1st Place

2nd – 4th place

Our newest single Mario Aparicio – Discho is officially released and we are selebrating with a different kind of competition this time, it´s a very open competition for a compilation release called “Banana Disco” that will be released once we have all productions ready and you can be a part of it! You can choose between a few remix sets, or combine it all together, it´s all up to you, get creative! Even add your own productions! We have partnered up with S2 witch is a dj and production school that will give away a personal artist/dj profiling for the winner, this will give you a very professional walkthrough on how you should be presented as a creative artist.

Download Remix Set 1: Mario Aparicio – Discho (Unlock pass: “kenrecords.com”)

Download Remix Set 2: Zauberfluten – Tio Tusen 120bpm (Unlock pass: “kenrecords.com”)

Password for all stems is “kenrecords.com” without quotes. You are also welcome to use the other remix stems from our previous remix competitions:
Kentwist – Filthy Disco Stems
Mario Aparacio – Fugleskrangel Stems
John Clements – Cosmic Love Stems
Haugenial – Corn Pop Stems

1x Grand Prize

Complete S2 Professional Profiling

• Everything you need to kick start your music production career
• One to one advice/consultation either in person or on skype.
• Help with a proffessional.
• Set up facebook, youtube, twitter, soundcloud.
• Samurai into one solid marketable identity.
• By S2 – studiotwo.no

SoundCloud Pro account

• 36 hours upload minutes
• Full privacy settings
• Branded Dropbox
• Pro Support
• Unlimited downloads per track
• Full stats
• Read more about SoundCloud Pro account

Runner Up Prizes (we pick the ones we like)

• Professional Mastering of your tune.
• Have your remix uploaded for sale at Beatport, iTunes, Juno, Traxsource, and loads of other popular online record shops through Ken Records.
• Spread your name, full promotion, have your tune promoted to big DJs, bloggers, clubs and radio stations.

Competition Rules:

1. Use your own single sample material or our stems.
2. Create a remix or a totally own production.
3. Encourage your fans/friends to VOTE and spread the word about your remix this is not essential to win but gives you and your tune a buzz to be considered by Ken Records voting team.
4. Deadline for submissions 28th Feb 2013 23:59h It is advisable that you submit your remix as soon as possible, but make sure you are happy with your work.
5. Leave a comment on this post saying that you are in.

Judgement Criteria´s

The winner will be decided by using the following judgement criteria´s in this order:

1. Originality and creativity in your approach to music composition.
2. Quality of production and technical skills.
3. Popularity will have an effect, but is not essential to win, we listen to all productions regardless of votes.

From the top rated remixes Ken Records will pick their favorite tracks to win the top price and the runner ups.

Good luck and we look forward to hearing your quality remixes!

Terms and Conditions:

• The prizes are non-transferrable and there is no cash alternative available.
• Winners will selected by Ken Records.
• Ken Records reserves the right to cancel or amend the terms of this competition at anytime without prior notice.
• Prize is subject to final selection. In the event of unforeseen circumstances, Ken Records retains the right to offer an alternative prize.

Norwegian Producer/DJ Todd Terje spent two days this month working with Bryan Ferry. Terje took time out from his busy DJ schedule to visit the studio in London. In the last year he has produced an imaginative 11 minute remix of ‘Alphaville’ and created a dub edit of the Roxy classic ‘Love Is The Drug’.Ferry met Terje in May when his band played at the Norweigan Wood festival in Oslo. The ‘Nu-Disco’ guru also DJ’d at the launch party of Ferry’s pop-up photography exhibition in the capital’s centre.

Terje spent two days in the studio, working on new material where he demonstrated his mastery of vintage keyboards.

ALPHAVILLE  (TODD TERJE REMIX)

LOVE IS THE DRUG (TODD TERJE DISCO DUB)

Introduction

Earlier people used a lot of equipment when doing remixing or production, and don’t get me wrong if you still have money to buy all the coolest synths and the expensive hardware it will definitely be worth it. Most of the pro’s do still use them, and they do sound really good. But in modern times computers have become so much cheaper that almost anyone can afford one. And most of the popular synths today are emulated into software versions that live on your computer, making everything much easier for the music producer/remixer on the run. You can produce music almost anywhere and the sound can be manipulated to sound almost as good as with old hardware racks.

What is a DAW?

DAW stands for Digital Audio Workstation. This is basically the box witch you make your music with. A DAW can mean different types of multitrack recorders or a computer that can do the same. Multitrack recorders are still very much in use since they are made for the sole purpose of creating music and does it good, the new ones still also might have support for synth software like VST instruments, but the price usually does not come up against what you can get for much less money. That’s why most of mobile producers today have a really good laptop optimized for performing audio really well.

Windows, Mac, Linux..?

This is a very good question, I will not get into the big discussion, witch you will find a lot of opinions on the net, but I will try and give you what options there are under the different operating systems.

Linux is the lesser choice if you are a professional, but there is some free programs out there that will do a very good job and with Ubuntu Studio it is easier for people to merge into the Linux world of music without being a total computer wizard. It’s the cheapest way to get into remixing and production, but you might end up with a headache instead of being inspired to create.

PC, or Personal Computer with Windows is the most popular since it’s the operating systems that most people are using, or it used to be, not sure what it has now in the music world. Most popular music software is developing their software against this system so this is a safe choice. You can get Cubase and Ableton working well here. The only thing that might be a problem is what laptop to choose to get the best for musical performance, not only to get the best speed, but also what will keep the sound clear and keep minimul leakage of computer sound to your output. Lenovo is supposed to have a good grounding of the laptop so the computer buzz does not leak, this would be the recommendation for a PC DAW laptop if that’s what you are going for and comportable with. We have provided you with a few links below to some good offers of Lenovo at eBay.

Mac has for the last years grown to have a big status among designers and artists. And mostly for the reason that their design and specs are amazing. I guess the only disadvantage is that it’s pricy, some times too overpriced.  But if you are serious about music production and you want to pay for the best, go for either a Mac Book Pro if you are on the run or the Mac Pro for a stationary studio. These days you can also run Windows operating system within a Mac, but stick to doing what we are here for, namely making music. When buying your machine make sure you get as much RAM as your pocket can buy and if you can afford it, SSD hard drives is the fastest on the market and very nice for music production. And on eBay you can get your hands on a few very good deals that make the Mac price deasent if you are lucky see the offers below.

Headphones

For the mobile producer / remixer a pair of headphones is very important. The frequency specter should go low with that sounds clear and well balanced. Ultimately you would like to have your studio monitors as your headphones, but that’s just not possible. But having the best is not essential here, reference and what you are used to is. Let’s say you have a pair of Senneiser HD-25, they are very powerful and are a solid pair of headphones, very good for DJ use. If you get used to these pair and listen to your tracks on other sound systems, clubs etc you go back to your headset studio and make adjustments, after a while doing this suddenly you have some reference sound in your headphones that you know will be good in the club. This might take years of practice, but once you have your reference point it’s a good idea to hold on to that, if it’s other monitor speakers or maybe even in your car! The car is the place most people listen to music, so you definitely need to check your sound there. But remember mastering your tracks should be done with studio monitors and not with your headphones, more important should be done by someone else than you to get a second oppinion, and to get it done by someone that knows mastering is a good idea! For studio headsets there is a few that has an amazing good frequency range, good bass and response and that’s Denon AH-D2000/D5000 as the high end and Shure SRH240-A as a good economic alternative both very well balanced alternatives. You might also consider to get a DAC / amp that sits between your computer and your headphones to get better and boosted sound. Check out links below to the Denon AH D5000 headphones, they rock if you are looking for a new pair!

Thank you for reading this tutorial about Equipment, there is much more you can dig yourself into regarding this topic, like getting more musical instruments, sound cards, microphones, but we wanted to talk about the minimum for a typical minimalistic remixer / producer. If you have comments or other tips please feel free to leave your comment below.

Every now and then we give young and old talented producers a chance of being part of our next big release. We think this will be a fun one to remix with loads of original fun stems/samples to work with. This time it´s Haugenial´s Corn Pop that needs a new face lift. So get your creativity juices flowing and make your personal touch on your remix. The competition is Powered by SoundCloud and one lucky and skilled producer will be the proud owner of a Sound Cloud Pro account worth € 250, 3 other lucky ones also including nr1 will have their remix released on the remix album witch will be released on Beatport, iTunes, Traxsource and other popular digital music shops!

Listen to all participators in the competition, please go to:
http://remix.kenrecords.com/ken005

1x Grand Prize – SoundCloud Pro Account including:

• 36 hours upload minutes
• Full privacy settings
• Branded Dropbox
• Pro Support
• Unlimited downloads per track
• Full stats
• Read more about SoundCloud Pro account

3x Runner Up Prizes:

• Professional Mastering of your remix.
• Have your remix uploaded for sale at Beatport, iTunes, Juno, Traxsource, and loads of other popular online record shops through Ken Records.
• Spread your name, full promotion, have your mix promoted to big DJs, bloggers, clubs and radio stations.

Competition Rules:

1. Download the remix parts her [Ken Records] Cornpop Remix Comp Stems.zip or one by one at our soundcloud page. (stems in 109.5 bpm)
2. Create a remix of the song by using the original sounds from the supplied audio parts.
3. Once you’re happy with your remix, simply upload it to the competition website
   Click the Upload Remix button to submit your track!
4. Encourage your fans/friends to VOTE and spread the word about your remix so your entry can appear amongst the top rated tracks in the contest so that it will be considered by Ken Records voting team.
5. Deadline for submissions 31th May 2012 23:59h It is advisable that you submit your remix as soon as possible so your fans can get enough time to vote for it and you can appear amongst the top rated remixes.
6. Make sure you follow Ken Records on all social media to be sure you get all updates about the competition:
   Facebook :: SoundCloud :: Twitter :: YouTube
7. Leave a comment on the post or on the soundcloud tune saying that you are in.

Judgement Criteria´s

The winner will be decided by using the following judgement criteria´s in this order:

1. Originality and creativity in your approach to music composition.
2. Quality of production and technical skills.
3. Popularity, determined by the number of votes gained in the contest. (quality of work values more)

From the top rated remixes Ken Records will pick their favorite tracks to win the top price and the runner ups.

Good luck and we look forward to hearing your quality remixes!

Terms and Conditions:

• The prizes are non-transferrable and there is no cash alternative available.
• No purchase necessary and no proof of purchase required.
• Winner will selected based upon a combination of votes and the one most liked by Ken Records
• Ken Records reserves the right to cancel or amend the terms of this competition at anytime without prior notice.
• Prize is subject to final selection. In the event of unforeseen circumstances, Ken Records retains the right to offer an alternative prize.

What is important for us to say is that the voting itself has a low priority of becoming the winner, we value production scills and originality higher, it is all about the music! With that in mind we want to share the Cosmic Love Remix competition winners. And thank you again for all participating in this contest!

1st Place

Here are some comments from the winner:

2nd – 4th place

This is a huge opportunity for any aspiring artist who want to launch their career with a commercial release on Ken Records and win a SoundCloud Pro subscription account worth a total of 250 EURO!

Go to the official page of the Cosmic Love Remix Competition

1x Grand Prize – SoundCloud Pro Account including:

• 36 hours upload minutes
• Full privacy settings
• Branded Dropbox
• Pro Support
• Unlimited downloads per track
• Full stats
• Read more about SoundCloud Pro account

3x Runner Up Prizes:

• Have your remix uploaded for sale at Beatport, iTunes, Juno, Traxsource, and loads of other popular online record shops through Ken Records.
• Spread your name, full promotion, have your mix promoted to big DJs, bloggers, clubs and radio stations.

Competition Rules:

1. Download the remix parts here KenRecordsKEN003-Stems.zip or one by one at our soundcloud page. (stems in 108bpm)
2. Create a remix of the song by using the original sounds from the supplied audio parts.
3. Once you’re happy with your remix, simply upload it to the competition website
   Click the Upload Remix button to submit your track!
4. Encourage your fans/friends to VOTE and spread the word about your remix so your entry can appear amongst the top rated tracks in the contest so that it will be considered by Ken Records voting team.
5. Deadline for submissions 29th February 2012 23:59h It is advisable that you submit your remix as soon as possible so your fans can get enough time to vote for it and you can appear amongst the top rated remixes.
6. Make sure you follow Ken Records on all social media to be sure you get all updates about the competition:
   Facebook :: SoundCloud :: Twitter
7. Leave a comment on the post or on the soundcloud tune saying that you are in.

Judgement Criteria´s

The winner will be decided by using the following judgement criteria´s:

• Originality and creativity in your approach to music composition.
• Quality of production and technical skills.
• Popularity, determined by the number of votes gained in the contest.

From the top rated remixes Ken Records will pick their favorite tracks to win the top price and the runner ups.

Good luck and we look forward to hearing your quality remixes!

Terms and Conditions:

• The prizes are non-transferrable and there is no cash alternative available.
• The final decision lies with the Ken Records voting team.

And back to the competition. First of all we really want to thank everyone who entered the contest, there was so much good tunes and we really enjoyed listening to all the different interpetations. We try to give new talent chance to release somthing with us, and we try to release everyone that we belive is release ready, but this time we had trouble since there was so many with so high level of production scills, so we picked out quite a few this time. We encourage everyone to send in your productions to us as we are expanding and are change how normal record companies work, be part of our music revolution!

Here are ‘Fugleskrangel’ Remix Competition Winners:

Mari0 – Fugleskrangel 2011 (Dj Haugenial Remix) by KenRecords

Mari0 Fugleskrangel 2011 (Oleg Flame Remix) by KenRecords

Mario – Fugleskrangel 2011 (Gemini Jack Remix) by KenRecords

Mari0 Fugleskrangel 2011 (Absenety Remix) by KenRecords

Mario – Fugleskrangel 2011 (Kristian Kosmo Remix) by KenRecords

Mario – Fugleskrangel 2011 (Dalminjo Remix) by KenRecords

Mari0 Fugleskrangel 2011 (Nima’s Groove Remix) by KenRecords

Mari0 – Fugleskrangel 2011 (Jarle Bråthen remix) by KenRecords

Mari0 Fugleskrangel 2011 (Kentwist Remix) by KenRecords

MariO – Fugleskrangel (Duplex Plus Remix) by KenRecords

Mari0 – Fugleskrangel 2011 ( Midy MAK ) by KenRecords

Mari0 – Fugleskrangel 2011 (Topo Remix) by KenRecords

Mario – Fugleskrangel 2011 (Janedge Remix) by KenRecords

Mari0 Fugleskrangel 2011 (Zee’s Remember When Remix) by KenRecords

Mari0 Fugleskrangel 2011 (Astronomar Remix) by KenRecords

All the uploaded remixes are listed below here in this post, please rate your favourite remix by giving it stars, 5 stars means it´s a bomb!

The winners will have their remix uploaded for sale at Beatport, iTunes, Juno, Amazon, Spotify and loads of other popular online record shops. The chance to be signed as an artist on Ken Records for future releases! All the winning remixes will be promoted to our privatly mailinglist in addition to other promotional lists to top dj´s, top bloggs, clubs, magazines!

If you still did not upload your remix yet, you may still have time, closing 1.July. For more information please read the remix competition post. Remember to add your name and email to our remix-alert so you can follow the process.

Mari0 – Fugleskrangel (teaser) by KenRecords

Good luck to everyone and thank you for contributing.

So without firther adue here is the next Remix Competition on KEN Records. “Fugleskrangel” is the name of the song and it´s a norweegian word that means bird rumble. The Original is not yet released and will be released as soon as the winners are set for the remix.
We’re looking for all styles from House through Electro, Disco, nuDisco, we´re also open for other styles if their amazing!

Mari0 – Fugleskrangel (teaser) by KenRecords

The Prize is having your remix uploaded for sale at iTunes, Juno, Amazon, Spotify and loads of other popular online record shops. The chance to be signed as an artist on Ken Records for future releases! All the winning remixes will be promoted to our privatly mailinglist in addition to other promotional lists to top dj´s, top bloggs, clubs, magazines! So if you want to be involved in the next release and see your remix being released then grab the parts and get remixing!

Please register your email on our remix-alert form to get an email as soon as the next remix competition is out.

Good Luck!

Remix Rules:

1. Styles Accepted: Any Style
2. Files must be in WAV format (16 bit, 44.1kHz, 2-channel, PCM encoded ).
3. Please place finished remix in our dropbox http://soundcloud.com/kenrecords (PRIVATELY) and send us a message to check receipt. Make sure we can DOWNLOAD it and make sure it is NOT “Public”. Please do not send the track to any group.
4. Please name your remix file BEFORE UPLOADING IT – “Mari0 – Fugleskrangel 2011 (YOUR REMIX NAME Remix)”.
5. Top 5-10 Remixes (depending on quality) will receive a full release on KEN Records including the track made available for sale on iTunes, Juno, Amazon, Spotify.. and many other!
6. We recommend to master your finished work, though this is not essential for the competition.
7. Remixes should be a minimum of 5min.
8. Your remix should be submitted within 1. July 2011.

Here is how you UPLOAD your REMIX

We look forward to your quality remixes ASAP. Copyright in all entries owned by The Artist and controlled by KEN Records.

Make sure you follow KEN Records on Soundcloud and message us to check that we have received your remix.

Please visit soundcloud.com/kenrecords and download stems to start remixing, or use the links below.

Competition ended 1.July 2011 Go here for the Competition winners.