Move your iTunes music library to a new Mac
iTunes
I use iTunes on my Mac, but don’t let it manage my library. It is not allowed to rename or move any of my files, for the obvious reason that it will totally mess up my Serato, Ableton Live and personal sorting methods. If you’re looking for the way to move your managed iTunes music library, Apple has a nice tutorial.
Having bought a new Macbook Pro, finding the quickest way to move the library from the old to the new laptop was not so easy, so let me share it with the world.
iTunes uses two files to build your library: iTunes Library (binary file) and iTunes Music Library.xml (XML file as backup).
If iTunes fails to find/read the iTunes Library file, it uses iTunes Music Library.xml to rebuild it. That’s what we’ll use.
My new username is identical to my old machine, so the path to the music location will also be exactly the same (f.e. /Users/OrT/Music).
If this would not be the case, you’ll have to do a search and replace in the XML file changing the path to the new location.
- Make sure iTunes is closed, on both locations
- Copy your music to your new mac (in my case, to the same location)
- Back up your iTunes Music folder! (actually only necessary when you already added songs)
- Delete the iTunes Library file and make a new, empty one (in Terminal: touch Music/iTunes/iTunes\ Library)
- Delete the iTunes Music Library.xml file and copy the one from your old mac to the new one
- Start your iTunes. It will detect the binary library file being empty and rebuild your library using the XML
Ta-daa, all your music and playlists magically reappear.
If you’re using an iPhone, just authorize your computer (Store, Authorize Computer) and hit File, Transfer Purchases to import your precious apps.
Busy Busy Busy
Story of my life. I must apologise for not posting anything since April, but as the title of this post states, I’ve been kinda very busy.
- Job hopping (working with oneDot only for, amongst others, on Gent Jazz, Jazz Middelheim, Charlatan.be and a still secret project for VRT).
Our ways parted and I’m now taking time to get some other work done. - Trying to figure out what to do with FreeJays.
I got kinda tired of the same old parties and the same old music. FreeJays was created to play specific genres, thus created expectations from our bookers, but I’m so tired of the same old electro trash garbage. There’s so much quality music out there. Do you, dear visitors, think I should use the name to build something new (especially Live, with own material), or is that a bad idea? Get a new name? - Dove in the studio with Jonas, our VJ, to combine my live audio with his VJ software using OSC. Very interesting. Tips are welcome!
- Working on KNNKT, which will launch pretty soon! Be sure to keep a look-out.
- Finally got round to get me some proper monitors, the popular Rokit KRK RP 8 G2 serie. What a difference!
- That got me very enthousiastic again, spending a lot of hours on Leesa’s first track, which we hope to testdrive at the upcoming CrammerocK festival where she’ll be playing (and I’ll be presenting again).
Very much going on, hopefully my next posts will be announcements of released tracks or other very exciting news.
I leave you with a picture of one wall of my studio (the synths are on my left and back) which I’m pretty proud of.
Toys toys toys!
KNNKT – launch of the twitter wall
Talking to people active as DJ, VJ or producer at Play & Produce and at various other occaions, it was became obvious that there’s a problem with effective news distribution concerning these subjects. Especially good, reliable Dutch sources are close to nonexistent. Beginners are desperate for easy to swallow information and basicly the whole scène is tired of trying to stay up to date using the vast jungle that is the Internets.
KNNKT was born! (actually officially on the 20th of October 2008 at 18h38)
Together with FreeJays’ VJ AV8R (formerly known as AVoid, offline referred to as Jonas Pottie) and daMusic godfather Audience, also known as Robin Tulkens, we gave birth to KNNKT (pronounced connect), a Dutch platform for DJ’s, VJ’s and producers, providing bitesize news, tutorials, how-to’s, and much more very cool stuff and tools in the future (but that’s still super secret, seriously, you guys).
This first, pre-launch phase is a Twitter mash-up sorting the updates from the KNNKT Twitter account. It’s a mix of news and things we think are awesome and you need to see.
So if you’re into deejaying, veejaying or producing your own tracks, bookmark the site, sign up for the newsletter (that informs you of KNNKT updates, not news, yet) and follow the KNNKT Twitter account. Hellasweet.
We’re also looking for contributors to share knowledge and funnel news. Do you breathe, eat and sleep hardware, think in MIDI or make crazy setups using twelve old VCR’s and a cow to project on – let us know!
Introducing: Leesa
It took this gal about four (4) tracks to get the hang of mixing tracks and she delivers high quality music of the deeper kinds. Enough reason to take her under my wings to launch her new identity as female DJ. This was/is the simple but effective plan:
- quality music is nothing without technical skills to bring it, so we got her gear to start playing
- a website that stands out, emphasizing style and quality
- we know, being a girl DJ has big advantages, but we still try to keep the focus on the music and not her.. other.. qualities.
- active use of social media, especially Twitter, Facebook and MySpace (is anyone still using that? I sure ain’t!) to get the word out
- namedropping through the right channels and in the ears of the right people
The first and second demo sets were welcomed with cheers of joy by deejays, promotors, blogs and even people that aren’t acutally ‘in to’ the scene or genres.
Proof that quality music and ditto approach get noticed fast:
- Picked up instantly by blogs like Mediabom, Lamazone, MNML-land, Audience (daMusic godfather)
- Only a few months in she won the vi.be female DJ contest, winning a spot on Female Deluxe opening for Monica Electronica (from which she received big love and kodus) at Nijdrop.
- Her first gigs include Tijuana, Suite16, Nijdrop and Trancefusion
Nuff said?
Being a user and creator of social media, I also love the fact that she actively uses Twitter and attends social media slash social networking events like Jong Tuig or Brussels Girl Geek Dinner. This also has given her lift-off as a DJ a remarkable boost.
And yes, I do realise that being a woman behind decks helps opening doors and speed things up a bit 
Check http://www.leesa.be, get those sets on your iPods and spread the word or start booking. You’ll love it.
Richie Hawtin’s 2008 setup
It’s been a while since I provided you beloved visitors with new information. Busybusybusy is my and everybody’s excuse!
As I work on projects you will most likely love, let me entertain and stimulate you with this awesome video of Richie Hawtin’s 2008 setup using Traktor and Allen & Heath toys (which I would love to have – birthday coming up. wink. notch.).
Notice the relation with my previous article about using Live, he explains the motivation for similar techniques quite well (and a whole lot shorter than me)!
Richie Hawtin 2008 DJ Setup from Dean Koch on Vimeo.
using ableton live to deejay
Since a few years deejay software has evolved from experimental software that people used to tinker around with at home or at a wedding party to actual usable solutions.
A big factor in this story is the price of laptops and the power they have. For a few hundred euro’s you have a system more than powerful enough to run digital DJ software.
Ableton Live is a different story. It was created to give a new approach and platform to producers.
The goal was very high usability trough a simple but effective user interface and give performance the means to use it live, next to the studio work. With the ability to ‘warp‘ samples to match the tempo of the project, it was also possible to warp entire songs.
For the non-techies: all songs that are warped play at the same tempo as the project is set to. So all your tracks mix seamlessly, period. Switching tempo or different music genres (like drum ‘n’ bass) in a spectacular way is a breeze.
This was ofcourse very appealing to all that wanted to DJ, but not learn the techniques of beatmatching.
If you know me and this blog, you probably know that I’m a big fan and user of Ableton Live, in the studio and as a live deejay tool. A number of people (usually behind my back) have uttered that doing a live deejay set with Ableton Live is cheating and lame, because there’s no need for beatmatching anymore.
To set the record straight:
I agree that people shouldn’t use it to just nit one song to another, like a regular DJ set. That’s just lame. Unless your name is Justice or you are world famous and renowned. The thing with Ableton Live is that it provides the tools to do unbelievable things with music, live on the spot.
This is why I use it, and how my setup is at this moment (it changes a lot):
- I remix tracks live, using samples, loops and chops which can I make and use on the spot
- A lot of Live’s effects go far beyond a simple flanger or echo (and this will expand universally with the upcoming Max support)
- My Korg Zero8 provides MIDI control, real-time effects and 8 individual sound channels during a Live deejay set
- We use drumpads, a Roland SPD-11 to trigger samples, and play pieces of music using drumsticks
- A Korg PadKontrol takes care of vocal and instrumental samples, parts of tracks we play live and effects
- When one of my productions should get to a usable state (imagine), I can use every channel, sample, scene of that track in my set.
Try doing that with vinyl or CD’s.
I’ve been deejaying for over ten years now, still use vinyl (Serato) on many occasions and don’t need to prove that I can beatmatch. I need more. I always need more.
catholic school needs to think student-up
This blog is usually pretty informative, but I need to get this off my chest.
Someone, let’s say ‘a very important friend’, works as a student counselor in one of the biggest schools in Flanders, which I shall not name (and seriously without a link this time).
She graduated as a clinical psychologist, did an internship working with people convicted of partner violence and has a way of building a durable bond with a person. She’s hip and funny, perfect to try and reach these kids kids with smaller and bigger difficulties at that specific school on their level.
The student relationship is going very well, but the co-workers and school management expect her to spend less time helping the students, and more time kissing co-workers ass and making their life more comfortable.What?
This was confirmed yet again at an evalutation:
They spent about 5 minutes complimenting her on the work she’s done with the students. All parents are tremendously grateful for what she has accomplished with their kids. Not one complaint from any parent or student. Job very well done, wouldn’t you agree?
Now, the next 30 minutes were about the fact that she doesn’t kiss enough principal ass, she needs to be less open and direct (because she tends to tell the truth to help her students, last year she was encouraged to do this because it was in the interest of her students!), didn’t let the principal pass first when entering a room, had a piece of gum in her mouth at one time, sweared when her computer crashed again, etc.
Seriously, is a student counselor someone who tries and help students or a personal butler for teachers and principals? Did she fight trough five years of University to be a maid?
School-that-I-shall-not-name, you have a serious mentality problem. That you don’t read your e-mails and expect student counselors to be your secretaries and remind you of appointments is very wrong. Don’t blame them if you can’t do your job.
ps: your website stinks, your branding stinks, using comic sans as default font.. I don’t even know how to respond to that.
Ableton 8 revealed at NAMM
On this year’s NAMM, the largest music products trade show in the world, Ableton introduced version 8 of their very succesful Ableton Live software.
I’ve been using Live for about a year and a half now, and I love it. It quickly replaced my Cubase, mainly because it’s faster to use for my electronic music producing and live purposes.
The new features in this Ableton Live 8 are impressive and convincing enough for me to get the upgrade when it’s available.
Clear up your 2009 schedule – here they are in a nutshell.
Florian Schneider leaves Kraftwerk
The official Kraftwerk site reports that Florian Schneider, one of the founders of the legendary Kraftwerk, has quit the band. No reason was given for his departure.
Kraftwerk is one of the, perhaps the most important electronic music pioneer.
I had the privilege to see them live twice with the Minimum Maximum tour, and they blew my mind.
The tracks on that live album are polished versions of the old and new songs, merged perfectly together with live visuals.
He-was-a-robot. Te-te-te-te!
mac growing in popularity – tips for switchers
It’s been about two years now since I bought my first Mac. A white MacBook to use for Serato and audio like Ableton Live (Windows in a live environment? I think not.), and to fiddle around with ofcourse, since I am quite the nerd (and proud of it).
I grew up with DOS 5, worked my up to Windows 3.11, Windows95 and so on. I also like messing around with Linux and old systems like Commodores and Amiga’s. Currently I have different systems running WindowsXP, Windows Vista, Mac OS X, CentOS (Linux) and a few Commodores to use the audio chips (8 bit sound is so-very-sexy, here ’s Chocolate Rain!). And guess what? OS X is my prefered operating system. Great to get my shit done fast, but Unix based so I can really go and tweak things in detail (not as detailed as Linux ofcourse).
The things that stood out, for me personally, were:
- Design – everything from packaging to the hardware, adapter and operating system. Magnificent.
- Reliability – OS X is very fast and very stable, as it is Unix based
- First boot – a fancy introduction, some questions, it takes a picture of you all excited with your new Mac, and you’re off!
- User experience – spend more time doing what you actually wanted to be doing in a stimulating environment
- Community – Apple is a love brand. People that own Apple hardware really love it.
Switching from a Windows machine to a Mac can cause some mild confusion that leads to irritation. People oddly enough expect everything to be on the same place with identical terminology. And to answer a much posed question: a Mac is easier to use than Windows. The adaptation just needs some, but not much, time.
Big hint: clear your mind and then start your OS X experience. Everything on OS X is so intuitive, the first place you would expect something to be is probably where it is, with a few relevant options.
The World Wide Web is packed with hints and tips for the switchers. How does one install software? Can I use Microsoft Office on a Mac? Do I need protection from spyware and virusses?
Techradar posted a nice article for your First Day with a new Mac for Windows users.
There are thousands out there, Google around. Or drop me a line if you should have specific questions, happy to be of service. For a nominal fee. No, just kidding.
