You can still check the night via streamed radio at http://redbullmusicacademyradio.com/shows/2426/. Take 10 minutes to watch the below video.

No doubt on the excitement then, when they announced that the Culture Clash was returning to the Roundhouse in Camden on October 14th. Don Letts is back hosting, and Metalheadz will be returning to defend the title, this time up against the likes of Mikey Dread and Ras Kayleb repping Channel One Soundsystem, Skream & Benga and Soul Jazz Records.

Check the press release below.

via Red Bull Music Academy

Ever since Carnival first came to Notting Hill half a century ago, soundsystems have carved their reputations into the capital’s music tapestries. To celebrate this tradition, some of the city’s biggest soundmen enter the ring under the watchful eye of the mighty Don Letts – to thrash out tunes and battle for sub-bass supremacy.

The line up on the night welcomes some of the most pioneering names in the evolution of bass music, from roots reggae to jungle to dubstep, and everything in between.

• Goldie’s Metalheadz feat Andy C, Shy FX, Storm, MC GQ & MC Justyce
• Skream & Benga presents Joker & MC Nomad & Artwork
• Channel One Soundsystem feat Mikey Dread, Ras Kayleb & full crew
• Soul Jazz Records Sound System presents 100% Dynamite
• Hosted By: Don Letts

In the red corner, we have the Soul Jazz Records Sound System. Part of the empire that is Soul Jazz Records (who count artists as diverse as ESG, Four Tet, Ragga Twins, Subway, Tetine, Kalbata, and the late Steve Reid as part of their growing family), SJRSS’s strategy looks to be whipping the crowd into a frenzy with a mash-up of vintage funk, deep soul, rocksteady, dancehall and future bass cuts.

So join us as the Four Soundmen of the Apocalypse darken North London’s door and shake the foundations of all that has gone before them, to fight it out at the second installment of the Red Bull Music Academy Culture Clash.

Venue: Roundhouse, Chalk Farm Road, Camden London, NW1 8EH
Date: Thursday 14th October 7pm-3am

Tickets: Limited early bird tickets £15, £18 advance, more on the door
Box office: 0844 482 8008 / http://www.roundhouse.org.uk / www.ticketweb.co.uk
Soul Jazz Records: 7 Broadwick Street, Soho W1F ODA / +44 (0) 207734 3430
Black Market Records: 25 D’Arblay Street, Soho W1F 8EJ / +44 (0) 207437 0478

Various Assets – Not For Sale: Red Bull Music Academy London 2010
(Right-click to download the zip filled with 41 tracks and info booklet )

For more info check the RBMA site.

Read an account of his informative workshop from RBMA blog:

On March 7, a bunch of Academy participants hit the studio with mixing wizard and former Academy lecturer Russell Elevado, the main man behind the sound of many a timeless classic such as D’Angelo’s Untitled (How Does It Feel), Alicia Keys’ Fallin’, or Erykah Badu’s Bag Lady. Read what he had to share below, and also check his Toronto couch session for some more secrets of mixing desk magic.

Prologue
First thing you need to do when mixing a track, is to get a feel of the room. Listen to some music you either like and know really well, or a track that you made. That way you will learn the nuances and ambience of the room.

Then get a feel of the track you’d like to mix and to listen to it in its entirety, and make a decent listenable mix. Just some basic levels.

Try not to solo too much while mixing. A track might sound strange when you solo it, or in need of fixing, but when you hear it with the rest, it fits perfectly.

Drums And Bass
Start with soloing all the drums, but have the guitar and another track present too. Don’t listen to the drums separately, unless necessary. Start conservatively, and get a general level, and then go back later. Remember to not only close mic the drums. The ambient and overhead mics are very important in the mix too.

Once the bass and drums are up and running, the vocals should be included, to get some perspective. Try and get the bass and drums to peak at zero db, or a little lower. Don’t go too much into taking specific frequencies out, before you hear it all together. Go and look for the transients, of the bass and kick drum for example, when your mix is close to completion. If everything is too loud and not clear, you can try and trim it a couple of decibels down.

I personally don’t like panning the drums too much. But experiment with it, and if it sounds good go for it. Experiment with EQing. Just because you are subtracting doesn’t mean that you are losing punch.

Try and parallel compress the drums, and mix it with the original signal. Getting the right blend, completely depends on where you are going, and what style you want.

If the bass is done with a DI (direct input box) you could try and re-amp it, to get a more warm and big sound.

Side chaining compressors is like cheating to me. Don’t go with it, just because it’s the easiest.

Mono / Headphones
I wouldn’t recommend mixing on headphones. Because the bass needs to travel a little before you can actually hear it and feel it properly. If you do use headphones, make sure you use some that you are familiar with.

Listening in mono is good for finding out if there is an unbalance. If your ears are tired, go to mono, it flattens you out. Listen to other music during the day. But you shouldn’t a-b, and go back and forwards between another track: use it to cleanse your ears – nothing more than that!

Loudness/ RME/ Mastering
Don’t make your mix louder than what sounds good, just because it’s the industry standard these days: it doesn’t sound better because it’s louder. On the contrary, it might loose the dynamics in the mix. It sucks all the dynamics out.

Instead of compressing and EQing on the main output, adjust levels in different sections of the song.

Make up your mind before you go to get your mix mastered. Commit to your mix. Don’t arrive with six stems, and uncertain of what you want it to sound like.

Limitation
When done with an analogue effect, you should print (bounce) it. It’s good to finalize and make decisions. Remember that in the past people had as little as four tracks. Making final decisions will help you close the mix quicker.

Epilogue
After doing the mix, and all the technical stuff, close your eyes, turn of the screen and just listen. The mix is done if or when you get lost in the music. Try not to use more than a day on a mix. If something bothers you walk away from it, and get back to it later after some rest.

Remember
Try anything or everything, when you are listening.

Train yourself to detach from the teeny weenie small details: look at the overall picture.

Embrace small errors: look for them, and maybe even enhance them. They can give it personality.

There are no rules. If it sounds good it sounds good.

Give yourself deadlines. It’s good to push yourself.

Don’t listen to engineers that have a formula.

Engineering is also about social skills. It’s not only about the music and the technical elements. Make who ever you are mixing for, or with, feel comfortable, and don’t be unobtrusive.

Remain as neutral as possible, and be open to trying out different ideas that the artist/producer has. Don’t take anyone’s comments for granted.

Play around with your mix. You should have time, or take time to do that. It might be the shit, but it could also sound like shit. You never know. There are no rules.

Tips for your studio
Use analogue gear. Any! A plug-in is just emulating a real piece of analogue equipment. Even a little Mackie mixer with eight channels will sound better than the output coming out of your computer. And even if you have some basic analogue equipment, it will still sound better than if you only do your music on the computer. It will add depth and warmth, and you just can’t replace that.

You should get Yamaha NS-10 speakers for checking out your mix. They suck but if it sounds good on those they will sound good on anything.

You should keep your monitor placement symmetrical, and not too close. Stay in your sweet spot.

Make sure you have good converters.

Don’t go for the boxes that do all.

If you only have one room, and it doesn’t sound good, deaden the room. Blankets on the walls, and floors, or/and wall-to-wall carpet on the floor.

Startup Kit
A Behringer or Mackie mixer
A dbx 160 for compression
A Roland Space Echo for delays and reverbs

Upgrade Kit
Universal Audio LA-2A
Costs about $2,000. The reissue by Universal Audio is also good.

Thermionic Culture Vulture
Basically a distortion machine. One of my favourite boxes right now. It gives the mix a lot of warmth. Distortion is your friend.

Neve 1272 Preamp
They are amazing. API is good too.

V276 Siemens and V676 Telefunken Preamp
Those are great too, I highly recommend them. Both were originally made for broadcasting. You might have to get someone to build a power supply for you. Will probably cost an additional $1,000 to 1,500.

www.russelevado.com

A participant at the London 2010 academy, Daisuke returned to the club he frequented during his five years living in the capital. Super-charging the crowd, he buzzed between Ableton, a Korg Micro Controller and small Yamaha mixer, energetic sonic and rhythmic manipulations as sound as similar performances by Dimlite or Flying Lotus. One especially memorable bassline made its way into an anthemic acappella, “You know what love is!” the crowd sang back at him.

Open session underway, for three hours Tony threaded recently burnt CDRs together as bodies mingled in the dim basement. The strong community of regulars welcomed new clammy-palmed submitters, all parties eager to hear their (and others’) works in progress. Ideas flowing, comments were shared on the contributions. Familiar CDR idiosyncrasies amused as always, anxious first-time attendees gingerly approaching the booth to hand over their productions; people’s gaze drawn to the projection screen displaying artists’ names and track titles.

Amid a flux of tempos and styles, Mr Beatnick’s ‘Turn Your Back’ surged hard with a dark Italo mood, in contrast to the calming shadow cast over the floor by Teri Gender Bender’s ‘The Bed’. BPM-dipping down to a hip hop pace, Cohoba’s ‘Ergonomia’ sounded crisp and prompted much applause. Eyebrows were raised as the police dropped in, their motives unclear but seemingly not to submit new music. Such perturbing visits have become familiar in the past year, suggestive of a targeted campaign.

Houselights on, a 2am end time was enforced, “Police are in our midst so we have to be sensible.” Tony acknowledged. Bouncer Barry bid people on their way, “Goodnight and good morning!”. Attendance and standards high, fresh bodies experienced the unique community vibe. “Good to see new disciples enter the church that is CDR.” Gavin beamed, “Hopefully their conversation will continue either in London or back in their respective cities.”

Recorded for Red Bull Music Academy Radio, a full track listing and audio of the event will be available at redbullmusicacademyradio.com.

CDR’s latest release of songs, 2.1 is out now on burntprogress.

More images of the evening here.

Images at the RBMA gallery. For accounts of how it’s going check the blog. Events kicked off tonight.

From the Red Bull Music Academy London blog:

For the full listings and info visit:

www.redbullmusicacademy.com/london

Get down to the songs he’s made and hear Detroit’s #1 drummer speak of his life in music on RBMA Radio. In the forthcoming SHOOK 007, you can read Marcus Belgrave’s thoughts on playing with Karriem on Tribe ReBirth.

Karriem Riggins on RBMA Radio (if the above player isn’t working)

Playlist:

Jay Dee – Rico Suave Bossa Nova – BBE (produced by K. Riggins)
Grant Green – Ain’t It Funky Now – Blue Note
Mulgrew Miller – Pressing The Issue – Maxjazz (K. Riggins on drums)
The Very Tall Band – Caravan – Telarc (K. Riggins on drums)
Common – The Hustle – MCA (produced by K. Riggins)
The Roots – Quills – MCA
Slum Village – Tainted – Capitol (produced by K. Riggins)
Jay Dee – The Clapper – BBE (produced by K. Riggins)
Jay Dee – Jungle Love – BBE (K. Riggins on drums)
Slum Village – We Be Dem – Barak (produced by K. Riggins)
Common ft Bilal – Play Your Cards Right (written by K. Riggins)
Erykah Badu – Soldier – Universal/Motown (produced by K. Riggins)
Supreme Team – See (Suite) – Stones Throw
The Jahari Massamba Unite – Umoja (Unity) – Stones Throw

www.karriemriggins.com

Featured in DJ sets by Dixon, it’s not chance that has led Innervisions, to plan a 12″ of his later in the year, placing the South African’s name in a catalogue alongside Henrik Schwarz, ÂME and Château Flight. ‘The Bright Forest’ gets me as stoked as the first song of his I heard: ‘The African Subway’, dropped by Tony Nwachukwu at Plastic People. Both songs build and romp with exceptionally well-tuned sonics.

Time spent at the Red Bull Music Academy seems to have added even more excellence to his already remarkably developed skills. Definitely an artist to keep a distant eye on. RA have some words with him, plus the immenseness of his material can be heard on his MySpace and in an exemplary DJ mix for RBMA.

myspace.com/culoedsong

Culoe De Song – Catalunya Calling (on RBMA)

Catalunya Calling tracklist:

Cei Bei – I need you lord (Chicago Groove Mix)
Siji – Irijano
Blackcoffee ft Bucie – Turn Me On (Blackcoffee Remix)
David Harness – The Rythmn
Goyumo – Ojo
Chris Perez – Singularity
Raw Artistic Soul ft Ursula Rucker – The Light (Dub)
Rhythmic Elements – Spirit of a warrior
Culoe De Song – Super Afro
Blackcoffee – 100 Zulu Warriors (Culoe De Song Remix)

For more info visit soulisticmusic.com. MP3s of Culoe’s can be purchased via AFROdesia.

More on Culoe in SHOOK 005!

First came Soundspecies, an act built around four multi-instrumentalist brothers. The Keens –Henry, Olly, Barney and Nathanial– dominated the stage, joined by Ben Hadwen (flute and baritone sax), Adam Hughes on Moog and Rhodes and Adam Betts drumming. Collectively they could hold the record for the longest legs in musical history, however such trivialities distract from the amazing music. The ease with which they coherently express their influences –dub, techno, jazz and all kinds of African rhythms– is staggering. No element is watered down in order to work as a whole; each makes the complete compositions enhanced. Two instrumental openers (including the cracking ‘Star Wars’) generated movement and applause from the growing numbers, brother Barney’s vocals then spruced up their set showing some psychedelic innards. For their final song, Ayanna Witter-Johnson joined the gents harmonising with Barney supremely in ‘Waiting for the Sun’. A wonderful song, Deborah Jordan provides the female tones to the version on the Soundspecies LP (coming soon on Burnt Progress), this rendition with Ayanna worked awesomely and will hopefully make it onto the RBMA archives as previous Broad Casting sessions have done.

Bass Clef was the second live act: bushy-bearded and wearing a lovely t-shirt symbolically showing his name. A unique combination of CDJ, mixing desk, theramin, whistle, mic and trombone (!), he continuously filled silences using one of the array of items to hand. Remarkably engaging his one-man show generated some ridiculous low-end surges to test the Cargo speaker cones and provoked plenty of dancing.

Headlining, Buraka Som Sistema took their place, initially as a 3-piece with Lil’ John flanked by DJ Riot (drums & laptop) & Fred (kit drums). Emcees, Kalaf & Conductor, entered to assist in hyping up the now rammed room. The final member, Blaya appeared sporadically to display her first-rate dancing, emphatically shaking her rump. Buraka’s mixture of Kuduro, electro and dub-stepping heaviness was terrific, appreciated by the large number of lusophones in the crowd and excitable locals. In the many times I’ve been to Cargo, I’ve never seen the place with such a rave atmosphere. Buraka’s energy and party songs caused sweaty mayhem and smiles galore. And what an ovation! An encore was inevitable and amusingly came swiftly due to the locked dressing room. Some “new shit” from their forthcoming Black Diamond album was the reward with ‘Te Ro Za’ furthering the excitement with another unprecedented moment whereby Kalaf instructed the crowd to “get low down” and so we did. The entire room kneeled or squatted awaiting the countdown. 1,2,3,4 and up we all leapt, roaring to the banging track. My sore knees were soon forgotten. Having first heard of Buraka via Lusofonia: a (R)Evolução, the dancefloor hysteria shown in that RBMA-funded documentary seems to occur when and wherever they perform. Definitely an act to check live, they’re back in the UK later in the year.

Whispers of pre-show doubt on the lack ‘big-names’ in the line-up were put to bed. The buzzing atmosphere and quality of performances is further evidence of Karen P’s willingness to support all kind of artists, looking outside set scenes for new music. Broad Casting is filling the gap left by the excellently curated and highly-memorable Independent Mix nights, who’ll be next on the bill?

Thanks to Gawain Hewitt for the photos.