Archive for October, 2010

Hide your girl, and hide your boy too because no one is safe from THE ATTACK OF THE SUPERPITCHER!!!

Wednesday, October 27th, 2010

Two of Sydney’s favorite crews, Subsonic and Chemistry, combine this Saturday to wreck havoc on Sydney harbor in a no-holes-barred Halloween boat party featuring German techno supremo Superpitcher and electronic missionary Alexkid.

Beats, freaks, Halloween and the KOMPAKT kingpin himself on Sydney harbour: what more could you ask for, cretin?

Just in case Subsonic and Chemistry have added some extra excess to the mix for this bash. First off, this is a themed, dress-up event. Properly themed. No half-assed costumes will be accepted… go all out or cart your sorry half-ass out to the X for a generic night out, as there will be nuthin’ normal about this bash. The theme? ROCKnROLL ZOMBIES & CRACK WHORES FROM OUTER SPACE.

Sasha Mukhin caught up with Chemistry’s Jordan Deck to chat about what floats his boat.

What makes you smile?
A combination of good music and good people in the one place.

What makes you frown?
Intolerant people

What makes you feel alive?
Swimming in the Ocean

Who is your greatest teacher?
My Grandma

What does heaven look like?
Kind of like something out of a Joni Mitchell song called the Circle game “And the children they go round and round and the painted ponies go up and down” Kids running free in grassy fields and riding horse carousels.

What sort of set up do you use on the cruise?
Their will be 3 levels of music with turbo sound on the two main floors and a smaller system on the top deck. We defiantly don’t mind splurging on sound as we consider one of the most important elements of the party.

Do you hire or own your equipment?
That’s a secret…

What does the future hold?
More Parties outside of the clubs….Boats, Warehouses, wharfs etc. People let their hair down a little when there are no security guards breathing dow their necks. When people feel free that’s when a real party can take shape.

For your chance to WIN a double pass to this event just tell us what floats your boat? (Email: sasha@lightsounds.com.au)

For more information about the event check out the Facebook page or for any equipment requirements check out www.lightsounds.com.au.

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Win a set at Stereosonic (QLD)

Wednesday, October 13th, 2010

Queensland DJs offered a Stereosonic set

Three Queensland DJ’s will be given the biggest break of their careers with the chance to share the same bill as international acts Carl Cox and Tiesto at Stereosonic at the RNA Showgrounds on December 5.

Stereosonic organisers will start the search for the best three undiscovered Queensland DJs during a series of heats in Brisbane and several major regional cities in November. The winners will each receive their own set time at Stereosonic and win prizes, including DJ equipment from Lightsounds, worth more than $1,500. Stereosonic director Bevan Bickle said there are competitions to find the next big band but very few similar opportunities for rising DJs.

“Dance music is huge and we need to nurture our young DJs and give them the same breaks and opportunities as young bands and that’s why we’ve started this competition,” Mr Bickle said. “They’ll get the experience of playing in front of a huge crowd and at a major festival which is great from a personal point of view and also for their resume.” Also among the 30 odds acts performing at Stereosonic are Sebastien Ingrosso, Major Lazar, Calvin Harris, Benny Benassi and Infected Mushroom.

DJs can enter via the dedicated email address stepuptostereo@thefamily.com.au from October 7. The heats will begin at Twenty21 nightclub on the Gold Coast on November 5, followed by
Mainstreet, Mackay (Nov 6), Birdee Num Num, Brisbane (Nov 7 & 14), Bullwinkles, Townsville and Gilligan’s, Cairns (Nov 12) and Strutters, Rockhampton (Nov 13). The final will be at Family Nightclub in the Valley on November 26.

Stereosonic features more than 30 artists over 10 hours on December 5 at the RNA Showgrounds.

For more information:
Darren Cartwright
Media Mafia
E: carts@mediamafia.com.au
M: 0422 001 585

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Changing Tone

Friday, October 8th, 2010

16 Wentworth St Surry Hills has been home to many a club night, salsa dancing classes and even comedy nights. The location and outlay of the venue makes it a perfect location for a night out, after work drinks or a dinner date in one of the smaller, more intimate areas of the venue. This time around the club is also under new management with a whole world of new events and projects coming up.

Sasha Mukhin caught up with Ben Peterson, new owner of Tone, to check out the outlook for the near future as well as Jimmy Polar to chat about the lighting and sound deck out.

Sasha : Why did you decide to buy Mars Lounge?
Ben : Sydney needs more quality entertainment options, we are renovating the space to become a live performance space with a large stage, world class PA and lighting.

Sasha : What is your favourite feature of the venue?
Ben : One hundred year old timberwork throughout the venue.

Sasha : What have you been doing differently since you bought the venue?
Ben : Built a stage, all new furniture, World Class sound and lighting, totally new entertainment program including live music and performance including burlesque, art shows and much much more.

Sasha : What is your future plan for the club?
Ben : To be Sydney’s premier 300 person live music venue.

Sasha : What can we expect from Tone in the near future?
Ben : Lots of internationals, album launches and special events coming up. Check out www.tone.net.au.

Sasha : Anything else you would like to ad?
Ben : Everyone who mentions this article and buys a drink at our venue gets any meal from our menu for half price for the month of October 2010. (One per person per day)

Sasha : Jimmy, tell us a little about the venue sound and lighting gear around here.
Jimmy : This is a multi format venue, it can host an incredible array of performances from dance parties, to hip hop mc battles to live funk, soul, jazz and electronic performances. The stage has three fold back sends with large front of house (F.O.H) full range boxes. There are also several wedge shape vocal boxes for sweet fold back on stage.
The main club system is custom built and flown. Passive three way QMX mid/high boxes are flown directly over the front of the stage and four double 15” subs are built in under the stage. The rig is driven by hand built Australian monitor Mosfet amplifiers, 3800W on each of the subs and 3200W to the mid high boxes. At this point the crossover is being handled by a DBX system processer but they are beginning to experiment with analogue components, URE filter networks and old style soft and warm stereo compression from a 1970s URE replica Rane rotary DJ mixer. Opting for a recording style F.O.H. console for some future development in the area of live recordings they chose a mid budget Soundcraft Ghost with nice preamps and versatility.
The main mix is picked up by a pair of BSS 31 band graphics with nice filters and adjustable notch. The DJ equipment consists of a pair of Technics turntables, Pioneer CDJ1000 and DJM800 mixer. The lighting is an American DJ Triphase, four Light Emotion LED Parcans, and Light Emotion Sputnik moving head. On special occasions they also bring out the Antari smoke and Light Emotion bubble machine.

Sasha : Thank you Ben and Jimmy.

If you would like to talk to us about your venues lighting and audio needs contact Julian Lacey at Lightsounds Projects on (02) 9789 1604 or 0430 922 674 or via email julian@lightsounds.com.

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Lightsounds Wollongong On The Move

Friday, October 8th, 2010

Wollongong’s biggest one-stop shop for DJ, lighting and sound equipment is moving to a larger premises at Flinder St on Wednesday, 29th of September to make a wider range of Lightsounds services available at a more convenient location for you, their valued customers.

The move will enable Ligthsounds to showcase their wide range of lasers, disco lighting, smoke machines, amplifiers, mixing desks, DJ turntables as well as Dj CD players right within the store in a new showroom.

“It is important for us to keep our Wollongong store. This is home for us and we are grateful to our customers for keeping our business going strong” said Claude Spinelli, owner of Lightosunds Wollongong. “At the same time we want to be in a more convenient location for our shoppers, and town centre is ideal.”

Lightsounds has signed a long term lease at the new location and will stock its new store with an exciting assortment of products. The high-end equipment and brand names along with excellent customer service is what keeps customers coming back. “Business will continue as usual” Spinelli said.

Spinelli has been in the entertainment technology business for almost twenty years along with his better half Antonella Spinelli. Three years into opening the store he is still the sole retailer in the Wollongong region.

Some of the services Ligthsounds Wollongong offers are DJ Booths, long term or short term equipment hire, projects which deal with larger one off events and permanent installations.

Other Lightsounds stores located around Australia include Sydney, Brisbane, Gosford and Wodonga. For more information please call Lightsounds Wollongong on 02 422 61 177.

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Delving into Sydney’s underground music scene

Thursday, October 7th, 2010

Sydney is definitely not known for being the epicenter of music, or for dingy day clubs on a Tuesday catering dirty beats to those still out from the weekend. The underground scene in the harbor city definitely needs a face lift.
After years of clubbing in the same city, however, you do tend to find a few gems amongst the repetitive Ministry of Sound tunes blasting down the main strips of Kings Cross and Oxford Street.
One of these happens to be on the outskirts of the city, in a Lawn Bowls Club in Marrickville. The name to keep your eye out for is Mad Racket.
Simon Caldwell, promoter of Mad Racket, and James of Supermelody took some time out to have a chat to Sasha Mukhin about the event and music.

Sasha : Mad Racket has been the talk of the town – how did it all begin?
Simon : The four of us wanted to do a non-club night where we had no pressure to please a musically illiterate club manager, just so we could play the stuff we really wanted to, mainly the deeper side of house and techno, but really just what we feel like playing. We did a couple at Waverley Squash club before we moved to Marrickville.

Sasha : How did you land the Marrickville bowling club as the venue?
Simon : One of the Racketeers works around the corner and knew the room. We just went in and spoke to them and the rest is history.

Sasha : Does this mean you have to bring your own equipment down to the stands and truss?
Simon : Yes, we bring in all our own setup every time, except the mirror ball… that comes with the ceiling.

Sasha : Do you hire or own your equipment?
Simon : We hire.

Sasha : How did you find out about Supermelody – and how long did it take you to get them over here from Melbourne?
Simon : He was recommended to us by a Melbourne friend, and we had James play as support for Jamie Lidell at the Corner on the last two tours Jamie did. He played pretty much solo those times, with some added percussion and interpretive dance thanks to a few of his mates.

Sasha : How did you come up with your name?
James : I owned a record studio called Supermelody, it seemed natural to use that as the name for the band.

Sasha : What is the most embarrassing moment you’ve had on-stage?
James : It was last night in Melbourne actually. We were on stage about to start the gig and we realised the synthesizers weren’t plugged in. So we had to get off and fix things up.

Sasha : Speaking of equipment, what sort of equipment do you use for live performances?
James : Roland Synthesizer, Drum Synths, Bass, Drums, Electric Guitar and a Korg Micro.

Sasha : What’s next in store for Mad Racket and yourself?
Simon : We have Mad Racket’s 12th Birthday coming up on October 23rd with special guest Daniel Bell (Detroit/7th City/Accelerate/DBX).

For more details about the next Mad Racket check out www.madracket.com.au.

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INDUSTRY GEAR RELEASE NEW CATALOGUE

Friday, October 1st, 2010

Industry Gear  today announced the launch of a new sound and lighting product catalogue. Featuring more than 1,100 items the 128-page, full-colour glossy catalogue will be available on September 29 from authorized Industry Gear dealers across Australia and is a complete equipment resource guide for venue owners, architects, promoters, DJs, musicians and event organisers.

The new catalogue boasts high-end brand names such as PR Lighting, Antari, Elation, Amercian DJ, B-52 and SoundKing with an image of every product with its description, model and technical information.

Recently Industry Gear have become partners with The International Audio Group, the fastest growing Audio/Visual specialist manufacturer in the world so expect to see Warfedale Pro, FAL Lighting, Quad, Surge-X and Albion in these pages.

“We are very excited about becoming business partners with The International Audio Group” representative of Industry Gear, said. “This will enable us to grow our product range into stocking some of the most respected brands in the professional audio & lighting worlds for our customers.”

The catalogue is formatted for easy product look up, and is divided into two parts: audio and lighting. The audio section boasts seventeen parts some of which include: PA Systems, DJ equipment and Jukeboxes. Some of the products in the lighting section include: Stage Lighting, Mirror Balls, Disco Lighting and LED Lighting.

The last catalogue launched by Industry Gear was in August 2009. To download an online version of the new catalogue please visit: www.issuu.com/industrygear/docs/industrygear_2011_lighting and http://issuu.com/industrygear/docs/industrygear_2011_audio.

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