Tune in all this Christmas week for my guest slot on Solarstone's "Solaris International" radioshow.

For more info and airtimes, click here.

Chances are that if you're an aspiring electronic musician, and you have your own radioshow or podcast, you're doing the show in Ableton Live.  You may even be sequencing in Live (like I am for my dance music productions).  One of the reasons more and more people are using Ableton is its ease of use, and its automatic "warp" mode, that automatically adjusts the tempo of an imported song to the tempo that is currently playing in the sequence, really speeding up the process of making smooth mixes.  It's a great tool, but often misused.

Here's why:

What Ableton does in warp mode is the following:  the software finds the peaks and transients of a track (for example a kick drum), does a calculation of how far apart they are spaced, and interpolates the tempo of the song from that.  So, Ableton will naturally be much better at determining the tempo of track with drums, and even better with a loud 4/4 kick drum, than at determining the tempo of an ambient piece or a vocal or speech.  In fact, warp mode doesn't actually work automatically with an acapella, for example, and one needs to adjust the tempo manually (hopefully you know the original BPM, otherwise there's a lot of trial and error involved).  

There are different "warp" modes, and Ableton's default warp mode is "Beats."  In effect, what the different warp modes mean, is how Ableton changes the BPM of the original sample to the new tempo.  In Beats, it corrects itself to the length of note you set it to--from 1 bar, to 1/4 note all the way to transients.  You will want to use Beat mode really only for percussion samples, but NOT entire tracks.  And herein lies the problem I hear a lot on radioshows--all the tracks are warped in Beat mode, as it's the default, so there's a constant pulse, especially audible in breakdowns, at the rate that Ableton is correcting itself. 

If you're working on a vocal remix, NEVER use Beat mode on the vocal.  I've heard this so many times in remixes, even with some very well-known, established artists.  For vocals, "Tones" or "Complex" mode will work best.  Same goes for any non-percussive sounds.  Complex is great for individual samples, especially acoustic ones, like guitars.  Texture is very similar to Tones.  Basically, instead of correcting the tempo by adjusting the transients (like in Beat mode), in these other modes, Ableton uses different algorithms that effect the actual tone in order to make up for the tempo difference.  That's why, sometimes these modes can sound like there's a chorus effect or a phaser on the sample or track.  So, when you're doing your shows, also don't use tones or complex (except possibly in breakdowns), as the tracks, especially the drums will sound kinda fizzy. 

My suggestion is, to use the age-old, and least invasive "Re-pitch" mode as much as you can when you do radioshows.  It's just like changing the speed dial on a turntable, and has exactly the same effect and you get the least unadulterated sound.  The only exception you may want to make is with vocal tracks so the voice doesn't sound like a monster or a chipmunk.  In that case I would suggest to use Beat mode when the drums are playing, and then actually making an edit for the break, and use Complex mode in the break.

I hope this clears up some of the issues I so often hear that can so easily be avoided. 

October Radioshow now available as Podcast.  Enjoy :-)

1. Colt!-Coxen (Original Mix) (Elster)
2. Haito & Diringer-E-Love (Boxer)
3. Glitter-Take Over (Kraft)
4. Activa-Transmission (Gate 42 Remix) (Discover)
5. Lodos-Nothing (Dezarate & Manzano Remix) (Echelon)
6. Pryda-Balaton (Original Mix) (Pryda)
7. Freq-Return to the Masters (Original Mix) (Iboga)
8. Bissen feat. Victoria Gross-Like I Do (Original Rework) (Eve)
9. Steve Brian-Starlight (Original Remix) (Lange)
10. Shaun Greggan-Sunset Walk (Alex Robert Remix) (Red Force)
11. Lange feat. Sarah Howells-Let It All Out (Ronski Speed Remix (Lange)
12. Signum-Addicted (ASOT)
13. Cressida-Nevermind (Victor Dinaire & Bissen Dub) (Euphonic)
14. Ben Nicky-Catapult (Fabio Stein Remix)
15. Victor Dinaire & Noel Sanger-Wind And Sea (Dinaire & Bissen Remix) (Dissident)
16. Sean Tyas-I Remember Now (FSOE)
17. Solarstone-Last Defeat (Bissen Remix) (Solaris)
18. Bissen-Sand (2009 Rework) (Eve)
19. Victor Dinaire & Bissen-Denomination
20. Activa-Transmission (Original Mix) (Discover)

I'm compelled to write my thoughts on this issue, something a lot of us probably rarely ponder upon, disturbing trends that appear to be here to stay.  I'm talking about how digital audio recording and distribution has actually made audio quality a lot worse, rather than better, like it was supposed to.

First, let's talk about digital music distribution.  These days, most people get their audio fix online, whether it'd be via mp3 downloads, streaming audio (such as on the MySpace player or on Youtube), or, very rarely via an uncompressed .wav file purchased at Beatport.  This is disturbing, as an entire generation is now growing up on inferior sounding audio, and doesn't give a rat's ass about it.  Let's face it, the audio quality on most streaming websites is extremely inferior, and, by the way, a lot worse than audio cassettes in the 80's (and there, at least, you had the satisfying physical interaction with your music by pressing that clunky "play" button on your walkman). 

Now, I personally think that digital distribution is fantastic, and especially streaming music could potentially be the saving grace of the ailing music industry and a viable answer to illegitimate downloads.  Music can now reach every person in all corners of the world with the press of a mouse button.  And I'm sure that not everyone has lightning speed internet, some even still dial-up, which is why audio needs to be compressed to a data rate that can accommodate such connections.  Point taken. 

But what is disturbing is that people don't actively seek out superior-sounding audio in the form of 320 kbps mp3's, or uncompressed wav files (and I do laud Apple for offering 256 kbps files now on ITunes, instead of the original 128's).  Whatever happened to high fidelity, and the gratification one got out of owning a superior quality of music.  When CDs replaced cassettes and vinyl, people were flocking to buy everything on CD, giving up tapes especially, for the superior CD.  Now we're in a worse place than we were in the 80s.  Perhaps, in the end, it's a matter of economics--people rather listen to crappy quality, free stuff, than paying for the actual high-quality original.  Which defeats the argument that people are willing to pay a premium for better quality (like they used to, at least for audio).  And, I suppose, it's not just music we're talking about--how else would one explain the extreme success of Walmart.  Just something to think about.  But remember, club systems are a lot less forgiving than earphones, for example, so an mp3 under 256 will probably not sound very good in a club, as the high-end frequency spectrum such as percussion, are effected most by compression, and you will hear a fizzling effect.  All we can hope for, is that, as internet connections get faster throughout the world, audio will improve once again.  All infant technology eventually improves--the only stump is that digital audio is not particularly in its infancy stages, so we'll have to see...

Now if you can't hear the difference, fine.  And you may not even hear the nuances of a mix that only come out in an uncompressed audio file.  The reason why sample rate was set at 44.1 kHz (or 48, depending in which medium you work in), other than  the 2 formats being completely indivisible by any of the other divisors because of format wars in the 80s, was because you need 2 samples to sample a frequency, so 2 to sample 1 Hz, and 40,000 to sample 20,000.  Human hearing generally fizzes out between 17-20 kHz, so people figured if we set the sample rate to sample slightly higher than that, we can sample all frequencies that humans can hear (which is why it's complete and utter nonsense to raise the sample rate to 96kHz, for example, like they try to do on Bluray discs now, etc--it's just a marketing gimmick, nothing else, unless they want dogs to listen to the higher frequencies). 

What DOES, however matter, is bit depth, and this brings me to my second point: the limitations of digital recording.  Now, of course, when I write tracks, most, if not all sounds are created digitally.  No arguing there.  However, I do not mix them all together digitally, like so many producers do these days, on Fruityloops or other products, but rather on a good ol' fashioned analog mixing board.  The problem with mixing digitally is, that every time you mix 2 instruments together (say, for example, a kick drum and strings), you're in essence adding the 2 sounds together.  Now, if you're adding these 2 instruments digitally, you're performing a "subtractive" summation.  That may seem counter-intuitive, but think about it this way: You have a set number of bits (in most cases 16, sometimes now 24 or 32), and when you play one instrument, and add another, by default, since you work with a finite number of bits, some bits need to be taken away for the other sound to play on top of the original sound.  If you have 20-40 instruments going, like you tend to have in dance music, each individual sound suffers, and actually changes character as opposed to when you play it by itself, since bits are taken away to play the other sounds.  To get around this problem, professional studios are now actually acquiring analog summation devices.  And you thought we were done with analog.  So once again, digital proved to be not an all-out improvement, and people are going back to some technology that was thought to be going extinct.  The beauty of analog, that digital cannot reproduce, is that it's "additive" summation.  I.e. no matter how many instruments you add, they just add in with the rest of the instruments.  It's like a stream combining with other streams to form a river, or even the ocean.  You can keep adding, without having to take something away somewhere else. 

The difference in sound may not be so obvious to most casual listeners, but it is very obvious to me and other audio professionals, and tracks mixed poorly digitally (and believe me, there are many, many out there) have a very sterile, uniquely "digital" quality to them.  Of course, more expensive workstations such as Logic or ProTools have much better digital summation algorithms than Fruityloops or Ableton.  And I'm not saying one cannot create good 100%  digital mixes.  But there is a lot more to it, than many producers realize, and care needs to be taken in the use of EQ, compression and limiting on all individual instruments in a sequence to make a good digital mix.  And if you must mix digitally, consider mixing at a higher bit depth, such as 24 or 32, and export your master into the standard 16 bit format.

In the end, of course, a great musical idea will always override a bad mix, crappy internet streaming or digitally distorted instruments.  And though I've mixed many projects in purely a digital domain, I would never want to part with my analog tube compressors, preamps and mixing board. 

100% new and exclusive.  World Premiere plus Ferry Corsten Remix and many other goodies.  Happy early fall everyone ;-)

1. Son-Tec-My Tribe (Original Mix) (FATDrop)
2. N-Tone and Sergey Romashkin Feat Lorraine-Need Love (Aurum Beats Mix) (Deepblue)
3. Miss Nine-Lost and Found (Ohmna Remix) (Black Hole)
4. Debbie Loeb-How Does It Feel (Victor Dinaire & Bissen Remix) (BIG)
5. Saints & Sinners-Peace (Breakfast Remix) (Lost Language)
6. John Askew-Beirut (Thomas Datt Remix) (Discover)
7. Heatbeat-Vergatron (Soundpiercing)
8. Bissen-Sand (Fei-Fei Remix) (Flux Delux)
9. Victor Dinaire & Bissen-Denomination
10. Ferry Corsten-Twice In a Blue Moon (Bissen Remix)
11. Activa vs. Chris & Matt Kid-U.R. (Original Mix) (Discover)


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In the quickly growing number of superstar DJs supporting my remix of "I Gotta Feeling", it's nice to have confirmation that Paul van Dyk is now also hammering this thing. 

By the way, you can vote for this remix at the Beatport remix contest.  Head over to Beatportal.com for more info ;-)

Lastly, this is what some DJs have to say about the remix:

Paul van Dyk: "Support!"
Armin van Buuren: "Sounds Great!"
Tiesto: "Nicely done mate!"
Judge Jules: "The club reaction to the mix has been simply stunning!"

Hey all,

More podcasting yumminess for you to devour...  Originally ran as Recoverworld Radio guest slot, so another completely new one will be up soon ;-)

1. DT8 Project-We Belong (Instrumental Mix) (Mondo)
2. Ashley Wallbridge & Andy Moor feat. Meighan Nealon-Faces (AVA)
3. Signum-Addicted (ASOT)
4. Bissen-Sand (Fei-Fei Remix) (Flux Delux)
5. Bissen-Sand (2009 Rework) (Flux Delux)
6. Nitrous Oxide-Aurora (Anjuna)
7. Noel Sanger & Victor Dinaire-Wind and Sea (Dinaire & Bissen Remix) (Dissident)
8. Avenger-Spherria (Mark Eteson Remix) (Red Force)
9. Black Eyed Peas-I Gotta Feeling (Bissen Remix) (Interscope)

Enjoy :-D

-G

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I spent the last 2 weeks in Europe, taking care of some family stuff, and then took the opportunity to take myself off the grid and roam a few wonderful and historic cities as a tourist, something I rarely ever do on my home continent.  Every time I head over there, I still marvel at the prevalence of and the ease with which dance music is accessible.  Regardless, just like here in the US, in Europe too, dance music is definitely on the rise again, which spells great things to come over the next few years for all of us involved in this scene.

Coming back from the holiday, I was extremely happy to find my inbox absolutely flooded with e-mails about the Black Eyed Peas remix I did.  Seriously, I don't think I've ever received this much fantastic, individual feedback on any previous production.  And it all seems to be thanks to the one and only Judge Jules, who has been an avid supporter of my music since my very first record "Like I Do."  I guess there is something to be said about your music being broadcast to millions of people on Radio 1 on a Friday night.  So, thanks Judge :-)

Just to clarify, for now, the remix is a promo, and is not commercially available.  It has been sent to key DJs for promo purposes only.  Please understand that I cannot give it out for free, as I don't own the copyright of the track (a remixer never does).

Other randoms--it's a very humid 35 degrees (95 Fahrenheit) here in NY. Summer has arrived, albeit late.  Thankfully there's air conditioning. 

The dog days of summer also mean that the advertising wing of my work comes to a screeching halt for about a month, which gives me opportunity to dedicate myself full-time to wrap up and produce a bunch of new tunes :-D

Hope you're all staying cool,

-Georg

Summer greetings to everyone!

In case you've been wondering where the podcast (and radioshow) went, not to worry any longer.  While I am still on the hunt for the ideal station to host my show, I will be podcasting regularly once again (probably every other week or so).

To start things off, I've provided you an exclusive, 80-minute summer vibing mix, with lots of melodic and driving tracks :-)

Here's the tracklist:

1. Bissen pres. the Crossover-Washout (Myon & Shane 54 Remix)
2. Leventina-Here Workin' (Dinka Instrumental Mix)
3. Ashley Wallbridge & Andy Moor feat. Meighan Nealon-Faces
4. Paul van Dyk-Words (Jerome Isma-Ae Remix)
5. Bissen feat. Victoria Gross-Like I Do (2009 Rework)
6. Sunny Lax-Lair et Lec
7. Bissen-Sand (Bissen's 2009 Rework)
8. Nitrous Oxide-Aurora
9. Victor Dinaire & Bissen feat. Stephen Pickup-Run and Hide (Less Vocal Mix)
10. Ferry Corsten-Twice in a Blue Moon
11. Solarstone-Last Defeat (Bissen Remix)
12. Black Eyed Peas-I Gotta Feeling (Bissen Remix)
13. Bissen feat. Victoria Gross-Give It Away

Enjoy :-D


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