thaKush +Skateboards that fly..Tha Carter IV..iPhone4
April 11
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HowTo:
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HOME.STUDIO
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lax ake tes Introducing the new professional voice recorder by Sony. Record, edit, and play studio quality sound with your thumb.
thaKush thaKush Editor: Eliot Z. Ramsberger
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Letter from Thank you for picking up thaKush. We appreciate your readership and look forward to many years of commradery. We hope you enjoy our random yet fun content. There are some secrets of the pharaohs, however, that can be revealed only by studying thaKush. It’s a fact. One’s kushiness must not be determined by the color of their skin. We shall all be Kushy in our own ways. From this day forth, readers of thaKush shall be blessed with with the friendship of other kushlings. In this issue we have a review of the iPhone4 and tell you how you can fly on a skateboard. We also visited some home studios for music
production and recording and did some scientific research on the subject and to let you know what you need to set up your own. We welcome your feedback at thaKush and encourage you to visit our website at www.thaKush.com and let us know what you want to see in upcoming issues and what you don’t want to see. Oh yeah, we also take a look at some retro Air Jordan 3’s from circa 1988 via a new nike ad campaign (back page) and listen to a leaked version of an album that promises to be the best of 2011 in Tha Carter IV. This is the latest in a sequence of Lil’ Wayne studio albums and his first since his release from Riker’s Island on weapons’ charges.
r e g r e b s m a R Z t o Eli
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Contents
Table of
8..................
HowTo:
HOME.STUDIO...
14................. Skateboards
THAT.FLY.............. Pg 6
Music&
..................FILM
10
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iPhone
...........TECH.REVIEW
14
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Music&
RELEASE DATE: JUNE 21................................................................................................................................
ThaCarterIV Review By Eliot Z. Ramsberger
Tha Carter IV is the most highly anticipated rap album of 2011, but fans will have to wait a little longer to hear it. The release date has been pushed from May 16 to June 21 to allow for the finishing touches. Just as Tha Carter III had an all-star lineup featuring of Jay-Z, T-Pain and Robin Thicke; its followup will be made of the same high dollar guests. Tha Carter IV track list that has already been leaked around the Internet and the video for “If I Die Tonight” featuring Rick Ross, leaked online also. Although it was quickly removed. The video
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was obtained by hackers but wasn’t complete, Wayne and director Collin Tilley are still rumored to be going back and forth with edits. Estimates say that fans can expect a completed version of the clip within the next week. Tha Carter IV’s album cover, also leaked earlier this month, is real. The reveal wasn’t intentional and happened only a few hours after Wayne approved the image, which features a picture of Wayne in kindergarten with tattoos on his face. IV’s next single compares to 2008’s “Lollipop,” featuring the late Static Major.
&FILM TheFighter Review By Eliot Z. Ramsberger
The Fighter is a solid flick. My relationship with Mark Wahlberg is hot and cold. Sometimes i like him, like in The Departed and Boogie Nights. Sometimes I think he’s an arrogant Boston Calvin Klein underwear wearing punk like that lame bartender eagles movie. The Fighter is a hit though, I’m sure you’ve heard. Christian Bale’s performance is awesome. Wahlberg is a boxer withy a string of bad luck and Bale plays his washed up drug addict brother. The scrip is classic, complete with Bale diving out of 2nd floor crackhouse windows running from his mother. There’s so many classic scenes in this movie that I would love to tell you about, but I don’t want to be a spoiler. I have to tell you about this next one fo sho.
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Bale is getting folloewed by cameras for a documentary throughout the entitre movie. He tells everyone HBO is doing a documentary on his comeback. It turns out it’s an epidemic on crack in america. Can you say hillarious. Anyways, you don’t want to miss this movie. It may be the best movie of 2011. Wahlberg’s performance is solid too. Apparently he had a boxing gym built in his back yard, where he trained for this movie over the past few years. I guess this movie is his little gem and it was nicely polished indeed.
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Photo: Eliot Z. Ramsberger
thaKush
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How To:
Studio
Home
By Eliot Z. Ramsberger As technology advances, home studios are becoming more and more affordable and prevalent. Prices are becoming cheaper and cheaper as the ability they provide to the home producer is becoming greater and greater. You no longer need a record label to cut an LP. These days anybody with a computer and roughly another thousand dollars in equipment can become a producer/artist/ record label. Studios are popping up all over the
country and independent artists are doing just that. The staff here at thaKush went out to a few home studios and did some research to find out what it takes to build a successful and completeley functional home studio. It is suprisingly simple and if you are interested in getting into music production or just looking for a new hobby, experimenting with sound at home can be a great new area to explore.
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Studio
How To:
Home
Continued......................................
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will provide you with all the functionality you will be needing. The m-box is also where you hook up your keyboard or beat pad, whatever you want to do. Now this instrument, they also have midi controllers, which is basically a keyboard except it doesn’t work without being hooked up to a computer.... no cheesy organ solos... sorry. Now this midi cintroller or keyboard will be your mouse for the software on your computer, which is in a sense your actual studio. You will pick soundsets in your software and those keys will change based upon what sounds you choose. A good software for beat production is Reason. This software with a midi controller and hours,days,months,years. lifetimes of practice and you can be like ‘Ye. So with the software, and there are others out there, and a m.box, midi controller, you are well on your way to being a producer. Other options are turntables. Somethin that is not an option are your monitirs. This is NOT your computer screens. Your studio monitors are actually how you monitor the sounds you are working on. They are your speakers, but sound engineers and professional refer to them as monitors. The monitors will run $100+ per speaker and are a neccessary expense if you plan on producing professional audio. You need to be able to hear every minisule detail in the track you are working on. Another route you can go if you don’t wantr to spend a few hundred on monitors to get started, you can buy a solid pair of headphones. Before you run out and drop $150 on a
pair of Beats by Dre... do yourself a favor and do shop around. I guarentee Beats are not the best quality. Also a lot of these music stores can bargain a little bit. There merchandise isn’t flying off the shelves in this recession and they are usually more that willing to kbnock off a few jacksons. So DON’T PAY RETAIL. If you do a mic booth also shop for a deal. A decent one will run you atleat $200, but a cheaper one won’t do the artist justice. I reccomend using youtube and just watching videos of other artist tutorials. These guys will bring you along much faster than any manual or magazine.
Photo: Eliot Z. Ramsberger
To set up a basic home studio you’re going to need to spend some money. That’s a fact. If you aready have a decent computer, I would say by the time you did it right, you would be spending an additional $1000 beyond the computer cost to get a basic functiong foundation that you can build upon. If you do neeed a computer, I would definitely reccomend buying a mac/apple product. The macbook pro is a great laptop that will keep your studio running for years to come. They retail for around 2 G’s. So beyond your computer, where you go is kind of a function of how serious you want to get and what exactly you want to do. For example you won’t need to buy a $300 microphone if you’re just going to be making beats. So for the purpose of this article I will explain what you need to set up a professional quality home studio that you will be able to expand upon as your skill evel grows. The first essential item is an mbox. This is also known as a midi, which stands for musical instrument digital interface. The midi or mbox allows you to hook up instruments to your computer as you can guess by the name. So thge midi is where you would plug in your microphone, or keyboard, or guitar, etc. A decent midi will run you a few hundred dollar or more and is usually accompanied with recording/mastering software, such as protools.M-Audio is a good bran, they offer different packages and combinations of m-box’s and protools. If you are just starting, I would reccomen the mbox mini, it retails around $350, it comes with a decent protools, and it
............. Photo: Eliot Z. Ramsberger Below: A typical home studio is composed of a computer equipped with the proper software for music production such as Reason and recording and mastering software like ProTools, which is the industry standard. Other neccesarry equipment for beat production is a keyboard or MIDI controller which is like the “mouse� for the music production software. Above: Home mic booths are usually built in closet space with sound insulating materials installed on the walls. This home producer used blankets for insulation.
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Gear&
TECHNOLOGY
Skateboards ........THAT.FLY
Photo: Eliot Z. Ramsberger
What’s up McFly. So you want your skateboard to fly without hooverboard techmology. I tried to invent it, hasn;t happened yet. You want the next best. It the vacant parking garage down the street buddy. No pumping, smooth pavement, hella speed and helicopter access when you break your face. Be careful, this is not for ladyboys. You will be going fast so remember to stay low and protect your goods. Look out for cars and pedestrians. You can always bail but unless your board has a leash someone else may get
hurt.. Star off about one level at a time. Many garages opposing sides are on different inclines so while you hit one slope with ease the incline may change right around the corner and your arrogance could be your downfall. Pick a slow time and rip that ish up. I’m talking about beating it like it stole something, like the garage owes tou money homie. I reccomend getting a hero hd headmounted camera so you have some footage to showthe kids in the hospital while you get your testacles removed from your stomach.
The iPhone 4 just released in a white colorway April 28th. The release was long awaited by appleheads who like a lot of people love what they can’t get. So the story is that they had difficulty getting the white finish to adhere in a sellable quality. I’m not sure if I buy it. It could be more marketing genius from Jobs. Full disclosure is always in question. The phone, which in my opinion, is about as technologically advanced as any phone on the market, boasts the highest resolution lcd in the game. Don’t get your panties in a bunch tech nerds. I’m sure you have a valid argument, i just don’t want to hear
it. Look there are others olid phones out there, i agree. HTC is putting out solid prducts and advancements, like that kickstand....wait for it.... hahaha. sorry, I couldn’t resist. Anyway’s the iPhone flys’s by competitor’s in my opinion in overall phonability. Meaning that it’s just a more complete device than any other phone out. Quality, Speed, Power, Design, Everything. I would reccomend paying for the extra giggabytes and also wait a few months, it’s rumored that the iPhone 5 is already on the way.
iPhone 4 .............TECH.REVIEW Pg 14
SRIRACHA
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