Jan 2010 Production Comp winner: Dario Davide

[CLICK HERE TO VISIT DARIO'S SOUNDCLOUD PAGE]

Dario Davide is the winner of the January 2010 production competition on Techno Laud!  We simply loved the energy of Dario's groovey tech funker,
'Bad Hairday'.


And now for a little info about the man behind the track...

Favourite DJ/Producer: I dont really have one but i like Speedy-J, Joseph Capriati, Oliver Huntemann, Umek, Dubfire, Adam Beyer, Extrawelt, Spektre etc. Favourite clubs: Melkweg, Westergas-fabriek, Studio 80 Best party I went to lately: Awakenings Drumcode night (2009) Worst party i went to: A few, but when that happens, I make sure that I don't remember! Favourite food: Italian and Indonesian (which also happens to be my origin) Dream alter ego: I Don't know, but I can fly in my dreams... What clubbing means to me: Dancing, meeting new people, hearing new music, having fun, dancing dancing, releasing and going berserk!

Currently living in the suburbs of Amsterdam, Dutch-born Dario began his musical journey as a young child at the age of 5.  He and his mother lived above a bar which his mother owned.  Dario started to sneak into the DJ booth to play records from popular artists of the 70s such as Boney-M, Kool and the Gang, and The BeeGees. It was then through the likes of Grandmaster Flash, Afrika Banbataa and Doug E Fresh that Dario grew an interest in scratching vinyl records, and even formed his very own 'B-boy posse' right in the middle of the scratch-hype of the early 90s! Around the age of 15, after being asked to play at an Acid House graduation party, Dario became interested in the growing house scene of the time. Using equipment such as a Boss drum-computer, S1200s and an Amiga 500, Dario was able to gain his first production experiences through cutting samples and beat-making. In 1996, he entered several turntablism competitions, including the Dutch DMC championships - for which he was sent to Italy, where he competed to be the world champion.  Dario was knocked out, but left with some invaluable experiences. After his son was born in 1992, Dario took a step back from DJing and producing and slowly learnt the ins and outs of production whilst building up his own studio over the years. Dario explains why techno is now his main point of focus: "I love many styles and have never had the urge to go commercial so I have always made music just for the fun - this went from hiphop, soul, breaks and trance to techno until about 3 years ago, when I started to focus mainly on techno music which gives me the freedom to combine everything that I like!' And these days... "Once in a while I will meet someone from back in the day, and the first thing they ask is "Are you still doing the i-oe-ioe wiggy wiggy" (making scratch noises)." Since 2009, Dario Davide has started to make his re-appearance as a promising techno DJ and producer and is sure to have some more great tracks to be let lose in the near future, so keep your eyes peeled! Dario was also very proud to tell us about his son, Wesley, who has also started DJing - Be sure to have a listen to his mixes here!

[LINKS]

Facebook | Myspace | Soundcloud
Dario's new techno parties (Dutch site)

Production Competition - Sample Magic Giveaway!

Great news, techno children!

We've been sponsored by Sample Magic for February's production competition.  The lucky winner will get to choose and keep one of the amazing sample packs from Sample Magic's catalogue for free!  For your chance to win, show off your production prowess by sending the Techno Laud your own original track!

Sample Magic are renowned as one of the very best brands of samples, and are used by top producers worldwide.  This prize will prove a great asset to any budding, or experienced, producer.  As well as getting the sample pack, the winner will have a feature article written about them on Techno Laud.

Opening date for entries:

1ST FEB 2010

Closing date for entries:

28TH FEB 2010

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[TERMS & CONDITIONS]

+ Entries sent after these dates will be considered for the March competition, so make sure you stick to these dates for your chance to win the samples!
+ Sample Magic's new book, "The Secrets Of House Music Production" is not included in this prize giveaway offer.

[SUBMISSION FORMATS]

+ Links to submissions must be posted as a comment below this post, or emailed to: competition@technolaud.co.uk

+ You may send links to online streams, or to download the track from an online host.

+ Email attachments will NOT be accepted.

+ Streaming tracks must be encoded at a reasonable quality (at the very least, 192kbps)

+ If you are sending a download link, accepted formats are:  MP3 (320kbps) / WAV / AIF

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The winner will be informed by email.

You can check out the great Sample Magic products on offer here.

The winners of January's production competition and mix competition will be announced soon!

Sample Magic Demos:

Dec 2009 Production Comp winner: Alex Mark

Congratulations to Alex Mark for winning our production competition for Dec 09 with his track, "Sticky".  We loved this track for the deep spacious sound of its pulsating sidechained chords, along with a nice rolling beat.  Some great production here, with a clear and focused palette of sounds.  Great work!

Alex Mark

Alex's influences have come from a number of different backgrounds, which in turn, have shaped the soundscapes of his 2009.  Citing  Pokerflat, M-nus, Mobilee, Mothership, TuningSpork as favourite labels and influenced by Sebo K, Martin Landsky, Max Cooper and Radioslave, to name but a few, it seems that he’s aiming high to achieve releases that match those of his peers, but his philosophy of constant studio time coupled with experimentation seems to be paying off. Aside from the underground electronic scene, Alex also looks toward other influences, still firmly routed in electronica, but on a more ambient level, such as Boards of Canada, Vangelis and Krafwerk, for inspiration, whilst maintaining the need to make people move and be moved by the complex beats and haunting melodies, that are key to his production ethos.

2009 was an interesting year for Alex . Having wrapped up his successful monthly night ‘WoRd!’, which was, strictly speaking, the only night during 2007-2008,  at which you could hear Minimal and Tech House being played anywhere across the North Wales coast, he embarked on producing his own music again, having taken a break to get his night off the ground.

This isn't the only production competition Alex has won... In summer of 2009, Alex’s remix of Tim Sheriden’s track “Villain” won the VeryVeryWrongIndeed remix competition, giving him a solid platform for his next remix for the Heavy Duty Brothers track “Check This Out” in November of that year.

Since then, he’s been working towards getting his own productions released, some of which are being supported by the likes of Rob Maynard (passionFM/DirtyDJ recordings), 10Sui (SamuraiFM), Jamie Gittins (FilthyGorgeous) and Ibiza veteran Curtis Randles to name but a few.  Right now, Alex is aiming to get his sound as a Producer/DJ firmly on the map in the Techno/Tech House scene and build on the success of his busy 2009.

Links for Alex Mark:

Soundcloud

Podcast

Facebook

Monthly Mix / Production Competition - Announcement

Send us your mixes & tracks, and every month, we'll post an article on the blog about the winning artists (one for best mix of the month, and one for best track of the month) and their work, including biographies, and any media related to the artist.

To send us your mixes & tracks, you can simply click on the button at the top-right hand side of the blog, or just email them to:

competition@technolaud.co.uk

(links to listen to online streams are preferred)

We love to hear innovative ideas in music, and look forward to receiving your entries!