Oh Dear

I'm not very good at keeping this updated am I? Well, here is an update of all things Rooms of Red Bull.

On Saturday 31st May, we got to a bit of building work ourselves... I spent my afternoon with a polyfiller gun, sealing all the windows and wall spaces i could find in the studio. It was a nice change but tiring work! I am definitely not a builder type :) The picture to the right is me standing on a chair to reach the top of the windows!

After this, I took a few days off. After some migraine issues on Monday, I was back in action on Tuesday (2nd June). This was the day before the Fringe were coming in (with Franklin Reeves), and we needed to remake the studio after the weekend's polyfiller party. Everything had to be cleaned, a couple more cables needed to be made, major rearranging was required for the extra synths we had acquired from Yamaha (CP33, Motif XS8, S90ES)... you get the picture :) We had a busy day ahead of us. With myself, Sunna, Andri, Frank and Simon (my memory might be wrong about that one), we started our work. Lots of hours later, and the place was looking completely different to how it had looked in the morning. I think everyone who helped out on Tuesday deserves a Well Done for all the hard work that was put in to make everything look good before the Fringe appeared!

Wednesday 3rd June
I had a lesson before I could get into the studio today, so didn't get there until about 14:30. Which is a shame because the guys were pretty cool and it was fun, if not short, afternoon. You can see the blog entry (as always!) on the SAE blog, I won't repost it like I sometimes do. We want more hits on the SAE blog site!

Thursday 4th June
I guess you could look at this as a milestone for all of us working at RoRB. Today was the Grand Opening party (in the evening). During the daytime, Sunna was the coordinator for the Fringe's second day. At around 17:00, Andri and myself joined her, Frank and Simon in the studio to clean up a bit and get ready for the party. We were joined by Mehdi and Jan, who sneakily stole an acoustic panel from the Control Room and spray painted the SAE logo onto it! And these are supposed to be responisble adults who we can look up to! hehe :)

So anyways, a bit later on and the party was in full swing. It was enjoyed by all, particularly because of the free beers. Much merriment ensued, with slightly drunk teachers as well as slightly drunk students.. and many people visiting the studio to talk to us and see what we were doing.

Unfortunately getting up before 8am the next morning was a little tough... but never mind! It was a good night, and worth the slightly sore head in the morning.


So, I think that's me updated for now. Today, Frank and I are going to Ikea (more details after the trip), and tomorrow Partysquad arrive in the RoRB studio.

Bye for now!

Yay!

Wow, I thought I was all done blogging for the day... but Jan has just informed me that we have now got www.roomsofredbull.com for our SAE blog! Which is cool. And a bit more memorable than www.sae.nl/rorb .... :)

RBMA Taster Video

I almost forgot... Frank and I are featured in a video about the Red Bull Music Academy taster session. Click here to take a peek :) It's not quite movie stardom but it could be worse!

This video was taken between 8-10 May 2009 at the Rooms of Red Bull, where the music academy taster was held.

DJ Pitto and DJ Mike Mago from Boemklatsch

Well hello again. I've been a bit busy the last couple of days, so here is a bumper edition of what I've been up to. Go on and take a look :)

28th May
"DJ Mike Mago (Boemklatsch) and DJ Pitto are back for a second day in the studio. As soon as they arrive, they get back into the flow of things and we leave them to concentrate on the task at hand. They’re making use of the Korg Nano Kontrol, giving it a good workout controlling effects parameters.

Just before lunch the Kaoss Pad gets a look in too. A few crazy vocoder moments later, and a new wave of inspiration has taken hold of Mike. Frank sets up a microphone in the middle of the control room so that the guys can record some vocals to add other effects to. Pretty soon, the track has a vocal line and is sounding much more polished.

To add a bit of variety to the day, another piece of gear showed up. This time it was an offering from Pearl Drums- the drum kit will be set up in the live room once it has been completed. After showing some interest in the drums, the guys finish off the track and as predicted it sounds well refined. Another successful mash-up of artists for the Rooms of Red Bull studio!"

Teaser

This was put up on the sae.edu, sae.nl and amsterdam sae student sites. I got something on the front page of the international SAE site, get me!

"A new venture is unfolding deep in the heart of Amsterdam. If you go down to the Red Light District today, you’re in for a big surprise. And not the kind you might expect from this salacious area. Nestled between all the other attractions is one building that wants to change your artistic outlook forever.

The Rooms of Red Bull is a new project from SAE, Red Bull and DJ Broadcast. Its aim is to be a warehouse for inspiration, and students from SAE Amsterdam were given the unique opportunity to run the studio there.

Sounds interesting? Of course it does. And just for you, the SAE team has set up a blog so you can see what we get up to in our summer of creativity. Check it out here!"

More Gear???

Yesterday I arrived to find three more keyboards from Yamaha... that is, three 88-key models! So I spent some time with Frank and Bart (another of the engineers) working out a way we can squeeze them all in to the studio. We have settled for the XS8 as the master keyboard, with the CP33 and the S90ES on a table in the control room. The XS7, which was the master keyboard until its big brother kicked it out, should be going in the live room.

We didn't have to time to rearrange and reconnect everything properly, so I guess I'll be spending my weekend at RoRB, moving all these lovely keyboards around. Well, I don't mind as long as I get to play with them!

I will be uploading some pictures soon... hopefully this weekend :) So watch this space.

25th May 2009

Well today I wasn't really planning on doing any work. But I ended up going over to the Rooms for a couple of hours to sort out the schedules for the engineers and coordinators. I never really realized how much thought has to be put into planning who will be working when! Fortunately, I managed to get the next three weeks done without too many problems :)
Frank and I also asked for the SAE blog to be advertised on our student site, and I created the blog accounts for Andri and Sunna (the other two coordinators). All in all, a reasonably productive day.

The First Artists!

We spent the time between the training and the first acts coming in (20th may) trying to finish connecting everything in the studio, and getting everything to work together.

Then, on the 20th, Arjuna Schik, Franklin Reeves and Boy Bianchi came into the studio: below os my SAE studio blog entry for the day...

Today we have Arjuna Schiks, Franklin Reeves and Boy Bianchi in the studio. They are the first artists we’ve had here since the RBMA taster, and they seem very happy to be here. Frank is engineer for the session, and Matthijs is assisting.

As I sit typing this, they are enthusiastically running around the studio, playing any instrument within reach. They look like they’re having a great time, but at this stage it all seems a bit chaotic! Frank is in the middle of their creative madness trying his best to answer all the questions they are firing his way.

After a quick lunch break, everything has started to calm down a bit. Franklin is sitting intently watching the screen, the track slowly emerging. So far, it’s sounding pretty good. The MicroKorg and the MPC 5000 (from Akai) are the favourite toys of the day- all three of the guys have been having fun on these, adding more to their track. Frank can sit back for a while and let them do their thing.

(picture by Matthijs Kleywegt).