Posts from — September 2008

If the highly celebrated SNL skit VH1’s Behind The Music: Blue Oyster Cult starring Will Ferrel and Christopher Walken taught the world one thing, its that you can never have too much cowbell. But despite this fact, the cowbell is still rarely used to its full potential these days. And they wonder why the record industry is down!

Luckily there is a solution. The website MoreCowbell.dj allows you to upload a song of your choice, and then choose the amount of cowbell you would like added to the track. And as if that wasn’t awesome enough, you can even add some tasty vocal samples of Bruce Dickinson (Walken) for extra flavor.

Here’s the first one I tried out. Feel free to put yours in the comments!!

Here’s some nice footage of Z-Trip doing his thing at the Manifest Hope Gallery during the Democratic National Convention.

While this Retro USB Wireless Microphone is probably not a good option for any serious vocal recording, at a mere $29 it looks like a solid option for DJ’s who need to record drops for mixtapes, I mean its not like it can sound any worse than 90% of the mixtape drops out there. It has a range of 3 meters, support for Windows XP, Vitsa, Mac OSX, and would certainly add a bit of snazz to your home studio.

USB Retro Wireless Microphone via CrateKings

If you smoke cigarettes then you are probably familiar with those quirky TRUTH commercials that attempt to expose the evil marketing tactics of tobacco companies while informing viewers of smoking-related illnesses. As an ex-smoker (70 days since I quit as of today) I certainly remember how uncomfortable watching those commercials was, I mean talk about a guilt trip!!

But regardless of what your feelings are on the commercials, I recommend checking out the TRUTH Website as the organization recently enlisted the services of several heavy-weight DJ’s to remix their Sunny Side of Truth jingles, including Z-Trip, Pete Rock, Mix Master Mike, and Diplo just to name a few.

Back in the day when I first began learning how to scratch, a lot of my inspiration came from the group the X-Ecutioners, specifically the album X-Pressions, which I remember listening to over and over and over…until the tape fell apart!

What I liked about the group was how smooth and accurate all their scratches were. Instead of stuffing as many advanced scratching techniques as they could into every song, they instead seemed to focus on delivering precise scratches and rhythmic patterns.

While most of my friends claimed Roc Raida as their favorite, I always sided with Rob Swift for some reason, which is why It was a pleasant surprise to come across this video of him doing what he does best.

Nothing new here in terms of the scratching, but just as good to listen to as it ever was!

Shout out to the homies at The LAB for the link!

While some artists prefer recording their music in dimly lit, intimate studios where they are free to explore their creative boundaries without distractions, I prefer being able to see what the hell I’m doing when working the boards.  So if the ceiling lights in your studio just aren’t cutting it, and you are looking for some lamps that will fit in nicely with the rest of your recording studio, then look no further than the Lightspeaker Lamp.

It may look like a speaker, but in actuality it’s a lamp that uses reflected light from the light bulb in the speaker cone to shine light back into the white speaker box.  The illusion is made even greater through a volume control knob that acts as a light dimmer.

The Lightspeaker Lamp will be available in Fall 2008, and is currently available as a special order only through the DeeplyMadLiving online store.

via Gear Crave