Rekindling the Passion for Music

A continuing university: my quest for full musical audio-visual production capability for EDM, combining the latest state-of-the-art technology, repertoire and artistry – lending my humble musical exposure that goes back to my band days of the early 70’s.

And speaking of EDM or Electronic Dance Music, my favourites include techno, house, house techno, bass and dance, among others; and during practice sessions along the way, I'm likely creating variants that hasn't been named yet.  

Having the right equipment and systems application is challenging and expensive.

Thanks to some vendors who have availed me of their flagship equipments and systems solutions (mostly for unbiased reviews), I now have all of these cutting edge technology solutions, essential to deliver musical production at its full audio-visual dimensions.

(My sound cockpit, click to enlarge.)

To deliver seamlessly song accentuations, transitions and climaxes, have Natural Instrument's flagship Traktor Kontrol S8, lined in with a  Gemini's top of the line G4V,  for full 8 (4 + 4) channels(!) control and rendition of songs, remixes, samples, scratches and 4 track stems, plus more than 40 effects.  These have replaced my previous, popularly used DJ controllers that was excellent as such but I found limited in functions as a creative flexible musical platform.

This bundle works beautifully with a Traktor PRO 3 software, which more than a DJ control SW is a powerful musical platform for an on the fly song remixing, mashing, and programmable MIDI control expanding the latitude of creative EDM music live rendition.

The caveat here is 2 instances of the Traktor PRO 3 SW are required.  Each needs to run on a laptop with a minimum of a i5 or a ryzen 5 processor,  ideally i7 or ryzen 7, with 8 GB ideally 12 GB ram, and a 250 GB SSD HD, FHD displays, for a superbly stable, glitch free, real time performance.

For creative studio work, composing backings, remixes, samples and stems, augmenting above  setup, have a Korg microArranger, a Roland SD50 Sound Canvas, Yamaha MPD218 and MPK Mini Pro 2, sound module, synthesizers, sequencers and controllers, working with Cakewalk, Ableton Live and Cubebase DAW applications.  

For stems and samples, occasionally, uses electric guitars and acoustics hooked up to a Line 6 POD HD500X and other effects to augment Cakewalk, Korg and Roland's sound libraries.  

For adding harmony and various vocal electronic effects, have a TC-Helicon Live. 

(Line array system, click to enlarge for details.)

(Sound spectrum check and basic equaliztion, click to enlarge for details.)

For sound and audio reproduction, I use a bi-amplified, discrete line array audio systems. One system with about 1kW RMS bi amp power is for med to large, and another,  250W RMS bi amp power for small venues.  They're sound tested, equalized and fine-tuned to prevailing acoustics and venue size, as part of production or performance preparation.

For mixing, recording (DAC interface) and live performance, have a Yamaha MG10XU that works well with the DAW software for recording.  This is lined in with a DBX 234 Crossover and a DBX 215 Graphic Equalizer for final discrete sound shaping and equalization leading to the bi-amplified full frequency line array drivers system.

For vocal and general front-end audio capture, have a mix of Shure, Sennheiser, Peavy, and "generic" dynamic and condensers type mikes, wired and wireless.

Why Line Array System?

Line array systems have established themselves worldwide as the standard for delivering powerful, exceptionaly clear, hi-fidelity, concert grade sounds, significantly much better than point source systems.

My own sound spectrum tests confirms line array systems to be as close to linear (clean natural sounding, well defined instruments and vocals) throughout the frequencies more than point source. 

However, due to its cheaper cost, point source PA systems are quite common to wedding events venues and DJ performances.

While for the same cost savings reasons I've used point source systems in the past, because of the audible distortion and sound overlap abberation issues I've experienced during performances, my audio PA systems now only uses line array.

(DMX 512 system controlled light and effects, click to enlarge.)

(Programming and testing light shows using Q Light, DMX 512 system, click to enlarge.)

For integrating light show scenarios with songs, have DMX 512 protocol enabled fixtures working with lightshows scenarios and fixture definitions I've programmed using Q Light Controller Plus application and using MIDI control triggers.

(Mood :  subtly building up, mysterious or romantic, click to enlarge.)

This state-of-the-art (used at live shows in Hollywood) DMX system tightly glues light show and effects with music and stage performances, delivers immersive stage projection and dance groove experience.

(Mood :  subtly building to climactic, click to enlarge.)

(Mood : strong, down beat emphasis, click to enlarge.)

(Mood :  explosive, climactic, click to enlarge.)

(Mood :  explosive, climactic variant, click to enlarge.)