skioakenfull's blog

1/4" jack Neutrik patchbay

After searching around unsuccessfully for a template to print labels for my 1/4" Jack Neutrik patchbay, I decided to make one myself.
It's an Excel file and is attached to this post. The patchbay model is here:
http://www.studiospares.com/patchbays/neutrik-48-way-jack-patchbay/invt/...
Enjoy!

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Package icon Ski_NeutrikPatchBayLabels.xlsx_.zip32.96 KB

Over the last few months I've been working on a major update of Point Blank's Mixing Dance Music for Ableton Live course with top sound engineer Anthony Chapman. It's been expanded from a four week to an eight week course, and will guide you through fundamental mixing techniques like image and balance, dynamics, EQ, reverb, depth, mixing vocals and even mastering. It's the perfect course for remixers, studio engineers and programmers alike.

Please check out the video below, and also read more about it here.

Ski has recently remixed the second single from Bluey's solo album 'Leap of Faith' which was released on 25 October 2013 on Dôme Records
It's available on iTunes Stores here:

UK https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/sky-ski-oakenfull-remix-single/id730986480
ITALY https://itunes.apple.com/it/album/sky-ski-oakenfull-remix-single/id730986480
OTHER COUNTRIES https://itunes.apple.com/album/sky-ski-oakenfull-remix-single/id730986480

Academy of Electronic Music

Catch up here!

Point Blank, in association with Armada Music, Google+ and DJ Mag, have been presenting the Academy of Electronic Music. It's the world's first socially-driven online music school, giving aspiring music producers and DJs the chance to share their best tracks, get feedback from peers, industry experts and their favourite DJs and producers, plus the chance to be mentored as the world's next superstar producer. The ultimate prize is to get your track signed to Armada Music – awarded best global dance label for the fifth year running.

Point Blank's Ski Oakenfull has been providing professional music production training for seven lucky finalists via the flagship Electronic Music Composition course. This course is designed to allow students to take the next step in their productions by teaching the fundamentals of composition and creative songwriting.

The Academy of Electronic Music allows electronic music fans from around the world to tune into the Academy, follow their favourite producers, collaborate with one and another and access professional music training via interactive Google+ Hangout tutorials.

The hangouts were broadcast live throughout October and November from Point Blank's YouTube channel, and you can catch up with the ones you missed by heading over to this new section of Ski's site.

Fifths CD Single Competition

It's Competition Time!

There are 12 exclusively signed copies of my 2000 release 'Fifths' up for grabs.

I will post out a copy to the first twelve entrants who can answer the following question:

What was the name of the album 'Fifths' was featured on?

Please use the contact form on this website to submit your correct answer using 'FIFTHS COMPETITION' in the title and don't forget to include your name and address.

Postage is £1 for UK Residents and £2 for Outside UK which will be requested via paypal

Competition is currently open and will end on 1st December 2013.

Here is the tracklist:
01 Original Mix 4'42"
02 Jazzanova 6 Sickht Mix 8'00"

You can check the video for this track below:

You can see some more pictures of this CD here:
https://www.skioakenfull.com/gallery_album/fifths_cd_single_competition

I've recently completed a new remix of a track from the forthcoming album by Italian band Cinemavolta. You can check it out here and discover more about the band with the links below.

http://www.cinemavolta.it/
https://www.facebook.com/cinemavolta
https://twitter.com/thecinemavolta

Announcing...

A track I collaborated on with Kris Holiday who was one of my Point Blank students, has recently seen a release on Big Mamas House Records.

You can purchase it from iTunes or Beatport. It also features on a forthcoming compilation album entitled 'Ibiza 2013 - The Official Compilation which you can check out here: iTunes

You can check out the track here:

Uploaded 17th Jan 2012....



Uploaded 15th Jan 2013....

2012 has been a great year, and I've especially enjoyed the fact that my tutoring at Point Blank has spawned two collaborations with students of mine, both leading to releases in 2013.

Firstly, a track I worked on with Kris Holiday from Saint Paul in the US. It's due out early 2013 on Big Mama's House Records.

Secondly there's the track I worked on with Faraj Alkuwari otherwise known as Youngs2ar from Doha in Qatar. It's also due out early 2013 on Endemic Digital.
UPDATE: AUG 2020 - preview no longer available

The Azealia Banks '212' Tutorial video I made for Point Blank Online College was published recently in the DJ Mag Free online edition. You can check it out here: http://www.djmag.com/djweekly/ Its DJ Weekly 127.

I'm also attaching the offline version for you to download. You'll find the attachment underneath the picture..

You can also download the Native Instruments Massive Patch I created in the tutorial here.

Here's the accompanying text:

Although Lazy Jay is credited as a featured artist on this track, Azealia actually laid a vocal on his original instrumental, 'Float My Boat' which was released on Big & Dirty Records back in 2009. With her sleazy rap style perfectly complementing the beat, she transformed the track to become a massive hit in 2011.

For the analysis of this track I wanted to focus on the two main sections. The bulk of the song is centered around a swung beat with a distinctive Tom Tom pattern. Jay uses some great rising FX underneath to provide tension, as well as alternating various percussive elements. The other addition to this beat is the hooky synth line. Although I was working in Ableton, I decided to recreate it using Native Instrument's Massive, due to it's comprehensive range of Filters, Oscillators and overall fat sound. I assigned a Macro within the Synth to control the pitch of the Oscillators, which I was then able to record as Automation after recording a single note midi pattern into Ableton.

For the second section, the beat is filtered down, and some new synth parts are introduced. Azealia switches from a rap to a sung melody which copies the lead synth line. The melody uses quite an unconventional scale, which I was keen to investigate. Although I managed to identify the Key Signature as F# Minor, there were two notes not found in the F# Natural Minor Scale which were C Natural and D#. It is actually possible to play the Scale of C# Harmonic Minor over the F# Minor bass line to achieve all the correct notes!

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Package icon DJ127.zip11.87 MB

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