May 24, 2008
The Producers Conference, Chicago, USA
The Chicago Producers Conference was well received and well attended, with attendees coming from as far afield as Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, Kentucky, Wisconsin, and Ohio.
Come on in... don't be shy.
Gerry Basserman kicked off the show with a sneak preview of the Reason Electric Bass ReFill, impressing the crowd with the great sound and realism of the hypersampled basses.
Chris Petti provided an informative overview of the new features of Reason versions 4, demoing some of his own material
Next up was Kurt Kurasaki who - as ever - wowed the attendees with some very detailed Thor sound design techniques and tips. He began by going over the basics and then descended to some fairly advanced depths, showing off the power and capabilities of Reason version 4's powerful synthesiser, and fielding questions at every turn.
James covered the ReGroove Mixer in great detail, providing many "a-ha" moments for members of the audience who hadn't previously experimented with ReGroove, or didn't quite "get it". He began with the basics of the ReGroove mixer, and then went through the process of creating and saving new ReGroove patches, showing the ReGroove Booster ReFill which will be released in an upcoming Line 6 promotion.
He concluded his session with an intriguing technique he calls "Create a Song Using only One Sample". The results are a lot more interesting than the title might lead you to believe.
Watching the Producers - the conference as seen from one of the studio control rooms.
Tommy Coster Jr. rounded off the show with a presentation of the way he uses Reason together with MOTU's Digital Performer software. He also talked to the rapt crowd about the music industry in general and how to make a career in it. He also spent quite some time after the conference hanging out with the crowd, taking personal questions, handing out his email address (!), and even listening to demos.
James and Chris... chillin'.
All in all, the conference was a great success, and the number one question asked by many of the attendees was "When's the next one?"
Watch this space.
