digital mixer, audio I/O, MIDI controller and effects processor elegantly contained within the one versatile unit.

Each channel can be switched between sources to control turntables, CD players, computer DAW platforms, soft synths, Digital DJ parameters, microphones or MIDI devices making the Zero series an ideal interface for adventurous cross-platform types. But don't think that all this flexibility means that any quality has been sacrificed. The design and build quality of this device operating in any format is seriously robust, intelligent and above all professional. Used for any one of its many applications the Korg Zeros rate amongst the best devices on the market.

But wait, there's more! Any Korg Zero purchase now comes with a free copy of Ableton Live 8. The more time I spend using Ableton Live 8, the more I’m impressed by this update. Lovers of older versions of Live will find 8 to be a significant refinement, consolidating features and functionality to make one of the most innovative DAW’s on the market. Users new to the fraternity will find Ableton Live 8 to be easy to understand and intuitive - excellent for beginners looking to learn and professionals aiming to improve work-flow.

Korg Zeros and Ableton Live 8 are available online or in-store now.

Thanks,

Matt
Spank! Records.