The Technical Sessions is back at the Red Bull Studios, this time featuring Timmy Schumacher.

One of New Zealand’s pioneers of Breaks, Timmy Schumacher’s career spans 20 years and he carries a wealth of knowledge that any producer wanting to learn more about his craft would be well advised to listen to.

Since the beginning Timmy has always stayed true to his many and varied influences, keeping sets interesting and varied and productions unpredictable, completely original and big sounding on the production tip. From singles-oriented rocky pop material to floor smashing ravey club tunes and remixes, Timmy continues to explore and consolidate 20 years of experience and wide ranging love of music into his work. And he’s just getting started.

Kerry Adams again returns to host the Technical Sessions at the Red Bull Studios in Auckland. Now into its third year, the Technical Sessions takes the country’s top electronica artists, and extracts the knowledge they have amassed. Delivering a wealth of knowledge for anyone wanting to learn more about production and studio work, this is crucial attendance for anyone wanting to further their craft.

Registration is essential, so please, pop over here and enter your details now.

If you are not going to be able to make it – we will also be streaming the interview live over here - http://www.theproof.co.nz/technicalsessions/

Many thanks to Red Bull Studio & Allproof Industries

The Technical Sessions is back, and we are very proud to have Jay Bulletproof coming along to have a talk.

For over a decade, the name “Bulletproof” has stood for nothing less than forward thinking future bass music. In the early 90’s, his relentless passion and devotion to Drum & Bass established Jay as one of the nations pioneering D&B DJ’s and promoters. His entrance into production in 99” alongside former production partner Josh, lead to Bulletproof becoming Australasia’s first international Drum & Bass export, signing their tracks to one of the leading labels of the time, and helped spawn the rise of the local future bass music production scene, being sighted by names like Concord Dawn, The Upbeats, State Of Mind as THE pioneer of NZ D&B production.

After several months’ hiatus, and a raft of international interviews, Kerry Adams returns to host the Technical Sessions at the Red Bull Studios in Auckland. Now into its third year, the Technical Sessions takes the country’s top electronica artists, and extracts the knowledge they have amassed. Delivering a wealth of knowledge for anyone wanting to learn more about production and studio work, this is crucial attendance for anyone wanting to further their craft.

Registration is essential, so please, pop over here and enter your details now.

If you are not going to be able to make it – we will also be streaming the interview live over here - http://www.theproof.co.nz/technicalsessions/

Many thanks to Red Bull Studio & Allproof Industries

Ever since I have been DJing and Producing, I have faced a strange dichotomy.

The struggle between being understood, and expressing oneself.

It is part of the DJs role to leave open a door, so others can come in and join you on your journey, but at the same time, the hallway seems to get longer and longer.

Add to that, my diverse love of music, and making a mix becomes more and more of a head-fuck – and I try and decide what to put into a mix, and where to take it.

It doesn’t help that what I would normally produce, and what I would DJ have always been vastly differnt things.

Each time I try to include my own tunes in a mix, in what I guess, is now the universally accepted practice of self-promotion,  I struggle to see where they would fit it. I suppose that is what the live show is for.

Yet as I deal with this love/hate relationship to DJing, I keep on coming back to a fundimental desire to share this phenomenal music with other people, and really, I just love the ‘process’ of mixing.

Although, mixing itself has changed a lot over the years.

I am tired of all the polite, safe mixes I hear. Modern technology has polished the DJ mix to the point, where you struggle to hear the human interaction with the music any-more. The ‘ideal’ of creating the seamless mix has been achieved - but I realise, what I really want to hear, IS the DJ. Now that music has become so much more accessible, within the domain of digital distribution – I want to hear the DJ working. I want to hear the musical and technical risks, the person working the music, the equipment.

So here it is. My first public mix in far too long. This is really just part 1 of 2, the second coming shortly – again split due the variety of my tastes – and realising that there was just too much music to fit into a CD friendly mix length.

Enjoy.I hope you can understand me.

- Kerry

We have been in a bit of a hermitage recently, as we figured out what the future held for The Proof.

Not to say we haven’t been busy – as we have been working on getting a pile of back catalog material out there for you to listen to.

http://www.junodownload.com/labels/Boom+Tish/releases/

There is also some new material on its way from Bromide Dub and The Filterbrats as well as a couple of other exciting projects on the horizon.

So, don’t think we have gone away yet.

Just mulling over it all…

One of the biggest talents in town. His musical taste is flawless and he is a kick ass sound engineer. Listen to his stuff and you will know what I mean” – Thomas Schumacher

http://www.actualites-electroniques.com/EN-Thomas-Schumacher-Dj-Interview

Originally from New Zealand, Emerson was half of House Of Downtown, arguably one of New Zealand’s most successful DJ and production duo’s. This partnership lead to worldwide bookings, a national radio show and two artist albums, as well as a number of club tracks, notably Up For The One, gaining massive support from the likes of Derrick May.

2003 saw Emerson move to Sydney Australia as he took a step out of the limelight, and began working as an audio engineer. His skills were duly sort after, and he went on to engineer some of the country’s most well known acts including The Sleepy Jackson, Teenager, Pnau, and festival headliners, The Presets.

Not only were his talents behind the desk gaining recognition, but also behind the decks. Becoming a regular fixture at Sydney’s leading techno nights saw Emerson’s bookings increase around Australia. But it was with the release of the, bass heavy Rumplestiltskin that really put Emerson back in the spotlight. Big, tight and bouncy, it was instantly picked up by Claude VonStroke for Dirtybird.

As the gigs and productions followed, it was not long before it was time for Emerson to make the leave the antipodes and throw himself into the thick of the action. 2009 saw him make the move to London. This almost instantly paid off, as just a couple of months after, his first EP was picked up by Get Physical where he is now a regular fixture.
While the move to London certainly put Emerson back on the map it was his subsequent relocation to Berlin that really paid dividends. Not only now a core artist on Get Physical, Emerson is also part of Marco Ressman’s Upon You label family as well as working closely with My Favorite Robot records from Canada.

As his productions have gained more recognition, so has his expertise as a DJ. Impressive by anybody’s standards, 2010 has seen Emerson spinning at the WMC, Fabric, Bar 25, Sonne Mond Sterne, Sonar and Balance in London, as well as Get Physical showcases around the globe from Berlin to Barcelona, London to Miami.

http://www.emersontodd.com

http://www.rsrsr.com/

One of the fathers of Ableton Live, Robert is a perfect example of a synchronistic fusion between technology and art.

http://www.rsrsr.com/

One of the fathers of Ableton Live, Robert is a perfect example of a synchronistic fusion between technology and art.

Then I had another realisation. When I was starting to go out, one night I went to a Rave where I swear, the DJ was just playing the same 4/4 Kick Drum for 2 hours. It sounded like a metronome, and it got boring really, really quickly.

Well.. it's got swing, I guess.

Another angle – what would a funk drummer be like, if he played metronome straight, all the time? How about for two hours. How about, if we replaced the drummer, with a metronome? A metronome that didn’t shift? How unnatural would that be?

Now, I realise, we are talking about electronica. Which is the home of drum machines and quantised drums. But also remember, that ‘swing’ is generally a very subtle shift, a gentle sway, almost like for example, wow and flutter on a turntable. Besides the point the anyone who has heard a 909 running knows it’s not going to have perfect timing, put that through some tape, onto a turntable and you have what would be otherwise metronome rigid beats, giving a little organic movement, just through its method of playback.

Further to that, referring back to this concept of internal timing, a DJ manually beat-matching is never keeping the tempo exactly the same. Sure, they are generally going to stick with a range that ‘feels’ right to them, but I guarantee, it is also going to shift as the DJ gets excited, the crowed grows, those peaks and troughs come through, all these things.

Now, I hear you say, ‘but you can change the BPM easily with software, and everything will just follow’ - that’s true. I occasionally do; But it’s always a conscious decision, and to be honest (go-on, personal reflection time) – I now tend to stick at 110, 128, 136, 140 and 170bpm, depending, basically, on the genre that I am playing.

What has happened to all those infinitesimal amounts that exist between these whole numbers? Infinitesimal amounts that, when I used to mix, I didn’t have to think about, that just worked their way between two different tunes?

Now, lets look at the other side, where I find myself now.

Many (most) modern electronica is produced on a DAW Sequencer, which essentially, is as accurate as, well, a calculator. Even swing is a precise, measured function, not something that drifts. From there, potentially never actually existing in the analog world, it is mastered (also potentially in the box, and highly unlikely through something as random as tape), stored digitally, perfectly, then played back on a computer, and matched, perfectly, unwavering right up until the point of conversion to a analog signal to head off to the speakers.

Hmm..

Oh yes, it will be cleaner, more precise, potentially punchier, louder and so many more things. But can it breath; with you any-more? What happens when we do that over several hours?