Dancing with the Stars
Jan 1, 2008 12:00 PM, Markkus Rovito
Remix Hotels are developing this chronic habit of hosting No. 1-selling artists and producers. Only they're not there to talk about their tricked-out cars, pimpin' pads or hot girlfriends. They're there to talk about how they make their music and how you can make yours better. Case in point: T-Pain graced Remix Hotel Los Angeles, which ran Nov. 8-10 at the SAE Institute of Technology on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. Mr. Pain conducted a Logic Master Class in the Apple VIP Room on Nov. 10. Apple also brought dance music mainstays DJ Rap and Josh Gabriel for Logic Master Classes.
At the always-packed Shocklee Innertainment panels, 9th Wonder, FreQ Nasty, Carmen Rizzo, Karriem Riggins and others spoke out on the importance of becoming a full-fledged producer rather than just a beatmaker. Meanwhile, other panels — featuring DJ Warrior, Aloe Blacc, MED and more — broke down the differences between mixtape and radio DJs, explained mix engineering, discussed music promotion and gave aspiring producers feedback on their demos.
Elsewhere, three of the World Famous Beat Junkies (DJ Babu, DJ Rhettmatic and J.Rocc) rocked the Rane room on Serato Scratch Live; DJ Revolution, Daddy Kev and others tore it up on M-Audio Torq DJing software; and Arabian Prince demoed the Korg Zero8 mixer. Potential stars of the future were also on hand as the iStandard Producer Battle crowned Alabama hustlers, Da Grindaz, champions of the first iStandard throwdown in L.A. and gave them a new Roland SH-201 synth.
Attendees soaked up plenty of other treats as well, such as wildly creative Ableton Live demonstrations; the new multitouch DAW control surface, JazzMutant Dexter; funky DJ sets in the GCI Technologies room; hands-on gear demos in the Yamaha, Roland and Celemony rooms; and glimpses of supertall comedian Sinbad taking it all in.
For audio and video highlights from Remix Hotel Los Angeles 2007, go to remixmag.com.
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