Monday 19 August 2013

Happy Birthday MIDI

The Register is carrying an excellent story today about the birth of MIDI - Musical Instrument Digital Interface - and makes for great reading from both an engineering and a musical standpoint.

Speaking as someone who has only just started using MIDI in hardware having only ever used software/all-in-one hardware, this has also demystified certain things for me!

Original Article here:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/08/19/midi_spec_1_is_30_happy_birthday_musical_instrument_digital_interface/

Friday 9 August 2013

Soundcloud Pro

I've finally taken the plunge and bought a year's worth of Soundcloud Pro - for less than £30 for 12 months of premium features, including loads of extra upload time, better stats and more profile options I can definitely say that it's money well spent.

One of my tracks Scandium was featured in a recent Secret Soundcloud mix and is getting some good reviews - definitely got to get networking and get more music posted. 

Soundcloud Link: 
http://www.soundcloud.com/southerntrax



Wednesday 7 August 2013

RIP George Duke 1946 - 2013

More bad news on the airwaves, however this time around it's someone pretty close to my musical tastes. After suffering from chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, legendary keyboardist and Zappa player George Duke passed away on Monday this week, just one month after his last album was released to the world. It's a stroke of irony that this album was dedicated to his late wife who died last year (nearly a whole year ago), but it serves as a fond farewell to his fans.

Thursday 1 August 2013

Lovebox 2013 coverage



Well, it wouldn't be the summer if I didn't make the annual pilgrimage to Lovebox. After all, it's just a stone's throw from where I live at the moment and well worth checking out for a good variety of different acts and genres.

Another E-Festivals free ticket, it was great to be able to relax rather than run around like a mad man like I was at Hyde Park, especially in the heat, and it was fun to have the company of my photographer Lawrence over the weekend. Certainly have a new appreciation for Rudimental and John Newman, amongst others. Lovebox 2013 was great fun for the Friday and Saturday and I can't wait to see what's going on for next year.

Reviews are available as follows:

Day 1:
http://www.efestivals.co.uk/festivals/lovebox/2013/reviews-friday.shtml

Day 2:
http://www.efestivals.co.uk/festivals/lovebox/2013/reviews-saturday.shtml

Day 3:
http://www.efestivals.co.uk/festivals/lovebox/2013/reviews-sunday.shtml