Kelvin Gumbs l Blog

Alltronic (Live PA) - May 15, 2009 @ Holy Joes

2009-06-06T12:13:00.003-06:00

The show at Holy Joes was awesome! It was a great turnout and a great vibe. Thanks to Fiction for booking me (look for more shows to come)

For my live setup I decided to keep it simple. I had my Macbook running Ableton Live. That in turn was hooked into a Korg Zero 4 mixer (I love that thing).

I also had an Akai MPD 32 midi controller which I used to add effects and do live arrangements of my tracks. I basically took all of my songs and split them into four different tracks. During the performance I would trigger clips doing live remixing and on the fly arrangements.

There were some drum machines that I had loaded up as well, which I would use to trigger different sound effects and vocal samples. I treated my performance like a DJ set the only difference being that all the tracks were mine.

It was a great time. Here are some pics. They were taken by a photographer friend of mine Andrew Fullerton. Enjoy.

Upstairs

2009-05-14T20:12:00.001-06:00

<a href="http://alltronic.bandcamp.com/track/upstairs">Upstairs by Kelvin Gumbs.Alltronic</a>

Performing at Holy Joes

2009-04-07T20:31:00.003-06:00

Hello Everyone!

I'll be at Holy Joes on Friday May 15, 2009 playing a set of my original tunes in a Live PA style mash up as my alias "Alltronic". I'll be playing alongside some other very talented artists as well. It's a great line up.

You can look forward to a night of hype, electro based grooves. This event is a must for all you beat heads out there.

Be there or be square :P

Limited for 2009

2009-01-25T07:10:00.009-06:00

I've decided that my resolution for 2009 will be creativity through limitation. That sentiment will hold true especially for my music. I've decided that I'm not going to do music production on the computer anymore. I will only use the computer for vocal recording and mastering. The process of writing will now all take place on hand-held devices, or toys if you will. Some of the toys I've been playing with lately are the:

Nintendo DS Lite - Running Korg DS-10 Synth

iPod Touch - Running Beatmaker, Noise IO, Randgrid, Finger Bassline & Synthpond

Classic Gameboy - Running LSDJ

Korg Mini KP - For spicing it all up with some cool effects

Anything that I create musically will be some combination of the above three gadgets. I'm guessing my tunes will now have a bit of a Chiptune feel, mixed with Electro and Hip Hop. I'm anxious to hear the results myself.

Camel

2008-10-19T02:30:00.002-06:00

I remember reading an interview with Moby sometime around 1998 (URB magazine). In it he stated that the future of Hip Hop lies with the producers. He said that when he listened to rap records he wished the emcee would just shut up so he could hear the beat. It's amazing that his prediction came true (at least for us older b-boys).

Flying Lotus is an artist I recently discovered, who I feel is taking Hip Hop to a new level, ironically by binging it back to its instrumental roots. Here's one of my Flying Lotus favourites.

Bloc Party - Mercury

2008-10-05T08:08:00.001-06:00

This is a slice of what I'm listening to at the moment (My new musical addiction). Enjoy!

Technojoy vs Tenchnofear

2008-07-26T05:31:00.001-06:00

Random Tunes

2008-07-10T03:08:00.002-06:00

Here is a brief selection of tunes that I've been digging lately (in no particular order). Enjoy!

In the Studio with Deal One

2008-06-27T05:24:00.002-06:00

Last week I hooked up with a friend who I haven't seen in about 7/8 years. Both of us were doing music back in the day and it turns out that we're still involved in music today.

We decided to collaborate on a few tracks and see where things went. So far things are sounding very Trip Hoppish' which is fine by me. Remember Portishead?

Anyways, here are some shots that were made during the session.

Look Mom, I'm on TV!

2008-06-02T15:25:00.000-06:00

The Ride For Heart

2008-06-02T15:24:00.000-06:00

The Reason

2008-05-08T16:54:00.004-06:00

I've noticed a trend. In the three years that I've been posting in my blog I never seem to post anything in the month of April. I'm not sure why this is the case and one day I'll figure it out, but for now I'll just take note of it.

I've been in heavy music mode for the past month. I finally got a copy of Reason!

I was first introduced to it years ago and never paid any real attention to it. Back then I was into my Akai MPC 2000 and didn't want to look at anything else.

Fast forward to almost 10 years later and I understand the concept behind Reason. Even though it's a software program the separate "instruments" and "effects" units that come with it all behave like hardware.

Click the image for a larger version

I can wire together any number of synths, samplers, and effects units to create any sound I can imagine. It's great and highly addictive. i play this thing like a videogame.

Click the image for a larger version

I use it in conjunction with Ableton Live as a massive, fully customizable sound module because I prefer the sequencer in Ableton.

Below is a screenshot of the template I created in Ableton that automatically controls Reason via "rewire". This saves me a ton of setup time because now all I do is open up Ableton, open up Reason and all my preferred instruments are right there ready and waiting for me to get busy.

Click the image for a larger version

All of that along with my MicroKORG and Bass Guitar can be nothing less than a fantastic aural orgasm! WHOO! HOOO!

NOTE: In other news I'll be going to the studio to practice with the band. It will be the first time in a while so I'm excited. I'll try and get some footage to post on here.

Jeff Mills & a TR909

2008-03-25T18:48:00.002-06:00

This is WICKED! This clip is of Jeff Mills playing a live set using a Roland TR909 drum machine. This is so inspiring to me. Take a look.

Elecktronix

2008-03-16T12:09:00.004-06:00

Friday night I was at Elektronix to see a friend of mine (Fiction) play a Live PA set. For a while I had been looking for Live PA events in Toronto so I was glad when he told me about this. It was an interesting night full of synths, drum machines, laptops and of course DOPE beats!

I made more images from this night and posted them in my photoblog.

Studio Inspiration

2008-02-24T11:06:00.002-06:00

Ok, so I haven't advertised it much but now things are starting to take shape. Last summer I was helping to produce a few tracks on an album by a singer, songwriter named Chach (Big thanks to Shakri Nyte of Big Black Lincoln for including me on the project).

I was at the studio on Friday night and I had the chance to hear the rough mixes of the album and it sounds DOPE! Right now it is in the process of final mastering and is then set for release in Europe (the U.K. specifically). The actual release date has not been set but when it is I'll be sure to let you know.

My current mood: Excited as all hell!

NOTE: I made the image above during the studio session (summer 2007) when I first played the track for Chach. She loved it so much that she wrote the whole song right then and there. She has an amazing talent.

Breathe

2008-02-18T15:50:00.000-06:00

I Love Drum Machines

2008-02-10T17:57:00.000-06:00

Well I finally gave in and purchased Ableton Live's Drum Machines software synth.

Over the past few months I've been looking to streamline my studio by selling my old hardware. I love the convenience of having everything in my laptop. Simplicity equals productivity and Drum Machines fits the bill. Having all those classic sounds in one easy to use interface is AMAZING.

NOTE: Even though Ableton's interface doesn't look as cool as the original machines, I'm not complaining because the sound in great!

I Was A Bit Bored

2008-02-04T16:32:00.000-06:00

43%

77% Geek

Nano

2008-01-27T15:18:00.000-06:00

Hello world here is my nano. Please don't be pissed. I annouced it! (Inside joke):

My Music

2008-01-24T21:57:00.000-06:00

Well I've finally added a music page to my site. Thanks to another cool site (www.imeem.com) I've been able to easily upload my tunes and DJ mixes share them here. More is on its way!

House, Techno, Electro and Soul forever! ;)

Tae Kwon Do

2008-01-15T18:13:00.000-06:00

Oh yeah, I've signed up for Tae Kwon Do after a long break. Finally a chance to relieve stress and maybe even kick some ass too! ;)

Completed Template

2008-01-13T21:46:00.000-06:00

So I've finally completed my Ableton template. It consists of 6 tracks each which mimic a traditional vinyl turntable or CDJ.

I use the first two "Decks" (A & B) to mix between songs like a traditional dj. I use the next three decks (C, D & E) to hold custom drum loops, basslines, synth lines and vocal snippets that I've created and recorded. I have a software synth loaded onto the last track (F) which I play live over looped sections of songs to create something new.

Oh yeah I have one more track thats full of custom effects racks that I've built with Ableton. At any time I can route the audio from any given track through the effects rack to further enhance, distort, mutate and change the sound in any way my mood takes me.

This thing is my new addiction. I play it like a video game!

Ableton & the New Year!

2008-01-06T21:17:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year Folks!

Recently I've been preparing myself to start playing out. I've spent a long while working on tunes and perfecting my style.

For those of you who have been following my blog know that I use a program named Ableton Live to create music.

Right now I'm in the midst of creating a template for playing live. In my case a live set would be a cross between dj'ing and live pa.

Making tracks in this program (for the most part) is a seamless process. Once you understand how the program works then the possibilities are almost endless. Playing live is a bit of another story.

This is my major point of praise about Ableton Live but it also my greatest criticism of it as well. Because the software is infinitely customizable it's hard to know where to begin when setting it up. It means that realistically you need to be using Ableton for at least a year before you can really start to go about start to go about customizing it for your own specific needs.

I'm elated to say that I've reached that stage. After researching a myriad of midi controllers I've settled on two that I can use for music production and playing live. They are the:

Novation Remote 25SL

Evolution UC33e

There are enough faders, sliders, knobs, encoders and buttons between the two of these devices to control all the parameters I need in a live setting, yet it's all portable enough to fit in one small carry-on case that I can pack in a moments notice.

I'm very excited about this because it has taken alot of research and planning to get to this stage and although I'm sure things will be modified as I go along the foundation is finally there. (I'm already thinking of adding a basic hardware sampler to the rig as I write this ... lol).

I've included a picture of the two pieces below.

Mantronix - Simple Simon

2007-11-11T09:08:00.000-06:00

Old school flavour! This reminds me of high school. I would listen to this track to get amped for gym class. After listening to this i could do ANYTHING!

My Myspace Music Page

2007-11-04T19:24:00.000-06:00

Well I finally have a myspace music page that I'm happy with (for now). I'm sure it'll change in a few weeks or so. I've also uploaded some new tracks that I've been working on with more to come. All I need now are some profile views and some myspace friends and I'll be in business ... lol

www.myspace.com/kelvingumbs1