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Jeremy Dawson: My Advice to New Bands

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Jeremy Dawson of Shiny Toy Guns recalls how being a “Yes” band has helped seize opportunities to play in the biggest shows. His advise to new and existing bands comes from his personal experience from touring the world. He stresses the importance of having a work-sleep balance and having personal time. According to Jeremy, “You will self destruct” if you do not make this a priority.

On their new album titled III, Shiny Toy Guns employs the sounds of the Jupiter-50, Jupiter-80, and Fantom-G7 and recording on an R-1000 48-track recorder.

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King Kanobby: Prepping for a live show with Far East Movement & DJ Virman

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Music Director for Far East Movement, King Kanobby explains the process behind taking original songs from the album recording and turning them into a live show. As the MD, he works closely with Kev Nish, Prohgress, J-Splif, and most of all Dj Virman to develop a performance out of music that is created in a studio with non-traditional instruments into a concert worthy spectacle. For these live shows Kanobby calls on the Jupiter-80, VP-770, and Fantom-G7 to deliver those dance thumping sounds Far East Movement is known for.

For more on King Kanobby follow him on Twitter @KingKanobby

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Aaron Rossi on how to land a gig like Ministry

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Aaron Rossi, drummer for Ministry tells us what it takes to land a gig like his in the ever changing and competitive music industry. This is practical advise given by a world class drummer, according to Rossi the key is consistency. Rossi’s current set up includes Roland’s SPD-SX to trigger samples during sets.

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Downtime with Russell Graham at BET Awards Rehearsal

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We took sometime with Russell Graham on his break from rehearsals for the 2012 BET Awards to discuss his set-up and work flow. He explains the challenges involved with live TV productions and accommodating various artist on the same show. According to Russell, he’s keeping it simple for the awards by using a VP-770 and two JUPITER-80s.

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Usher’s Band Members, Valdez Brantley & Aaron Spears Jamming

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Usher’s band members, Valdez Brantley and Aaron Spears, take a break from their BET Awards 2012 rehearsal to show us their chops on the Jupiter-80, Fantom-G6, and TD-15KV drum kit.

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James Dewees – Who Inspires Me

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In part 2 of our sit down with James, he talks about how Radiohead, Rick Wakeman, Duran Duran, Nick Rhodes, Wendy Carlos, and Klaus Schulze inspire him and why they are synth pioneers. James also breaks down how the JUPITER series synthesizer is forever etched in popular music. By the way, could anyone tell us the name of the album by Klaus Schulze that James was talking about in this video?

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V-Drums World Championship 2

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V-Drums World Championship 2

UPDATE: The online audition period has ended. Thanks to all who participated! Semi-final events will be held on September 22 and September 29, 2012. The U.S. national finals will be held at PASIC in Austin, TX, on October 31, 2012.

Now. That’s the time you want to enter the U.S. Nationals for the V-Drums® World Championship 2—you’ve only got until August 24th. In September, we’ll be holding semi-finals all over the country. In October, you’ll duke it out with America’s other best drummers at PASIC in Austin, TX, and next spring in Frankfurt, Germany, it’ll be all about world domination. There’ll be great prizes, celebrity judges and special guests. And, of course, victory.

James Dewees – How I Joined My Chemical Romance

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Last week we had a chance to sit down with James Dewees, keyboard player for “My Chemical Romance” to discuss how he landed his current gig. It turns out that James has been involved with several bands including Coalesce, The Get Up Kids, New Found Glory, Leathermouth, and Reggie and the Full Effect. Playing, writing, and even singing in these bands coupled with an awesome personality and hard work ethic have ultimately propelled his career forward. James currently rocks the Jupiter-80 synth, Gaia SH-01 synth, and the RD-700NX digital piano  in his rig. Stay tuned for more of James in future posts as this is only part one of our interview.

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