ski

Welcome to the official Ski Oakenfull Website.
Ski is an Artist, Keyboard player, Producer, Remixer and Composer living in London. Having started his career with The K-Creative who were signed to Gilles Peterson's Talkin' Loud label in 1991, he went on to release two solo albums, Life Changes & Rising Son, play keyboards with bands such as Galliano, Raw Stylus & Two Banks of Four, remix over 50 tracks, and work at Xenomania. He currently releases music on his own label, Primaudial Records, plays live with The Bays, writes & produces with artists such as Incognito, Joey Negro, Valerie Etienne. He has an Ambient Electronic project called Ayota, and also does a bit of DJing in his spare time. Alongside his production work, Ski holds the position of Head of Education at Point Blank Music School where he writes courses in electronic music for their BA (Hons) degree programmes. He has also made over a hundred videos for the school’s YouTube channel which have racked up over six million views.. Please have a look around this site, and feel free to leave a message.

Ableton Deconstruction: Herbie Hancock - Chameleon (FFL!)

By skioakenfull at 10 May, 2015 - 12:58
See video
Video Direct Link: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIR1OwtM42g

For this FFL! on May 8th 2015, Ski Oakenfull and EMC instructor Tom O'Grady deconstruct the classic 'Chameleon' by Herbie Hancock using Ableton Live.

Shop 'n' Chop (Sampling Tutorial in Ableton Live)

By skioakenfull at 10 May, 2015 - 12:50
See video
Video Direct Link: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1f01wd045c

I was set the challenge of creating a track entirely from hand-picked samples taken from vinyl. Check out my sampling and beat-making process in the resulting video episode, Shop 'n' Chop!

Big thanks to Vinyl Pimp in Hackney Wick, East London :: http://www.vinylpimp.co.uk

Bluey's new album 'Life between the notes'

By skioakenfull at 14 March, 2015 - 15:10

I've contributed two tracks to Bluey's second solo album 'Life between the notes' which is due out soon on Dome Records (UK and the world), Shanachie (USA), P-Vine (Japan). The track titles are "Hold On" and "I'm Only Here To Remind You". You can find out more from the Dome website here: http://www.domerecords.co.uk/latest-releases/bluey-life-between-the-notes/
Check out a preview of the track 'Hold On' (which is going to be a single) below!

Bluey - Life Between The Notes

Disclosure - Latch Deconstruction in Ableton Live

By skioakenfull at 27 February, 2015 - 16:24
See video
Video Direct Link: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O29jNyZBxgc

Here's a live deconstruction I did of this amazing track by Disclosure. It was probably the hardest one I've done as it has a triplet beat and the chords are so complex, but it was fun nevertheless! I made one mistake in the heat of the moment which was putting double the amount of the glitchy crackles in the beat.. they should have been just once in every bar. Anyway, you can download the Ableton project here :: http://ow.ly/JFNeh so you can check out all the parts I programmed - You'll need to register with Point Blank to download all their free content If you haven't already.
I'm also providing the arpeggio and chord screenshots to download below. Have fun!!

Moderat - Bad Kingdon Deconstruction in Bitwig Studio

By skioakenfull at 21 January, 2015 - 23:15
See video
Video Direct Link: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPHI-BHKk8o

Here's a deconstruction I did of this great track by Moderat using Bitwig Studio. The main devices used were Polysynth, Drum Machine & Sampler.
Here's the original track: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1gewNVv1UY
Find out more about my Point Blank EMC course :: http://ow.ly/ttw4i

Interview for Point Blank

By skioakenfull at 21 January, 2015 - 23:07

Here's an interview I did recently for Point Blank. There's loads of exciting stuff happening at PB in 2015.. check back for more details!

See video

Bitwig

I installed Bitwig yesterday and gave it a whirl (without looking at the manual). I've got loads of ground to cover, and only scratched the surface... but really enjoyed it.
Here are a few quick first impressions:

Pros:
Simple global shuffle - something abelton dispensed with - great to have it back
Feels very solid and sounds crisp
Love the built in synth devices

Cons:
No input auto-quantize
No AU support

I understand my cons are going to be addressed in future updates. The next job is getting it hooked up to my Push!

Here's my first 5 minute jam..

Submitted by skioakenfull on 30 November, 2014 - 12:38

Bankside Social #2

By skioakenfull at 7 November, 2014 - 23:08

I'll be sitting on a panel discussion at this event curated by Nick Luscombe (Radio 3 Late Junction). Here are the details:

Following our sold out launch in March, Bankside Social returns on the evening of Tuesday November 18th 2014 at Topolski Gallery & Bar, located in the railway arches two minutes’ walk from Waterloo, en route from the station to the South Bank.

As with our first Bankside Social, the lineup for our second outing has come together (and continues to evolve) serendipitously. Which is a fancy way of saying that we follow our noses. This time we're been delving further into the burgeoning electro-acoustic music scene and some of the exciting new artists, performers and even instruments that are emerging around it.

We have an exclusive debut performance from Zufällig, a new band that's emerged from psychedelic electro-rock band Death in Vegas, whose compositions soundtracked numerous advertisements, films and computer games. "Live instrumental electroacoustic music, improvised electronics, textural guitars and treated woodwind."
Listen here: https://soundcloud.com/helliervisser

Riz Maslen aka Neotropic, has been described as one of the most prominent women composers working in experimental electronic music. In addition to her warm electronic programming, her output embraces folk, psychedelic pop and an interest in the darker side of experimental film & photography.
Listen here: http://neotropic.net/

Date: 
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
Artist: 
Ski Oakenfull
Venue: 
Topolski Gallery & Bar
Bankside Social #2

Michael Jackson - Thriller Deconstruction (Halloween special)

By skioakenfull at 2 November, 2014 - 23:41
See video
Video Direct Link: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyWQdktB5zM

This was one of the most enjoyable deconstructions, as it's a track from one of my all time favourite albums. I love how the chords interact with the melodic bassline which pedals on the tonic until the middle section. Rod Temperton's writing is obviously at its peak here, with MJ putting everything into the vocal. Quincy Jones is getting the best performances from don musicians such as Greg Phillinganes, Brian Banks and David Williams. Stunning track from a stunning album.. this was a journey of discovery.
Apologies for the jerky video.. it was live, and the broadcast laptop was running slow due to overheating and choked upload speed.
Find out more about Ski's EMC course :: http://ow.ly/ttw4i

Neutrik Patch Bay Labels

By skioakenfull at 23 September, 2014 - 21:34

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!

Neutrik Patch Bay Labels
AttachmentSize
Ski_NeutrikPatchBayLabels.xlsx_.zip32.96 KB