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Bopstar



Last Updated: 12/3/2009

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Status: Single
Country: UK
Signup Date: 5/30/2006

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Wednesday, June 17, 2009 




The heavyweights, the essentials, the straight up anthems from the year so far as regards to strictly soulful runnings, as far as I,,m concerned anyway. Love and light. Yameen feat Lady Alma ,,Light Of Love,, (MDCL vocal) Nathan Adams & Zepherin Saint ,,Circles,, Sacha Williamson ,,A Better View,, (Martino mix) Chalk Hill ,,Nobody Loves Me Like You,, Shake The Dog ,,Run,, [...]


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7:47 PM 
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Sunday, February 22, 2009 

Category: Music



As I posted here, http://www.bopstar.tv/blog/category/the-show/ , Zara and I had a good ol’ natter the other day about going out and doing ‘Captured’, ‘Desire’, Chiaroscuro’ (etc) live, PA style at first, with a view to doing trio style in time (dj/vocalist/instrumentalist). She’s now in the final months of her Postgrad in Jazz, so we’re gonna be looking to do the first show(s) round August time. Meantime we got some rehearsing to fit in, some more checking out of who does this shit well, and a few warm up impromptus along the way :)
I’ll post more when I know more…



2:18 PM 
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Saturday, December 20, 2008 
You need this. Honestly, just trust me and get it. It is a flippin thing of beauty! And the articles are deep, deep, and dope! 74 pages of heat. This one is a classic. I'm reppin the fam with a half page of reviews in it but thats not why you need this. All the other ish in here is flippin sick.

Order it from www.shook.fm. I promise you if it's not the best music mag you bought in 2008 I personally will step in and give you your money back. I'll also conk you in your head for being a fool but hey.

SICK!!!

2:17 PM 
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Tuesday, December 16, 2008 

Category: Music
There's a new Bopstar mix cd, strictly limited 100 copies, but also going out on Soul Heaven radio, and as I've been doing all Summer, it's available as a special gift for all the podcast subscribers from my site
http://www.bopstar.tv/blog

Direct link:
http://www.bopstar.tv/blog/podpress_trac/web/35/0/bopstar-mixsession-dec08192.mp3

Get it in ITunes:
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=286686142
8:33 AM 
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Sunday, October 19, 2008 

Category: Music
(BTW I dont always post up on myspace, so if u want the latest episodes bang up to date, best to doublecheck www.bopstar.tv/blog each week)

This sunday Phil Asher and the family dropped in on the show, played some of the tracks from the forthcoming album and had a little chat.  The questions came from the listeners, I wasnt trying to do some big interview thing, just a casual one. New joints include that mirror dub, the Mark Force bits, and a sneaky preview of a next Bopstar remix, in the works…

(Apologies for the bits of distortion, was having mic issues!)

Download
Subscribe in Itunes
Or visit www.bopstar.tv/blog

Tracklist:

Marlon D 'Steel This'
Afefe Iku 'Mirror DUB'

Phlash & Friends 'Deep Electronic Sound'
Phlash & Friends ft Ommas & Benji B 'Do It Up'
Phlash & Friends ft Sandra Nkake 'Exaltation'
Phlash & Friends ft Bopstar 'Hazy'
Phlash & Friends ft Zed Bias & Fyza 'Look At What We've Done'
Phlash & Friends ft Simbad & Danny Huckridge 'Let Your Heart Pump You'
Phlash & Friends ft Lady Alma & Afronaut 'Junge Orchidz'

Kele Le Roc & Mark Force 'The Rhythm'
Perempay N Dee 'In The Air' (Bopstar's Wonky mix)
Flowriders 'Russelology' (restless soul mix)
Blakai 'Simmer Down'
Jazzanova 'Let Me Show Ya' (Henrik Schwarz)
SAF ft Pete Simpson 'So Ez' (Bopstar remix RUFF, preview runnins!)
Shuya Okino 'A Million Tears' (Kaytronik)
Syren 'My First Love' (K2wizzl r&b mix)
Zed Bias & Jenna G 'Let Me Change Your Mind'




7:23 AM 
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Saturday, September 20, 2008 

Category: Music
22 things ive learnt in the last couple of years, aka, are u getting started producing, and havent got the sound u want yet?

1 check the basics - if u aint done a course, or got schooled in a studio by an existing engineer, and u r strictly at home with your computer, check out the paul white books (he's the geezer who edits sound on sound magazine) on amazon , on the basics of production and recording - theyre not big books, theyre easy to read, and frankly the fundamentals are crucial - of course u can get going without these but u really want this knowledge

2 that said, just get on with it, dont wait, dont worry about not knowing everything, there's always too much to learn, dont let it stop u and just start something.

3 if u do get stuck then a. the manual (help) is your friend! just taking a minute to check it out for gods sake. how many people dont RTFM??!! b. still stuck? impatient and suffering attention deficit disorder? ok go online and search, join a couple of production forums - in particular soundonsound.com is a great spot.

4 monitors - when u got some money, u need at the very least good monitoring headphones - my peoples headphone of choice is the sony mdr 7506 - me, naut, phlash, all swear by that puppy, and we all came to that conclusion independently, not like one of us told the other 2. when i turned up at phils house with mine one day, same way when i turned up at a club playing longside naut couple years back, they were both like oh u got those too! hell yeah i got those. tried and trusted. im not particular rich, so i can't afford some big atc or pmc monitor speakers (the pmc active would be on the shopping list tho) but nevertheless, i love my little krk v4 monitor speakers as well. (the newer vxt speakers are fantastic) you have to have reasonable monitors, and although its a subjective choice based on taste, you really want something "revealing"! and even the small krk's are exactly that. check soundonsound.com for any reviews, audition a few types and make your choice - avoid anything super budget!

5 listen! listen! listen! listen deeply. this is just a truism about music generally right: composing, performing, producing, etc its all more about the listening to the sound than just making of sound - listening is making! listen to other tracks - reference your stuff against that stuff. whether you got £1000 monitors or ipod headphones, just listen, a lot, and know how your stuff sounds compared to other stuff, on those ipod headphones.

6 alright thats the output but also crucial is the input (if your recording). a half decent mic (if u havent got the money for that neuman) (amazing whats available today for 100 quid that 10 years ago u just could not get - thanks to thousands of nimble chinese fingers as it happens) - mine's an adk and its served me very well - not that im reccomending it over other mics because there's just so many to choose from - the rode's are popular - if u'r a singer or mc, then everyone will tell u, there's no one single best mic, its all about what mic your voice sounds good on, so its not about the most expensive, u just need to go to a shop and audition how u sound on a few in their mic booth - if your not recording live sound dont worry bout it :)


7 and a good quality sound card / audio interface (its all about ad/da!) - how good the mic is, is irrelevant if your soundcard is wack - at the high end is stuff like the apogee for mac, and the prism sound orpheus (if i ever get the money im getting the orpheus) - in the middle is focusrite saffire, mbox2pro, emu (1602m), rme, motu, presonus, and just too many to choose from really - like with the mics tho, even 150 quid gets u a decent little audio interface these days - meanwhile if u havent even got that, dont sweat it, just do your thing...


8 right, down to business, when u mix and arrange, whatever software u use (im a cubase boy), one useful approach is to think of where in the whole frequency spectrum, from the lowest bass tones to the highest off the chart only dogs can hear whistle, each of your sounds goes - ideally each sound in your track has a unique place, so for example when u have a kick drum with some proper big bass to it, and it probably overlaps then with your bassline's place in the frequency spectrum, so u probably need to just eq that a little bit and take it down at a certain frequency, and  maybe boost it a little at a different frequency, so both the kick and the bassline have their own unique spots in the spectrum, at least to an extent.

9 to this end, use a spectral analysis plug in to get a on screen view of whats going on (and again, listen to what that sounds like) - waves paz analyzer is great, if u got waves plug-ins, voxengo have a free one u can download called span, which is hot too.


10 generally avoid the lowest frequencies - anything below 40 is usually best cut entirely.

11 watch out for anti-phasing! waves paz again can help to find out if any tracks are out of phase. on this subject, generally avoid stereo wideners in your productions.

12 build a library of drum hits and loops. i have this library of goldbaby hits which is very big and is probably a quarter of my drum sounds - with the other sources being: the waldorf attack vst instrument for electronic sounds, my record collection (from 60s jazz to smack, to even swiping sounds from my contemporaries), and then there's plugging in the mic and banging or shaking anything lying around.

13 use whatever drum sampler/sampler u can lay your hands on - theyre all good - from halion to battery, i use Guru which is awesome - dont think u have to have a mpc, thats just one way of working.

14 learn some basics about synthesis, ideally get any hardware synth at all to mess about with the knobs, more fun than the software versions, and there is something going on with the sounds for sure. even that tiny korg , the microkorg, is cheap and has some dutty and disgusting possibilities.


15 my favourite mix and compression plug-ins are actually Sonalksis (big up magic aka ceramic for hipping me to their goodness), alonsgide waves of course - i use sonalksis eq or compression on most things including the stereo master. and after im done, ill stick the waves l2 on the bounced demo(which is until it goes and gets mixed and mastered by someone else, if there's budget for that)

16 psp and ohmboyz make some sick special effects! get your hands on a couple if u can (alongside those sonalksis plugins and the waves bundle) - but at the same time dont worry if u cant...

17 ... its all about what u have not what u dont have . plug this thing into that thing in order to get away from the normal. eg if u like me have cubase and there's some default delay that u just think sounds too default, plug some next plugin on top of it (like a flanger or something) and mess wit the settings on both


18 use sends! if u read/learnt your basics u already know this! in general dont put an effect on a channel, but send that channel to another channel and put the effect on the send (100% wet)! then u can eq and mix the original dry source and the 100% wet effect, as independent sounds. if it werent for send channels boy i'd be screwed.


19 its all about changes - even if its just a changing of levels, changing a filter frequency, changing a hi hat pattern, changing whatever - every few bars change some thing. music is change/movement.


20 amazing whats out there for free or cheap - top quality as well - orca synth, tal-bassline, crystal synth, wavosaur editor, reaper daw, the voxengo stuff! nuff! or just get computer music magazine any month of the year and you'll have all the software u need. your ears are more important than any 1 piece of software or hardware and u already have them

21 nuff top name producers on big name artists records (maybe 50%? of them)  these days mix "in-the-box" - AKA, inside their computer - doing the same thing as u and me - main differences? probably some super nice studio environment for them to mix in, monitors u and i cant afford, a range of great mics to use, that apogee audio interface, and whatever plugins they want regardless of cost (things like the sonalksis, the waves, sonnox, oxford eq etc) - but fact is u can do what they are doing with pretty much your ears and a laptop now.

22 on that subject of where those guys are mixing, learn a couple things about acoustics and set up your listening environment accordingly - eg be careful about bass trapping - keep speakers away from being too close to walls, watch out for reflective surfaces, if u dont have acoustic materials hang up soft furnishing and just avoid reverberation in the room etc

errr,,,, thats it for now i think
9:37 PM 
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Saturday, September 20, 2008 

Current mood:  busy
Plenty of new heat starting with that Seiji rub of Jazmine Sullivan, plus a preview of the Bopstar remix of Perempay n Dee, and a Thank-You-Patrick (Forge) selecshun.

(And no distortion! I got the technicals licked!)

Available on www.bopstar.tv/blog
On itunes
Or: Download

–

Jazmine Sullivan 'Need U Bad' (Seiji mix)
Jonny Miller 'Lose Control'
Perempay n Dee 'In The Air' (Bopstar's Wonky mix)
Shuya Okino 'Thank You' (KJM house mix)
Tonya Renee 'About You' (Karizma mix)
Ane Brun 'Headphone Silence'
Dozie 'Sensuality' (Aybee mix)
Glenn Underground 'So Amazing'
Boddhi Satva 'Reminiscence'
Duce Martinez / Stephanie Cook 'Could This Be Love' (Jon Cutler mix)
Flowriders 'Russelology'(Bittersweet)
Chris Rob Ghetto People (Tea Party mix)
Fuzzy Logik 'Polyfunk'
Peven (no last name required) 'Soul Heavy'
Blaze 'Wishing You Were Here'
Agent K ft Carleen Anderson 'Rideaway Getaway'
Neon Phusion 'Destination'
3:12 PM 
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Tuesday, September 02, 2008 

Current mood:  inspired
Category: Music
After an oh-so-speical gig in London town from the man like Peven Everett, this week's show HAD to be about the man himself. Plus Vu family members and fellow Peven appreciators Unique and Equilibrium touch down on the decks in Hr 2.

Available on www.bopstar.tv/blog
On itunes
Or: Download


--
(Peven hour)
'Gabriel' live from maida vale
'Special'
'Bangin'
'All My Life'
'Last Night' (bopstar edit)
'Put Your Back Into It'
'Washing'
'I Know When I'm Met'

(unique and Equilibrium Peven selection)
'Cant Do Without'
'Everyday Girl'
'Stuck'
Funky Horns ft Peven Everett 'Blow'

--
(Unique and Equilibrium back to back, tracklist to follow)

--
(Bopstar roundin out)
Flowriders 'Russelology' (Aphrodisiax)
Jenna G 'Let Me Change You Mind'
Spec Boogie 'Bed Stuy'

8:37 AM 
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Thursday, August 14, 2008 

Current mood:  relaxed
Category: Music

Fresh new biscuits from Phlash and Friends, Bugz in the Attic, Peven Everett, a coupla Bopstar dubs, plus some sensual soul from Ra-Re Valverde, and as we get that bit closer to Carnival, more pre-Carnival selekshun…

Available on www.bopstar.tv/blog
On itunes
Or: Download

SAF ft Pete Simpson 'So EZ' (Bopstar refix, demo)
Phlash & Friends 'Exaltation'
Inaya Day 'The Way It Was'
Bopstar 'Captured' (restless soul mix, demo)
Bugz In The Attic 'Expression'
Bopstaz At Work 'Journey Into Always'
Thommy Davis 'Mars Needs Women'
4Hero 'Look Inside' (Izmabad mix)
2000 Black 'Hey There'
Buraka Som Sistema 'Kalemba'
restless soul 'Tricks' (brukplate)
Alison David 'Dreams' (bop plate)
Tonya Renee 'Off My Mind'
Phlash & Friends 'Running' ft Shea Soul
Peven Everett 'Last Night' (bopit)
Ra-Re Valverde 'Love Will'

10:51 PM 
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Tuesday, August 05, 2008 

Current mood:  inspired
Category: Music
Posted now on http://www.bopstar.tv/blog
Also available on itunes

Ez people. On this week's show Mark De Clive Lowe aka Mashi touches down and hits us up with a set of all-new MDCL exclusives, and takes a Q&A with the listeners. Then I get in to my Carnival is Coming selection…

Unfortunately, the first 40 minutes of my recording of the show came out corrupted, so, have to wait till next week to re-hear the Phlash & Friends bits.

(apologies for the overdrive in parts, i'll get that tamed for future)

Download

Tracklisting

–
(the missing segment)
Dunneasy ft Monique Bingham 'Wont Stop' (reprise)
Phlash & Friends 'Exaltation'
Sergio Mendes ft Ledisi 'Waters of March' (spinna mix)
Phlash & Friends ft Shea Soul 'Runnin'
Perempay ft Dee 'Time To Let Go'

MdCL 'Mash it Loose' -  (test)
replife 'Ready Set Go' - (test)
MdCL 'Get Started' feat Omar - (test)
DJ Kawasaki 'Makes Me Feel Like Dancing' (MdCL remix instrumental) - (test)

–
(successful recording begins)

The Politik 'Dreams' (test)
Mystro 'Betta Believe' (test)
Recloose 'Catch A Leaf' (MdCL remix) - (Sonar Kollektiv)
MdCL '4 Floor 7′ - (live jam)
MdCL 'bud' -  (demo)
The Politik 'Moonlight feat Blu' (C Swing remix) - (test)
Donny Hathaway 'Valdez in the Country' - (Motown)

(end of mashi selection)

–

Omar 'Your Mess' (mashi remix)
2000 Black 'Hey There'
Marc Mac 'Takes Ova Me'
restless soul ft Shea Soul 'Tricks'
Thommy Davis 'Mars Needs Women'
Altered Natives 'Rass Out'
Deetron 'Lets Get Over It' (Phlash edgit)
Groove Armada ft Angie Stone 'Feel The Same' (Muthafunkaz)
Kem 'Heaven'
Slique 'Got It For Me'
10:03 AM 
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