Scratch

My favourite DJ from Scratch was Jazzy Jay. He stood out most to me because he seemed to have a lot of knowledge and seemed passionate not only about mixing records and DJing but also collecting records. He has 400,000 records. And for me he was the first person to explain how a hip hop DJ operates.

He explained that rather than using the whole song to DJ with, the hip hop DJs would instead take the 'break' out of a song and continuously play that. The break is the part of the song that people dance to. Or at least that is how its described in the documentary.

Logic Week 3 Farz

This lesson we created a 4 bar loop using a simple beat and then added a drum that was meant to create syncopation.

DJ - Frankie Knuckles

Frankie Knuckles, the man many people consider the godfather of house music, was probably one of the most well known DJs in the music scene when he was alive and pivotal to what is now one of the most popular music genres.  Born in the Bronx, New York, Knuckles listened to jazz when he was younger thanks to his sisters record collection. He was naturally creative deciding to study commercial art and costume design before taking his first job as a DJ in 1971.

A few years later Knuckles met up with Larry Levan and both of them started working at a club in New York called The Gallery. Levan left The Gallery to work at another club called the continental baths, Knuckles followed a few months later. Then Levan left again to start up his own club called the Soho Place and Knuckles continued working at Continental Baths until it was closed. Then a Robert Williams (an old friend of both) approached Levan asking him to come work in their club in Chicago, but instead of abandoning his own club he suggested he go to Frankie Knuckles instead, so he did.

Knuckles, now having moved to Chicago in 1977 and began DJing at the Warehouse, introduced the people of Chicago to the New York DJing style which included adding in beat-mixing as well as percussion fills from a separate turntable. The Warehouse was the place where Knuckles began honing his sound and style. He'd remix all different sorts of music and play his tracks to the audience including disco classics, indie-soul, European synth disco, as well as the occasional rock track creating what we now know as house music (short for the Warehouse).

Knuckles had become increasingly popular now that not only were black gay men coming to the Warehouse but straight white men were taking an interest. The Warehouse was originally a members only club but due to its increased popularity membership wasn't needed to get in. In November 1982 Knuckles having been pretty successful at the Warehouse, decided it was time to move on and started his own club a few months later The Power Plant. Derrick May, another DJ, sold Frankie a drum machine. Mixing the drum machine with disco classics, this sound is what defined the early Chicago house music scene.

In 1985 Knuckles made his first recordings with Jamie Principle. Early tracks were recorded in the Power plant DJ booth but the soon moved on to a local studio. But the music they were releasing wasn't just popular in Chicago, it had reached England. Some of the more well known songs Knuckles had released include Your Love, Baby wants to ride and the whistle song.

Knuckles continued working on his own music and others as well as remixing songs until in the early 2000s health issues and the slow decrease in popularity in his sort of house music caused him to retire. He worked on a couple new tracks due to new DJs taking inspiration from older music but he unfortunately died in 2014 due to his diabetes getting worst.

Equipment - 
2 belt driven turntables & a mixer hooked up to a sound system in the ceiling of the club.
Drum machine
Technics 1210 decks
Pioneer CDJ-2000 Nexus and also a Pioneer DJM-800 Mixer

Sequencing Lesson 1

This lesson I learned how to use velocity to make notes sound more impactful and change the emotion of the song. We also used the scissor tool to cut notes and we also used the pencil tool which allowed us to add notes. We also spoke about how if a note falls perfectly on each bar it will make the music sound unnatural and processed which isn't what people look for.

Employability Tool Kit

TOOL	I HAVE THIS	I AM MAKING THIS	I DO NOT HAVE THIS	WHAT IS THIS?!
Facebook (personal)			X
Facebook (artist page)			X
Twitter			X
Mailchimp				X
Soundcloud	X
Mailing list			X
Musicians’ Union membership				X
Contacts list			X
Website/blog			X
Signed up to Prescription PR mailing list				X
Youtube channel			X
EPK (Electronic Press Kit)				X
Bandcamp			X

Logic Week 1

The sounds I used were East bay, Minimalistic, Yamaha Grand Piano, Celesta and Drifting Away.

The Beatles - Abbey Road review

Abbey Road is the 11th album released by The Beatles, recorded in 1969 at the famous Abbey Road studios. Released in 1969 the album was the penultimate release for The Beatles before their split. However, although Let It Be ended up being their last ever release Abbey Road was actually recorded after meaning this list of songs were the final recordings The Beatles ever made. 
With tracks such as Come Together, Something, Octopus's Garden, Here Comes The Sun and Sun King it was evident that the split was premature as The Beatles were still creating some of their best material. 
The iconic album cover features the band walking across the zebra crossing outside Abbey Road, however a completely different title and cover were supposedly pencilled in meaning one of the most recognisable album covers might never have happened. Initially the album was to be called Everest with the cover being shot at the Himalayas. None of The Beatles could be bothered with the travelling just for an album cover so at Paul McCartney's suggestion they just shot it outside the studios.

Song writing duties on Abbey Road are predominately Lennon/McCartney following the trend for previous albums. However two of arguably the better songs off the album were written by George Harrison, Something and Here Comes The Sun. Ringo Starr also gets a writing credit with the jolly, escapist track Octopus's Garden. 

Production as always was handled by the appropriately named fifth Beatle George Martin. Martin worked with The Beatles since day one and by the time Abbey Road was recorded they knew they could put complete trust in his technical abilities. 
Firsts for Abbey Road include - 

• Recorded on an 8 track reel to reel as opposed to 4 track
• First Beatles album to be recorded in stereo not mono
• First and only Beatles album to be entirely recorded through a new solid state transistor mixing desk as opposed to earlier desks. The console allowed better support for eight-track multitrack recording, helping the Beatles' considerable use of overdubbing

Instruments used in Abbey Road - 

John Lennon - Vocals, rhythm and lead guitar, piano, organ, Moog synthesiser.

Paul McCartney - Vocals, bass, lead and rhythm guitar, piano, organ, Moog synthesiser.

George Harrison - Vocals, lead and rhythm guitar, bass on a few songs, organs, Moog Synthesiser, lead vocals on Something and Here Comes The Sun

Ringo Starr - drums and percussion, anvil on Maxwells Silver Hammer, lead vocals on Octopus's Garden

The Beatles had struggled recording Let It Be (Get Back sessions) due to increasing conflict between the band that had started during The White Album recording and carried on all through the Let It Be recording. Paul McCartney is quoted as telling George Martin he wanted to record an album "the way we used to". Martin agreed but insisted his way after recent sessions had members wanting more involvement in the production process mostly with negative effects. 

Side one of the album is made up of typically single tracks, whereas side two is more of a mix of shorter compositions knitted to create longer "suites". The reason for this was so various short and incomplete songs that Lennon and McCartney had under their belts could be used in the album.
The tracks on Abbey Road range from the heavily R&B influenced Come Together with arguably the best McCartney bass lines ever, to George Harrison's love ballad Something, to Oh!Darling  which wouldn't sound out of place in a 1950s prom dance.

Although Abbey Road is considered some of The Beatles' best work, in my opinion this was helped by the knowledge that this would be the last ever album the band recorded together.  The band, free of the stresses that come from being the biggest band in the world meant they could go back to what they loved writing and recording music.

Following Abbey Road John Lennon announced he was leaving the band in September 1969 prompting the break up of the band totally.
The rest as they say is history. History that includes an assassination, solo careers (some more successful than others) and Thomas the Tank Engine.

Song - Here Comes The Sun - George Harrison 
George Harrison's songs were regularly overlooked by Lennon and McCartney while many said his song writing was exceptional. This ability shines through on the amazingly dreamy Here Comes The Sun.
Written on an acoustic guitar while walking around Eric Clapton's garden on a spring day. Lyrics such as "its been a long, cold, lonely winter" are understood to have a double meaning expressing Harrison's mood with regards to the state of The Beatles. Quoted from his autobiography "The relief of not having to go see all those dopey accountants was wonderful, and I walked around the garden with one of Eric's acoustic guitars and wrote "Here Comes the Sun".
Here Comes The Sun while being a sublime, uplifting piece of music also has sad, sombre undertones.