hey there!
this is my original house/electro/brostep remix of the Winstons' classic song "Amen, Brother" that I did for my school assignment
Check IT Out! :)
Done on:
Ableton Live Suite 8
Massive
Sylenth1
Operator
Sausage Fattener
Waves L2/L3/S1
Izotope Ozone 4
For those who are not familiar with the fascinating history about the "Amen Break" or "The Winstons" here is an awesome documentary that explains everything! Oh and you can hear that I took out the audio commentary from here :)
Oh and if by any reason you want to check out my Soundcloud you can click HERE :)
Monday, February 20, 2012
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Mini Review: Audio Technica ATH-M50 Headphones
So my old, trusty Sennheiser HD25 1-II just died...
The Sennheiser HD25 went through a lot of things with me, it was pretty much used for anything from DJing in clubs as early as 2007, to playing games, watching movies, it was like my swiss army knife headphone that gets the job done, other done the ear pads peeling off (damn leather!) they have performed exceptionally over the years
However, while i was doing an audio engineering school mixdown project the other day i noticed a distortion on the right driver of the headphones - this happens mostly on the lower frequencies (100-300 hz) and it would crackle the shit out of anything that plays - I tried pulling out the cords and refixing them without any luck, the distortion remains at all times on the right side, so I would assume that the right driver simply died - well it's about time, it served is purposed over the years and was pretty much beaten up on the daily so it was bound to happen sooner or later
As always before buying anything I do A LOT of research - I found that it is very hard to find a negative review on the ATH-M50, most reviews everywhere are rock-solid, from consumer reviews from amazon, all the way to the gear heads in gearslutz from, these headphones seemed to reach a legendary status for its quality and price
So there I decided - The next headphone that will be my faithful companion for (hopefully) years to come like my Sennheiser HD25 did, so after a bargain hunt on the lowest price in Singapore (where I am studying audio engineering at this point) , In US these seem to retail around $150 - $160 USD, in singapore the prices range from $220 - $230 SGD (which is just a little bit more than the price in USA after currency conversion), I am not going to say how much I got them for but lets just say that I paid a little bit below what they are selling over here - Just Luck! :)
The headphone will be primarily used for studio related audio work, being an Audio Engineering student I do need a good pair of headphones that is quite balanced (good near flat frequency response) and also isolation as I need to do some work in my headphones when people are asleep at night, the objective is a little bit different with when I first bought my Sennheiser HD25s (which was bought for the purpose of DJ monitoring when I was still a DJ full time years ago)
This review will be largely comparing the ATH-M50 to the Sennheiser HD25 1-II which I owned for many years and was a solid performer as well, having owned the HD25 for so long and the HD25 being a somewhat legendary headphones among DJs i would say that the comparison between these two headphones would be appropriate and applicable to many - not just me
The ATH-M50
The Audio Technica ATH-M50 is a closed-back dynamic headphones with a frequency response of 15 hz - 28khz and 38 ohms impedance. It is one of Audio Technica's most well known and praised headphones.
The over - the ear design (rather than the on the ear like my old sennheiser HD25's) proved to be much better for me for isolation, when wearing the ATH-M50 i can hardly hear anything that's happening with the outside world compared to the HD25s where i can actually still talk to people without removing my headphones -
with the Audio Technica's I find myself asking "Say What?" all the time when someone (my wife most probably) tries to talk to me - which can be both a good thing and a bad thing - I can imagine in a very loud club sistem the Audio Technica would be a better monitoring device than the Sennheisers which honestly did not give me much isolation (perhaps my ears are too big) and in the past I ended up cranking up the volume up to hear things better - this is not a good practice for the ears!
So for isolation : +1 point!
Another thing that I noted with the ATH-M50 is that they are much heavier than the Sennheiser HD25s to the point that If I do jump around with them , I really worry that I might drop them (due to the size and weight) , with the Sennheiser HD25's they are so lightweight that you can just clamp them to your ears and they will pretty much stay put - if you wax up / gel your hair you will definitely know what I mean by this (lol) .
The Audio Technicas are heavier, bulkier, but for me a little bit more comfortable to wear due to the bigger ear pads that goes around the ears - I find this design work really well , I must say though for DJing I would still take out my Old Sennheisers (which I would need to fix first) due to their feather - light weight , as much as I love the isolation and sound of the ATH-M50 i still much prefer to take out the HD25 because it is so light and so compact
No Replaceable Parts!
One thing the ATH-M50 did not have was replaceable parts, while the HD25 was a modder's heaven due to its ability to be taken apart piece by piece quite easily, the ath-m50 does not allow you to do that other than the ear pads - which is a shame! I would have been much happier if at least the cords (where most problems happen) are user - replaceable. Sadly they are not. If anything was to go wrong with your ATH-M50 you would have to either send them to the service centre or try your luck with the soldering iron - there arent many cases of them going broken though so at least they are known to be durable
The Sound : ATH-M50 VS HD25 1-II
The ATH-M50 definitely has much deeper bass than the HD25's. If you see the graph above it clearly shows that, but there are some things that are not able to be described graphically, the bass on the ATH-M50 is really much much better, deeper without being muddy at all, I can describe the ATH-M50 as having a deep and defined bass sound, sub basses are much much more apparent without being annoying - BUT THIS MAY DISTRACT YOU when doing proper mixdowns!
For example, I was adding layers of sub bass to my new track im working on and I swore that on the ATH-M50 it sounds just right, however on my Yamaha HS50m reference speakers i suddenly find no bass at all - why is this happening? Well due to the slightly boosted lower frequencies you might find that the mixes that you do with the ATH-M50 might just get really flat in other speakers - you see the boost in low is not always a good idea, however this makes the ATH-M50 pleasurable as a listening headphones other than just as reference monitors , so if you plan on using this to mixdown the low frequencies, be aware of the extra boost in the lows!!
The mids and the highs are represented well as well, the HD25 had this weird notch cut in the mid-highs (8khz?) which I have grown to be used to, upon listening to the ATH-M50s it was good to hear this mid-high that was strangely missing / notched out with the HD25s again.
Sound wise , I much prefer the sound of the ATH-M50, I can actually use the headphones for a much much longer time than I could with the HD25 before getting ear fatique, I dont trust the ATH-M50 enough to do final mixdowns and mastering (reference monitors are irreplaceable for these purposes) but for quick rough mixing and sketching out ideas at night, the ATH-M50's are perfect!
I would conclude that for DJing - the Sennheiser HD25's might still a better choice, except if you really want the isolation that the ATH-M50 can provide, I personally having used to the feather weight HD25 find it a little hard to get used to the solid weight of the ATH-M50, although I much prefer the sound and the isolation of the Audio Technicas rather than the Sennheiser, the ATH-M50 is much much better for studio / audio related purpose where good monitoring / isolation / sound is required
For me I'd say I will use them for different purposes, my old HD25 will get fixed up / modded and be used as my primary DJ headphones, while the ATH-M50 is my permanent home monitoring headphones for my late night ableton sessions!
If you want something lighter, with a balanced sound, the Sennheiser HD25 might be a good alternative!
Link:
Audio-Technica ATH-M50 Professional Studio Monitor Headphones
Sennheiser HD25-1 II Closed-Back Headphones
The Sennheiser HD25 went through a lot of things with me, it was pretty much used for anything from DJing in clubs as early as 2007, to playing games, watching movies, it was like my swiss army knife headphone that gets the job done, other done the ear pads peeling off (damn leather!) they have performed exceptionally over the years
However, while i was doing an audio engineering school mixdown project the other day i noticed a distortion on the right driver of the headphones - this happens mostly on the lower frequencies (100-300 hz) and it would crackle the shit out of anything that plays - I tried pulling out the cords and refixing them without any luck, the distortion remains at all times on the right side, so I would assume that the right driver simply died - well it's about time, it served is purposed over the years and was pretty much beaten up on the daily so it was bound to happen sooner or later
As always before buying anything I do A LOT of research - I found that it is very hard to find a negative review on the ATH-M50, most reviews everywhere are rock-solid, from consumer reviews from amazon, all the way to the gear heads in gearslutz from, these headphones seemed to reach a legendary status for its quality and price
So there I decided - The next headphone that will be my faithful companion for (hopefully) years to come like my Sennheiser HD25 did, so after a bargain hunt on the lowest price in Singapore (where I am studying audio engineering at this point) , In US these seem to retail around $150 - $160 USD, in singapore the prices range from $220 - $230 SGD (which is just a little bit more than the price in USA after currency conversion), I am not going to say how much I got them for but lets just say that I paid a little bit below what they are selling over here - Just Luck! :)
The headphone will be primarily used for studio related audio work, being an Audio Engineering student I do need a good pair of headphones that is quite balanced (good near flat frequency response) and also isolation as I need to do some work in my headphones when people are asleep at night, the objective is a little bit different with when I first bought my Sennheiser HD25s (which was bought for the purpose of DJ monitoring when I was still a DJ full time years ago)
This review will be largely comparing the ATH-M50 to the Sennheiser HD25 1-II which I owned for many years and was a solid performer as well, having owned the HD25 for so long and the HD25 being a somewhat legendary headphones among DJs i would say that the comparison between these two headphones would be appropriate and applicable to many - not just me
The ATH-M50
 |
| The Audio Technica ATH-M50 - They Look Good Dont They? :) |
 |
| The ATH-M50 is big and solid, even when folded! |
The over - the ear design (rather than the on the ear like my old sennheiser HD25's) proved to be much better for me for isolation, when wearing the ATH-M50 i can hardly hear anything that's happening with the outside world compared to the HD25s where i can actually still talk to people without removing my headphones -
with the Audio Technica's I find myself asking "Say What?" all the time when someone (my wife most probably) tries to talk to me - which can be both a good thing and a bad thing - I can imagine in a very loud club sistem the Audio Technica would be a better monitoring device than the Sennheisers which honestly did not give me much isolation (perhaps my ears are too big) and in the past I ended up cranking up the volume up to hear things better - this is not a good practice for the ears!
So for isolation : +1 point!
 |
| Looks like someone forgot to bring their Beats |
Another thing that I noted with the ATH-M50 is that they are much heavier than the Sennheiser HD25s to the point that If I do jump around with them , I really worry that I might drop them (due to the size and weight) , with the Sennheiser HD25's they are so lightweight that you can just clamp them to your ears and they will pretty much stay put - if you wax up / gel your hair you will definitely know what I mean by this (lol) .
The Audio Technicas are heavier, bulkier, but for me a little bit more comfortable to wear due to the bigger ear pads that goes around the ears - I find this design work really well , I must say though for DJing I would still take out my Old Sennheisers (which I would need to fix first) due to their feather - light weight , as much as I love the isolation and sound of the ATH-M50 i still much prefer to take out the HD25 because it is so light and so compact
 |
| From Skrilly to Sir McCartney! |
No Replaceable Parts!
One thing the ATH-M50 did not have was replaceable parts, while the HD25 was a modder's heaven due to its ability to be taken apart piece by piece quite easily, the ath-m50 does not allow you to do that other than the ear pads - which is a shame! I would have been much happier if at least the cords (where most problems happen) are user - replaceable. Sadly they are not. If anything was to go wrong with your ATH-M50 you would have to either send them to the service centre or try your luck with the soldering iron - there arent many cases of them going broken though so at least they are known to be durable
The Sound : ATH-M50 VS HD25 1-II
 |
| the frequency graph of the HD25 (blue) vs ATH-M50 (red) |
For example, I was adding layers of sub bass to my new track im working on and I swore that on the ATH-M50 it sounds just right, however on my Yamaha HS50m reference speakers i suddenly find no bass at all - why is this happening? Well due to the slightly boosted lower frequencies you might find that the mixes that you do with the ATH-M50 might just get really flat in other speakers - you see the boost in low is not always a good idea, however this makes the ATH-M50 pleasurable as a listening headphones other than just as reference monitors , so if you plan on using this to mixdown the low frequencies, be aware of the extra boost in the lows!!
The mids and the highs are represented well as well, the HD25 had this weird notch cut in the mid-highs (8khz?) which I have grown to be used to, upon listening to the ATH-M50s it was good to hear this mid-high that was strangely missing / notched out with the HD25s again.
Sound wise , I much prefer the sound of the ATH-M50, I can actually use the headphones for a much much longer time than I could with the HD25 before getting ear fatique, I dont trust the ATH-M50 enough to do final mixdowns and mastering (reference monitors are irreplaceable for these purposes) but for quick rough mixing and sketching out ideas at night, the ATH-M50's are perfect!
I would conclude that for DJing - the Sennheiser HD25's might still a better choice, except if you really want the isolation that the ATH-M50 can provide, I personally having used to the feather weight HD25 find it a little hard to get used to the solid weight of the ATH-M50, although I much prefer the sound and the isolation of the Audio Technicas rather than the Sennheiser, the ATH-M50 is much much better for studio / audio related purpose where good monitoring / isolation / sound is required
For me I'd say I will use them for different purposes, my old HD25 will get fixed up / modded and be used as my primary DJ headphones, while the ATH-M50 is my permanent home monitoring headphones for my late night ableton sessions!
Verdict:
The isolation + sound quality of the ATH-M50 is simply really really hard to beat - this is an extremely well built, high quality, awesome sounding headphones that is definitely worth every $$$! If the weight / size does not bother you - this one's a keeper!If you want something lighter, with a balanced sound, the Sennheiser HD25 might be a good alternative!
Link:
Audio-Technica ATH-M50 Professional Studio Monitor Headphones
Sennheiser HD25-1 II Closed-Back Headphones
Friday, February 3, 2012
Diary of a (DJ) Gear Addict - The Never Ending Journey
Quick Summary of My Gear Experimentation
I bought my first Turntables and vinyls in 2002 - my very first gear was a pair of cheap numark direct drive turntables and their shittiest mixer - These gear were terrible but it achieved one thing - got me to understand the basics of DJing the best way : thru vinyls
Over the time i have bought and sold more gear, as illustrated below (haha), if only I had more pretty pictures... These are the only ones I can find :)
Above is my setup when I got serious and got stable gigs in clubs, looking back that was a pretty bad-ass setup back in the days (2005??) , the CDJ800 MK1s , a pair of Super OEM turntable Decks (The HTD45), the Pioneer HDJ1000s , if i wasnt so crazy and such a gear addict i could probably have survived using these and solely these as my basic setup until today (ok maybe add Traktor on top)
I also had LOTS of vinyls - LOTS AND LOTS of them, cant imagine i spent so much money on music back in the days! People who complained about paying $2 for a song - We used to pay $17 - $20 for a piece of vinyl!!
I loved my vinyl so much that I used CDJs just because I was paranoid to wear down my vinyl - you see vinyls have a certain limited amount of plays before they slowly lose their quality, so i upgraded my CDJ800 MK1s to the MK2s when they came out later (no photo because i was too high/drunk/wasted during that time)
Unfortunately I had to relocate to Singapore in 2008, in which I had to sell all my setup (except for the vinyls coz they are priceless and have a serious sentimental value to me)
So as soon as I moved to singapore, I downgraded my setup to:
First I had the CDJ400 + DJM400 setup, I was quite happy with them for quite some time and then when the CDJ900 came out I decided to get one to sample the "REKORDBOX" Feature
The CDJ900/CDJ400 combo was not that good because the 400 does not support rekord box, and I did not want to sell a kidney to buy another 900 so i kept it like this for awhile... I also experimented with Serato and Also Traktor Scratch during this time, and then decided to stick with Traktor...
Ok this above setup is a kinda hybrid timecode/ midi thingie , the CDJ900 controls both deck A and B in Traktor thru timecode (via the Audio 4 DJ Souncard) and the NI Kontrol X1 controls FX/hotcues etc, as weird as it might sound this was a rock-solid setup, firstly because I do not have that much desk real estate, so the above works kind of like a layered Deck A/B in many controllers, but the difference is the decks are both being controlled thru timecode cd by the CDJ900
Oh and I got myself a killer new skratch mixer - the Rane TTM-56S!!!
I would actually recommend this setup above for people with limited desk space, One CDJ + One Mixer + Audio Interface (either Serato or Traktor), because especially when you are new, a lot of people will kinda expect you to be able to use CDJs, so if you started on controllers it would be a good idea to pick up an old CDJ just to experiment. Both Serato and Traktor has 'amputate mode' / 'single deck mode' where you can use one timecode deck (be it vinyl or cdj) to control more than one deck in the software - many people dont know that this is possible - but it is!
However, after using this setup for awhile , Native Instruments introduced the Traktor S4...
As you can see the S4 saved up a lot of space in my desk, allowing me to finally put my Macbook pro in a stand next to it! So basically I had a 4 deck functionality with one single unit - Awesome! This would become my main setup for exactly a year, until I sold the S4 to get the S2 (See my S2 review HERE)
Oh and I kept my TTM-56s because I have *evil* plans for it - basically im going back to my roots and i will rebuild a setup of 2xTurntables, Rane TTM-56s + Traktor Scratch while the S2 will be my main midi controller unit :)
I mean Its always good to have a controller which you can take out to rock no?
Time to start saving on the Turntables! Technics arent cheap these days!!
What I Have Learnt from all this
Be Happy With What You Have! (or try to hahaha)
I mean yeah gears are cool and that but I realized from my vinyl/cdj days I do seem to crave more and more gear all the time!
It would really be wise to invest in quality gear that you rarely need to replace, in my case this would be my awesome Rane TTM-56s mixer, these things would probably last a lifetime and would very rarely need a replacement, I am also on the hunt for brand new Technics 1210 turntables, which would be a hard task to do given its cease of production but hey... Who knows
I might do another blog post on the audio production stuff that I have acquired over the years (Ableton/Cubase etc) , which is just as confusing hahaha :P
Sorry for the long post! :)
I bought my first Turntables and vinyls in 2002 - my very first gear was a pair of cheap numark direct drive turntables and their shittiest mixer - These gear were terrible but it achieved one thing - got me to understand the basics of DJing the best way : thru vinyls
Over the time i have bought and sold more gear, as illustrated below (haha), if only I had more pretty pictures... These are the only ones I can find :)
 |
| First "PRO" setup back in... 2005?? |
Above is my setup when I got serious and got stable gigs in clubs, looking back that was a pretty bad-ass setup back in the days (2005??) , the CDJ800 MK1s , a pair of Super OEM turntable Decks (The HTD45), the Pioneer HDJ1000s , if i wasnt so crazy and such a gear addict i could probably have survived using these and solely these as my basic setup until today (ok maybe add Traktor on top)
I also had LOTS of vinyls - LOTS AND LOTS of them, cant imagine i spent so much money on music back in the days! People who complained about paying $2 for a song - We used to pay $17 - $20 for a piece of vinyl!!
I loved my vinyl so much that I used CDJs just because I was paranoid to wear down my vinyl - you see vinyls have a certain limited amount of plays before they slowly lose their quality, so i upgraded my CDJ800 MK1s to the MK2s when they came out later (no photo because i was too high/drunk/wasted during that time)
Unfortunately I had to relocate to Singapore in 2008, in which I had to sell all my setup (except for the vinyls coz they are priceless and have a serious sentimental value to me)
So as soon as I moved to singapore, I downgraded my setup to:
First I had the CDJ400 + DJM400 setup, I was quite happy with them for quite some time and then when the CDJ900 came out I decided to get one to sample the "REKORDBOX" Feature
The CDJ900/CDJ400 combo was not that good because the 400 does not support rekord box, and I did not want to sell a kidney to buy another 900 so i kept it like this for awhile... I also experimented with Serato and Also Traktor Scratch during this time, and then decided to stick with Traktor...
 |
| CDJ900 + X1 Combo - It works surprisingly well!! |
Ok this above setup is a kinda hybrid timecode/ midi thingie , the CDJ900 controls both deck A and B in Traktor thru timecode (via the Audio 4 DJ Souncard) and the NI Kontrol X1 controls FX/hotcues etc, as weird as it might sound this was a rock-solid setup, firstly because I do not have that much desk real estate, so the above works kind of like a layered Deck A/B in many controllers, but the difference is the decks are both being controlled thru timecode cd by the CDJ900
Oh and I got myself a killer new skratch mixer - the Rane TTM-56S!!!
I would actually recommend this setup above for people with limited desk space, One CDJ + One Mixer + Audio Interface (either Serato or Traktor), because especially when you are new, a lot of people will kinda expect you to be able to use CDJs, so if you started on controllers it would be a good idea to pick up an old CDJ just to experiment. Both Serato and Traktor has 'amputate mode' / 'single deck mode' where you can use one timecode deck (be it vinyl or cdj) to control more than one deck in the software - many people dont know that this is possible - but it is!
However, after using this setup for awhile , Native Instruments introduced the Traktor S4...
 |
| The NI S4 with KBCOVERS Traktor Skin! Finally I have space for my Macbook! |
As you can see the S4 saved up a lot of space in my desk, allowing me to finally put my Macbook pro in a stand next to it! So basically I had a 4 deck functionality with one single unit - Awesome! This would become my main setup for exactly a year, until I sold the S4 to get the S2 (See my S2 review HERE)
Oh and I kept my TTM-56s because I have *evil* plans for it - basically im going back to my roots and i will rebuild a setup of 2xTurntables, Rane TTM-56s + Traktor Scratch while the S2 will be my main midi controller unit :)
I mean Its always good to have a controller which you can take out to rock no?
Time to start saving on the Turntables! Technics arent cheap these days!!
What I Have Learnt from all this
Be Happy With What You Have! (or try to hahaha)
I mean yeah gears are cool and that but I realized from my vinyl/cdj days I do seem to crave more and more gear all the time!
It would really be wise to invest in quality gear that you rarely need to replace, in my case this would be my awesome Rane TTM-56s mixer, these things would probably last a lifetime and would very rarely need a replacement, I am also on the hunt for brand new Technics 1210 turntables, which would be a hard task to do given its cease of production but hey... Who knows
I might do another blog post on the audio production stuff that I have acquired over the years (Ableton/Cubase etc) , which is just as confusing hahaha :P
Sorry for the long post! :)
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Native Instruments Kontrol S2 massive discount pricing!!!
Always been wanting to buy the S2?
This is your chance!!!
Native Instruments is offering a special 30% off its uber awesome controller - the S2!
You can check out my very recent review of the S2 HERE
Yes - I am pretty angry that I just bought the S2 recently (and then the price dropped - BOO!) but the S2 is a great, full featured controller and is worth every cent, even without the discount (unlucly me), so this is a chance to buy one of the BEST 2 deck controller in the market at a very very low price...
It even Comes with the FULL Traktor Pro 2 software!!
The S2 is definitely destroying all the competition - with the discount price its features are unmatched by any other controller in the market at the similar price point (given the full feature Traktor Pro 2 included rather than LE!), I am not in any way sponsored or paid by Native Instruments to say this lol
The NI Kontrol S2 is now priced at USD $449 or even as low as $399 from retailers!!
Offer valid from now till March 31st 2012 Only!!!
Link: Native Instruments Traktor Kontrol S2
- $399!!
This is your chance!!!
Native Instruments is offering a special 30% off its uber awesome controller - the S2!
You can check out my very recent review of the S2 HERE
Yes - I am pretty angry that I just bought the S2 recently (and then the price dropped - BOO!) but the S2 is a great, full featured controller and is worth every cent, even without the discount (unlucly me), so this is a chance to buy one of the BEST 2 deck controller in the market at a very very low price...
It even Comes with the FULL Traktor Pro 2 software!!
The S2 is definitely destroying all the competition - with the discount price its features are unmatched by any other controller in the market at the similar price point (given the full feature Traktor Pro 2 included rather than LE!), I am not in any way sponsored or paid by Native Instruments to say this lol
The NI Kontrol S2 is now priced at USD $449 or even as low as $399 from retailers!!
Offer valid from now till March 31st 2012 Only!!!
Link: Native Instruments Traktor Kontrol S2
- $399!! |
| (alway wanted to say this) |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)