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Area709 is an electronic music based organization made up of a talented roster of djs and producers from various locations focused within the genres of progressive trance, progressive house, psytrance and downtempo. Within Area709.com each dj and producer maintains their own blogs, downloadable mixes, photo galleries, event listings and booking information. Also included in Area709 are guest dj mixes, dance music industry articles, an online radio station broadcasting 24-7, music forums and much more. Please register with Area709 to enjoy the full benefits of this unique electronic music site.

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hosting site is down

Posted on Aug 23, 2010

Just a quick note that my hosting site is currently down therefore my tracks will not play. I will be working on getting this resolved asap - my humble apologies! 

Ben

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Years in the making

Posted on Aug 23, 2010

I am very excited to announce that I will be playing my first live set this coming Labour Day weekend. I have a full hour's worth of original material prepared, which I have been working on diligently for the past year or so.  As you know however, this has been much longer in the making. I began my journey as a solo music producer nearly 4 years ago with Area709. Since then I have been married, moved to 2 new cities, graduated from a music recording program, not to mention having grown as an artist by leaps and bounds. I would like to extend a very big thank you to Wes, Darvin, and all the rest of the crew for showing support and giving me help along the way. 

Very shortly after the festival, I will be releasing my first EP (untitled as of yet) under the Drumlore netlabel. This is the sister label to the psytrance oriented Ektoplazm, run by DJ Basilisk. It will feature 4 of the tracks in the live set and will span across the progressive spectrum. Expect to hear elements of driving minimal psy, gritty electrotech, hypnotic techno and bouncy minimal. Stay tuned!

 

 

 

 

 

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Production Tips and Tricks 1

Posted on May 9, 2010

I've been on a really big 'workflow improvement' kick lately, and I will be sharing some ideas that I have found to be very helpful on my blog. The latest and perhaps coolest thing I've come across was an ingenious User MIDI Script for Ableton Live. This is a way of getting that 'instant mapping' for devices such as you would find on the APC40 and the Novation MKii series controllers. This is perfect for anyone with an 8 knob controller because if you're into using Macros, it maps directly to the 8 pre-assigned macro parameters. 

Here is the video and I will also post a link to the script itself. Note that he is a controller template with Automap PRO, which has a keymapping feature. This gives the ability to navigate Ableton with minimal use of the mouse. I am personally going to be using a similar configuration for my Nocturn for my live sets.  The less time touching the mouse and staring at the screen, the better.

Keep in mind that the MKii range of Novation controllers do feature a 'mixer' control section, which allows for device and mixer control (sends, pans, track volumes etc.) with complete two-way communication. With this particular script, the names of the parameters do not register on the Automap GUI. Still a great workaround, and will continue to use it even after I have purchased the Zero MKii. 

Here is the page with the script. Thanks to Fletch Music for this one.

Next installment - Saving time using Templates.

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