This Video is the last in the “Dj’ing from behind the drums” Progtronica series as I move on to 2 exciting new projects that build of the foundation built here on these videos. Here I’ve introduced a new key piece of the arsenal the Roland SPD-30 octopad to play the live drumming. With this small pad and [...]

The beginning of 2011 has been filled with brand new musical, business and creative opportunities. Most new projects are of the secretive nature but details will be revealed soon. In the meantime, the Progtronica videos have now reached a land mark of over 100,000 views on the NoServiceRequired YouTube Channel. Since developing the “DJ’ing from behind [...]

I’ve never liked the modern emergence of “sub-genres”, the incessant need these days to boil down each kind of music into dozens of sub-categories. I have found that, although it provides a decent description of the sound of the music, rarely can music be so pigeonholed as to be put into a place that is [...]

After doing the last track/video “Taste of Blue” introducing my new technique of launching clips and scenes in Ableton live using the Novation Launchpad while playing the drum part live, it opened my mind of the many different types of sounds and styles I could tackle using the same basic setup. I had the idea [...]

Although there was some live drumming on the recent Progtronica EP, for the most part I have focused my recording and performance techniques on live “re-mixing” of my own material. Drum wise my approach has been to record myself, often in several layers, playing live. Then take parts of the recording and slice, alter, and [...]

For the past year since I’ve been on this Progtronica quest, I’ve had the compositional approach of beginning with the idea of “What if I did this?” A lot of great music has been written with this type of inspiration, trying to figure out something one doesn’t know and then making a musical statement out [...]

After doing all the post production, polishing, and arraigning of all other logistical details for the release of the “Live For No One” EP, I’ve gotten back to exploring new production and performance techniques in Ableton Live. The most crucial of all of these has turned out the be the “sidechaining” of certain effects from [...]

Challenges and how we respond to them is large part of what makes us who we are. Of course everyone knows the cliché of “with crisis comes opportunity” but just what that opportunity is and how to execute it to its fullest potential is not always as clear cut. From an internal perspective the recent [...]

The release of the “Live For No One” ep is eminent so I have been spending most of my time getting my full length live set together to perform, but I got a little break from that intention when my old friend and musical collaborator Taylor McFerrin came through town on tour. He asked me [...]

I’m working and reworking the last track for my debut album before sending it off the be mastered. In the process I got locked into this techno club vibe and went with it for this weeks video blog post. All the synthesizer sounds come from various iPhone apps and all drum parts were recorded live, [...]

I’ve been working on putting my newest tracks into my “Master Set” in Ableton Live so that they are performance ready. After an extremely long week (and long Saturday night to blow off some steam) I woke up ridiculously early and threw down this mix. It’s a bit raw but shows the new direction I’ve [...]

This broken beat/house song i had been working over in my head for a few days, but the recording took record time. Sometimes that is the best way to write; think about it for a while then just pour it out as fast and unfiltered as possible. This is certainly unfiltered. I had been wanting [...]

This is a great old video I dug up playing my “Last of the Imaginative Executioners” drum ‘n bass drum solo that I used to play with Grandfather Ridiculous in the 2003 era. There are not a lot of good video’s at all of that band so this is kind of a cool time capsule. [...]

This is my brand new video I created on 9/5/09 using a Mac running ableton Live 8 with and akai MPD 24 (like my old MPC) roland v-drums, and a small trumpet sample from Nils Petter Molvaer, all filmed on a flip share micro video camera. I just obtained this Akai controller and and it’s [...]

A video tribute to Luke Vibert, JoJo Mayer, KJ Sakwa, and the health care reform debate insanity. This is a live drum n’ bass performance video from Nigel Sifantus’ upcoming solo ep. Like a line of dominos, The sounds are set up and then knocked down using digital V-drums, nobs, sliders and effects. Prepare to [...]

This is the brand new video for my new song “From 10 to 11″ featuring Jubei on vocals (of L Maestro Presents). I recorded mixed and edited all the music as well as shooting and editing the video itself. The drum beats are all cut up clips from my own drum breaks mashed up into [...]

Since getting my iPhone a few months ago I quickly realized it is one of the most amazing new musical tools. When my daughter received this “Elmo” guitar for a birthday present from a certain musician friend of mine, I thought it might be the worst thing I had ever heard. That is until I [...]

A few nights ago I found myself in a full fledged battle with me on one side, and my miscommunicating computer and new audio interface on the other. I had a simple project in mind for the evening: record few drum clips into Ableton Live from my v-drums so that I could cut them up [...]

This is my first video experimenting with the V-drums. I’m basically just exploring the sounds, no samples or sequences here. This is raw and meant to be just a peek into the world that is to come.