Jan 2010 Mix Comp winner: Steve Worrell

(Click on the "info" tab for the Tracklist)

The mix competition for February 2010 has been won by Steve Worrell, 24, of Milton Keynes.  Congratulations, Steve!

Favourite DJ: Marco V Favourite producer: Elon Favourite club: Berghain (Tresor a close 2nd!) Best party of your life: The last Trapped event, until 7am Worst party of your life: The last Trapped, AFTER 7am, when 'Captain Kezzle' reared his ugly head! Favourite food: Italian Dream alter-ego: "Stefan Vorrell", the pretentious German techno DJ with a pet crow! Ultimate self-indulgence: A credit card and Beatport. What clubbing means to you: You can't put into words how I feel about clubbing and techno!

Steve's mix, "guide to Berlin" has been inspired by his experiences at Tresor club in Berlin, amongst others. Steve has been DJing since he was 14, only ever playing house music.  He discovered minimal and techno only a couple of years ago, when trying some "new things"... and he was smitten! As with this mix, the music that Steve plays & makes is generally inspired by the Berlin scene.  He describes his affinity for clubs like Tresor and Berghain.  In his own words:  "They (Tresor and Berghain) hold a special place in my heart.  I love minimal and techno together, they compliment eachother so well.  Minimal for the groove, techno for the energy!" Steve runs his own club night on the 3rd Friday of each month in Milton Keynes, called Trapped, where they recently played host to Alan Fitzpatrick, and are in talks with Elon - another Berlin-inspired choice! Steve had an anecdote to tell us... "I Made a really crap tune in about 20 minutes before I went to work one morning.  I dropped it round to my mate Fraser's house and said it was a groundbreaking new tune from Richie Hawtin called "The New Techno".  I told him it was going to revolutionise techno as we know it and that I wanted his thoughts on the track.  Later that night, we got in from a night on the tiles and had a bit of the afterparty.  Fraser played "The New Techno"  no less than four times at the afterparty, telling everyone how groundbreaking the track was, little did he know that everyone at the party was in on it.  I broke his heart in front of everyone when I told him the truth!" ...Oh, the humanity!

Steve is playing for Mimo at the Whitehouse on Mar 6th, and at Ministry of Sound on Mar 12th... "So, if you're around, please come and say hello, and grab a CD from me!"

[Links]

Youtube | Soundcloud | Trapped

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:

Music DNA: The future of digital media?

The people responsible for the MP3 file format have decided to take things a step further. MusicDNA has had a mixed response from the industry, but is this simply becuase we don't yet know enough about it?

This system has been created by Norwegian developer Dagfinn Bach, who worked on the first MP3 player in 1993.  It's funded by, amongst others, German Researcher Karlheinz Brandenburg (left), who invented the MP3 format and is currently the Director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology in Germany.

What we DO know, is that MusicDNA is a deluxe file format with the ability to hold up to 32GB of mixed media.  This could include videos, images, song lyrics, interviews, bonus tracks, sleeve notes... you name it.  The files are made to be extremely searchable, and they will dynamically update with new content every time you connect to the internet.

MusicDNA appears to also have it's own 'player' software, which includes a recommendation engine, as well as the ability to display any web content.  This means that people who make music can use MusicDNA files to provide their fans with a vast array of information.  Blog posts, Facebook event pages, practically anything can be included.  This makes MusicDNA a potentially huge marketing tool beyond any previous formats for media release.

Being so dense in information, they will likely cost more to buy than your standard iTunes or Beatport purchase.  Bach & Brandenburg are hoping that users are prepared to pay up for the extras.  Some, however, are skeptical.  There are those who say that iTunes, whilst not only being the worlds biggest digital music retailer, also has many of these system (although not as extensively) in place.  The recommendation engine included in MusicDNA is preceeded by iTunes' "Genius" toolbar, which many feel already does a good job of reliably suggesting relevant music to its users.  Cover notes, bonus tracks and videos are also things iTunes has offered for some time.  So why the fuss?  Are people going to stick with the old, or embrace the new?

The move from iTunes to MusicDNA is much like the move from DVD to Blu-Ray.  The previous format is by no means unsatisfactory, and already includes some great features.  However, the newbie is a logical progression into more varied, detailed media with features galore.  Stefan Kohlmeyer, who works for Bach's company 'Bach Technologies' says: "Out of a rusted old VW Beetle we are making a Ferrari... We are taking an existing idea, giving the end user a lot more and making that file much more valuable - like transforming a tiny house into a huge villa."

At current, this is the only released image showing the potential look of the MusicDNA software:

Support for the format has come in the form of small labels signing up to use the format for their releases.  Typical of their aversion to changing how they work, none of the large record companies have signed up yet.  Hopefully, this will change.  The key to saving the business of selling music is to move forward with the digital age, and to embrace all its new changes.

A beta version is being launched this Spring, with a full roll-out expected at the end of Summer, given that everything goes to plan.  Click the logo below to visit the MusicDNA website, where you can also sign up to be a part of it.