Which MIDI Keyboard Controllers & Computer DJ Controllers Will Fit Into the Big Namba Studio Backpack?
July 2nd, 2008 categories: Namba Gear
As the Namba Gear designers were doing their research on the ultimate perfect size for the Big Namba Studio Backpack, they were also keeping in mind the current carry-on size restrictions of the airline industry. Although there is a standard, which is 22″ x 14″ x 9″ or 45″ total, every airline has their own size restrictions which can sometimes vary even within a single airline depending on the size of aircraft or the attitude of the check-in agent.
So we had to look at both the exterior size of the backpack as well as try to maximise the interior space to include the largest number of controllers. M-Audio’s Axiom25 was chosen as the measuring stick, because we knew that if we could get this “big boy” to fit and still follow the airline restrictions that we would be in good shape with most of the controllers on the market.
This lead to the development of the unhinging side on the large compartment, so that the backpack could open 180 degrees and the controller could actually be packed into a flat case.
Unfortunately, that did leave a few controllers unprotected and stranded on the sidewalk because they were just too big to fit our criteria for us to recommend them for the Big Namba.
The Korg25 is listed at 19.25″ inches long and although it is only .25″ longer than the Big Namba Studio Backpack’s interior dimension, it stretches the bag uncomfortably. The Novation XioSynth 25 which has on-board sounds as well as being a MIDI controller is a little wide at 12.54″. Likewise, the Stanton CM.205/CM.203 dj controllers are just a little fat at 4.29″ depth to recommend packing alongside your laptop. These Korg, Novation & Stanton controllers can be made to fit, just not with our recommendation considering the bag design. The Yamaha KX-25 at just under 20″ long and the Korg MicroX at 23.86″ long will not fit; don’t even try.
So what controllers do fit inside a Big Namba Studio Backpack?
KEYBOARD CONTROLLERS
Alesis PhotonX25
Behringer UMA25S
Behringer UMX25
Edirol PCR-M1
Emu Xboard25
M-Audio Oxygen8
M-Audio MidAir25
M-Audio KeyRig25
M-Audio Axiom25
Novation SL25
Novation ReMote LE x25
DJ CONTROLLERS
Behringer BCD3000DJ Feena Kontrol KDJ500 M-Audio Xponent Vestex VCI-100 Vestex VCI-300Alternative Controllers
Akai MPD16 M-Audio Trigger Finger M-Audio XSession Pro Korg PadKontrolThe result is a backpack that will accommodate a majority of controllers and should still fit in the overhead compartment of most airlines, bearing in mind that each airline can change their minds about size restrictions and some smaller planes will simply not accommodate anything much bigger that a construction worker’s lunchbox. Sorry about having to include the caveat, but it is true.
So what did we miss? If you have a question about whether a particular controller will fit inside a Big Namba Studio Backpack and it is not on the list, please comment and let us know so that we can investigate.
Check out this product SPOTLIGHT video of the Big Namba Studio Backpack
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Namba Gear Congratulates Loren Francis - Broadjam’s May Song of the Month Winner
July 1st, 2008 categories: Namba Gear
Namba Gear is happy to congratulate Broadjam’s May 2008 Song of the Month winner, Loren Francis of Georgetown, Maine. As a Broadjam Song of the Month sponsor, Namba Gear is proud to award Loren with a Kava Laptop Studio Bag as part of his Broadjam prize package for the song, “I’ve Been Down Before“.
Hear Loren Francis’ music on Broadjam
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Namba Gear Releases Product Video SPOTLIGHT On The Big Namba Studio Backpack
June 20th, 2008 categories: Namba Gear
If you are anything like our buddy, Dave, than we know that it helps to have a picture of how things work. Not that Dave is dumb, far from it, it is just that some of us are more visual than others (with Dave being exceptionally visual and occasionally visionary). You can show Dave specifications and give him explanations until you are blue in the face, but show him a 3 minute video and the light bulb goes on and you hear him say, “Ohhhh, so that’s how it works.”
Which was exactly what happened when we showed Dave our Video Product SPOTLIGHT on the Big Namba Studio Backpack. He suddenly understood what makes the Big Namba Studio Backpack so unique.
Captured by our friends and partners over at HowAudio.com, the video features Los Angeles recording artist, violinist, and sound designer, Laura Escude. Laura is also known for establishing the L.A. chapter of the Ableton Users Group.
We caught up with Laura in the back patio cabana of the Sierra Cup in Monrovia, CA. Laura was working on some tunes and takes the opportunity to show us how she transports her entire mobile studio using the Big Namba Studio Backpack.
Take a moment to check out the video. The video’s accompanying music is courtesy of Laura Escude entitled “Nabhidance”.
Check out the Big Namba Studio Backpack Video SPOTLIGHT
Check out the Big Namba Studio Backpack on YouTube
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Namba Gear Announces Jim Mouth’s Rose Bowl Sit-a-thon for Charity, July 7-11
June 19th, 2008 categories: Tribal Drums
Jim Mouth, my personal friend, a great drummer, comedian, and the “Super Stadium Sitter” is at it again! He plans to sit in all 92,542 seats at the Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, CA, the grand daddy of all stadiums, without stopping. He will commence at 10:00 a.m. on July 7th and hopes to sit in the last seat five days later.
The event is free and open throughout those five days and the public is invited to come out and watch and chat with the outrageous Jim Mouth, the holder of 23 world records. Jim expect to wear out five pairs of pants during those five days!
The Rose Bowl Sit-a-thon is sponsored by Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! and all donations and pledges will go directly to the charity Outward Bound Los Angeles. Outward Bound’s mission is to help provide low-income at-risk urban youth nature-based education that promotes positive self-development, environmental responsibility and outdoor career exposure.
Jim’s many renowned and novel stunts have achieved national and international coverage. Included in those are such amazing activities as stuffing 280 drinking straws into his mouth at one time, crawling 25 miles on his hands and knees, simultaneously smoking 159 cigarettes, and playing the drums for two weeks non-stop.
He has already sat in all the seats at the University of Michigan’s stadium of the Big 10 and now wants to do the Pac10. Many of Jim’s stunts have been performed on behalf of various charities to raise public awareness and to bring in thousands of dollars for the needy.
Jim plans on going full steam for the first 48 hours, will take a 2 hour sleep break and start back up for the next 48 hours. We want to encourage everyone in the Los Angeles area to come out to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena along with the crew from Namba Gear and encourage Jim, as this is a huge endurance test for the human body & spirit.
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4 Great Tips To Humanize Your Drum Programming
June 10th, 2008 categories: Guest Authors, Musician Resources
Guest Blog by Koorosh Daryaie
Hello Friends,
Many of you know my work as the drummer for rock bands like Silence and LXIX, and solo artists such as Woody Moran and Kirsten Hansen. What most of you might not know is that I spend as much time playing percussion and programming drums as I do actually drumming.
Last year I was in the studio programming drums and playing percussion on my great friend Woody Moran’s Tu-Toned Stranger album when the resident studio engineer, Ryan Kushner, asked me what my secret was to humanizing programmed drums. After an hour-long explanation and perhaps being sorry that he asked, Ryan encouraged me to share my thoughts and procedures with other aspiring drummers and drum programmers.
Choose Your Drum Programming Tools Wisely
I’d like to first discuss my programming tools. I usually do the majority of my drum programming using Pro Tools with the Strike plug-in. I also use Live 7 with Battery 3 or EZ Drummer. My midi controllers are Mandala V 1.0 and 2.0 Drum Pads, Roland HPD 10, 15, and SPDS Percussion pads, an M-Audio Trigger Finger, and a Korg Wave Drum.
The most important thing to point out is, that these are plug-ins and hardware MIDI controllers that I have used for a long time and the ones I’m the most familiar with and efficient on. Remember time is money in the studio, and no one wants to throw away money because you don’t know what you are doing. You should choose the application based on your needs and ease of use.
Before You Program The First Beat
I’d like to discuss some of my procedures. I usually like to get together with the artist a few times for rehearsals, to play either drums or percussion with them. By doing this I usually get a feel for the songs and learn the structure of the songs. I then spend a few hours after the rehearsal talking to the artist about the songs, their influences, and what inspired them to write the song. By asking questions I can get a feel for what the artist was thinking when writing the song and what direction they like to see their song go in.
With a metronome at hand during rehearsals, I tap tempo the songs and get the BPM (beats per minute). I listen to the feel, the groove of the song, to see where the song pushes, or drags. I then calculate the different sections of the song (verse, chorus, bridge, break), and if necessary ask the artist to make a decision to either speed up or slow down the song for a stronger feel.
Let’s Make Some Beats - Tracking and Programming
I like tracking programmed drums first. By laying down the drum part you are laying down the foundation for the songs where all other instruments will follow and use as their guide track. In programming I usually don’t quantize the Kick and Snare Drums, but do quantize the Hihat, and Ride Cymbals. I usually follow the Hihat track with a Shaker that is not quantized, and then a Tambourine track playing the down beats, also not quantized. After all the programmed drum parts are tracked in to Live or Pro Tools, I go in and start cutting sections for fills that lead from Verse to Chorus to Bridge, and so on.
Once the sections of the track are cut out, I start over-dubbing fills and lead-ins and change-ups in the areas with the holes.
The Finishing Touch
At this point I have already had a few cups of coffee and nice cigar, and am ready to lay down live percussion instruments. I don’t like to quantize any of the percussion tracks unless all the drums were live, and the percussion is what was tracked first. I usually start with the Conga, and work my way around to the Cajon, and then the Timbale if the song calls for it. I do a lot of Middle Eastern percussion work as well instruments such as Darbuka, Zarb, Daft, Boolangoo, and Tabla, and because of the nature of the way these instruments are played, and the technique applied, quantizing the tracks will not translate too well.
This is a multipart series on humanizing your drum tracks. In Part II, I will let you guys know how adding some effects can change the feel of a groove drastically.
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Namba Gear Announces The Big Namba Studio Backpack & Shaka Laptop Messenger Bag
May 30th, 2008 categories: Namba Gear
We proudly announce that the Big Namba Studio Backpack and Shaka Laptop Messenger bag have joined the original Kava Laptop Studio Bag in the Namba Gear product range. As with the Kava bag, the Big Namba and Shaka bags are available in three colors: Mayan Brown, Charcoal Grey and Olive Green. Here is the word on these bags.
Big Namba Studio Backpack
I thought it might be interesting for you to see the designer’s thought process, notes & concerns, which goes a long way to explaining why the Big Namba looks the way it does and the special functionality of the bag. What follows are whiteboard notes from our initial design sessions.
Built for Security
Why do we need security (inside pockets) instead of accessibility (outside pockets)? We will carry a $2000 computer, with about $1000+ of software, a 25-key MIDI controller, a really nice $600 microphone, couple pair of headphones, USB audio device, additional hard drive, tons of different cables, plus notepad & pens, business cards, camera, cell phone, CDs/CDR, etc. A computer DJ might have a DJ controller and 12″control vinyls. When you have $4,000 worth of gear in your bag, security becomes a #1 issue.
The first thing you notice about the Big Namba Studio Backpack design is that it looks very different from other backpacks, with a sleek, semi-rigid, high performance construction and not much in the way of outside pockets. The reason for this is that most backpacks are built from a hiking model, where you WANT easily accessible outside pockets to get to the bug repellent. We are not hiking here… Lockable zippers and inside pockets go a long way to secure your gear from subway thieves or backstage bandits.
Designed by Musicians
Other than a secure design, what do we want in a backpack that will really help us as computer musicians/dj’s? Give Problem/Solution.
1. Can’t find cables or they are a mess - Cable Control, provide a cable management system to roll cables and provide cable ties for guitar & mic cables.
2. Can’t find my stuff inside the bag - Make bag interior a high definition contrasting color.
3. My other bags fall apart - Use extreme quality construction, dense padding, over-sew stitching, 1680D/poly nylon.
4. Need unobtrusive or “hidden” pocket - Provide secret stash pocket for tickets, passports, iLoks, etc.
5. Hate the sweat stain from wearing a backpack - Use material designed to wick away moisture and control sweat stains.
6. Heavy pack means the straps cut into my shoulders - Pad shoulder material and widen straps, add chest strap to help secure pack.
7. Packing my controller into narrow opening is hard - Create side hinges that will unhinge so bag lays flat for packing.
8. With so much room it would be nice if it were more flexible - Internal padded divider between laptop and controller can be removed to transport other items.
9. A pocket to hold my phone that is not inside the pack - Create pocket on strap for iPod or cell phone.
Designed to hold up to one of the largest 25-key MIDI controllers on the market (Axiom 25), the Big Namba is still airline regulation friendly. If you need to transport a MIDI controller along with your laptop and other music studio items, the Big Namba Studio Backpack may be the perfect bag for you.
Shaka Laptop Messenger
The Shaka bag began it’s design from an inexpensive, unpadded, canvas laptop bag that was given to me for attending a seminar. What I discovered was that although I did not feel comfortable putting my laptop inside the unpadded canvas, this was the coolest “day bag” a guy could ever wish for. Lots of pockets and spaces to put things and the laptop compartment was big enough for a 15″ computer and notebook and paperback and spare t-shirt. I used this small bag for everyday use & short air travel, kind of like a “man-purse”, and wished that I could put my laptop inside too (but the lack of padding and cheap material scared me).
I showed this bag to our factory operations manager and he asked for the bag and told me that he would apply the Namba Gear construction methods and high performance materials and we would see what developed. I was stunned with the result. We made a few small improvements and… OMG, is this a cool bag. If you do not need to carry a MIDI controller and an audio device (or you use a compact model like the USB Transit from M-Audio), this may be the perfect bag for you. In fact, if you just need a great laptop bag that will also hold your personal essentials, the Shaka Laptop Messenger may be the perfect bag for you!
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Namba Gear Congratulates Keram - Broadjam’s April Song of the Month
May 29th, 2008 categories: Namba Gear
Namba Gear is happy to congratulate Broadjam’s April 2008 Song of the Month winner, Keram of Los Angeles, CA. As a Broadjam Song of the Month sponsor, Namba Gear is proud to award Keram with a Kava Laptop Studio Bag as part of his Broadjam prize package for the song, “You Are Not Alone“.
You can hear Keram’s music at: http://www.broadjam.com/keram
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Namba Gear’s Totally Unscientific Investigation To Get High-Paying Music Gigs
May 23rd, 2008 categories: Musician Resources
I just got an email from keyboardist & guitar player, and my long-time friend, Tom Kennard, about GigMasters.com. Tom & I had been discussing bands & getting better gigs, and like many musician’s, Tom is in multiple bands. In one of the bands, he plays keys for a country singer who may be on the verge of stardom (someday…) and Tom plays “boom-chinka, boom-chinka” piano parts, which is what the original songs call for, but leaves Tom less than inspired.
However, Tom was contacting me because of his 2nd band, called Round Trip. Like Tom, all of these guys are accomplished musicians and they have been rehearsing together for almost a year getting a repertoire of cover songs together. Tom said that they felt like they were ready to go in Feb/ March and put up a web site and a profile on GigMasters.com. In three weeks they had three gigs via GigMasters totaling about $12,000. And the gigs continue to come in.
From my perspective, it looks like the thing that is driving their success is that:
1. they can be an instrumental band or add vocals;
2. they can play funky enough to dance to - or jazzy enough to listen to;
3. and they did some cool live videos to show the customer what they can expect, that way there are no surprises for the customer about what they are booking.
I’m going to show you Tom’s email to me with the caveat that with his enthusiasm Tom sounds like he is getting paid by GigMasters.com. I can assure you that this is NOT the case. “Yo Woody: Hope you had a good gig. My band played last night in West Lake Village for a High Brow Fund Raiser/ Auction. Tom Selleck, Tiger Woods, and Alex Trebeck were there along with many people from the movie and music industry. They paid us a week in advance. I like that plan! That site I told you about is really paying off; Gigmasters.com. We’re getting big buck gigs left and right.”
So I asked Tom to give me a little more info on GigMasters.com and this is his response, “Our band is called Round Trip. Go to www.Gigmasters.com, type in California and then type in R & B and we should come up somewhere on the first page or so. Click on Round Trip and our video starts. There’s only three videos on this site as opposed to four on our www.Roundtripband.com site. You pay for different packages. We will play 500 miles radius. We nailed a $5000. gig this last week in Long Beach and a couple of weddings for $3000. and $2500. We pay Gigmasters 5%. There was a band we checked out that booked 46 gigs last year with Gigmasters. They’re for real and national.”
So there you have it. GigMaster seems to have a category for just about every genre of music, so I will forward Tom’s advice on to you to “check it out.” If you have used GigMaster.com and would like to share your experiences, or if you have another idea to share, we’d love to hear from you.
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T Lavitz - Namba Gear Featured Artist
May 18th, 2008 categories: Artists
NAME: T Lavitz (Keyboard Magazine’s “Jazz Keyboardist of the Year” & six-time Grammy nominated recording artist)
LOCATION: Boston, Massachusetts
WEBSITE: http://www.tlavitz.net/ and www.myspace.com/tlavitz
FAVORITE MUSIC SOFTWARE: Steinberg’s Cubase4 (with an M-Audio 1010LT)
BRIEF BIO: Studied at the University of Miami (Coral Gables, Fl) after graduation from the Interlochen Arts Academy.
Was “Plucked” from student body by the rapidly-gaining-deserved-attention band the “Dixie Dregs“ As keyboardist for the “Dixie Dregs”, this led to recognition as ”Best New Talent” and “Jazz Keyboardist of the Year” in Keyboard Magazine’s readers poll, 6 GRAMMY nominations and many other extraordinary experiences. To this day there are still occasional “Dregs” tours; although short in duration they still remind me of why we garnered so much acclaim pre internet!
I’m a founding member of Jazz is Dead which originally featured Billy Cobham on Drums. Fellow “Dregs” band mate Rod Morgenstein had taken over for Billy and joined our group around 1999-2000. Also, played/toured and/or performed in “Widespread Panic“, “Jefferson Starship“, Pat Benatar“, “Joe Pass” , “Mother’s Finest” and countless others.
Latest CD as a leader is called ‘School of the Arts” which features Dave Weckl, John Patitucci, Frank Gambale, Steve Morse and Jerry Goodman. It peaked at #2 on XM Radio’s Jazz Airplay chart around April 25th 2008.
Next up is the position of “Artistic Director” at the Berklee College of Music’s “Rock Workshop” 5 week summer program. I also have a brand new book/CD which has just been released by Hal Leonard.
TELL US ABOUT YOUR LATEST PROJECT, RECORDING, OR PERFORMANCE: On September 22nd (not necessarily the latest, but it was cool!) a featured performer on “Moogfest” at B.B. King’s nightclub in Times Square, NYC. This is set up yearly by his foundation in commemoration of the late, great Robert (Bob) Moog, inventor of the Moog synthesizers.
WHAT DO YOU LIKE BEST ABOUT YOUR NAMBA GEAR BAG? For one thing, although perhaps designed with a specific purpose of toting a laptop and external drives, etc. I have already used my Kava Laptop Studio Bag for something completely different; a hip carry on bag that not only looked stylish but allowed me to still bring important items on an international trip, that I didn’t want to check with the baggage service. I put in things like extra eyewear (can’t function too well without them), iPod, cell phone, compact camera, and the millions of cables and connectors I seem to also bring. Since I was leaving the country, I brought some of the new kind of cables that snap apart and perform multi purpose functions as well.
The important thing to note here (in my opinion) is that now it isn’t just straight 1/6th note straight ahead funk, dance or whatever, but JAZZ with TONS of IMPROVISATION can be made remotely, if you have the right guys. SO many times when I record(ed) in a typical studio setting, I would wear headphones and not see the other players anyway, so really…if you put your mind to it, it isn’t all that strange after all!
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How Do You Know If Or When You’ve ’MADE IT’?
May 16th, 2008 categories: Guest Authors, Tribal Drums
Guest Blog by Gabriella of Bruised But Not Broken
There’s been much talk that’s been concerning me lately. Artists here in space & elsewhere often wait for the magical day or moment that they feel is coming when they can say:’ I’ve made it’.
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
‘I’VE MADE IT’ ? MADE ‘WHAT’ EXACTLY?
AS AN ARTIST, IF WE ARE PRODUCING OUR ART, OUR SONGS, OUR POETRY, OUR BOOKS, OUR DESIGNS… WHATEVER IT IS THAT YOU DO AS AN ARTIST, THEN HAVEN’T YOU ALREADY ‘MADE IT’?
The general public has a strange idea that unless an artist has a ‘best seller’, or has won a ‘Nobel Prize’ or a ‘Grammy’ or an ‘Oscar’ then they just haven’t ‘made it’. I’m here to remind all artists that if you are producing whatever art you produce, then YOU HAVE ALREADY MADE IT! 
MANY BLESSINGS TO YOUR CONTINUED SUCCESS AND YOUR CONTINUED ART.
IT’S THE DAY WE STOP -
THAT’S THE DAY WE CEASE TO ‘MAKE IT’
I hope everyone has the ability to understand that artists LIVE their ART. They live and breathe it. It is their Life and by doing so they are ‘MAKING IT’ every moment of their existence - and to set up some kind of ‘bar’ that says ‘oh yes, they’ve made it now’ is simply a matter of misguided perception on behalf of the general public - and I do speak ‘generally’, not specifically & not everyone, but generally speaking from my own observations. There are so many avenues that all artists can take, and the general public would benefit from realising that it’s not all about winning prizes (although that’s always nice) or reaching best selling lists (although that’s also very nice).. etc
Art is about creation - PROLIFIC creation.
Art is a lifestyle.
Art is NOT not a race to any finish line that say’s ‘I’ve Made It’.
YOU HAVE ALL ALREADY ‘MADE IT’ SO RELAX AND ENJOY YOUR WONDERFULLY BLESSED LIVES AND DON’T EVER LET ANYONE TAKE THAT AWAY FROM YOU.
Peace to your home & loved ones.
Gabriella
BRUISED BUT NOT BROKEN ™
‘Nothing real can be threatened
…Nothing unreal exists’
=========================
© Gabriella of BBNB (Oursong Ltd Australia)
All rights reserved.
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