Friday, July 17, 2009
Wedding DJ Services
I'm proud to offer Wedding DJ Services! I've been informally DJ'ing for my friends weddings and it seems there is a growing demand for wedding DJs that don't play the chicken dance. People want to have a great party and want their weddings to be memorable. So why not? Check out my wedding DJ website for more information.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Podcast Number 1 is up
Check out my first podcast. This is in a radio show, un-mixed format and features a variety of my favorite tunes from the past and the present.
Tracklisting:
CP Podcast #1 - Recorded in Brooklyn and Seattle Tracklisting:
1. Ramsey Lewis Trio - Slippin Into Darkness
2. Edwin Starr - Easin' In
3. Little Brother - The Way You Do It
4. Kano - Over and Over Again
5. Freaky Flow Presents The Heavy Petters - Same Thing
6. Beth Orton - Daybreaker (Four Tet Remix)
7. Nobody + Mystic Chords of Memory - Feet Upon the Sand
8. Dntel - Umbrella 9. Miracle Fortress - Hold Your Secrets in Your Heart
10. Out Hud - The Stoked American
11. Pete Rock - One MC and One DJ
12. Diamond D - So Confused
13. Ayah - Might Not Be
14. Chic - Chic Cheer
15. Nightlife Unlimited - Peaches & Prunes (Edit)
16. Rufus & Chaka Khan - Do You Love What You Feel
17. Suzy Q - Get On Up Do It Again
18. Cerrone - Give Me Love
19. Mandrill - Funky Monkey
20. The Trammps - What Happened to the Music (Dmitri From Paris + Idjut Boys Edit from Nightdubbin)
21. Touch Sensitive - Body Stop (Toby Tobias Remix)
You can subscribe from itunes or visit my page on podomatic to listen to the show now, or subscribe in any number of formats to make sure you get the fresh sounds first!
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Pan-fried Fish with Tamarind Sauce
Cooking is just like producing and DJ'ing. No great big revelation there - mixing really is just like cooking. There's equal ingredients of science and artistic innovation, put into motion by combining sometimes disparate ingredients, sometimes familiar ones, in new and unexpected ways.
That being said, I've been experimenting with Southeast-Asian cooking for many years now. I've found Green Mangoes and Lemon Grass to be the best cookbook to get you started. There is some equivocating in this and most other SE Asian cookbooks about substituting ingredients. What I've learned is that you must use genuine ingredients to get the true taste of the food, and no substitution is worth it.
If you live in NYC, Udom is your one-stop shop for all things Thai. The block of Chinatown that this store is on is where to find all of your SE Asian cooking needs, though Udom has most of what you'd need for any SE style. The owner gave me some crucial hints that I'd like to share. Also if you're in Seattle, Viet Wah is the BEST store ever for all asian groceries, though they specialise in SE Asian.
Many of the recipes in Green Mangoes rely on making "tamarind water" by soaking Tamarind Paste in warm water and letting it sit for 15 minutes, then using the resulting water. The guy at Udom said to use this Tamarind soup concentrate, and boy is he right! I use less of it then the "tamarind water" usually. Also the other key I'm finding is to use real palm sugar. It's a much smoother, rounder sweet taste, and when combined with Tamarind, makes things taste like Thai food! Regular sugar is just too sweet and harsh. Tonight I'm going to try using a new kind of fermented bean paste with ong choy (water spinach), I'll post results - another ingredient suggested by Udom.
So I feel ok in posting this recipe from Green Mangoes because I am tweaking it with the above ingredients. You should buy the book. It's gorgeous and has tons of hints and a useful dictionary of ingredients. PS I use peanut oil instead of veggie oil. It is amazing stuff that burns a lot hotter than any other oil and it tastes good esp. when you're frying stuff.
1/2 cup of Tamarind sour soup base (see link above, must be this brand)
1/4 cup of water
4 tblsp fish sauce
3 tblsp palm sugar
1 tsp soy sauce
1.25 lb white fish filets (I used local northwest red snapper, but halibut works great too!)
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup flour (corn flour is best but I've used regular white flour)
Enough peanut oil to fry the fish in a wok (I poured in enough to cover the bottom of the wok with about 1/4" of oil) - this is another key mod
1 tblsp crushed minced garlic
1 tblsp finely minced ginger
1 large red chili (I used a korean red chili as is commonly available at Uwajimaya to great effect), minced
2 tblsp minced fresh mint
Combine the sour soup base with the water, fish sauce, sugar, and soy sauce in a bowl, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Depending on the type of palm sugar you got, a bit of may stay gloppy. Most of it should melt. Set aside.
Rinse and dry off the fish. Grind a bit of pepper onto it, and then dip each filet into the flour, coating both sides. Heat the oil until very hot but probably not smoking if you're using peanut oil. Add the fish, skin side down if skin is still on (not a tragedy if not). Lower to medium heat. Cook 3-4 minutes depending on how thick the fish is. Flip the fish and cook another 1-2 minutes. Transfer to a plate and keep warm. Don't throw out the oil.
Using the same wok and oil, stir-fry the garlic, ginger, and chili over medium heat for 30 seconds. Add rthe tamarind mixture and simmer 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in the mind leaves and immediately pour the sauce over the fish. Garnish with extra mint sprigs.
That being said, I've been experimenting with Southeast-Asian cooking for many years now. I've found Green Mangoes and Lemon Grass to be the best cookbook to get you started. There is some equivocating in this and most other SE Asian cookbooks about substituting ingredients. What I've learned is that you must use genuine ingredients to get the true taste of the food, and no substitution is worth it.
If you live in NYC, Udom is your one-stop shop for all things Thai. The block of Chinatown that this store is on is where to find all of your SE Asian cooking needs, though Udom has most of what you'd need for any SE style. The owner gave me some crucial hints that I'd like to share. Also if you're in Seattle, Viet Wah is the BEST store ever for all asian groceries, though they specialise in SE Asian.
Many of the recipes in Green Mangoes rely on making "tamarind water" by soaking Tamarind Paste in warm water and letting it sit for 15 minutes, then using the resulting water. The guy at Udom said to use this Tamarind soup concentrate, and boy is he right! I use less of it then the "tamarind water" usually. Also the other key I'm finding is to use real palm sugar. It's a much smoother, rounder sweet taste, and when combined with Tamarind, makes things taste like Thai food! Regular sugar is just too sweet and harsh. Tonight I'm going to try using a new kind of fermented bean paste with ong choy (water spinach), I'll post results - another ingredient suggested by Udom.
So I feel ok in posting this recipe from Green Mangoes because I am tweaking it with the above ingredients. You should buy the book. It's gorgeous and has tons of hints and a useful dictionary of ingredients. PS I use peanut oil instead of veggie oil. It is amazing stuff that burns a lot hotter than any other oil and it tastes good esp. when you're frying stuff.
1/2 cup of Tamarind sour soup base (see link above, must be this brand)
1/4 cup of water
4 tblsp fish sauce
3 tblsp palm sugar
1 tsp soy sauce
1.25 lb white fish filets (I used local northwest red snapper, but halibut works great too!)
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup flour (corn flour is best but I've used regular white flour)
Enough peanut oil to fry the fish in a wok (I poured in enough to cover the bottom of the wok with about 1/4" of oil) - this is another key mod
1 tblsp crushed minced garlic
1 tblsp finely minced ginger
1 large red chili (I used a korean red chili as is commonly available at Uwajimaya to great effect), minced
2 tblsp minced fresh mint
Combine the sour soup base with the water, fish sauce, sugar, and soy sauce in a bowl, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Depending on the type of palm sugar you got, a bit of may stay gloppy. Most of it should melt. Set aside.
Rinse and dry off the fish. Grind a bit of pepper onto it, and then dip each filet into the flour, coating both sides. Heat the oil until very hot but probably not smoking if you're using peanut oil. Add the fish, skin side down if skin is still on (not a tragedy if not). Lower to medium heat. Cook 3-4 minutes depending on how thick the fish is. Flip the fish and cook another 1-2 minutes. Transfer to a plate and keep warm. Don't throw out the oil.
Using the same wok and oil, stir-fry the garlic, ginger, and chili over medium heat for 30 seconds. Add rthe tamarind mixture and simmer 1 minute, stirring constantly. Stir in the mind leaves and immediately pour the sauce over the fish. Garnish with extra mint sprigs.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Some cool Logic Studio tips
I got into Logic Audio back at version 3.5!!! I had the PC version hooked up to my Roland Juno 60 (with the Midi converter box) and my Akai S3000XL. Ah yeah! Using Recycle to send samples to my S3000 changed my life. As a nerd, I was always interested in figuring out how to do cool things with the software, and as an artist, I was always looking for ways to avoid having my music released into the world. So over the years I've picked up some cool tricks. It blows me away how much easier everything is now than it used to be. MIDI mastery seems like a thing of the past for the most part. Anyway here are some of my favorite tips that are still very relevant. FWIW my set-up now is just an MBP Intel Core Duo and a Novation Remote 25 SL. That's it. Everything else is just plugins and Logic Studio.
- Using Quick Automation Access in Logic 8 (mostly applies to Logic 7 too). This is the single greatest thing since sliced bread. If you don't have a Mackie Control or that new super awesome controller that is $1,500, you can use this trick so that ANY automation parameter can be assigned to a midi controller of your choice, such as the mod wheel on your keyboard! This alone will change your life. Only bummer of course is that you can only change one param at a time. My Remote SL lets me change basic stuff like volume, mute, pan, simiultaneously, but I'm too lazy to set it up in some hackish way to control other stuff, so I actually use this technique because it is down and dirty and lets you focus on the music instead of controller templates. I have gotten great results this way, though I still lust after a Mackie control which I think you can get new for like $600 now (the old school HUI-ish one that was the original Logic control anyway).
- Using the multiple output feature of EXS24 (Logic 5 I think even had this). This feature is slightly more obscure and allows you to send each individual sound to its own unique output in EXS. This technique works for any AU plug-in that supports multi-out, such as Kontakt, Guru, Battery, Guru, etc.
- Assigning Aux tracks and other non-normal tracks to arrange. This allows you to manage the automation data for those cool new Aux tracks you created on your multi-instrument outs! I think this also applies to Bus tracks as well.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Shopping Takes All Day
So when is someone going to crack the case to unlock more productive online music shopping? It seems possible that the flock web browser solves a different but equally key problem of being able to complete spam the world 24-7 with information about me.
Blogged with the Flock Browser
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
SaunaSessions.ca
I've been working on a remix with Woodhead of SaunaSessions.ca. These guys are totally off the chain, driving around Vancouver, BC with a mobile Sauna sound system. I'm loving his remix so far, hold tight for some sneak previews right here live and direct!
I'm finding that as I'm gettig heavy back into production, I want to listen to the funkiest things I can find and just totally assimilate the funk into the fabric of my being. I was listening to the latest Futuristic Sounds radio show (big up Mr Mikey) and he drops this Roy Ayers track, "Henceforth", from "Red, Black & Green" and I didn't recognize at first... man is that a funky track! Feel it. This morning was heavy dub with the Congos and Sugar Minott, and now I'm finishing out the day with some Black Star before heading down to BK for some birthday party action.
the NYC of hip-hop just ain't hear no more...
I'm finding that as I'm gettig heavy back into production, I want to listen to the funkiest things I can find and just totally assimilate the funk into the fabric of my being. I was listening to the latest Futuristic Sounds radio show (big up Mr Mikey) and he drops this Roy Ayers track, "Henceforth", from "Red, Black & Green" and I didn't recognize at first... man is that a funky track! Feel it. This morning was heavy dub with the Congos and Sugar Minott, and now I'm finishing out the day with some Black Star before heading down to BK for some birthday party action.
the NYC of hip-hop just ain't hear no more...
Sunday, May 3, 2009
CP EP 2, Track 1
Well I got one track in the bag. I'm out here looking for friends and people who just find me to do some remixes of the next batch of tunes. One of them I'm calling "Steal Some Days" and has a heavy soul (as in 60's R&B) vibe, combined with some tuff 909 beats and percussion. Very Moodyman obviously, but also kind of on just a classic old school classic house tip. Down and dirty, and slightly relentless.
Then there is another track, "Cuts", which shamelessly pounds a looped sample whose origins may be your treat to discover. This track reminds me of late 90's chicago stuff big time, it just demands that you go to the dancefloor. It's a track that I started in Vancouver in 2003 and am finally giving it its due, as it is probably my favorite thing I ever came up with, after the hihat programming for "Does It".
Then there is another track, "Cuts", which shamelessly pounds a looped sample whose origins may be your treat to discover. This track reminds me of late 90's chicago stuff big time, it just demands that you go to the dancefloor. It's a track that I started in Vancouver in 2003 and am finally giving it its due, as it is probably my favorite thing I ever came up with, after the hihat programming for "Does It".
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