LSS Newsletter Issue #07 - July 2007

LSS News

Between preparing for new courses, weddings and putting our feet up on holiday, we've ended up delivering your regular newsletter a little later than usual. That doesn't mean there's any less going on, though – in fact we've got plenty to tell you about, so please accept our feeble excuses and read on…

We've had an excellent response to our new range of Diploma courses: the ever-popular Music Production 101 class was fully booked three months before its start date so we have added a second one, it will start on 25 September and it will run every Tuesday. We have still all six places available but there is also a long list of people interested, so anyone interested should get in touch as soon as possible.

Also part of the new Diploma and Certificate programmes, from September 23 we are launching a new course designed to take from where the MP101 left: now that you know how to use, Reason, Logic, Microphones etc, and essentially you have all the basics covered, it's time to concentrate on critical listening, structure and arrangement, inspiration and creative process. What makes the difference between an average piece of music and a good one? Are you applying too much 'quality control' on yourself? or not enough? How come so many tracks never seem to get finished?

This class will run every Wednesday for 14 weeks, with a final assignment to be delivered at the end of the course. We have four places available at the time of writing. For more information see MP151: Form Structure & Creativity.

For a start, you might have spotted a few changes on the website: we have created a little LSS Amazon store: the idea is to have a selected list of stuff that we think you'd like to know about. There are lots of subcategories to browse through and in the future there will be more. In particular we spent some time researching this incomplete list of records made in the studio between 1975 and 1995. Of course if you read an amazing book or find a video tutorial or anything else that should be listed in the store we'd like to know about it. And because Amazon doesn't have everything, some stuff will be listed in the Resources section of the website.

We have a few more things planned but it's all a bit secret. You will have to wait until the next month to hear about our plans for a new practice room, right now our sealed.

Competitions and Events

Cream are on the lookout for the next generation of Superstar DJs, and have teamed up with MySpace to give aspiring spinners the chance to step out of their bedrooms and onto the decks at one the UK’s biggest festivals.

The chosen winner will join the likes of techno godfather Dave Clarke in the MySpace Presents Futurism arena at the annual Creamfield’s event on 25 August bank holiday weekend at Daresbury, Halton in Cheshire.

If you think you have what it takes, get your 30-minute mix ready and go to www.myspace.com/officialcreamfields. The closing date for entries is Thursday 26 July.

Find out how music production experts Focusrite can help with your tracks at this free evening seminar at London’s Apple Store, Regent Street. You'll get to take a look at the Novation ReMOTE SL Compact 49 with Automap Universal, and Focusrite Liquid Mix, and the pros will be on hand to show you how they can enhance Logic Pro – and your music.

Production news

Users of Apple’s Logic Pro and Express now have a new place to hang out online as the Logic Café opens its virtual doors. The site is packed with free tutorials, EXS24 instruments, Groove Templates, Environments, interviews and more, and has a steadily increasing worldwide fan-base. Definitely worth a look – go to www.logic-cafe.com.

If you use Logic this is a must have (and it's free): imagine having a little picture of the lead singer on the track instead of the default icon, or being able to match your studio bit by bit, including all the soft synths. You can add your own customized icons even without this software but this makes it so easy that you will change icons every day. Go and get it here.

Propellerhead has finally ended speculation by announcing that Reason 4 is now imminent – and if you fancy getting a sneak peak before everyone else they’re looking for beta testers now. Go to the official Propellerhead website to see how to sign up for duty.

If you need to spice up your sample collection, online specialists Loopmasters should be able to provide you with what you’re looking for – and plenty more besides. The good news is LSS students get 20% off CDs from the Loopmasters library. Just go to www.loopmasters.com and add the code LOOPMOB2020 when ordering.