7 Skies Music

Anjunabeats Worldwide 263 with 7 Skies

admin — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 12:22:23 +0000

Happy to announce I will be in charge for this week’s episode of Anjunabeats Worldwide
20th November 2011

Make sure you tune in as today for the premiere of my Oliver Smith : Symmetry (7 Skies Remix) and to take part to small competition that will be running during the show!

You can listen the show here http://listen.di.fm/public3/trance.pls

The show will be broadcast on XM Satellite Radio (10pm ET) in the US and DI.fm on the internet (5pm GMT / Noon ET), as well on RMI FM in Poland, Dubai 92 FM and Sundays from 7-9am on Kiss FM in the Ukraine.

See you there :)

Shout-Out for One 2 Trance Ep18

admin — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 16:58:11 +0000

So today that I finally have a little bit more time than usual to record voice overs and take good care of my beloved radio show, so I decided to finally give you the chance to do your shouts that will be read or aired in the show.

You can record your own shout, don’t worry about the quality of the recording, if you have a slightly modern phone or a laptop with a mic that will be perfectly fine, and remember greetings to me and my music are aways welcome but this is about you, so put your friends your family or whatever good it’s in your life in front :)
Audio recordings can be sent to : oliver@7skies-music.com

In case you are too shy to record your voice, you can just write your message on the comment box you see at the bottom of this post, and I ll do my best to read it, and please if your name it’s something that looks like “shagjasdahsg” help me out and tell me how to pronounce it.
That’s it you have about 17 hours left starting from NOW!

Oh and don’t forget to subscribe O2T on iTunes or Soundcloud

Super8 & Tab : Empire Remixed

admin — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 21:49:06 +0000

Firmly established as Anjunabeats best selling artists behind Above & Beyond, Super8 & Tab rose to the AAA List of the trance scene with last year’s “Empire” album. An 11 track journey that ranged from reflective downtempo moments to peak-time anthems, “Empire” left Mixmag “blown away on first listen”.

Featuring remixes from global big hitters like Gareth Emery, Kyau & Albert, 4 Strings, Rank 1, and Lange,“Empire: Remixed” now brings their masterful debut into fresh focus – offering 11 re-energised reworks that cover everything from groove-fuelled progressive house to epic trance and even uplifting drum & bass.

The iTunes Special Edition also includes additional tracks in the sought-after Adam Nickey remix of“Irufushi”, Alex Kunnari’s previously unreleased “Mercy” remix and Mike Shiver’s Garden State mix of “Empire” itself – as well as an exclusive DJ mix from Super8 & Tab. A standard iTunes edition of the album is also available.

For those that favour physical product, we also have a strictly limited run of 500 signed copies of the standard album – each signed by Super8 & Tab. Order your copy HERE.

Tracklisting
1. Slow To Learn feat. Jan Burton (Maor Levi Club Mix)
2. Black Is The New Yellow feat. Anton Sonin (Protoculture Remix)
3. Perfect Day feat. Alyna (Gareth Emery Remix)
4. Free Love feat. Jan Burton (Sunny Lax Remix)
5. Good Times feat. Betsie Larkin (Lange Remix)
6. Eternal Sequence (Jaytech Remix)
7. My Enemy feat. Julie Thompson (Rank 1 Remix)
8. Empire feat. Jan Burton (Kyau & Albert Remix)
9. Mercy feat. Jan Burton (7 Skies Remix)
10. Bliss (4 Strings Remix)
11. Perfect Day feat. Alyna (MRSA Remix)
12. Irufushi (Adam Nickey Remix) [iTunes Special Edition Only]
13. Mercy (Alex Kunnari Remix) [iTunes Special Edition Only]
14. Empire (Mike Shiver’s Garden State Mix) [iTunes Special Edition Only]
15. Empire: Remixed Super8 & Tab DJ Mix [iTunes Special Edition Only]

Above & Beyond : Sun & Moon (7 Skies Remix) OUT NOW!!!

admin — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 19:08:44 +0000

Almost 6 years ago or so, when I 1st heard an Above & Beyond, my jaw literally dropped, I was so fascinated and in love with their sound that I quickly decided to change the path I was walking in music and head to what 7 Skies is now days.
I’ve always been an Anjunabeats and an Above & Beyond fan, everything I did in music production has always been produced with hopes one day Anjunabeats would pick something I did and release it.
That day came a few years ago, and I remember the moment I got Anjuna HQ’s mail saying my track Caffeine was signed as it was yesterday, it was an immense joy that left me in tears for a good 5 minutes.
if I look back to 6 years ago, everything I would have thought but that 6 years after I will be given the chance to remix those 3 guys who changed so much of my existence as a producer but even as a person.
Well after all those years, after lot of work, failures and luckily after some successes, I finally had the chance to remix an Above & Beyond track, and not just one track, but the 1st single from their upcoming album Group Therapy, as well as a great piece of music.
Above & Beyond : Sun & Moon (7 Skies Remix) is out today along with the Original Mix and 2 other Remixes, you can grab it from your favorite digital store such as iTunes, Beatport , and this time, you can even get a CD single, that you can order from anjunastore.com .

Just allow me a personal thing, this remix, wether you like it or not, is something that means the world to me, and I want to say thanks to each and every person at the Anjunabeats office and thanks to Jono, Paavo , Tony, and YOU, to believe in me and make this possible.
Enjoy!
David

10 Years of Anjunabeats OUT NOW!

admin — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 10:59:12 +0000

There was no masterplan when Above & Beyond set up their Anjunabeats label back in 2000 – just a dedication to quality and forward-thinking dance music.

Now counting over 200 single releases, an award-winning compilation series and with deeper sub-label Anjunadeep in tow, Anjunabeats is renowned as a taste-making torchbearer for quality uplifting dance music – a global label family responsible for nurturing talents like Super8 & Tab, Nitrous Oxide and Mat Zo to both critical acclaim and club supremacy.?

For their 10-year anniversary release, Above & Beyond look back over the Anjunabeats legacy by mixing 10 timeless tracks that remind us just how ahead of the game the label has been – including Above & Beyond’s own classic ‘Can’t Sleep’, Bart Claessen & Dave Schiemann’s ‘Madness’(I Prefer This Mix), Signalrunners ‘These Shoulders’, Daniel Kandi’s ‘Breathe’ and Smith & Pledger’s ‘Northern Lights’.

Of course, Anjunabeats is a label driven by forward motion and it is for that reason that Above & Beyond present a second of disc updated and reinterpreted versions of those 10 classic tracks, with highlights including a melodic house-influenced remix of Mat Zo’s ‘Synapse Dynamics’ by Russian trance prodigy Arty, a dark, throbbing tech transformation of Super8 & Tab’s brooding but euphoric ‘Helsinki Scorchin’ by Bart Claessen, and Super8 & Tab’s respectful, futuristic version of Above & Beyond’s ‘Can’t Sleep’. ??

Tracklist:

CD 01 Originals

1. Mat Zo – Synapse Dynamics

2. Signalrunners & Julie Thompson – These Shoulders

3. Maor Levi – Reflect

4. Above & Beyond – Can’t Sleep

5. Super8 & Tab – Helsinki Scorchin’

6. Bart Claessen & Dave Schiemann – Madness (I Prefer This Mix)

7. Daniel Kandi – Breathe

8. Nitrous Oxide – North Pole

9. Sunny Lax – P.U.M.A.

10. Smith & Pledger – Northern Lights

CD 02 Remixes

1. Maor Levi – Reflect (Jerome Isma-Ae & Daniel Portman Remix)

2. Signalrunners & Julie Thompson – These Shoulders (Andy Moor Remix)

3. Mat Zo – Synapse Dynamics (Arty Remix)

4. Super8 & Tab – Helsinki Scorchin’ (Bart Claessen Remix)

5. Sunny Lax – P.U.M.A. (Mat Zo Remix)

6. Nitrous Oxide – North Pole (Sunny Lax Remix)

7. Above & Beyond – Can’t Sleep (Super8 & Tab Remix)

8. Daniel Kandi – Breathe (7 Skies Remix)

9. Bart Claessen & Dave Schiemann – Madness (Nitrous Oxide Remix)

10. Smith & Pledger – Northern Lights (Breakfast Remix)

There was no masterplan when Above & Beyond set up their Anjunabeats label back in 2000 – just a dedication to quality and forward-thinking dance music.
Now counting over 200 single releases, an award-winning compilation series and with deeper sub-label Anjunadeep in tow, Anjunabeats is renowned as a taste-making torchbearer for quality uplifting dance music – a global label family responsible for nurturing talents like Super8 & Tab, Nitrous Oxide and Mat Zo to both critical acclaim and club supremacy.?
For their 10-year anniversary release, Above & Beyond look back over the Anjunabeats legacy by mixing 10 timeless tracks that remind us just how ahead of the game the label has been – including Above & Beyond’s own classic ‘Can’t Sleep’, Bart Claessen & Dave Schiemann’s ‘Madness’(I Prefer This Mix), Signalrunners ‘These Shoulders’, Daniel Kandi’s ‘Breathe’ and Smith & Pledger’s ‘Northern Lights’.
Of course, Anjunabeats is a label driven by forward motion and it is for that reason that Above & Beyond present a second of disc updated and reinterpreted versions of those 10 classic tracks, with highlights including a melodic house-influenced remix of Mat Zo’s ‘Synapse Dynamics’ by Russian trance prodigy Arty, a dark, throbbing tech transformation of Super8 & Tab’s brooding but euphoric ‘Helsinki Scorchin’ by Bart Claessen, and Super8 & Tab’s respectful, futuristic version of Above & Beyond’s ‘Can’t Sleep’. ??
Tracklist:
CD 01 Originals
1. Mat Zo – Synapse Dynamics
2. Signalrunners & Julie Thompson – These Shoulders
3. Maor Levi – Reflect
4. Above & Beyond – Can’t Sleep
5. Super8 & Tab – Helsinki Scorchin’
6. Bart Claessen & Dave Schiemann – Madness (I Prefer This Mix)
7. Daniel Kandi – Breathe
8. Nitrous Oxide – North Pole
9. Sunny Lax – P.U.M.A.
10. Smith & Pledger – Northern Lights

CD 02 Remixes
1. Maor Levi – Reflect (Jerome Isma-Ae & Daniel Portman Remix)
2. Signalrunners & Julie Thompson – These Shoulders (Andy Moor Remix)
3. Mat Zo – Synapse Dynamics (Arty Remix)
4. Super8 & Tab – Helsinki Scorchin’ (Bart Claessen Remix)
5. Sunny Lax – P.U.M.A. (Mat Zo Remix)
6. Nitrous Oxide – North Pole (Sunny Lax Remix)
7. Above & Beyond – Can’t Sleep (Super8 & Tab Remix)
8. Daniel Kandi – Breathe (7 Skies Remix)
9. Bart Claessen & Dave Schiemann – Madness (Nitrous Oxide Remix)
10. Smith & Pledger – Northern Lights (Breakfast Remix)

BUY INDIVIDUAL TRACKS AND FULL DIGITAL RELEASE from:

iTunes Beatport Amazon Audiojelly Trackitdown Juno Dance-Tunes" target="_blank">iTunes

Dan Stone : Harvest Moon (7 Skies Remix) Released

admin — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 10:21:08 +0000

Hello Everyone, just a quick post to let you know that the last anjunabeats release of this 2010 is out today featuring a 7 Skies Remix, this year has been great for me and I couldn’t think of anything better than close it with this remix being released right before christmas and new years eve.
You can show your support by buying it off iTunes, Beatport and Audiojelly and as always legal support is always much appreciated.
That’s it for today, I would wish you merry christmas and all that stuff but I will wait a few days and make a post just for that ;)
Dan Stone – Harvest Moon (7 Skies Remix) by 7 Skies

Native Instruments 50% Off, 5 Of The Best Plugins To Pick!

admin — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 22:47:07 +0000

A few hours ago like probably many of you, I received an email from Native instruments with a great deal, 50% Off all Instruments and Effects for the next 5 days.
I’m probably not the only one who got really excited about this thing as I’ve been trying to purchase a plugin from almost an hour now and Native Instruments Website has been experiencing High Traffic problems on their server since I first got there, which means a hell lot of people are trying to take advantage of the offer (can’t blame them).
So how can you decide which plugin to pick?
Well it of course depends by the ones you have already, but if you are new to Native Intruments world my 1st pick would definitely be Massive, (which was actually my 1st pick when they did this same offer last year), Massive is a great piece of software especially for EDM, trance, house, drum & Bass, and Dub Step are filled of sounds coming from this synth which makes it in my opinion the nr.1 candidate for this offer.
Second pick for me is Kontakt 4 (which is what I’m going to buy as soon as NI website will let me), A little bit more expensive than the other plugins but this thing has a total different technology and once you have this monster the things you can do are never ending.
Not to talk about the number of libraries out there, orchestral sounds, pianos, strings special effects, moog samples, whatever you want!
For those who don’t know, Kontakt is a SAMPLER so it won’t be able to generate the sound as a synth does, you will need to load some samples in it, kontak reads various formats, from his own extention .KTK, to EXS, AKAI, REX and of course you can create your own maps by loading your own wav / aiff files.
Position Number 3 FM8 which should jump at number 1 if you are an anjunadeep / 80s music fan, FM8 is a recreation of the well known synth by Yamaha the DX-7, which along with some Korg and Roland synths shaped THE sound of the 80s.
Fm8 is a little bit hard to get on when it comes to program but the factory presets are great and very useful and you can always find some tuts around about FM synthesis.
4th position Reaktor…This thing is not for newbies, reaktor is a modular monster synthesizer which is why you have to be a little bit experienced if you want to use it at its best.
Good think though it comes with plenty of pre-made synths called ensembles, and there is a big community on NI’s forum where users share their own ensembles some for free some for fee.
Pick number 5 : Absynth this one is great to create atmosphere sounds and gritty acid noises, but also amazing for pads and (with some programming) basslines.
If ‘d have pick the plugin for how cool they are this would definitely be the first, but I’m trying to suggest which one might be better for EDM productions and despite its coolness, absynth is definitely better when it comes to background sounds rather than Leads or Bass.

I’m Sorry But…

admin — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 01:24:12 +0000

I’m not going to make any youtube video tut. about mixing, eq-ing, compressing.
Why so?
Well, despite what you might think it ain’t because I don’t want to show you my tricks or something like that.
When it comes to teach something in my opinion you have to be able to teach conventional method before you teach your own one, it’s like driving lessons, where you always have to keep both hands on the steering wheel and stuff like that, and as soon as you have your driving license you just start drive the way it’s more comfortable with you (just give me the chance and advice to drive as safe as you can ALWAYS) well anyway mixing eq-ing and compressing to me its something like that, if you do a search on the internet you will find half a billion tutorials, books, videos and whatever else comes to mind about that subject, but then anyone change the rules to fit them better to he’s needs, and I can’t teach you that, none ever should!.
So why do I make tutorials it the first place you may ask.
My tutorials on YouTube are usually about some kind of “unbreakable” ways of doing things, let me be a little more clear.
Lately i spent a few time showing how to speed up your workflow, but what I showed was mainly a series of keycommands or short cuts that lead us to a faster result on certain operations.
When it comes to this, the ways to achieve this result are a finished number, 3 or 4 sometimes even just one.
When it comes to mixing, eq or compression though, the variables are almost never ending, just think about the fact that DIFFERENT eq, compressors, mixers and DAW having the SAME setting and processing the same thing will more likely never sound the same, Logic sounds different than Cubase that sounds different than live etc, at the same time waves R-Eq sounds different than the Sonalksis one, and so on, so we have tons of unmatching results and we haven’t even started tweaking the knobs!
Thats about gear’s internal circuitry even worse it’s when it comes to the actual sound to process, even here the variables are infinite, level of the sound, quality of the recording / loop / Sample, speakers and sound card you r playing your mix from, number of tracks you are mixing etc.
That said you might understand my point of not wanting to get into this kind of tutorial adventure that would most certainly turn into a nightmare, someone would take what I said as hidden gold and find out with huge disappointment my method doesn’t even barely work for his own purpose, someone might just say I’m a total noob cause my way is different compared to someone else’s way, I have a lot of stuff to deal with in my life already (as you all do) and I really can’t be bothered dealing with this.
Now on the bright side, I will tell you something that you might not want to read but that may help you way more than a YouTube video.
Ah, I should have actually started this whole blog saying that I don’t think my tracks sound as good as someone says, that’s another reason I would rather not teaching you how to do this kind of stuff, cause I may do more damage than good.
Anyway, my suggestion is…
Turn off the Internet! No I’m serious!
The Internet has become some kind of an infinite source of information and tutorials which gives us the illusion that we are actually able to do something by just reading or watching a few videos, but as beautiful and useful this thing is, it will never replace our own experience.
When I started making music I was this total 12 years old newbie who didn’t even know what a synth was, lucky coincidences in life allowed me to discover and own a few audio tools, but when I was that age I didn’t have Internet so the only way to understand how those things worked was to explore them, I might be wrong but as I said, seems all this having tuts at the tip of our fingers took away the beauty of exploring and discover things, and made us lazy.
Keep in mind I’m not talking about YOU, I’m making a general talking.
Well back to little David, as I was saying, all I could do with all those fascinating tools I wasn’t able to use, was find a way to learn them, so I started to browse synth patches I liked and tried to take them to the classic Init sound, some kind of backward process, the way I could understand the concept and the process behind, same with grooves, I used to take track with a grove I loved, stretch it to very slow and then analyze what elements were in it, with Mix etc, same story, and this is an advice you will read EVERYWHERE, I used to get (and still do this actually) a track that sounds good and sounds close to the style I’m producing and all I do, is get as close as possible to its sound, but once again it needs time and patience and lots of failures sometimes.
So, the advice I really want to give you is, don’t be afraid to explore and to experiment, if you don’t know how to do something don’t sit there hoping someone someday will post a video showing you how to do it, try be THE guy who will post it!
I promise I will keep doing tuts, showing stuff on YouTube but,and not because I’m lazy or I’m trying to hide something, I will not cover everything in music production, i will eventually talk about some very basic eq or comp or mix, but do not expect big things or something you don’t know or heard about already.
I really enjoy helping you guys, but believe me, there is no such joy as discover things yourself :)
This post has already taken away lot of time you could have spent on your new track so get off this page and get hardcore with your DAW!
D.

7 Skies : Sushi (Anjunabeats) Released

admin — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 22:50:18 +0000

Bit late as the day is pretty much gone (actually it will be gone by the time I finished writing this msg)(it is gone it’s 00.42)
Well anyway, happy day today, my new single Sushi is released and ready to be taken and played and danced (w00t), as you probably know already the track is out on Above & Beyond‘s label Anjunabeats and features Original and a great remix by Ben Gold.
You can grab you copy already from iTunes, Audiojelly, Juno and TrackItDown, beatport link will be available soon.
You already know my position about supporting music legally and not, I (and each and every other artist on the planet) work hard to be able to make fans happy and I really do my best to give them something they can enjoy and that they would be willing to pay (1$ on itunes) if you think I worth the money I will be happy to have your support, if not I will try my best to do something worth the price next time (at least until I ll have moneys enough to support myself with this job) just one thing though, stop thinking that producers especially at my level, make huge moneys out of it, cause that’s a silly excuse people make up to feel more comfortable with themselves while they get music illegally.
But well anyway not here to play the devils judge so once again just get it somewhere somehow and I really hope you will be able to enjoy it!
Just a few notes about Sushi before I write something about future stuff coming, the support for this track has been pretty huge already, it was first released exclusively on anjunabeats volume 8, then supported by Above & Beyond at trance around the world (TATW) where it was played as Record of the Week in its first play and Web Vote Winner in its second AND third week (that was sooo cool) and last but not least, Sushi was supported by Mister Nr 1 Armin Van Buuren on A State Of Trance (ASOT).
Now something you don’t or partially know, I’ve been incredibly busy this last few months producing a couple of new remixes both will probably see the light within the year once again on anjunabeats, there are some teasers of one on my youtube (youtube.com/7skietstv) they both aren’t finished yet but i’m getting there so stay tuned cause as soon as I can say something more about it I won’t hesitate posting infos here and there.
That’s it, I hope you made it till the end of this post!
Cheers
David

Standalone-Studio (which is my studio)

admin — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 16:45:39 +0000

So this morning I was playing around with my camera, and a lens i borrowed, a nice 17mm that lets you take a quite wide angle on your images. Well anyway, I took some pictures of my little studio and published them on my facebook, which was a big mistake as now I’m flooded with questions about my setup. So I decided to take a little time to write on my dusty and unupdated blog, and talk about how I make all that stuff work. So the core of the whole studio is of course my MacBook Pro and Logic Pro 9.
Whoevers following me on facebook or twitter has surely read about my huge excitement a few days ago when I upgraded to my current Mac, a powerful i7 2.66ghz with 4 gb of RAM. Someone (and I was one of them) might find it odd using a laptop to produce music (it’s not the easiest thing I admit that) but I had to deal with it when it was the only thing I had to produce was a laptop and now (after 4 tracks on Anjunabeats produced on a MacBook pro) I can assure that even laptops do the job in a brilliant way. There is another great feature on my MacBook pro that I didn’t intentionally mention yet, which is the display….damn laptop and those 15″ you will say (I do)…. a single plugin interface can barely fit sometimes, I’ll let you just imagine how i was working with over 100 channels during the making of caffeine or any other track/remix released in 2009/10. Well that ammmmmazing machine which is my new Mac has a hi-res display which gives me 30% of extra space in the same 15″, now, I might be anal with computers but believe me, spending that extra 100 bucks on such a display was a hell of a good choice!!!! i can see something like 10-15 more channels on a logic project, plugins do not take 80% of my space, and even if you would never say it a spacey area will drastically speed up your workflow.

But let’s get back to my whole setup (watching the amount of txt I already wrote just talking about my Mac I’m seriously thinking of splitting this thing in a few parts), audio inputs and outputs are managed by the excellent apogee duet, a small yet powerful audio interface, features 2 outputs and 4 inputs + headphones monitoring. Apogee is well known for the quality of its converters, they are indeed some of the highest standard in the market and I can confirm whether recording or playback, the sound is awesome. As you can see from the various pictures of my studio, I have a few magic boxes, also known as hardware synthesizers, precisely i own : Roland JP 8000 (the blue keyboard on the left of the mac), Clavia Nordlead 2 (the red one) and an Access Virus Ti Snow (the white little one). This last one has its own usb to plug in the mac and a plugin that works in logic (and any other sequencer) that makes it easy to play and control from the mac, while the other 2 synth need a MIDI device that will allow data swap between the instruments and the computer. In my case it’s just a small m-audio midisport 2 ins and 2 outs connected with the mac thru usb. Another very important thing is of course the midi keyboard, in my case midi keyboard and midi controller, what I have in the studio is a massive M-Audio Axiom-61, heaps of keys (you guessed it, their are 61) and plenty of midi assignable faders and knobs, great to control logic and plugin parameters straight from the keyboard and by touching them with hands instead of by mouse (that I can assure you, makes a little difference).

Now of course all this stuff has to be plugged in somehow, every synth (apart from the Virus TI in USB mode where the USB cable does both, communication and audio streaming job) has a minimum of 3 cables, 2 audio going out from the Output of the synthesizer to the Input of the Apogee duet, and a midi cable, going out from the Output port of the m-audio midisport into the input of the synth so the audio cables will let recording our synth into logic, and the midi cable will let us control the synth from logic. There is even the possibility to connect the MIDI output of the synthesizer into the MIDI input of our interface, this is useful when we want to save patches from our hardware to the computer or when we want to know which MIDI control is assigned to a specific parameter (cutoff, release, adsr etc…). So this is how the mac gets and sends various signals to all the external devices, I hope it’s clear for all those who were confused seeing the pictures I posted. Now since this post has become a couple of kilometers long I decided to split the studio talk in a few parts that way I can get into details with each specified thing, next time I will talk about the various instruments I use and what’s the difference between them, and later on I will talk about my workflow, what kind of shortcuts I use and how their approached to productions. I won’t deny that it might (it will) take a while as I’m busy as, but stay tuned or just subscribe to my FEEDS or Newsletter if you don’t wont to bother checking the website every 5 hours.
Till next time bye bye!
D.