Peter Gabriel Creates Amazing DJ Booth With His Old CDs and Cassettes

by Leonora Oppenheim

from http://www.treehugger.com/

All images by author

Now that we live in the digital age, the question has often been asked: "What in the love of music do we do with all our old formats?" Yes, all those cassettes, CDs, VHSs and their horribly non-recyclable jewel cases that are still aimlessly floating around our lives. What can we do with all that plastic? Peter Gabriel, he of pop super group Genesis, founder of Real World Records and the WOMAD festival, found a fantastically funky solution recently when all his cassettes and CD cases were used to create a DJ Booth at WOMAD.

Discotastic plastic
Gabriel's collection of cassettes, old CDs and VHS covers were all assembled into a sleekly curved DJ Booth in the San Fran Disco bar, which kept festival goers dancing late into the night. All that plastic piled high did a fab job of reflecting the disco lights and glitter ball. We particularly liked the ever changing coloured strip of LED lighting cutting a dash through the middle of the booth, lending it a suitably flashy air. We're not sure if the individual cassettes and VHS covers were glued together, but the whole layered brick-like construction looked pretty sturdy. We weren't about to try knocking it over to find out.

We think there's great DIY inspiration to be found in Peter Gabriel's DJ booth design. Though there probably aren't too many of us with a music collection large enough to make a structure of this size. Time to relieve some of your friends of their useless jewel cases, perhaps?

Dematerialised Music Saves on Carbon
Interestingly, Peter Gabriel is well known for being a pioneer in digital music distribution, founding one of the first music download services OD2. Did you know that the dematerialisation of music saves masses of carbon emissions?

Leave No Trace
In keeping with his long held interest in human rights Peter Gabriel has always made sure that WOMAD is a showcase for ethical and environmental causes, as well as extraordinary world music. Almost all festival stalls use or support fairtrade and organic goods, there are segregated recycling and compost bins throughout the site and everyone is encouraged to collect their plastic glasses with the 5p per returned cup incentive.

It's amazing how seriously the kids take the cup collecting to earn their pennies. Tall towers of plastic glasses wobbling through the crowds that obscured their tiny couriers, became a familiar and entertaining sight over the weekend. Apparently, one group of kids managed to collect over 400 cups. Impressive!

Transparent Waste Management
This year we liked WOMAD's new policy of opening up their recycling yard to the festival goers, so everyone could see the waste accumulating over the weekend. This transparency was an effort by the festival organisers to improve on the 36% of onsite waste that was recycled last year. We've yet to hear whether this was a successful strategy or not.

Popular Ethical Brands on Site
We also spotted some of our favourite ethical brands in the arena. Ecover were helpfully handing out washing up liquid samples, Pachacuti were supplying stylish head gear, Pants To Poverty were flirting in their underwear and Frank Water was back refilling everyone's water bottles for free.

Pedal Powered Architecture
But wait there's more, we haven't even started on the pedal powered excitements that were going on over at the Roots Architecture stage. The efforts of the amazing volunteer architects and designers over the WOMAD weekend deserve a post all of their own - so watch this space.

Worst Wedding DJ EVER!

Scratching the surface: DJ'ing with your Mac

by: Sang Tang

from: http://www.tuaw.com/

It's Saturday night and you're out and about painting the town red, or whatever color it is that towns are painted these days. Whether you end up at a night club, a lounge or a bar, there's a good chance there's going to be a DJ spinning up some tunes at the venue. And there's a good chance that you'll see a glowing Apple in front of the DJ, as said DJ may be accompanied by a MacBook or MacBook Pro. If you've ever looked into doubling your Mac as a virtual turntable, then this post may help you scratch the surface -- err, vinyl.

At the top of my list for DJ apps is Serato Scratch Live, commonly known just as "Serato". Although the software-hardware combination of Serato is also compatible with Windows-based machines, most DJs that I know, and most of the DJs in the venues I've been to, outfit their Serato setup with a Mac. Here's what's in a typical Serato DJ config:

1. There's Serato Control Vinyl. Although it looks and feels like a traditional vinyl record, Serato Control Vinyl doesn't have any pre-recorded music on it. Instead, the record contains a control signal that allows Scratch Live (the software on your computer) to track the motion of the record -- allowing you to control and scratch the the MP3s or AACs on your computer. The price for Serato Control Vinyl records ranges between USD $10 and $20.
2. Scratch Live, which is the software that's installed on your computer.
3. To bridge the digital world (Scratch Live and your digital music) and the vinyl analog world, you'll need to use special hardware: either Rane's SL 1 or SL 3 audio interfaces. These breakout boxes connect to your computer via USB. Audio is passed to the breakout box by connecting your left and right turntables' respective RCA cables to Serato's inputs, and likewise Serato's outputs to your mixer.

While you can purchase Serato Control Vinyl and a Rane SL 1 or SL 3 box separately, they can can also be purchased as packages. For example, a package with Scratch Live, two Serato Control Vinyl records and the Rane SL 1 box is usually priced at about USD $540.
Similar vinyl-based digital solutions are also offered by Stanton's Final Scratch, Native Instruments' Traktor Scratch, and Torq DJ.

But if you're just looking to get your feet wet without the need for expensive hardware, there are software-centric options to tickle your beat matching and vinyl scratching fancy. Here, instead of using digital vinyl, you'll be using your Mac's trackpad and some keyboard combinations to perform your mixing trickery. Of the paid-for options available, I've found algoriddim's Djay (USD $49.95) to offer the best balance of simplicity and ease-of-use for novices, as well as providing some advanced features for the more seasoned DJ.

Like a traditional DJ setup, DJay's interface presents dual virtual turntables to the user. Playing a song on one of the turntables is as simple as dragging and dropping songs from your song library (which is very nicely integrated with iTunes) to the desired turntable. Besides EQ, gain level, record speed and mixer controls, you can also set looping and cue points. To facilitate your workflow and mixing, the app features an "analyze library" feature that analyzes your songs and provides the beats per minute (BPM) of them. But if you're feeling lazy and not in the mixing mood, you can choose the app's "Automix" option. As implied in its name, the feature puts DJay on autopilot and automatically mixes your music for you. While DJay is suitable for use without any special hardware, Vestax has developed Spin, a USB controller that provides for more physical, turntable-like control. Spin is available at the Apple Store for USD $249.95.
Advances in technology have changed DJ'ing, as the sight of seeing DJs carrying in large carrying cases and milk crates full of 12" records has become less frequent. Serato and DJay represent two DJ'ing offerings available on the Mac, but by no means are they the only options. Readers, we'd like to hear some of your recommendations to the aspiring DJ or the mixmaster in all of us.

10 Gadgets for Wannabe DJs

1. Tonium Pacemaker	2. LifeVibes MixDJ FX Software	3. Stanton T.92 USB Turntable	4. Sony Muteki XROSSFADE Mini Hi-Fi Component System
5. Scratch: The Ultimate DJ	6. Hercules Mobile DJ MP3	7. Ultrasone DJ1	8. ION Express DJ
9. Eliminator Lighting 6-PAK Complete Lighting System	10. M-Audio Digital DJ Mixlab System

Mix, crossfade, and scratch like a master turntablist with these DJ equipment choices, like a portable mixer and USB turntable.