Stories

Creating a successful demo: Electronic musicians: Here's how you don't screw it up

Promoting yourself with a demo can mean all kinds things, from selecting a couple of tracks to help connect with a collaborator to getting yourself a composing gig or record deal. Producer/musician Quantazelle herself has seen plenty of demo discs and has assembled some tips for how to make them work. If youâ€™ve got ideas or questions of your own, be sure to sound off in comments. But the best idea of all may be…

Make your own Simpsons Avatar

Well, Springfield IL may have lost out to Springfield VT, to host the Simpsons Movie premiere but we can all win with the Simpsons Avatar Maker on the Simpsons Movie Site. Just clicking through the little Flash application lets you create the Matt Groening-created version of your persona, complete with satisfying little blips along the way. But apparently it’s perpetually Fall / early Spring in Springfield, since you’re forced to wear pants and a t-shirt.…

[Ramp Chicago] Local Producer Event ft. Protman & Bounte

Woot! It’s a DEMO SWAP!!”WTF is that?” you ask. OK, we’ll let you in on the secret–it’s a hyped-up networking event, except there’s booze, producers, label owners, audio engineers, and supremely excellent music on board from local sensations Protman and Bounte. Also there is booze–as much booze as you deem necessary to aid in proper social navigation and which your wallet can support and aid in a cab ride back home. Here’s an even better…

Best geek, gadget, and gaming blogs & websites

Here’s a list I’ve compiled of the best websites, blogs, and forums: Best geek, gadget, and gaming blogs & websites (click!) he page will be updated constantly. If I’ve missed something worthwhile, drop me a note and let me know: Contact.

Coolest case mod ever: A duct tape server

Team Boom Tape is a team that not only makes things out of duct tape in competitions, they’ve created a server with a duct tape case! They’ve even lit it from the inside, creating windows courtesy of the translucency that 3M clear duct tape provides. [The] Duct Tape Server was build entirely from four rolls of gray Nashua duct tape, a quarter roll of translucent 3M duct tape, and these computer components: Pentium P4 2.4…

Greed fuels the music industry: An electronic musician's take on the biz

How do musicians support themselves in the age of digital distribution, file sharing and whatnot? Here’s one musician / label owner’s take on the biz, complete with pie charts*. “Many of us artists have people who enjoy buying and listening to our music. Itâ€™s time to starve out the portion of the music industry that has treated us so poorly, which is nothing short of ironic, because they need us a lot more than we…

The robots are coming! Daft Punk movie to drop in July

So Daft Punk have a new movie set to make its American premiere in July: Electroma. However, don’t expect to hear a Daft Punk soundtrack or even appearances from the camera-shy boys themselves, as they’re on the other side of the camera directing (the protagonists are played by actors). The soundtrack also features the odd choices of Brian Eno, Todd Rundgren, SÃ©bastien Tellier and Curtis Mayfield. This apparently very “arty” movie follows two robots on…

Gnerdy Jewelry: Wear your favorite technology from your ears

Gnerdy Jewelry (pronouced “nerdy jewelry”) brings us a line of earrings made from technological fetishes including obsolete computer media and mobile electronics. Take, for instance, floppy disks. While wearing actual floppy disks as earrings would be neat in concept, it’s actually really tacky in execution (see photo at left), especially hanging from the ears say, of anyone over the age of five. Fear not, there is a more tasteful way to wear those floppies and…

Tesla Coil Plays Super Mario Brothers Theme

Tesla coils are totally nerdy along with being impressively frightening at the same time. Its original inventor, Nicola Tesla displayed it at the World’s Fail in 1893, but he surely had no idea that his invention would eventually be used as as a kickass rave toy, let alone play the theme to one of the most popular 16-bit video games of the 1980s and best-selling title ever. Apparently an endeavoring soul has figured out a…

Synth ties from Cyberoptix

Ties and Father’s Day seem to be intrinsically connected, but why settle for getting dad a fugly one that matches all the other fugly ones he owns? Help his style quotient increase and get him one of these super trendy designer ties from Cyberoptix, a Detroit-based design studio who makes some really wicked ties. These over here are based on the Synth-E, one of the very first portable synthesizers that fit in a suitcase and…

Make the Starship Enterprise out of a floppy disk

Floppy disks were officially made obsolete this year, but that doesn’t mean they’re completely useless. Grab one with a metal door and pull out some scissors or a wire cutter, a pair of pliers and a metal ruler and start converting that outdated media into a spaceship from the future! How to Make a Starship Enterprise Out of a Floppy Disk Make a Spaceship Out of An Old Floppy Disk (Video)

Benn Jordan (The Flashbulb) & The Deep Element

You know that one video by Dove that’s been floating around YouTube featuring the time-lapse video of a woman having her hair and makeup done, then being further altered in Photoshop to enhance her features, and finally ending up on a billboard? The multi-talented Benn Jordan supplied the music for it with a track off of his latest album, Kirlian Selections. It not only is representative of one aspect of his sound, you could see…