Music is therapy for Kyiv producer Koloah

Last month, Kyiv producer Koloah released “Serenity,” an album written in the build up to, and in the wake of, the February 24th Russian invasion. After several weeks of being unable to listen to music – let alone make it – he sat down with NI to explain how he finished the album and started producing again.  ...

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Stargate’s Mikkel Eriksen reveals the production secrets of pop’s biggest hits

The key to producing melodic hits with undeniable, culture-defining magic? Not being too precious with your beats. The power of letting go is what Mikkel Eriksen, half of powerhouse producer duo Stargate, took away from the process of producing the biggest pop and R&B hits of the past two decades, including Ne-Yo’s “So Sick,” Katy Perry’s “Fireworks,”...

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Legendary composer Danny Elfman returns to his rock roots on Big Mess

Danny Elfman’s vast career began in the early ‘80s as the singer/songwriter behind new wave band Oingo Boingo. Throughout the ‘90s, he changed course and gained worldwide recognition for his more than 100 film scores alongside work for TV, theatre, and the concert stage, encompassing long-standing creative relationships with eminent directors such as...

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Go behind the scenes of 40’S VERY OWN DRUMS & KEYS

“One year I was standing on the street corner in the cold watching every car that passed by me, asking myself ‘How come I don’t have one?’ It was just so unattainable. And the next year – I’m doing the same thing, I’m not doing anything different – I had a number one record on the radio.” It’s hard to believe these words are coming from Noah “40” Shebib....

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Dream Machine is an always-on, procedurally-generated beats machine

James Peck should be a name familiar to both REAKTOR heads and hip-hop fans alike. Whether creating ensembles such as the wildly popular – and free – VHS Audio Degradation Suite (still the most downloaded ensemble of all time), or producing music, sample packs and live MPC jams for his Youtube channel as memorecks, Peck takes a granular, technically-focused...

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5 free sci-fi sound effect generators for REAKTOR

When it comes to crafting experimental soundscapes and SFX, grounded organic tones certainly have their place – but if you’re looking to leave the gravity well of earth-based sound design, you’re gonna need some serious sci-fi pyrotechnics. Enter The REAKTOR User Library, whose 20 plus years of ingenious communal collaborations mean no shortage of bizarrely...

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Add immersive 3D visuals to your TRAKTOR sets with Volta XR

High quality, immersive live 3D visuals are now at the fingertips of any Traktor user with Volta XR. With a standard-spec computer and zero prior experience, anyone can now make audio-reactive, mixed-reality live video to accompany their Traktor sets – and it’s totally free. DJing is often a practice of presenting music that sounds like it’s from the...

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TRAKTOR turns 20: Middle East

While the Arab world might not be your first thought when considering popular rave spots on a global level, the region has ever so subtly become host to an abundance of hidden gems when it comes to DJs and dancefloors. Mushrooming out of the Middle East, dance music and rave culture proliferate within pop-up venues – from the Great Pyramids of Giza...

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How to make your kick drums bang with FJAAK and MASCHINE+

FJAAK’s Felix Wagner and Aaron Röbig have been pressing buttons together furiously since they were in their teens. Growing up in the West Berlin neighborhood Spandau – which their record label Spandau20 is named after – the duo were obsessed with staying up all night playing videogames… until the MASCHINE came along. “We tried it and we definitely got...

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TRAKTOR turns 20: Berlin

Throughout the ’00s, house and techno DJs in Germany’s capital city brought about a new wave of music suited to extended sets and weekend-long parties. Here, Matthew Unicomb talks to DJs including Chris Liebing and Steve Bug about how TRAKTOR went hand-in-hand with this influential sound. Extended sets, weekend-long...

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