We’re back again with another round-up of former glories, cherry-picking the brightest and best videos, interviews and offers from the past month. As always, our content is designed to help students and curious readers alike to gain insight and expertise in all facets of the music industry. To take this to the next level, head to our pages for schools in London, LA, Ibiza, Mumbai and Online.
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Octave One: Live Performance Masterclass
We have welcomed many great artists to our schools over the years, and as a result, been treated to an incredible array of guest classes and demonstrations. In Octave One, we added another to the very top of the list, with the duo having contributed immeasurably to both playing live and techno as a whole over their long history. Watch as they take us through their celebrated set-up, offer invaluable advice and demonstrate their world-beating live show.
An Interview with Prequell
Thomas Rousel may not be on everyone’s radar, but over the last fifteen years or more, he has been on a huge number of important radars nonetheless. A lifetime composer and hugely respected conductor and bandleader, he has scored films, TV and advertisements; provided music for fashion brands like Chanel, Akris and Christian Dior; and worked on several records by Justice and Jeff Mills. Since the turn of the century, he has achieved more, and in more fields, than most achieve in a lifetime, and he now turns his considerable talents to making music as a recording artist, under the name Prequell – an allusion to his original ambition to make the kind of emotive, electronic and orchestral crossover present on his debut album. We caught up with him to learn about composing for different mediums, and what’s compelled him to make this switch.
How to Create Evolving Sounds with Native Instruments Maschine
Last month also saw the release of the latest iteration of Native Instruments’ Maschine controller, elevating its capabilities further from still from its original function and maximising time spent working out of the box. PB instructor and NI specialist Paul Ressel put together a pair of videos for us to celebrate the new version’s release, and in this one, he demonstrates how to use the relationship of pitch and tempo to create dynamic rhythmic patterns, and uses morph-mode to let FX develop and intensify over the course of a track.
Behind The Scenes with Kate Simko and the London Electronic Orchestra
We’ve long been fans of Kate Simko. We first invited the Chicago native to give a masterclass with us back in 2013, when she was studying at the Royal College of Music. It was during that time hat the foundations were laid for the London Electronic Orchestra, the band that she has lead across the world in the past couple of years. We were thrilled to be able to get backstage with Kate and film her and her ensemble-mates getting ready for their latest show at The Jazz Cafe in Camden. Check the video below to see the LEO crew in action.
PB Recommends #45
We may be slightly biased, but we think we put together a fine round-up of recommended tracks here at Point Blank, and October was no different. Picks of last month’s favourites include tracks by ABRA, L-Vis 1990 and Finn’s bittersweet masterpiece ‘Sometimes The Going, Gets A Little Tough’.
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