This morning I finished my application for the 2006 edition of Red Bull Music Academy. I had to complete a 15 page paper application which included some questions that had me thinking hard! For example, one question asks “how do you represent yourself in the musical universe (draw a map)?” Most of the questions on the application I have never asked myself and I’m glad I came across it because I had to question my musical taste quite a bit. I think I did a good job of letting my personality shine through though.
Along with the application you had to include a 30 minute cd of music that you think represents you. Now, they accept musicians, singers, djs, producers, etc. So my options were either 1)make a dope 30 minute mixtape of my favorite music (as a dj) or 2)make a 30 minute showcase of my beats and songs I’ve done (as a producer). Well, I’m DJ Forge and I’m both so I combined the two (hopefully that will help out!). I made a 33 minute mixtape of remixes, music I’ve produced, and raw beats that nobody else has heard before (thank god for Serato). Instead of racking my brain trying to narrow down what to use, I just loaded up a bunch of stuff into a virtual crate in serato, and then basically freestyled my 30 minute mix. I did it all live, no multitracking. I just hit record and mixed what I felt. I think it worked out better that way because I’m used to Djing with no plan at all, basically all off the top of my head. Admittedly, there are a couple of rough spots, but I decided to just roll with it anyway.
Now, let me also say that RBMA is an extremely exclusive affair. They only select 60 people worldwide and for the 2005 edition only 4 of those people came from the United States. Talk about pressure! If I make it in, I can at least say that I made it into a somewhat exclusive school (won’t look too shabby on my references/resume either, hehe).
So what exactly is RBMA? It’s basically a two week seminar where you work with other musicians to create new material. During the day you get to have workshops with some well established producers/djs/rappers/etc.. For example, last year ?uestlove was lecturer, as well as Hank Shocklee from the bomb squad(yeah i met him already, son!). The list goes on…they also had Leon Ware of motown fame speaking (amazing!). I’m anxious to see who they have on the list for this year. Oh yeah, did I mention that for 2006 it’s going down in Melbourne, Australia?!?! All this with all expenses paid!!! Cross your fingers for me, I really want this.
Anyway, I sent the package off early this morning, since today was the deadline (duh, I’m a known procrastinator). This is what my package looked like, pre-envelope sealing:
So I hope when that arrives in Germany in about a week and my CD gets listened to that I make some kind of impression. Either way, at least I got somebody in another country to listen to 30 minutes of my music. Win-win situation…
P.S. I updated the shows section…
